With a workforce of over 30,000 people, and opportunities in more than 1,000 different job categories, the City of Philadelphia is the fifth largest city in the United States and one of the largest employers in Southeastern Pennsylvania. As an employer, the City of Philadelphia operates through the guiding principles of service, integrity, respect, accountability, collaboration, diversity and inclusion. Through these principles, we strive to effectively deliver services, to resolve the challenges facing our city, and to make Philadelphia a place where all of our residents have the opportunity to reach their potential.

AGENCY DESCRIPTION

The Office of the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) is a new section of government tasked with bringing innovation to key enabling functions of city government. The CAO supervises and coordinates the operations of eleven City departments and functions, including the Office of Open Data and Digital Transformation.

The Office of Open Data and Digital Transformation (ODDT) believes in a City government that understands the needs of its people and empowers them through transparent, efficient, and effective services. ODDT’s approach is two-fold: 1) help departments publish open data; and 2) collaborate with departments, the public, and other stakeholders—employing human-centered design methods—to create digital services that support the success and well-being of all Philadelphians.

POSITION SUMMARY

4.7 million people visit the City of Philadelphia’s website, phila.gov, every year. Whether they’re looking for information on the Philadelphia Marathon, checking whether trash pickup is on-schedule, looking for after school activities, or applying for public assistance programs, for many Philadelphians, their experience on phila.gov represents the image they have of government. We understand that the current phila.gov isn’t easy to use. So we’re in the process of creating a new site from the ground up—with simple, mobile-friendly designs, more intuitive organization, and clearer content. You can see the progress so far at beta.phila.gov.

This position is for a Digital Transformation Fellow with a focus on front-end software development. The fellowship is a part of ODDT’s Digital Transformation Fellowship Program, which is an opportunity for cross-sector practitioners to improve the lives of Philadelphians through high impact public sector digital transformation work. You’ll join a city government that has the largest GitHub organization among cities (github.com/cityofphiladelphia), work in the open, and leverage open source tools and cloud infrastructure to improve the experience of interacting with city government online.

As a Front-end Developer, you’ll help us redesign the Department of Parks & Recreation’s (PPR) website and make it easier for residents around the city to engage with their parks and recreation centers. You’ll work on a dedicated project team with content strategists and a user experience designer, in close collaboration with our colleagues at PPR.

Specifically, you’ll help us bring user research-informed sketches, prototypes, and interaction concepts to life through templated markup, styling, and functionality in our open source content management system. In addition, you’ll help identify small projects to help PPR staff engage with their constituents.

This position is part of ODDT’s fellowship program. You’ll be a full-time City employee with benefits. The fellowship can begin immediately and will end December 31, 2017.

SALARY - Commensurate with education and experience

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

The 4-person project team will employ user research, user experience design, content strategy, and visual design to create wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity visual compositions. For this aspect of the project, you’ll:

• Be a part of the conversations that determine how and when to address the needs of Parks and Recreation’s users and stakeholders
• Advise on technical viability throughout the design phase
• Convert two-dimensional visual comps to page templates and build interactive features, prioritizing reusable components where possible
• Ensure accessibility, mobile friendliness, and cross-browser compatibility
• Build the administrative UI necessary for department editors to manage the new features
• Contribute new components to the City’s Digital Standards (http://standards.phila.gov)

Since most of this aspect of the development work will happen toward the end of the project, you’ll also leverage your technical knowledge and expertise to help the project team and our PPR partners identify other small projects that could be accomplished within the fellowship.

COMPETENCIES, KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES

Ability to:

• Listen and ask questions to discern the true nature of problems
  
• Envision how a particular feature may affect other, unrelated parts of the site
  
• Communicate technical nuances in plain language with partners of varying technical background
  
• Write documentation clearly enough that someone who’s never met you could use it

Knowledge of:

• Web fundamentals, such as HTML and CSS
  
• JavaScript, including a framework such as Vue, React, Angular, Backbone, Ember, choo, etc.
  
• Basic proficiency with at least one backend programming language such as Node.js, PHP, Python, Ruby, etc.
  
• Git, and GitHub-oriented collaboration methods
  
• Experience with a front-end CSS framework like Foundation or Bootstrap a plus
  
• SQL and basic relational database usage

Enthusiasm for:

• “Clean code” and readability
  
• Open source
  
• Tinkering with new technologies, and keeping up with the industry

Candidates should have at least 3 years experience developing software including:

• Using a JavaScript framework such as Vue, React, Angular, Backbone, Ember, choo, etc.
• Basic proficiency with at least one backend programming language such as Node.js, PHP, Python, Ruby, etc.
• Turning designs into functioning websites/templates

ODDT is interested in hiring the best possible candidate for the Digital Transformation Fellow: Front-end Developer. We recognize that experience, education, and qualifications can be attained in a variety of ways and that many skill-sets are transferable. If you feel you’re a good fit, please don’t hesitate to apply.

When applying, please include:

• A one-page cover letter explaining why you’re passionate about participating in the redesign of phila.gov. We read every one of these and find them extremely helpful in getting to know you.
• Work samples, such as a GitHub profile with relevant repositories or a portfolio.

Please note: Since this is not a permanent City position, you are not required to live in the city.