Senior Software Engineer

Job Purpose

The Senior Software Engineer will develop and maintain the bespoke applications used in support of the school operations across the college. These bespoke applications include, but are not limited to, facilitating the organisation of day-to-day operations, collecting, analysing, and reporting both teaching, research, and financial data. The postholder will initially be assigned to the operation of the James Watt Nanofabrication Centre (JWNC) for an initial period of not less than a year to gain an insight into the applications used in this function. After this they will begin to have a wider remit, but their main duties will still revolve around the JWNC.

Main Duties and Responsibilities

1. Where appropriate, develop existing bespoke software applications, in particular capturing data from the high value research tools and curating it in a useful way for users.

2. To work with other team members to design and author new software applications which support and enhance the effectiveness of the College of Science and Engineering.

3. To maintain existing bespoke software applications, including implementing a patching regime to maintain the security integrity of the applications, and upgrading the individual software components to all software components remain supported by the vendor.

4. To work with colleagues across the schools to maintain all servers, ensuring that all appropriate services remain available, secure, patched, backed up and appropriate maintenance schedules are managed and delivered.

5. To work with colleagues to enhance the tool base by writing software systems which support the daily operations of the tools, for instance, automating operations and collecting and analysing data to improve throughput and utilisation of the equipment.

6. To support the user community in the use of the various applications and to be the first point of contact to resolve any issues experienced by the users and to work collaboratively with senior colleagues to solve more complex problems.

7. To undertake training as part of a continual improvement programme and keep up to date with new developments in computing hardware and software.

8. To train the user community in the use of bespoke software packages to enable more efficient utilisation of the tools across CoSE.

9. Any other duties which may from time to time be required by the CoSE Head of IT or CoSE IT Service Operations Manager.

Knowledge, Qualifications, Skills, and Experience

Knowledge/Qualifications

Essential

A1 Either: Ability to demonstrate the competencies required to undertake the duties associated with this level of post having acquired the necessary knowledge and skills in a similar role.

Or: Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework level 8 (Scottish Vocational Qualification level 4, Higher National Diploma) or equivalent, and experience of personal development in a similar role

A2 Knowledge of modern PHP, JavaScript and CSS

A3 Knowledge of SQL and database structures

A4 Knowledge of web protocols and application structures

A5 Knowledge of Linux, OS-X and Microsoft operating systems

Desirable

B1 A degree in Computing, computer programming or Engineering programming

B2 Knowledge of at least one PHP Framework, e.g. Laravel, Symfony

B3 Knowledge of other languages e.g. C, Python, Go

B4 Knowledge of automated testing frameworks

B5 Knowledge of a variety of mobile operating systems such as Android and IOS B6 Knowledge of database management

B6 Exposure to NoSQL databases such as MongoDB

B7 Appreciation of network security

B8 Basic knowledge of internet protocols such as HTTP & SMTP

B9 Basic knowledge of PC hardware and construction

Skills

Essential

C1 Programming and debugging with modern PHP

C2 Troubleshooting software problems

C3 Designing and maintaining SQL databases

C4 Ability to independently find information and solutions from the web

C5 Ability to deal with end users of varying technical knowledge whilst maintaining good customer service

C6 Good communication skills with a capability to build collaborative and open working relationships with IT specialists within the School of Engineering and in the wider University context

C7 Ability to prioritise workload

Desirable

D1 Capable of using other languages such as C, Python, Go

D2 Using testing frameworks such as PHPUnit, Codeception

D3 Fault finding of network issues

D4 Teaching and training users of different and non-technical backgrounds

D5 Working with Docker containers

Experience

Essential

E1 Writing fully functional applications in PHP

E2 Deploying applications to a production environment

E3 Using databases and SQL

Desirable

F1 Using distributed source control packages such as Git

F2 Experience in writing or maintaining code for operational and diagnostic purposes

F3 Experience in troubleshooting network issues

F4 Experience of working with databases from the command line

F5 Experience in support for a variety of systems, e.g. Windows, Linux, Macintosh, Android, iOS

F6 Understanding of health and safety issues

In the JWNC, computing efforts range from complex data handling to control high end tools down to programming simple scripts for backup or data transfer purposes. The post may not be associated with or required to support all this variety, but an interest and enthusiasm in computing at all levels is desirable, to understand the needs of the JWNC in as great a depth as possible.

Terms and Conditions

Salary will be Grade 6, £32,332 - £36,024 per annum.

This post is full time (35 hours per week) and open ended (permanent).

As part of Team UofG you will be a member of a world changing, inclusive community, which values ambition, excellence, integrity and curiosity.

As a valued member of our team, you can expect:

1 A warm welcoming and engaging organisational culture, where your talents are developed and nurtured, and success is celebrated and shared.

3 A flexible approach to working.

We believe that we can only reach our full potential through the talents of all. Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of our values. Applications are particularly welcome from across our communities and in particular people from the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) community, and other protected characteristics who are under-represented within the University. Read more on how the University promotes and embeds all aspects of equality and diversity within our community

https://www.gla.ac.uk/myglasgow/humanresources/equalitydiversity/

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