Digital Solutions Developer

The Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association (WFAA), the private fundraising and alumni relations organization for UW-Madison, is seeking a web developer to join our growing Digital Marketing team. The developer will collaborate with colleagues to improve and maintain our existing sites, develop new sites, and administer our web platforms.

Our Digital Marketing team is responsible for a large portfolio of work, including all of our public-facing websites, email marketing, social media, digital advertising and other digital content. As we continue to grow this portfolio, the person in this position will help push us toward more interactive and engaging digital experiences while supporting the technical foundation of our web properties.

Our Marketing Communications division is a highly collaborative environment where everyone has the opportunity to innovate and create. On the Digital Marketing team, we approach every new challenge as a learning opportunity as we work with our colleagues to develop great designs, copy and strategy.

The busy nature of our team presents a great opportunity for a candidate who is interested in working on a variety of projects and who incorporates best practices while balancing the ability to meet deadlines. The right candidate will demonstrate an appreciation for the rigor required for platform maintenance or regression testing, and the sense of humor required to contribute to a pleasant day in the office.

This is a full-time position receiving assignments/direction from the Senior Digital Solutions Developer and reporting to the Associate Vice President of Digital Marketing. The position offers competitive pay and benefits.

Primary responsibilities will include:

Digital Platform Management

• In collaboration with the Digital Marketing and IT colleagues, maintain existing WFAA websites and develop new websites as required.
• Maintain WordPress content management systems, site architecture and standards across multiple sites.
• Maintain and promote a high standard of design, usability and accessibility for web content.
• Serve as a technical expert, consulting with project teams developing digital experiences.
• Troubleshoot and resolve technical issues with websites.
• Collaborate with colleagues to develop highly usable digital experiences on WFAA websites, web applications and other digital channels.
• Conceptualize new and innovative ways to leverage existing and emerging technologies to advance WFAA’s goals.
• Monitor and analyze web analytics and traffic patterns to ensure that web content and web applications are effective in supporting institutional priorities.
• In conjunction with IT system administrators, administer the back-end functionality of WordPress websites ensuring the platform, plugins and related technologies are leveraged effectively and properly maintained.
• In conjunction with colleagues, manage the Digital Marketing team’s code repositories.

Web Development

• Develop custom PHP solutions for the WordPress platform including custom themes, plugins and functions.
• Develop custom web applications to deliver the best online experience for UW-Madison alumni and donors.
• Develop and maintain a thorough understanding and practice of responsive web design techniques and security protocols.
• Employ these as part of Marketing and IT web project teams. Collaborate with vendors to create and maintain technical solutions for WFAA websites.
• Collaborate with other Digital Marketing team members to ensure web content is regularly audited for timeliness and accuracy.
• Collaborate with IT’s application development group to design and deliver high quality web applications.

Digital Strategy

• Collaborate with WFAA and campus colleagues to develop effective strategies for communication and marketing goals/conversion through WFAA’s websites.
• Consult and collaborate with colleagues on best practices, technical implementations and business practices related to website management and architecture.
• Research and advise on latest technologies. Pilot new technologies as appropriate.
• Support a service-oriented atmosphere by WFAA mission, values, and philosophy

Requirements and Qualifications:

• 3 +years of demonstrated experience developing websites in a professional context.
• Experience managing WordPress websites including site and user administration, plugin development, plugin management/testing, upgrade/regression testing.
• Experience developing custom, secure PHP web applications and WordPress templates.
• Experience developing for HTML/CSS web standards and WCAG accessibility standards.
• Experience working with Git and code repositories such as Bitbucket.
• Experience with the higher education environment or other complex organizations.
• Advanced computer skills, including experience with: developing standards-compliant HTML and CSS, PHP, JavaScript and MySQL.
• Familiarity with responsive web design techniques; WordPress content management system; web design and development tools; emerging internet technologies; Adobe Creative Suite; MS Office.

This is a full-time position receiving assignments/direction from the Senior Digital Solutions Developer and reporting to the Associate Vice President of Digital Marketing.  We offer a competitive salary and an excellent benefits program, which includes a 10% 401k contribution after 1 year of service!