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

This position is for twelve (12) months.

Over 6 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 at www.phila.gov.

This position is funded through the City’s Operational Transformation Fund (OTF), which is a $10 million internal City fund where transformative municipal projects are invested in over the next two fiscal years (2022 and 2023). Across different City departments, OTF projects are implementing people-centered and sustainable solutions that focus on efficient and equitable service provision to benefit Philadelphians. OTF project teams receive ongoing support and assistance from the City’s Office of the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), which manages the OTF, and participate in activities as a cohort. (See the press release for more information: https://www.phila.gov/2021-11-30-operations-transformation-fund-fall-2021-grantees/)

As a Software Engineer in this role, you will primarily help build the interface and infrastructure for expanded language access into the existing WordPress platform supporting phila.gov, while continuing to improve and expand upon various aspects of the site. Your role will be heavily focused on the planning and execution of user-friendly workflows to help manage translations for content creators of phila.gov. You’ll work closely with developers, and other project stakeholders to build a comprehensive translation solution integrated with human translation and automated translation services.
Your work will make the phila.gov experience better for residents looking for City services and for City employees maintaining the content. 
This position is for twelve (12) months.

Essential Functions
•    Lead in planning, architecting and execution of a comprehensive translation framework for phila.gov, at scale. 
•    Collaborate on migration of existing translated items to newly developed workflows or frameworks.
•    Write new and modify existing REST APIs to support translation work.
•    Consider user workflows in new admin interface feature implementations.
•    Provide database and code optimization recommendations.
•    Read/understand front-end code (templates, themes) and perform modifications as necessary. 
•    Build new back-end features and components for phila.gov, from a translations-first perspective.
•    Ensure the solutions you create meet web standard best practices, and accessibility guidelines.
•    Collaborate with non-technical colleagues on new features.
•    Address bug fixes and improve the maintainability of existing code.
•    Build reusable, testable, and efficient code.

Competencies, knowledge, skills and abilities
Competencies
•    Excellent communicator: Articulate jargon to general audiences (e.g., City departments and the public), explain the logic behind design decisions, craft compelling narratives about product work, 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.
•    Self-directed. Given broad direction, you can prioritize your work and allocate your time and resources effectively. Just as important, you know when to ask for help and aren’t afraid to do so.
•    Systems-thinker. You can envision how a particular feature may affect other, unrelated parts of the project.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities
•    Advanced proficiency with PHP and MySQL
•    Advanced proficiency coding for a CMS with many active users (WordPress preferred)
•    Proven experience implementing translation frameworks (WPML preferred)
•    Knowledge of modern JavaScript frameworks (Vue.js or React preferred)
•    Experience using Git, or similar version control systems
•    Strong foundation in web fundamentals - JavaScript, HTML, and CSS

Required:
•    A minimum of five (5) years full-time, or equivalent part-time, professional experience writing software.

Especially strong candidates will have:
•    Experience creating and maintaining WordPress plugins and themes.
•    Examples of translation framework experience.

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

We won’t accept or review incomplete applications.

Salary Not to Exceed: $90,000 for twelve (12) months

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