A best-in-class city that attracts best-in-class talent, Philadelphia is an incredible place to build a career. From our thriving arts scene and rich history to our culture of passion and grit, there are countless reasons to love living and working here. With a workforce of over 30,000 people, and more than 1,000 different job categories, the City of Philadelphia offers boundless opportunities to make an impact.

As an employer, the City of Philadelphia values inclusion, integrity, innovation, empowerment, and hard work above all else. We offer a vibrant work environment, comprehensive health care and benefits, and the experience you need to grow and excel. If you’re interested in working with a passionate team of people who care about the future of Philadelphia, start here.

The Office of Innovation and Technology (OIT) oversees most major technology projects for the City of Philadelphia (CoP), ensures continuity of the City's technology operations, and finds new ways to help the public interact meaningfully with technology. OIT uses technology to help City employees do their work better and helps residents get what they need from municipal government.

What We Offer:

Impact - The work you do here matters to millions.

Growth - Philadelphia is growing, why not grow with it?

Diversity & Inclusion - Find a career in a place where everyone belongs

Benefits - We care about your well being

About the project you’ll be working on:
Community engagement is the foundational way government opens its doors to connect communities to programs and services, better understand community need, share decision-making, and honor work already occurring in neighborhoods. However, many communities won’t and can’t interact with government because we’ve either broken their trust or haven’t created the conditions for their engagement.

The impact? Communities of color, people with disabilities, people who have limited English proficiency, people who lack digital access, people who have low digital literacy, and historically marginalized groups are refused entry into engagements with us. As a result, our policies, services, and programs can reinforce marginalization as the people most impacted by our decision-making don’t have the opportunity to give voice to their needs.

To address these realities, the PHL Service Design Studio and the Mayor’s Office of Civic Engagement and Volunteer Service have been working on an Equitable Community Engagement Toolkit in collaboration with City engagement staff, community groups, and Philadelphia residents. The Toolkit is a Citywide initiative that will transform how the City of Philadelphia thinks about, plans for, and facilitates engagement with the communities we serve. It’ll include a vision and guiding principles, strategies and tools, evaluation resources, training, and a cultivated community of practitioners made up of City engagement staff and community members. All guidance will be accessible online within the phila.gov platform.

For the past 18 months, the Toolkit team has been working closely with City engagement staff, community groups, and residents to better understand engagement barriers that span language, disability, and digital access issues. In addition, the team has focused on how inequities based on a person’s race are exacerbated by the City’s engagement practices. In the new calendar year, we’ll transition from co-design to writing and building Toolkit guidance based on our deep work with community. By fall of 2022, we’ll start to pilot the Toolkit guidance with City agencies and community members to test its efficacy.
 
About your position:
We’re looking for a seasoned user-centered software engineering professional who’s committed to developing fully accessible websites and applications. You’ll be a fulltime member of the multi-agency and cross-disciplinary Toolkit project team made up of service design strategists, engagement practitioners, content strategists, a visual designer, and a user experience designer. In collaboration with the team, you’ll lead the development of the Toolkit — relying on the City’s digital standards (standards.phila.gov).

Please note this position is a full-time, eight-month opportunity from April to November 2022, and that the City of Philadelphia requires all new hires to be fully vaccinated.  (See the Qualifications and Additional Information sections for other requirements.)

Essential Functions

In this role, you will:  

1) Lead the development of the digital Toolkit. 
•    Build features and reusable components for the Toolkit’s public-facing website. (We use: JavaScript (Vue.js), PHP, Docker, AWS, and WordPress.)
•    Work closely with a cross-functional team to ensure deliverables meet design, content, and user experience standards.
•    Ensure the solutions you create meet web standard best practices, and accessibility guidelines.
•    Collaborate with non-technical colleagues on features, ensuring a good technical fit.
•    Address bug fixes as needed and consider the maintainability of code.
•    Build reusable, testable, and efficient code.
•    Implement modern development techniques.

2) Manage development-related work.
•    Provide technical expertise in the design and development of the online version of the Toolkit.
•    Work openly and collaboratively with a multi-disciplinary team to effectively understand technical recommendations.
•    Evolve development efforts based on stakeholder feedback.
•    Offer and take constructive feedback around project output and process. 
•    Develop development timelines based on level of effort to complete tasks. 
•    Proactively manage self to ensure deadlines are met. 
•    Communicate the status of work, challenges, and successes clearly and honestly. 
•    Problem-solve through ambiguity and when challenges arise. 
 

Competencies

•    Equity-focused: Ability to respect, honor, and center the voices of residents and staff who have been marginalized by government actions in all that you do. 
•    Excellent communicator: Ability to explain complex subjects in simple ways and the logic of your decisions.
•    Relationship-builder: Ability to work with a variety of people and personalities and cultivate strong relationships to ensure healthy collaboration. 
•    Curious: Ability to practice active listening, ask questions to get at the root of a problem, and be open to receiving/giving constructive feedback. 
•    Humble: Ability to operate beyond ego and self-interest. 
•    Compassionate: Ability to empathize with people’s experiences, and based on that understanding, take appropriate action. 
•    Rigorous: Ability to be detail-oriented and intentional in your work. 
•    Organized: Demonstrated ability to manage projects, estimate timelines, rework a project approach based on unforeseen challenges, work well under pressure, and set/meet reasonable deadlines. 
•    Proactive: Ability to see opportunities, navigate barriers, be self-directed, and problem solve solutions. 
•    Resilient: Ability to learn from mistakes and return to work after experiencing a setback. 

Candidates should have: 
•    A minimum of three years full-time, or equivalent part-time professional experience writing software.
•    Experience with JavaScript frameworks (Vue.js or React preferred).
•    Experience creating Progressive Web Applications.
•    Strong foundation in web fundamentals in JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, including responsive design techniques and front-end frameworks (Foundation, Bulma, etc.).
•    Experience building modern client-side web interfaces.
•    Experience in PHP.
•    Experience coding for a CMS (WordPress strongly preferred).
•    Experience using Git, or similar version control systems.
•    Experience with SQL, or other relational database usage.
•    Experience with, or willingness to learn, Amazon Web Services.

Especially strong candidates will have:
•    Experience using translation frameworks.
•    Experience working with and creating WordPress APIs.
•    Experience deploying applications to AWS.
•    Experience with Headless frameworks.

All applications should include the following: 
•    A one-page cover letter clarifying your interest and qualifications for the fellowship. 
•    Your resume or curriculum vitae. 
•    Optionally, an online professional portfolio or public GitHub account. 

Application materials are due no later than January 21, 2022. We won’t accept or review incomplete applications. 

Did you know?

• We are a Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program qualified employer
• 25% tuition discount program for City employees (and sometimes spouses and dependents as well) in partnership with area colleges and universities
• We offer Comprehensive health coverage for employees and their eligible dependents
• Our wellness program offers eligibility into the discounted medical plan
• Employees receive paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays
• Generous retirement savings options are available

*The successful candidate must be a city of Philadelphia resident within six months of hire

Please note that effective September 1, 2021 the City of Philadelphia is requiring all new employees to present proof of vaccination against COVID-19. 

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 faqpchr @phila.gov. For more information, go to: Human Relations Website: http://www.phila.gov/humanrelations/Pages/default.aspx