Web Application Developer AT International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

BACKGROUND

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is a well-established knowledge product of IUCN; it is widely recognized as the most comprehensive, objective global approach for evaluating the conservation status of fungi, plant and animal species. To maintain and further improve the status of the IUCN Red List, there needs to be cutting-edge, efficient and performance enhancing tools that underpin the proper functioning of such a widely used and valued knowledge product.

The Web Application Developer should be keen about contributing to the building of state of the art applications. The successful candidate will work closely with a network of conservation scientists, other web and geospatial experts, and will be responsible for maintaining and building on the current high-profile systems behind the IUCN Red List.

SPECIFIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Applicants should be a keen self-motivated person, who are not daunted by trying out new technologies.

Specifically, the applicant will be expected to deliver on tasks such as:
• Supporting the ongoing development of the Species Information Service, which is the main system managing the Red List assessment process
• Assisting in the design and development of new functionality for the Red List websites, and GIS related activities.
• Supporting the maintenance of web applications and databases where required.
• Assisting the line manager in developing better approaches and platforms for improving the Red List processes.
• Assisting the Line Manager in translation user needs to system requirements.

REQUIREMENTS

• Essential:
• A good first-degree in computer science or equivalent
• Experience of web development with an understanding of the way that such applications are designed and operate
• Good experience using technologies such as Java, Ruby on Rails, HTML, Javascript or CSS
• Experience with databases and querying languages; and has a good understanding of data organization and manipulation
• Understands what code versioning is, and has used this in projects e.g. GIT  

• Desirable:
• Has worked on databases like PostgreSQL or similar. Knowledge of NoSQL databases would be an advantage.
• Uses Javascript and Cofeescript, and master libraries like JQuery.
• Has an understanding of good design and user interface and interaction. Has used frameworks like Twitter Bootstrap or Zurb Foundation or similar.
• Has experience working with GeoSpatial data
• Is aware of how web applications are deployed and has experience doing it. Cares about optimization and performance in their web applications
• Likes contributing to open source technologies
• Can prioritise own workload, and is happy to work as part of a team in an agile environment
• Uses own initiative
• Cares Interested in about species conservation work  

SALARY

The gross annual salary for this position is in the range from GBP 23'564 to GBP 29'455.

APPLICATIONS

In order to apply for this position, please use the following link: https://hrms.iucn.org/iresy/index.cfm?event=vac.show&vacId=869&lang=en