Job Abstract

The University of Oklahoma's K20 Center is an educational research and outreach center and is known for innovation. This position will serve its latest K20 Center’s GEAR UP for LIFE (LIFE) program awarded in the fall of 2023 which seeks to empower students from underserved communities, providing them with resources, mentorship, and academic support to enhance their readiness for post-secondary education. Join K20’s LIFE team and help to foster student success, elevate aspirations, and promote college and career readiness to create a brighter future for the cohort youth.

The Senior Interactive Applications Developer will provide leadership in the support (updates and modifications) of existing applications and the development of new software applications, as required by the sponsored research project. This professional will require the skills and experience to lead the development of reliable web-based applications that support dissemination of grant-developed resources, structure the strategic planning, and secures, organizes, and reports on grant-funded activities.

Essential Job Duties & Functions

Interactive Applications Development: The incumbent will lead and coordinate interactive applications development by:

• Enforcing development standards among technical staff members.
• Creating and deploying built versions of applications.
• Utilizes development tools to design, implement and maintain processes that involve Unity, C# and Object Oriented Programming, PHP, Symfony, Doctrine, Bootstrap, Javascript, T-SQL, SQL Server, MySQL, Git CLI, and Gitlab.
• Performs unit and system testing to locate and resolve software bugs and issues within websites or code bases

Data Management: The incumbent will ensure effective and proper storage, maintenance, and analysis of data by:

• Understanding security guidelines set forth by the university, the K20 center, and the IRB.
• Designing and implementing data structures or databases.
• Understanding existing databases and their security requirements.
• Properly and accurately querying stored data to be researched and analyzed.
• Understanding tracking mechanics and structures used by K20 Center websites.

Project Coordination: The incumbent will work with other team leaders and colleagues to effectively plan, organize, and monitor application compatibility and consistency by:

• Leveraging strong interpersonal skills to direct, coach, counsel, and motivate technical staff members.
• Promoting staff members’ well-being and productivity.
• Facilitating effective resource allocation and delegating responsibilities.
• Recommending workplace improvements to improve services.

Technical Documentation: The incumbent will ensure the accessibility of tools and code bases by:

• Conducting business analysis to gather stakeholder functionality requirements, documenting the use and back-end functionality of code for interpretation by developers, designers, or staff members.
• Prepare and maintain functional and technical specification documents organized in a simple, standard format for clarity and ease of understanding for current and future team members.
• Maintains up-to-date knowledge of industry best practices, trends, and applications.
• Incorporating change logs, timestamps, and author-of-change stamps to document any additions or alterations, ensuring transparency in the development process.

Server Management: The incumbent will ensure proper use of server machines and hosted services by:

• Accessing and monitoring K20 Center servers on a regular basis.
• Understanding existing back-end server mechanics used to serve websites to users.
• Migrating systems after major platform or tool updates.
• Identifying and solving issues related to server accessibility, data storage, and incompatibilities with newly updated third-party tools.
• Setting up new server mechanics to match the needs of the K20 Center.

Source Control: The incumbent will combine the code of others into a single functioning project by:

• Acting as an administrator for project repositories.
• Training staff members on proper use of source control tools.
• Enforcing source control standards across the technical staff members.
• Administering access of repositories to staff members working on any given projects.
• Updating source control software to remain secure and have access to the newest features.

Technical Support: The incumbent will ensure consistent system operation by engaging with stakeholders, resolving issues, and providing assistance as needed:

• Application Support:
  • Monitor and process system batches, ensuring seamless operation.
  • Address user questions and queries promptly, offering comprehensive assistance.
  • Investigate and resolve system problems to maintain optimal functionality.
• Application Programming Interface Support:
  • Provide support for seamless integration with related applications.
  • Troubleshoot and resolve issues related to third-party integrations, ensuring smooth collaboration.
• On-Call Services:
  • Offer on-call support services to promptly address and resolve system issues.
  • Ensure availability and responsiveness during on-call hours to support uninterrupted system operations.

As Needed:

• Performs various duties as needed to successfully ful?ll the function of the position.

Required Education and Experience: Bachelor's degree, AND:

• 48 months experience in application and software development and/or custom solutions.

Equivalency/Substitution: Will accept 48 months related experience in lieu of the Bachelor's degree for a total of 96 months related experience.

Skills:

• Ability to communicate verbally and in writing.
• Ability to program in at least one programming language.
• Ability to work independently and as a team member.
• Agile environment (SCRUM)
• Back-end web languages (ie. PhP)
• C# and Object Oriented Programming
• Customer service and interpersonal skills
• Strong initiative to solve problems.
• Data Analysis
• Database Technologies (ie. Postgres, MySQL)
• Development in the Unity game engine
• Front-end web languages (Javascript, HTML)
• Knowledge of programming for diverse operating systems and platforms using development tools.
• Knowledge of software design and programming principles.
• Technical Documentation
• Web and Server Technologies

Certifications: None

Advertised Physical Requirements:

• Must be able to engage in repetitive motions and communicate effectively.
• Sit for prolonged periods.

Departmental Preferences:

• 60 months of software development of interactive learning resources (e.g. game-based learning).
• 60 months of serving as a technical lead on a team of 3 or more programmers.

Supervision:

• Team Leader

Special Instructions: If you are selected as a final candidate for this position, you will be subject to The University of Oklahoma Norman Campus Tuberculosis Testing policy. To view the policy, visit https://hr.ou.edu/Policies-Handbooks/TB-Testing.

Why You Belong at the University of Oklahoma: The University of Oklahoma fosters an inclusive culture of respect and civility, belonging, and access, which are essential to our collective pursuit of excellence and our determination to change lives. The unique talents, perspectives, and experiences of our community enrich the learning, and working environment at OU, inspiring us to harness our innovation, creativity, and collaboration for the advancement of people everywhere.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement: The University of Oklahoma, in compliance with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations, does not discriminate based on race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, genetic information, gender identity, gender expression, age, religion, disability, political beliefs, or status as a veteran in any of its policies, practices, or procedures. This includes, but is not limited to, admissions, employment, financial aid, housing, services in educational programs or activities, and health care services that the University operates or provides.