Contractor job REF Lead Developer

CONTRACT: CONCLUDING DEC 2029

HOURS: FULL TIME

CLOSING DATE: 12 JAN 25

LOCATION: Westward House, Stoke Gifford, Bristol, BS34 8SR (Hybrid)

ABOUT THE RESEARCH EXCELLENCE FRAMEWORK (REF)

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions, with the most recent exercise concluding in 2021. It is a peer review assessment process involving submissions from higher education institutions across the UK.  Research England delivered REF 2021 on behalf of the four UK funding bodies and the results have driven the annual distribution of approximately £2 billion of research funding to UK universities.

PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

An exciting opportunity to lead and shape the design, development, and delivery of the UK's next research assessment exercise. We require systems to be delivered to support:

• Administration of the exercise
• The submission of large volumes of research data from all participating HEIs
• The distribution and assessment of all elements of the research data submitted

ABOUT YOU

Working in an agile development team following a user centered design approach.  We require passionate and innovative full-stack developers working with a combination of bespoke software and off the shelf products to produce a robust, accessible, and performant suite of systems to support the exercise over the next 5 years.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY

Development process optimisation

You will identify process optimisation opportunities with guidance and contribute to the implementation of proposed solutions

Stakeholder Management

You will mediate between senior stakeholders and build relationships, communicating with stakeholders at all levels

Programming and build

You can advise on the right way to apply standards and methods to ensure compliance

Availability and capacity management

You can manage the service components to ensure they meet business needs and performance targets

Information security

You understand information security and can design solutions and services with security controls embedded

Prototyping

You approach prototyping as a team activity, actively soliciting prototypes and testing with others

Systems design

You will design systems characterised by medium levels of risk, impact, and business or technical complexity

Systems integration

You will define the integration build

User Focus

You will collaborate with user researchers and sell or represent users internally

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

• Extensive experience of Agile software development and working in SCRUM teams
• Extensive experience of developing with NodeJS, TypeScript, NextJS, React
• Demonstrable experience designing, coding and debugging secure systems including NodeJS/express, RESTful APIs, React
• Excellent skills in web front end technologies and methodologies such as React, CSS, Tailwind, Styles Components, Atomic Design, etc.
• Excellent knowledge of relational databases including data modelling, SQL, stored procedures, postgres
• Extensive experience with source control systems, including branching, merging, etc.
• Experience with continuous integration and continuous deployment
• Experience designing and working with n-tier architectures (UI, Business Logic Layer, Data Access Layer) along with experience with microservice oriented architectures
• Experience of working in AWS/Azure and setting up complex programmes/projects
• Extensive experience of design patterns such as SOLID and TDD

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

BENEFITS:

UKRI can offer the successful candidate:

- Flexible Working

- 30 days annual leave + Public Holidays

- Access to Civil Service Pension Scheme

- Various everyday discounts through our dedicated provider