Junior Front-end/WordPress Developer

  • Contract

Company Description

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 efficient and effective services. ODDT collaborates 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.

Job Description

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. For the past few years, we’ve been working closely with content creators, City colleagues, and the public to rewrite service information and to design features that better meet the needs of City residents. You can see the progress so far at www.phila.gov.

As a Junior Front-end/WordPress Developer, you will improve and expand upon the WordPress platform supporting phila.gov. You’ll work closely with a cross-functional team of designers, developers, UX professionals, and researchers to update existing features and help create new ones for the City’s web presence. Your work will make the phila.gov experience better for residents looking for City services and for City employees maintaining the content. You’ll learn new skills and dig deeper on the skills you’ve already cultivated.

This position is for six (6) months.

Essential Functions

  • Contribute to open source software projects, and build new features and components for phila.gov in the open (https://github.com/CityOfPhiladelphia/phila.gov).

    • We make heavy use of the following technologies: JavaScript (Vuejs + jQuery), PHP, Python, Docker, AWS.

  • Work closely with a cross-functional team to ensure deliverables meet design, content and UX standards from standards.phila.gov.

  • Ensure the solutions you create meet web standard best practices, and accessibility guidelines.

  • Support content authors through new product requests and updates.

  • Update and test changes to existing codebase, ensuring changes don’t break existing functionality

Competencies

  • Excellent communicator: Articulate jargon to general audiences (e.g., City departments and the public), explain the logic behind design decisions, write and speak clearly, and cultivate effective communication among team members.

  • Relationship-builder: Work with a variety of people and personalities, listen and ask questions to identify new design opportunities, and cultivate strong relationships to ensure seamless collaboration and continued project support.

  • Curious: Practice active listening, ask questions to get to the root of a problem, be open to receiving/giving constructive feedback, and have a sincere interest in learning new skills or growing old ones.

  • Compassionate: Turn empathy into actionable solutions that address people’s real needs with integrity.

Knowledge, skills and abilities

  • Familiarity with server-side programming languages such as PHP, Python, or Node.js

  • Familiarity with JavaScript frameworks - Vuejs, React, etc.

  • Experience working with a CMS (Wordpress, Drupal)

  • Experience using Git, or similar version control systems

  • Familiarity with SQL, or similar relational database usage

  • Strong foundation in web fundamentals - Javascript, HTML, and CSS

  • Experience with building modern client-side web interfaces

Qualifications

Required:

  • At least one (1) year of full-time, or equivalent part-time, professional experience writing or maintaining software.

Especially strong candidates will have:

  • Experience contributing to open source software.

Additional Information

Please submit a cover letter explaining why you’re passionate about participating in the redesign of the City of Philadelphia’s website.

Successful candidate must be a city of Philadelphia resident within six months of hire

The City of Philadelphia is an Equal Opportunity employer and does not permit discrimination based on race, ethnicity, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, national origin, ancestry, age, disability, marital status, source of income, familial status, genetic information or domestic or sexual violence victim status. If you believe you were discriminated against, call the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations at 215-686-4670 or send an email to pchr@ phila.gov. For more information, go to: Human Relations Website: http://www.phila.gov/humanrelations/Pages/default.aspx