Johns Hopkins University Libraries has an immediate opening for a front end developer to join our Library Applications Group, supporting commercial, open source, and locally developed systems and online services.

General Responsibilities:

• Serve as primary designer and front end developer for patron-facing library systems, following agile, user-centric development approach, emphasizing accessibility and evidence-based design
• Contribute to a small, effective software team, following best practices for development, deployment, and documentation, emphasizing stability, reliability, and ease of maintenance
• Collaborate with vendors, open source software communities, and internal stakeholders to design, develop, deploy, maintain, and enhance front- and back-end systems supporting library services
• Provide prompt support for internal stakeholders by investigating and resolving problem reports

 
Position Overview:

The front-end software engineer has responsibility for all aspects of the front-end software development lifecyle for multiple library systems and online services. Top goals are to improve user experience, system reliability, and data integrity.
 
Describe the position’s roles & interactions:

The front-end software engineer reports to the Manager of Library Applications. Teamwork and best practices are emphasized. The front-end software engineer has primary responsibility for designing, developing, maintaining, and improving patron-facing systems for resource discovery, online linking and access, resource sharing, and other functional areas. Within those areas, the software engineer works directly with student and faculty patrons of the library, as well as library staff stakeholders in the Technical Services, Electronic Resources, and Resource Sharing departments, and vendors or open source software communities to identify and prioritize tasks. Team workloads and priorities are managed using an agile Kanban process, with semi-weekly standups, as well as one-on-one meetings with the manager. The front-end software engineer must be ready to represent the Library Applications group to our internal customers. Constructive engagement with vendors, open source software communities, and the academic library IT community are critical to success.
 
The position has secondary (back up support) responsibility for the following systems.

• EZproxy remote authentication system
• Shibboleth-based Single Sign On (SSO) user authentication, managed through Johns Hopkins IT

 
Describe scale/size of area, project and/or system supported:

The systems supported by the software engineer are enterprise level systems, used by most or all of the Johns Hopkins Libraries. The systems have direct impact on the work of all Johns Hopkins students and faculty, as well as all library staff. Maintenance of both commercial and open source systems involve communication and collaboration with IT teams at other universities through user groups, contribution to open source projects, and participation in committees and collaborative projects.
 

Qualifications and Required Skills:

• Note: Additional experience may substitute for education and additional education may substitute for experience.
• Bachelor’s degree in computer science or related field
• Five years of work experience with enterprise-level front end software development and maintenance, demonstrating significant responsibilities and achievements
• Facility with JavaScript, CSS, and frameworks such as React or Angular
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively and creatively in a software team environment using an agile development process, and to communicate effectively with non-technical stakeholders
• Extensive experience with UX design and UI development and iterative improvement based on user research and usage analytics
• Strong proficiency in one or more programming languages such as Ruby, Python, Java, or JavaScript

Preferred skills:

• Ruby on Rails
• Bootstrap
• WordPress and Drupal
• Python
• Familiarity with the organization and operations of academic libraries
• Familiarity with common patron-facing library systems, including discovery, link resolver, resource sharing, course reserves systems, and library websites
• Familiarity with Solr and Elastic Search, and principles of information retrieval and relevance ranking
• Integrating applications with SAML-based user authentication systems

Systems Supported:

The software engineer will have primary or secondary (backup) responsibility for vendor-hosted and locally hosted systems used in the following functional areas:

• Discovery (Blacklight)
• Citation linking (Umlaut open source software integrated with SFX)
• Locally developed Database List system based on the FOLIO platform
• Inter-library loan (ILLiad, Relais)
• Course reserves (ARES)

Classified Title: Software Engineer 
Role/Level/Range: ATP/04/PE 
Starting Salary Range: $69,140 - $95,005 annually
Employee group: Full Time 
Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:30am - 5:00pm 
Exempt Status: Exempt  
Location: 01-MD:Homewood Campus 
Department name: 10000086-Library Systems 
Personnel area: Libraries

The successful candidate(s) for this position will be subject to a pre-employment background check.

If you are interested in applying for employment with The Johns Hopkins University and require special assistance or accommodation during any part of the pre-employment process, please contact the HR Business Services Office at jhurecruitment@jhu.edu. For TTY users, call via Maryland Relay or dial 711.

The following additional provisions may apply depending on which campus you will work.  Your recruiter will advise accordingly.

During the Influenza ("the flu") season, as a condition of employment, The Johns Hopkins Institutions require all employees who provide ongoing services to patients or work in patient care or clinical care areas to have an annual influenza vaccination or possess an approved medical or religious exception. Failure to meet this requirement may result in termination of employment.

The pre-employment physical for positions in clinical areas, laboratories, working with research subjects, or involving community contact requires documentation of immune status against Rubella (German measles), Rubeola (Measles), Mumps, Varicella (chickenpox), Hepatitis B and documentation of having received the Tdap (Tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis) vaccination. This may include documentation of having two (2) MMR vaccines; two (2) Varicella vaccines; or antibody status to these diseases from laboratory testing. Blood tests for immunities to these diseases are ordinarily included in the pre-employment physical exam except for those employees who provide results of blood tests or immunization documentation from their own health care providers. Any vaccinations required for these diseases will be given at no cost in our Occupational Health office.

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