OCTO Web Developer Master

Job Description

Job Description

OCTO requires the services of a contractor Web Developer with strong Drupal expertise to support the development, maintenance, and modernization of District government websites, including DC.gov and associated agency digital properties. 

Design, develop, and maintain Drupal-based websites supporting DC.gov and District agency platforms.
• Build and customize Drupal modules, themes, content types, taxonomies, and views per agency requirements.
• Perform Drupal core and contributed module updates, security patches, and version migrations (e.g., Drupal 7 to Drupal 10/11).
• Integrate Drupal sites with enterprise systems, APIs, and third-party services.
• Ensure deliverables comply with Section 508, WCAG 2.1 AA, and District web standards.
• Apply web security best practices consistent with OCTO and federal cybersecurity guidelines.
• Collaborate with OCTO project managers, UX designers, content strategists, and agency stakeholders.
• Produce technical documentation, code comments, and operational runbooks.
• Provide Tier 3 production support and participate in deployment activities, including occasional after-hours work.

Required Technical Skills
HTML & Markup
• Strong command of semantic HTML5: sectioning elements, headings hierarchy, lists, tables, and forms.
• Solid grasp of web accessibility (WCAG 2.1 AA): ARIA roles and attributes, keyboard navigation, focus management, alt text, and accessible form labeling.
• Familiarity with structured data and SEO markup: meta tags, Open Graph, Twitter cards, and Schema.org/JSON-LD.
• Understanding of how Drupal renders markup through Twig, and the ability to produce clean, valid output via template overrides.
CSS & Styling
• Deep working knowledge of modern CSS layout: Flexbox and CSS Grid, with sound judgment about when to use each.
• Proficiency with responsive design: media queries, fluid typography, container queries, and mobile-first methodology.
• Command of the cascade, specificity, and inheritance, with the ability to debug specificity conflicts rather than reaching for !important
• Comfort with CSS custom properties (variables), modern color/spacing tokens, and maintainable theming patterns.
• Awareness of cross-browser compatibility, vendor prefixing strategy, and progressive enhancement.
Nice to Have
◦ Strong SCSS/SASS skills: nesting, mixins, functions, partials, and a disciplined file architecture.
◦ A consistent CSS methodology such as BEM, and an understanding of how it maps onto Drupal's class conventions.
◦ Familiarity with CSS transitions, transforms, and animations, used with attention to performance and reduced-motion preferences.
JavaScript
• Solid command of modern JavaScript (ES6+): arrow functions, destructuring, modules, promises, and async/await.
• Strong DOM manipulation and event-handling skills, including event delegation and performance-conscious listeners.
• Fluency with the Fetch API and asynchronous data handling, including JSON parsing and error handling.
• Working knowledge of Drupal's JavaScript layer: Drupal.behaviors, once(), drupalSettings, and the AJAX framework
• Understanding of how to attach and scope JS correctly through the Libraries API rather than inline scripts.
• Familiarity with debugging via browser DevTools: breakpoints, the network panel, performance profiling, and the console.
Nice to Have
◦ Awareness of frontend performance: deferring/async loading, minimizing reflows, debouncing/throttling, and avoiding render-blocking scripts.
◦ Experience with a build/tooling pipeline (Webpack, Vite, or Gulp) and with linting/formatting (ESLint, Prettier, Stylelint).
◦ Exposure to a modern framework (React/Vue) is a plus, particularly for decoupled or partially decoupled Drupal frontends.
Drupal•