CANDIDATE BRIEF

Portal Project Developer, Leeds University Library

Salary: Grade 6 or 7 (£26,052 - £31,076; £32,004 – £38,183 p.a)

Reference: CSLIB1114

Fixed term for 12 months

Portal Project Developer Blackboard Portal Project Are you an application developer with Java skills? Have you developed systems or features that use data to provide a personalised user experience? Can you use your expertise to enhance the student experience at Leeds and help deliver our new Portal? We are starting a one year institutional level project, with a multi-disciplined team from across the University. The project team will work closely with a range of colleagues from across the institution. Within the Library these will be the eLearning, Portal & Systems teams, in University IT, the Unix and Technical Support & Development teams. You’ll be joining a busy but stimulating and mutually supportive project team, working collaboratively to deliver the Blackboard Portal project, the aim being to migrate the existing Portal (Luminis) to the Blackboard Learn platform.

What does the role entail? As Portal Project Developer, your main duties will include:

designing, developing, testing and implementing new functionality for the project and to maintain and improve existing functionality;

responsibility for specific areas of technical development and development projects, managing the full project lifecycle plan, manage, monitor, document and communicate this work as appropriate;

participating in the overall technical development and support for the project and services, including the existing Portal and VLE services;

identifying user requirements and feedback collection and analysis;

collaborating on joint projects, developing services and sharing best practice within the University, with colleagues in peer HE libraries/institutions and external groups;

significant contribution to the broader direction of the team or project, through strategic and project/operational planning.

These duties provide a framework for the role and should not be regarded as a definitive list. Other reasonable duties may be required consistent with the grade of the post.

What will you bring to the role? As Portal Project Developer you will have:

strong technical skills to develop for either frontend user interface or backend processes, skills as follows:

o Java (JSP/J2EE), JDBC, Web Services and frameworks such as Spring;

o Good working knowledge of SQL (Oracle PL-SQL);

o Web development skills, including HTML5, CSS, XML, XSLT and Javascript;

o The ability to work with third party APIs and libraries (Datatables, JQuery, etc.).

the ability to work with large data sets, understanding how data can be used effectively to provide a personalised user experience across a range of differing devices (Mobile, Laptops, PCs)

an understanding of project management techniques

excellent communication skills, including documentation, report writing and presentations, and the ability to communicate specialist technological information to a lay audience

the ability to work collaboratively with others and make a positive contribution to a team, taking a creative approach to problem solving, being proactive and using your initiative

an understanding of and commitment to excellent customer service, using feedback and statistical data to inform service developments and priorities

workload management skills, with a positive and flexible approach to changing priorities and maintaining performance standards whilst meeting deadlines

You may also have:

training or experience in a formalised development tool and methodology (Agile or similar)

experience of working with or developing functionality for an institutional portal (eg Luminis, uPortal, Liferay, Blackboard)

In addition, for grade 7 you will have:

significant professional experience in application development and technical support, with a proven record of delivering successful projects/developments, meeting customer requirements and deadlines

evidence of a positive contribution to strategic and operational/project planning and direct and proactive contribution to policy and/or service/project development, or innovative working practices, inputting to and influencing decision making

excellent analytical skills with experience of formulating and implementing solutions to complex problems

proven ability to manage complex workloads, showing drive and initiative

For grade 7 you may also have:

experience of developing processes for data ETL and data synchronisation between systems

experience of project management

How to apply You can apply for this role online at jobs.leeds.ac.uk. Applications should be submitted by 23.59 (UK time) on the closing date.

Contact information To explore the post further or for any queries you may have, please contact: Michael Thomas, eLearning (VLES) Team Leader Tel: 0113 3438858 or Email: m.d.thomas@leeds.ac.uk Further information about the Library http://library.leeds.ac.uk/

Additional information Working at Leeds

You can find out more about our generous benefits package and more about what it

is like to work at the University and live in the Leeds area in our Working at Leeds

section.

Candidates with disabilities

Information for candidates with disabilities, impairments or health conditions, including

requesting alternative formats, can be found in our Accessibility section or by getting

in touch with us at disclosure@leeds.ac.uk