If you are a Ruby developer and like to know you are making a meaningful contribution, CLOSER may have the perfect role for you.
Longitudinal studies track the same people throughout their lives, helping us understand how life in the UK is changing. CLOSER is enabling researchers worldwide to get the most out of these valuable studies.
One of our main areas of work is the “Metadata and Data Enhancement” project. We are enhancing metadata and data for longitudinal studies in many different ways, including the creation of a modern search engine (CLOSER Discovery) and database (CLOSER Repository) to hold the metadata of CLOSER’s studies. In order to curate, validate and manage the large-scale metadata involved in creating Discovery, CLOSER has created several bespoke tools. The biggest and most comprehensive tool CLOSER has created is Archivist, a multipurpose DDI-3.2 compliant tool.
Archivist is a web-app developed using Ruby on Rails 5 and Angular 1.5 in order to create an efficient and simple user-experience for entering and manipulating study metadata. As with all software developed by CLOSER, Archivist is open-source and provides detailed tutorials for users to encourage other organisations and universities to use Archivist to manage their DDI-3.2 metadata.
To expand Archivist’s functionality and further support the studies in the CLOSER consortium, we need a full-stack developer to take a lead position developing new features. If you are the kind of person who is good at long term thinking, likes design considerations and wants a touch of creative problem solving, but does not want to give up the hands on work of being an engineer, this role is for you. All staff at CLOSER are encouraged to share their ideas and think as creatively as possible while pursuing our mission of “maximising the use, value and impact of the UK’s longitudinal studies, both at home and abroad”.
CLOSER’s day-to-day environment feels most like a start-up, with a core team of 10-15 staff and a dynamic work style, but with the added benefits that come from being part of London’s biggest university.
If you want to get a better picture of what you could be working on with CLOSER, please do not hesitate to email our Technical Manager, Will Poynter.
Job advert: click here