JOB SPECIFICATION

Developer and Systems Manager

Job title: Developer and Systems Manager
Reporting to: Chief Executive
Location: The Sarah Duffen Centre, Southsea, Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK
Travel: Occasional UK and overseas
Hours: Full time (37.5 hours per week)
Holiday: 20 days + statutory holidays
Salary range: £30,000 - £35,000 p.a.

Purpose

To develop and maintain the charity's information systems to provide effective and efficient support for international communication, publishing, research, fundraising, sales and accounting functions.

Description

Working with, and reporting to, the Chief Executive, you will develop and maintain a range of information and communication systems, including web sites and applications, accounts and database systems, email and general network infrastructure. These systems are critical for delivering the organisation's core research and education activities.

You will liaise with research, publishing and fundraising staff to develop the charity's extensive web sites and services. These include the charity's primary site (www.downsed.org) that provides information about the charity's work and services. They also include the charity's leading online information resource (www.down-syndrome.org) that publishes articles and books for a global audience of families, teachers, therapists, clinicians and research scientists. The charity also operates a specialist mail order service and is developing online ordering services (shop.downsed.org). In addition, the charity operates web sites to support fundraising activities (e.g. www.up-for-reading.org) and is developing sites to deliver teaching programmes (www.see-and-learn.org) and support international research collaboration.

The charity has further projects planned that will utilise modern communications technologies and information systems to deliver services, conduct research and link multicentre research study teams. The charity is also exploring the delivery of interactive, educational applications over the web, using technologies such as Sliverlight and Flash. You will play a leading role developing and implementing these projects.

The charity's web applications utilise a publishing framework, developed in-house, that is built on ASP.NET and Windows Server 2003 technologies and that interfaces with back office systems via a web services application tier built using Windows Communication Framework. Our systems already utilise some .NET Framework 3.5 technologies, including LINQ. Data storage is implemented on SQL Server 2005. Applications are developed in C#.

You will also maintain and support the charity's servers, workstations, networking equipment and applications. The charity's servers (9) run on Windows Server 2003, while workstations (~20) operate Windows XP or Windows Vista. Server applications include Exchange Server 2003, SQL Server 2005 and SAP Business One 2005 Server. Client applications include Microsoft Office 2007 (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint), SAP Business One 2005 clients, Expression Web, InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Acrobat, Crystal Reports and SPSS. Development tools include Visual Studio 2005, Subversion source control and CruiseControl.NET. Networking equipment includes HP switches and Cisco PIX and ASA security appliances. Currently, the charity operates servers in-house, but we plan to co-locate front-end application servers in a remote data centre in 2008. Migrations to Visual Studio 2008, SAP Business One 2007, Windows Server 2008 (and IIS 7.0), SQL Server 2008 and Exchange Server 2007 are planned in the next 6-12 months.

You will have a thorough understanding of ethical standards in research and legal and regulatory requirements for privacy and data protection. You will maintain the highest standards of honesty and confidentiality in all aspects of your work.

Duties and responsibilities

  • Maintaining, developing and supporting web publishing systems, including authoring web pages and applications and supporting other staff using the systems
  • Designing, developing, testing and maintaining bespoke multi-tier applications, including product catalogues, ordering, donation, visitor registration, enquiry-handling and survey/data collection systems
  • Maintaining and supporting the efficient operation of server, client and network hardware and software
  • Ensuring appropriate backup and disaster-recovery systems are maintained
  • Controlling information systems expenditure
  • Supporting strategy formulation and project planning

Knowledge and skills

Essential

  • Empathy and support for the charity's mission
  • Honesty and openness
  • Excellent software development skills, including expertise and experience with C#, ASP.NET, SQL, HTML, XML, CSS, LINQ, WCF, WPF, IIS, Visual Studio and Subversion
  • Experience of managing Windows, Exchange Server and SQL Server systems
  • Familiarity with test-driven development methods
  • A thorough understanding of the legal and regulatory issues relevant to privacy, data protection and systems security and a clear appreciation of recognised best practice standards in systems maintenance and security management
  • Good interpersonal and communication skills
  • Excellent time management and self organisation skills

Desirable

  • Experience or other involvement in research, disability and/or mental health issues
  • Experience of service oriented architecture and systems
  • Knowledge of LINQ, LINQ to XML, LINQ to SQL and the forthcoming ADO.NET Entity Framework
  • Experience of operating or managing Microsoft Office 2003/7 systems
  • Experience of using, supporting and/or developing for SAP Business One systems
  • Experience of maintaining networking equipment, including Cisco PIX or ASA appliances
  • Knowledge of WPF and Sliverlight technologies

Further information

For further information, please email jobs@downsed.org

Application

To apply, please send a detailed CV to jobs@downsed.org to arrive by 17:00 GMT on Friday 14 December 2007. Interviews will be held between 7 and 18 January 2008.