Libraries Application Developer

Description

As part of a larger functional team, comprised of personnel from the Libraries Systems Office, the Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation (CDSC), this position will learn from and participate in all phases of software development of Mukurtu, Mukurtu Mobile, and related projects. This includes requirements gathering, design, front-end development, back-end development, testing, documentation, deployment, support, and community outreach. This position will also work as a developer on a variety of WSU Libraries’ projects, including web development and back-end processes. The projects in the Libraries and the CDSC are constantly evolving and as such, this position will have the opportunity to work with a wide variety of technologies including Drupal, React, WordPress, numerous scripting languages, and more. This position is part of a growing development team at the WSU Libraries and will be able to help shape its digital services and make significant contributions to open-source projects. This is a full-time, 12-month, classified staff position that reports to the Libraries Application Development Team Lead at the Washington State University Libraries in Pullman, Washington. Some telework may be considered.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

Application Development for the Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation (CDSC):​​​​​​
• Work with the Mukurtu development team to plan, develop, test, and deploy new and/or updated functionality for Mukurtu CMS and Mukurtu Mobile.
• Diagnose and solve highly technical support issues for Mukurtu CMS and Mukurtu Mobile.
• Develop, integrate, migrate, and deploy site-specific customizations for WSU affiliated Mukurtu CMS sites.
• Maintain an active presence in the Mukurtu open-source community, responding to issues, updating documentation, etc.

Application Development for Libraries’ Web Services, Digital Initiatives, and Core Services
• Develop new and maintain existing programmatic extensions and integrations of Library services (e.g., WordPress customizations, third party API integrations, data transformations).
• Analyze and help to maintain integrations between library and campus-based systems
• Troubleshoot technical issues, develop modifications needed in existing applications, and create new application components to meet changing user requirements.

Required Qualifications: Positions require a bachelor’s degree in computer science or equivalent. Any combination of relevant education and experience may be substituted for the educational requirement on a year-for-year basis.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience developing web applications
• Experience in and understanding of Object-oriented programming
• Experience designing, writing, and running software tests
• Familiarity with operational considerations for running and maintaining modern web applications
• Excellent interpersonal, verbal, written, organizational, problem-solving, and planning skills
• Ability to work creatively, collaboratively, and effectively both as a team member and independently and to promote teamwork among colleagues; Proficiency with modern collaboration tools (e.g., version control systems, ticketing systems, remote work platforms)
• Demonstrated commitment to working with diverse communities.
• Development experience with Drupal or other content management systems
• Experience designing, developing, or utilizing REST APIs
• Experience with modern mobile app development technologies
• Experience with the import, export, and manipulation of metadata in a variety of formats
• Familiarity with access and privacy issues on the web
• Willingness to work in a distributed team environment, assist in expanding the open source community of developers, and be flexible

Washington State University

Washington State University, one of the two research universities in the state, was founded in 1890 as the state’s land-grant institution with campuses in Pullman, Spokane, Vancouver, Everett, and the Tri-Cities. Due to its strong emphasis on excellence in research and education, the Carnegie Classification™ has designated WSU as RU/VH: Research Universities (very high research activity). The WSU strategic plan and the new OneWSU initiative have equity, inclusion and diversity as core values and the plan explicitly includes commitments to and goals surrounding being a national leader in “advancing the quality of life, economic development, sustainability, and equity through meaningful engagement in discovery, education and service with partners throughout the state, nation and world”.

Washington State University – Pullman

WSU Pullman, the largest and oldest campus in the WSU System, is situated on approximately 620 acres in southeastern Washington in the unique Palouse bioregion on the homelands of the Nimíipuu (Nez Perce) Tribe and the Palus people. The Pullman campus has a largely residential student population (19,900 in 2020) with a college town feel with close access to both the mountains and rivers of the Inland Northwest and less than a day’s drive to any major city in the Pacific Northwest.

The Libraries

The WSU Libraries (http://libraries.wsu.edu), one of two Association of Research Libraries (ARL) in Washington State, houses over two million books and over 30,000 journal and magazine subscriptions. The Libraries are a part of the Orbis Cascade Alliance and are deeply invested, along with our partner libraries in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, in the activities of the shared Unified Resource Management and shared Discovery environment. The Libraries also houses and co-directs the Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation (http://cdsc.libraries.wsu.edu/), a collaboration with the College of Arts & Sciences that fosters digital projects across all disciplines and is home to national programs such as the Tribal Stewardship Cohort Program, The Sustainable Heritage Network (http://sustainablerheritagenetwork.org), the Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal (http://plateauportal.libraries.wsu.edu) and Mukurtu CMS (http://mukurtu.org).

Applications must be received by September 6, 2021
To apply: https://hrs.wsu.edu/jobs/  (direct link to posting) . Online applications are required and will include a cover letter addressing the qualifications, a curriculum vitae, and references. Finalists will be subject to a background check as a condition of employment. Questions may be sent to the search committee via Bonny Boyan, boyan@wsu.edu, 509-335-1535.