Senior Full Stack Developer (Smart Data Donation Service)

Role Description

The Smart Data Donation Service

We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Full Stack Developer to join the exciting Smart Data Donation Service (SDDS) project.

The SDDS is a major infrastructure project funded by Smart Data Research UK, which aims to catalyse a paradigm shift in the quality and accessibility of smart data for research into digital and online experiences (e.g. games, social media).

The SDDS will achieve this by creating a service that facilitates the large-scale donation of data by the individuals that it features. This will be made possible due to the UK’s GDPR regulations, which allow people to access personal data that companies hold about them so that they can donate it securely for research purposes.

For more information, please see our SDDS brochure.

Role

As a Senior Full Stack Developer, you will play a crucial role in bridging the gap between frontend and backend development to create seamless, secure and scalable solutions for SDDS data donors. Your work will ensure an efficient and engaging user experience while supporting the robust backend needed for a groundbreaking data donation platform.

A typical day in this role might include:

• Designing and implementing robust, scalable and secure APIs and backend services for the SDDS platform
• Supporting frontend developers through building modern, dynamic and user-friendly frontends
• Collaborating closely with researchers, UX designers and developers to ensure stable integration between frontend and backend components
• Writing and maintaining automated tests for both backend and frontend, ensuring reliable code
• Participating in code reviews, providing constructive feedback, and maintaining high coding standards cross the team
• Enhancing system performance by monitoring and addressing bottlenecks in both backend and frontend components
• Exploring and integrating new tools and technologies to continually improve the SDDS platform
• Taking the lead in resolving complex technical challenges, and ensuring the platform can scale with growing user demand
• Engaging with the wider SDDS team to align development work with the project timeline

You will have the opportunity to learn, innovate and collaborate within a diverse team of researchers and IT professionals.

Skills, Experience & Qualification needed

• Demonstrable experience as a full stack developer, working with both frontend and backend technologies, with a focus on delivering a comprehensive full stack solution
• Strong understanding of cloud infrastructure and experience with key services such as EC2, S3, Lambda and IAM for scalable and secure backend development
• Strong understanding of a backend programming language such as Python
• Hands-on experience with API development and integration, enabling seamless communication between frontend and backend systems
• Experience in developing responsive frontend applications, ensuring consistent user experiences across web, mobile and desktop platforms
• Proven ability to work effectively in a cross-functional team, including frontend developers, data engineers and security specialists, to deliver integrated solutions

Experience in the following areas is desirable:

• Familiarity with infrastructure as code tools, such as Terraform, to automate cloud deployment and provisioning
• Experience with secure data handling and compliance with GDPR, particularly in managing user data across frontend and backend environments
• Experience with monitoring and alerting tools to maintain system performance, stability and security

If you are passionate about technology and are inspired by the vision of the Smart Data Donation Service, we want to hear from you! This role offers a fantastic opportunity to enhance your skills while contributing to the groundbreaking research that the SDDS aims to deliver, making a positive impact on the world.

For an informal discussion, or if you'd like a chat about how your existing experience might be a good fit for the role - please reach out to Dan Miller at dan.miller@york.ac.uk

The University strives to be diverse and inclusive  – a place where we can ALL be ourselves.

We particularly encourage applications from people who identify as Black, Asian or from a Minority Ethnic background, who are underrepresented at the University. 

We offer family friendly, flexible working arrangements, with forums and inclusive facilities to support our staff. #EqualityatYork