Contractor job REF Senior Developer

CONTRACT TYPE: Fixed Term until December 2029* 

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

*At the end of the assignment candidates will move into the UKRI redeployment pool and be supported in finding suitable alternative work within the organisation. 

ABOUT US

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. 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. We are now developing the systems to deliver REF 2029 and looking for talented individuals to help.

PURPOSE

An exciting opportunity to shape the design, development, and delivery of the UK's next research assessment exercise, REF 2029. 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 dissemination and assessment of all elements of the research data submitted. 

MAIN OUTPUTS

• Deliver and maintain code and systems reliably to high quality standard.
• Collaborate with all delivery workstreams to ensure REF systems are cohesive.
• Collaborate with REF programme as well as teams in Research England and UKRI to ensure optimal use of team resources.
• Develop features of the REF systems ensuring security and accessibility.
• Work within the team's agile framework contributing to continuous improvement.
• Deliver and maintain code and systems reliably to high quality standard, implementing shared coding standards and code reviews and technical discussions.
• Collaborate with whole REF systems team to ensure that systems design and delivery is developed by key REF guidance. Working closely within the team and with the lead developer to deliver agile and project goals. 

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

• Extensive experience working in a cloud-based development environment (AWS/Azure). 
• Highly experienced working with complex data models.
• Experience of developing secure systems ensuring data is always protected.
• Experienced in delivering WCAG2.1 compliant systems, embedding accessibility in all deliverables.
• Languages and technical skills
• JavaScript/TypeScript, .Net, JSON, XML, NodeJS, Express
• HTML and CSS/SaSS/LESS, Tailwind, StyledComponents
• React/NextJS
• SQL/RDMS/Postgres
• SSO/AD - Knowledge of OAuth, JWT, Azure AD
• Fluent knowledge of package management and packaging npm, yarn, pnpm workspaces, webpack, etc
• RESTful API development
• Jira/Confluence/SCRUM team experience 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

DEVELOPING TALENT:

We are committed to developing employees in their roles throughout their career. Learning and development plans enable employees to continue their professional development through training and development opportunities such as e-learning, classroom training and on-the-job experiences. We encourage our employees to share their learning across teams and organisations.

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