Massachusetts Historical Society

Position Available

Assistant Web Developer

The Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) located in Boston, Massachusetts seeks an Assistant Web Developer (AWD). This is a full-time (35 hours per week) position. This position is a remote position, with a requirement that the AWD work the majority of their hours Monday-Friday during usual business hours. The AWD will be required to attend occasional in-person meetings in Boston. The MHS is an independent, scholarly research library founded in 1791 for the threefold purpose of collecting, preserving, and disseminating sources for the study of American history. The MHS holds more than 3,600 manuscript collections, as well as extensive collections of early American imprints, newspapers, maps, printed ephemera, photographs, engravings, and other research materials. The website of the MHS, www.masshist.org, includes digitized collections, authoritative transcriptions by documentary editors, materials for teachers, bibliographic tools and guides for researchers planning to conduct research onsite, extensive information about programs and research seminars and conferences, and information about the organization.

Duties: The Assistant Web Developer (AWD) will work with the Lead Web Developer to modernize the existing PHP codebase and to expand and enhance the MHS’s website's offerings. The AWD will contribute to the development of software and systems that allow detailed investigations of digitized primary sources (mainly represented by predictable XML, images, and standards-based metadata). The AWD will be required to work creatively and effectively on the MHS website that runs on Nginx, PHP-FPM in Ubuntu; uses XML and MYSQL for most of the data structures; and Apache SOLR for most search features. The challenging and rewarding part of this position will be for the AWD to think outside the box of the usual data-driven website to create lean and efficient code that can run for many years with little intervention. The AWD will write new software to replace legacy procedural code, and/or refactoring existing object-oriented code to improve its modularity. The AWD will also spearhead new work for the website across the full stack. The MHS website homepage and events calendar currently run in Drupal, and the AWD will troubleshoot problems and assist content creators (from many departments) in creating and refining pages and displays using this part of the website. The AWD reports to the Web Developer and is a member of the Collections Services department.

Examples of areas of the MHS website built with custom software include:

• Collection guides (EAD XML): https://www.masshist.org/collection-guides
• The published volumes of the Adams Papers (TEI XML): https://www.masshist.org/publications/adams-papers/index.php/authors/Adams,-John#1756-january
• A special collection of Revolutionary era newspapers: https://www.masshist.org/dorr
• The MHS crowdsourcing tool: https://www.masshist.org/mymhs

Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree and demonstrated experience over several years with object oriented programming in production use. Demonstrated experience with data driven applications or websites. Experience as full-stack developer or capability of growing into that role. Proficiency with OOP specifically in PHP without frameworks is highly desirable. The successful candidate must be flexible, self-motivated, and able to work independently and as part of a team. The candidate is also ideally skilled in a number of the following areas: BASH/shell scripting skills, linux server administration, SASS, vue.js, newer vanilla JS such as ES6 classes, XML and XSLT.

Salary: $60,000 - $70,000, with a competitive benefits package

To apply: Candidates should email a cover letter and resume to our lead developer, Bill Beck, bbeck(at)masshist.org. In addition to an interview stage, we will also require:

1) completion of a short code test, in which you will run a short PHP script, and be asked to examine and refactor the code.

2) examples of your code from real-world projects that went to production use.

3) several references.

Availability: This position is open until filled.

The Massachusetts Historical Society is an equal opportunity employer.

We aim to be a diverse workforce that is representative, at all job levels, of the citizens we serve. Candidates of all backgrounds are welcomed and encouraged to apply. We are committed to creating a workplace free from harassment and discrimination on the basis of race, color, ancestry, religious creed, gender identity and expression, national or ethnic origin, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy, age, genetic information, disability, military or veteran status, or any other category protected by law (also known as membership in a "protected class").

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $60,000.00 - $70,000.00 per year

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Retirement plan

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday

Ability to commute/relocate:

• Boston, MA 02215: Reliably commute or planning to relocate before starting work (Required)

Work Location: Hybrid remote in Boston, MA 02215

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