Senior Developer - 41399BR

Harvard College Admissions and Financial Aid is looking for a full-time senior developer to contribute to our large and varied portfolio of software and web development projects . Reporting to the Director of IT and working closely with the Director of Digital Communications and Director of Communications Strategy for Harvard College, the Senior Developer will be responsible for a large portfolio of in-house and external­ software projects as well as technical oversight of premier web properties including the Harvard College website, which serves 3.5 million users annually and is a hub for news, resources and social media. This role is responsible for continuing development and implementation of web portals and web applications related to the admissions process and the release of undergraduate admissions decisions.

You will join a small but rapidly growing team with a long history of success with projects that are critical to the functioning of the Harvard College, College Admissions, Financial Aid and Student Employment Offices.­ We support 75 staff members who are responsible for processing nearly 40K applications, analyzing 1.5 MM pages of information and disbursing $172MM of funding. We partner with a variety of organizations and buy, build, and integrate with a deep list of technologies.

You will have an immediate impact on our project portfolio as you take ownership of new features and work closely with other members of the team through implementation. You will need to be independent, self- motivated, hardworking and flexible to work in an exciting, fast-moving atmosphere here at ADM/FAO. You must have excellent communication skills, as you will be routinely brainstorming ideas and communicating with a variety of end-user communities – Admissions and Financial Aid technology, the Drupal community, contract organizations as well as peers and management within HUIT.­ You effortlessly think as easily of your users' needs as you do of the next code release and are eager to bring your skillset to an exciting part of the Harvard community.


DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
As a Senior Developer your responsibilities will include:

• Requirements gathering and delivering specifications & performing business analysis
• Participating in the technical design of new features.­
• Writing code to support existing features ­
• Testing code (unit testing and regression testing)
• Working on bug fixes
• Creating documentation ­
• Creating solutions to interesting business problems
• Understanding of data models and architecture
• Developing new Drupal modules and editing existing ones
• Confirming that our websites meet modern standards and best practices.
• Ensuring stability, security and uptime of the website and web portals during high-traffic time periods.
• Maintaining cloud-based hosting environment
• Managing website and application source code using best practices for workflow

• Minimum of three to five years experience preferred; a deep portfolio of successful projects is a great substitute for years of experience
• Fluent in HTML5, CSS3, Javascript/jQuery

• Understanding of XML/XSL structure and presentation
• Excellent programming/scripting skills including one or more of PHP, jQuery, AJAX, XML, XSL, Javascript
• Strong knowledge of SQL (MSSQL/Oracle preferred), ER diagramming and advanced optimization
• Working knowledge of Drupal framework, its internal APIs and experience developing custom modules
• Experience in every phase of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and iterative methodologies
• Working knowledge of PM methodologies and IT frameworks (Agile, ITIL, PMP - certification optional)
• Familiarity with source code control systems such as GIT
• Familiar with UI/UX principles
• Good communications skills and demonstrated ability to collaborate with a variety of users/team members
• Strong interest and experience in constructive problem-solving and and a deep understanding of organizational change management
• Excellent diplomatic skills, confidentiality and discretion
• Success working ­under competing priorities and aggressive deadlines.
• BS in Computer Science and/or experience in Higher Education preferred.