How to Apply
A cover letter is required for consideration for this position and should be attached as the first page of your resume. The cover letter should address your specific interest in the position, include your salary requirements, and outline skills and experience that directly relate to this position. If possible, please include a link to your electronic portfolio/dossier as part of your resume.
What You'll Do
In this position, you will be empowered in a highly autonomous software developer role within a collaborative team leveraging modern technologies, languages and approaches. The developer for this role will join cutting edge efforts to support higher education, building the Michigan Online learning platform for the University, work with complex data and cloud based solutions, engage with Open Source communities, and be part of a dynamic multi-disciplinary team that focuses on creativity and impact; automation and iteration.
The developer selected for this position will play a critical role in advancing and exploring the future of teaching and learning software innovation at the University of Michigan through close collaboration with team members across the Center who are working to advance the University's online learning strategy. You will use modern web development frameworks and languages to design and implement new features from the ground up, as well as enhance and extend the functionality of existing Open Source learning platforms, such as Open edX, Canvas, or Moodle. This role is focused on equipping Michigan Online with the innovative tools and services necessary to educate learners worldwide. We utilize dedicated development cycles to target the initialization, improvement and iteration needed to advance Michigan Online.
Mission Statement
Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
The Center for Academic Innovation (CAI) is committed to inclusion in our organizational work, culture, climate, and the products we create. We strive to recruit, develop, and retain a diverse team as a reflection of our commitment to our work designing equitable and inclusive learning and work environments that are necessary for the university community to make progress on solving societal challenges. CAI draws on each of our team member's unique backgrounds and experiences to guide our everyday work in the center, and our team collaborates with students, staff, and faculty on projects that center our commitment to DEIJ work. All interested applicants, including those from groups historically marginalized by educational privilege, are encouraged to apply.
Organizational Statement on Harassment
We believe all individuals deserve to be treated with respect and dignity and have the right to work in a professional atmosphere that promotes mutual respect and a safe space for collaboration. Any concerns shared with Individuals with Reporting Obligations in the Center for Academic Innovation will be reported to the Equity, Civil Rights, & Title IX Office to be reviewed and addressed, and the Center for Academic Innovation encourages reporting of any forms of harassment including sexual and gender-based harassment.
Who We Are
About the Educational Technology Team
As a Senior Developer at the Center for Academic Innovation, you will play a key role on the Education Technology team. This team is made up of diverse skill sets and individuals, including Software Developers, UX Designers, QA Analysts, DevOps Engineers, Data Scientists and Behavioral Scientists. We work collaboratively, both within our team and with others across the Center and University, to apply our expertise to create innovative solutions, tools and technologies to address the big challenges in education, enabling innovative learning and personalization at scale across the U-M community and beyond.
About the Center for Academic Innovation
Through curricular innovation, tools for student success and equity, and educational research and analytics, the University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation is building the future of education. Our vision is a future in which education connects and empowers learners everywhere to reach their full potential throughout their lives. To realize our vision, we make it our mission to collaborate across campus and around the world to create equitable, lifelong educational opportunities for learners everywhere.
Why Work at Michigan?
Benefits:
In addition to a career filled with purpose and opportunity, the University of Michigan offers a comprehensive benefits package to help you stay well, protect yourself and your family and plan for a secure future. Benefits include:
- Generous time off, including vacation time, sick time, holiday and season days
- A retirement plan that provides two-for-one matching contributions with immediate vesting
- Many choices for comprehensive health insurance
- Life insurance
- Long-term disability coverage
- Flexible spending accounts for healthcare and dependent care expenses
For additional Benefits and Wellness details, see http://benefits.umich.edu/
Responsibilities*
- Project level software application development, including reviewing the work of fellow developers and designers on the Michigan Online learning platform
- Coordination with QA to ensure fully tested and high quality version releases
- Maintaining technical familiarity and expertise with the evolution of mainstream and emerging technologies such as Generative AI, or other developing online learning platforms and tools
- Collaborating closely with software developers; user experience designers; product, partnership, and program managers; learning experience designers; course operations staff; faculty; researchers; and students at the University of Michigan
- Employing a pragmatic approach by understanding the tradeoffs between a perfect solution and a working solution
- Working closely with the team to solve problems, transfer knowledge, and develop software architecture and designs
- Coordinate with experts within the online learning, marketing and market strategy, and research and analytics teams to understand expected uses for and advance the capabilities of our platform.
Required Qualifications*
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering or a related field and 3+ years of professional software development experience, or an equivalent combination of education and relevant experience
- Experience working in a cross-functional product team
- Experience developing and deploying applications at scale
- Familiarity with containerized applications (e.g. Docker, Kubernetes)
- Experience working with the Django web application framework
- Foundational knowledge of modern web technologies including JavaScript (e.g. React.js), HTML5 and CSS
- Experience working with relational database platforms (e.g. MySQL)
- Hold strong attention to detail and concern for information accuracy
- Strong analytical and problem solving skills
- Ability to work well in a multicultural and collaborative environment
Desired Qualifications*
Who You Are:
- You are a self-driven team contributor who enjoys conceiving and implementing solutions to complex real world problems. You think in terms of abstraction, modularity and reuse. You architect your projects to address the situation in front of you and optimize for future flexibility. You know how to work backward to address a problem rather than accept a solution.
- You are known for your forward-looking mindset, anticipating needs and opportunities before they emerge. You believe in iteration and think in terms of efficiency and sustainability, pursuing automation and reducing points of failure. You take pride in the work you deliver and are known for the quality of your releases. You set ambitious goals and realistic milestones.
- You are valued as a team member and thought partner. You are comfortable presenting your ideas to your team and stakeholders. You are a skilled and enthusiastic collaborator who works well in team settings, knowing where to listen to the expertise of others and when to lead with your own.
- You think from the user perspective and challenge yourself and your collaborators to think about impact and design solutions to identifiable challenges. You care about usability, functionality and presentation of the applications you design. You have experience creating something new and helping projects realize their potential.
Additional Information
- This position will report to the Director of Application Architecture and Software Development at the Center for Academic Innovation
- This role is intended as a hybrid role (some amount of time in-office in Ann Arbor, some remote)
- This position must be based in the United States
- This is a 5 year term limited position with the possibility of renewal depending on funding
Salary Information
The expected salary for this position is between $85,000 and $100,000. Candidates can expect to be paid a competitive and equitable salary. Factors used to determine salary include experience, knowledge and skills for the position and internal equity within the unit. All candidates are encouraged to discuss salary questions to honor alignment and transparency throughout the recruiting process.
Background Screening
The University of Michigan conducts background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer and may use a third party administrator to conduct background checks. Background checks will be performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Application Deadline
Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days. This job may be removed from posting boards and filled anytime after the minimum posting period has ended.
Decision Making Process
Applications will be reviewed as received throughout the posting period and continue until the position is filled.
U-M EEO/AA Statement
The University of Michigan is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.