Senior Application Developer (Student Applications) - IT Solutions

Senior Application Developer (Student Applications)

The Senior Application Developer is responsible for supporting the university's student applications including on-premises, custom written, and cloud-based applications. The position will conduct system analysis; design, code, test, and deploy applications and application customizations, enhancements, workflows, and interfaces; and perform general system maintenance, troubleshooting, and support. Additionally, the Senior Application Developer is expected to contribute to and help guide the university's enterprise application architecture and serve as a mentor and technical leader for their team. As a member of the IT Solutions team, the Senior Application Developer is expected to uphold the division's mission to "empower an agile, digital university and elevate technology as a strategic institutional asset" and contribute positively to a collaborative, human-centered, innovative, accountable, transparent, and inclusive culture within ITS.

Reports to: Depending on domain expertise Associate Director of Integration, Analytics & Web Services; Manager of Digital Workplace Applications; or Senior Manager of Student-Centered Applications

Supervises: No supervisory responsibilities

Application Development and Support (75%)

• Uses accepted application development and project planning methods to design, develop, test, implement, maintain, and support the university's major enterprise information systems, interfaces, and related applications.
• Assists in the evaluation, selection, and implementation of new software systems and services, whether hosted onsite, custom developed, or provided as a cloud service.
• In collaboration with university partners, develops and/or reviews functional requirements and recommends technical solutions that reflect modern application development practices and maximize software capabilities, process efficiency, and user experience.
• Writes and maintains clear technical specifications and documentation, and provides training to users and technical support staff, as appropriate.
• Participates in system testing during software and infrastructure upgrade cycles, following test plans and documenting results.
• Performs routine system administration tasks as needed, including monitoring operations and performance.
• Provides high quality and timely application support, including responding to incident/ problem tickets and troubleshooting errors and issues with university enterprise systems.
• Works closely with product experience owners and project managers through all phases of software development lifecycle (SDLC) to ensure user experience design methodologies are included in software development.
• Serves as a liaison between system users and vendors to manage issues through to final resolution.

Technical Architecture and Leadership (15%)

• Develops an in-depth understanding of the architecture of the university's enterprise ecosystem and core systems, including the functions and relationships of various subsystems, modules, and underlying data models.
• Researches, recommends, and pilots innovations in the technical architecture of enterprise systems, including leading or participating in projects, as assigned.
• Trains and mentors other Application Developers in their area.
• Maintains the team's documentation repository, takes a lead role in documenting code and common support procedures, and encourages and facilitates cross-training.
• Stays current with emerging trends and advances in administrative computing that may have relevance to the university's evolving needs and goals. Proactively educates other team members on findings and new insights.
• Continuously evaluates internal processes, procedures, practices, and standards and proactively proposes changes to bring greater efficiencies.

Participation & Support (10%)

• Maintains awareness of current practices and future trends in enterprise application architecture, agile methodologies, and application development technology and best practices.
• Represents IT Solutions and participates in the campus community by serving on working groups, project teams, and university committees.
• Performs other duties as requested.

Education: Bachelor's degree required. Additional job-related experience may substitute for the required education on a year-for-year basis.

Experience: 8+ years of hands-on experience in Ellucian Colleague SIS, Oracle Student Financial Aid or equivalent student systems. Additional job-related education may substitute for the required experience on a year-for-year basis.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities - The following are essential:

• Ability to maintain the security and integrity of the infrastructure.
• Experience developing and maintaining applications in more than one of the following domains of knowledge: Ellucian Colleague SIS, Oracle Student Financial Aid, Object-Oriented Programming (Java or C#), Web application development, Application-as-a-Service development (SaaS), Mobile application development.
• In-depth knowledge of relational database concepts and design principles, and hands-on development experience using SQL, PL/SQL, and/or NoSQL.
• Strong working knowledge of the software development lifecycle and agile methodologies.
• Strong written and oral communication skills (including ability to present ideas in user-friendly, business-friendly and technical language) and interpersonal skills with a focus on rapport-building, listening and questioning skills.
• Proven analytical and problem-solving abilities, including ability to anticipate, identify, and solve critical problems.
• Ability to build effective relationships and strong commitment to working collegially and collaboratively with constituents at all levels in a diverse and distributed environment.
• Ability to use a personal computer and other office equipment, including related university software and email.

Additional/Desirable Skills & Abilities

• Extensive experience with writing and using Application Programming Interfaces (API)s in application development.
• Familiarity with the Unix and/or Linux operating systems, including the file system and basic commands and utilities.
• Deep understanding of issues surrounding data security and best practices for balancing availability with security.
• Experience in a higher education setting.
• Familiarity with Texas Administrative Code (TAC 202).

Physical Demands

The physical demands described in the Essential Duties and below are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential duties of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential duties. The employee may be required to travel.

Work Environment

All employees are responsible for maintaining an environment that is free from discrimination, intimidation, harassment, including sexual harassment. Work is normally performed in a typical interior work environment.

Safety

TWU promotes a safe working environment. Employees are responsible for completing assigned tasks safely and efficiently, and supervisors are responsible for creating and maintaining a safe work environment. Employees must report any unsafe work conditions or practices, as well as any near-miss incidents, to their supervisor and Risk Management. Supervisors and employees should ensure that injury/accident reports are submitted to the Office of Human Resources and Risk Management within 24 hours of the incident.

Texas Woman's University, an AA/EEO employer, provides equal opportunity to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, or any other legally protected category, class or characteristic. All offers of employment will be contingent on the candidate's ability to provide documents which establish proof of identity and eligibility to work in the United States. Positions at Texas Woman's University deemed security-sensitive require background checks and verification of all academic credentials.