Front-End Web Developer

University of St. Thomas

OVERVIEW:

The University of St. Thomas invites qualified candidates to apply for a Front-End Web Developer position within the Marketing, Insights and Communications team.

The University of St. Thomas embraces diversity, inclusion, and equal opportunity for all. Our convictions of dignity, diversity and personal attention call us to embody and champion a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment. We welcome applicants of diverse races, ethnicities, geographic origins, gender identities, ages, socioeconomic backgrounds, sexual orientations, religions, work experience, physical and intellectual abilities, and financial means. We are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. This commitment is consistent with our mission to inspire our students, using the Catholic intellectual tradition, to think critically, work skillfully, and act wisely – all for the common good. A successful candidate will possess a commitment to the ideals of this mission.

https://www.stthomas.edu

Position Details

Front-End Web Developer
Job
Full-time
7/22/2019
Twin Cities Metro
St. Paul, MN

JOB SUMMARY:

The Front-End Developer is responsible for the interface and front-end functionality of the University’s websites, building new modules and capabilities, while also maintaining and improving existing features. The development work is done in our web content management systems, using an existing codebase, and involves connecting the web components to APIs and other back-end elements to build new pages or modules, while also improving existing functionality and usability to make the sites easier to use for site visitors, including those with disabilities. The Front-End Developer will do the development work for new functionality, fix identified bugs, and observe/investigate/look for ways to improve the site in less tangible ways.

The Front-End Developer will be able to transform complex processes into easy-to-use mobile/web designs, recognizing the differing needs of a range of (known) users.

This position is one of two Front-End Developers within the Marketing, Insights, and Communications (MIC) 8-person web team and works closely with both the Creative, and Analytics teams within MIC, as well as a handful of Back-End Developers within the Information Technology department. (See the web department chart at the end of the job description for additional detail.) About once a month, as part of a planned project or fixing bugs, this role works directly with Marketing managers and partners from other University departments, to clarify requirements, answer questions, or execute on requests.

The environment is fast-paced yet supportive and offers opportunities to learn and grow via collaboration, mentoring, training, and job growth.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS: 

  • Develop responsive, scalable and maintainable web code for an enterprise-level website that pulls in data from APIs. 
  • Support existing web applications including troubleshooting, bug fixing, required upgrades and modifications to existing functionality. 
  • Work with stakeholders in Marketing or other University departments (contacts may be Vice Presidents and other leaders) to understand, document, and report back on development requirements and acceptance criteria. The work may be done solo, with other developers, or with a project manager and larger team, and typically requires development of visual mockups and wireframes or functional prototypes. 
  • QA testing both code and webpages for one’s own work as well as the work of others. 
  • Collaborate with the other Front-End Developer, the Back-End Developers, and other members of the MIC web team on defining standards, best practices, and developer-initiated improvements.

Minimum Qualifications:

  • Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent experience such as completion of a boot camp or other documentable training) 
  • One year of professional-level experience designing and developing websites, preferably with an underlying content management system 
  • Professional expereince to include 2-3 web development projects with minimal supervision (or a single enterprise-level project), documented requirements for your own development work, interacted with other developers or the website client/owner (if you were the sole developer), and/or contributed to other code work (open source or otherwise) 
  • Intermediate experience with: HTML, CSS, SCSS, jQuery, JavaScript and JavaScript frameworks, JSON, and GIT, or similar technologies 
  • Ability to communicate effectively with both developers and non-developers by using email and in-person conversation to ask questions, explain a situation, and provide updates, using technical or non-technical terms depending on who is involved 
  • Familiarity with current and evolving best practices in both web interfaces and front-end development 
  • Capability to gather requirements and act on them, solve problems, and continual improvement

Preferred Qualifications:

Knowledge of:

  • VueJS, React or AngularJS and the concepts behind it; 
  • How to optimize the online experience, across both mobile and desktop, as well as modern browsers and IE-11 
  • The concept and set-up of web content management systems 
  • The interaction between front- and back- end components 
  • Best practices for version control, deployment, testing/QA, and the use of APIs

Experience with and/or exposure to:

  • Building modular and maintainable HTML and CSS code bases (intermediate level) 
  • Building and using JavaScript libraries (utilities, components, etc.) and modules (intermediate level) 
  • Front-end tooling workflows such as: NODE.js, yarn/npm, webpack, laravell, or valet (intermediate level with one) 
  • Leveraging RESTful JSON APIs (intermediate level) 
  • Development of mobile-first user interfaces (beginner level) 
  • Accessibility best practices (beginner level)

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY:

The University of St. Thomas offers a competitive and comprehensive benefits program, which includes:

  • Up to 100% tuition remission for employees, spouses, and dependents upon eligibility
  • A generous Employer retirement contribution of 9.4% of annual salary upon eligibility 
  • Medical, dental, and vision options 
  • Employer-paid disability, life, and AD&D benefits

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