Front-End Web Developer

Boston College Introduction

Founded in 1863, Boston College is a Jesuit, Catholic university located six miles from downtown Boston with an enrollment of 9,654 full-time undergraduates and 5,072 graduate and professional students. Ranked 37 among national universities, Boston College has 923 full-time and 1,336 FTE faculty, 2,822 non-faculty employees, an operating budget of $1.4 billion, and an endowment in excess of $3.9 billion.

Job Description

Front-end Web Developer

Join the TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center as the Front-end Web Developer and become part of a team of experts redefining the measurement of mathematics, science, and reading achievement through TIMSS and PIRLS, which together represent the worldwide standard for assessment in these core subjects.

Located at Boston College's Lynch School of Education and Human Development, IEA's TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center is home to two major international research programs that monitor student achievement in mathematics, science, and reading in more than 60 countries. TIMSS (the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) is conducted on a four-year cycle and measures mathematics and science achievement at the fourth and eighth grades. It has regularly reported results for more than 28 years. PIRLS (the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study) assesses fourth-grade student achievement in reading literacy on a five-year cycle. Both TIMSS and PIRLS completed transitioning to a fully digital assessment in their most recent cycle.

TIMSS and PIRLS are sponsored by the IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement), an independent international cooperative of national research institutes and governmental research agencies headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The Front-end Web Developer will contribute substantially to the development, execution, testing and delivery of TIMSS & PIRLS extensive online content. The candidate will be responsible for assisting in the development of the TIMSS and PIRLS online interactive international assessment results reports, as well as maintaining and improving the TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center website. Reporting to the Director, Graphic Design and Publications, the candidate will work directly with the Graphics Department, Center directors, the TIMSS and PIRLS research staff, and our project partners, such as the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), and external vendors.

The candidate should be able to assist in the creation of interactive tables and graphs using non-proprietary tools and have a strong proficiency to develop and write code in the latest front-end (HTML5 / CSS3 / JavaScript ES6+) technologies, have experience with React (preferred) or a comparable modern framework (Angular, Vue), and the ability to create responsive design (Flexbox, Grid).

A demonstrated ability to work on a development team, contributing to and maintaining a shared codebase using GitHub is also required, along with experience working with REST APIs and JSON data.

Knowledge of D3.js or other data visualization libraries, and experience with the Linux command line and server administration (with at least one back-end language such as Python or Node.js) would be a plus.

The candidate must be able to implement production-ready solutions in adherence to strict timelines, ensuring that deadlines are met, and that deliverables meet agreed-upon specifications. The ability to effectively communicate project details to people with varying degrees of technical expertise and an understanding of accessibility standards (WCAG) for public-facing applications is also a must.

This role includes:

• Writing clean, maintainable code following established patterns and best practices to help develop, and build web-applications--examples include large scale interactive data tables, charts, and graphs.
• Collaboration is critical and the candidate must be able to implement production-ready solutions in adherence to international timelines, ensuring that deadlines are met, and that deliverables meet agreed-upon specifications. The candidate will work closely with staff in the TIMSS & PIRLS international Study Center on Web presentation of data reporting and will also support the creation of portals and tools to facilitate communication and collaboration among international research teams and partners.
• Participate in code reviews and contribute to improving development workflows.
• Along with assisting in the creation of Web content, the candidate will also assist the Web team in maintaining and improving the TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Center website, and be able to troubleshoot and remediate issues that arise, and assist with web infrastructure tasks on AWS (deployment, hosting, and basic server configuration)

Requirements

• BS/BA required.
• Minimum 3 years of web development and experience working with others and implementing production ready solutions under pressure in adherence to strict timelines.

Technical skills:

• Strong proficiency in JavaScript (ES6+) and experience with React (preferred) or comparable modern framework (Angular, Vue)
• Solid foundation in HTML5, CSS3, and responsive design (Flexbox, Grid)
• Demonstrated ability to work on a development team, contributing to and maintaining a shared codebase using GitHub
• Experience working with REST APIs and JSON data

A plus if you have:

• Experience with D3.js or other data visualization libraries
• Experience with the Linux command line and server administration with at least one back-end language such as Python or Node.js
• Experience with databases, including schema design and writing queries (SQL or NoSQL)
• Exposure to AWS services (EC2, S3, or similar cloud platforms)

Candidates should include URLs and/or web portfolio and GitHub, along with a cover letter and resume.

This is a grant-funded position.

Full-Time Equivalent Hiring Range: $76,050 to $95,050; salary commensurate with relevant experience.