Senior Full

We are hiring a Senior Full-Stack Developer: Centre for Collective Intelligence Overview

The Centre for Collective Intelligence is pioneering new ways to engage the public at scale to address society's most pressing challenges. Currently incubated within Nesta, we are transitioning into an independent organisation over the next few years, to scale our impact globally.

Our mission is to transform the way society collaborates by breaking down barriers to participation, reimagining civic engagement, and rebuilding trust between people and institutions. We use technology, AI, arts and design to scale public engagement. We want to make it faster, more inclusive, more engaging and more impactful. We design digital tools and deliberative engagements that help public and voluntary sector institutions build trust and collaborate with citizens on the issues that matter - from tackling the climate crisis and living healthy lives to deciding how technology should be used and governed .

The role

Nesta is looking for a senior full-stack developer with confidence using a wide range of technologies. The Centre for Collective Intelligence specialises in deliberative workshops, and delivers these (amongst other collective intelligence initiatives) for partners and clients.

The Centre for Collective Intelligence has developed an internal tool, called Zeitgeist, that delivers live, facilitated, small group deliberative workshops for in person and remote engagements. Your role will involve the maintenance of, and development of new features and AI integrations for, Zeitgeist, alongside other responsibilities.

The development team currently follows common agile delivery practices for software development, and interacts with client projects that use Zeitgeist (not necessarily following agile practices).

• Quarterly product alignment workshops to plan work in support of business development, the team's needs, and product maintenance
• Estimating and meeting feature delivery deadlines
• Estimating and meeting content implementation deadlines
• Managing CCI's security profile and holding quarterly threat model reviews
• Keeping our data protection guidance and DPIA up to date
• Managing key hardware (tablets and a few laptops) for in person engagements
• Creatively using technologies at our disposal to support other team members, projects, and activities that CCI engage in
• Maintaining and managing the development team day to day processes
• Supporting growth and learning for your development team and, where applicable, the wider team
• Business development activities, providing technical input to bids and documentation
• Line management of 1 developer on your team
• As the most technical person working on the product you will also be customer facing, at times, representing the product's capabilities.

You will be working with our current developer who can show you the ropes, and has a good working knowledge of Zeitgeist.

Nesta has supportive communities of practice, including technologists and software developers as well as designers, researchers, and data scientists, to draw on when solving difficult problems.

You

It's unlikely that you'll have experience of all the technologies outlined below, but you should have worked with a cloud based infrastructure (ideally AWS), and front end technologies (ideally React). Familiarity with at least one of the key languages we are using (ie. C# or Typescript) will set you up for success. You are a good all rounder, with confidence to pick up what you need from technical documentation and self guided learning.

You'll have a flexible, adaptable approach to using a range of different technologies to solve problems using the right tools for each job, depending on the circumstances.

A curiosity about how to harness the power of collective intelligence for social good through new products and technologies is desirable.

Your experience

• 5+ years experience in full stack software development
• Ability to produce rapid prototypes, with a flexible approach and ability in using a range of technologies
• Cloud based technology (ideally AWS)
• Frontend development (ideally React with Typescript)
• One or more of the core languages we're using (C#, Typescript)
• Relational databases (mandatory), other database types (desirable)
• Demonstrable experience of using agile project methodologies, and test driven development
• A BSc, or MSc in computer science, engineering, or related discipline or at least five years' relevant experience in industry
• Demonstrated ability to work on technical tasks independently, with minimal support
• Excellent time management, and able to manage multiple projects and competing priorities
• Ability to receive, give, and act on feedback
• A self starter with a curious and open mindset, a willingness to learn from and with others, and ability to carry out self directed research and learning
• An interest in developing or integrating AI tools and functionality
• A motivation to tackle social problems, and a personal commitment to the principles of data justice and community empowerment

Zeitgeist delivers a workshop experience where each participant is shown the same view. The software uses a slide deck metaphor for its key UI. Each slide can contain interactive content that participants can use to answer questions, see group results, or view static stimuli such as videos, graphics, and text. For remote engagements, an embedded video call is integrated with the slide view, allowing participants to do everything they need to do without switching between applications.

In a separate interface, a facilitator manages the workshop. They are given controls to select the current slide, manage participants, and view completion information for each question.

Zeitgeist is built using a number of core technologies that you will be expected to have some knowledge of, experience of, or sufficient aptitude with equivalent technologies, so that you can pick up and work with them.

Backend technologies

• AWS serverless Lambda functions (a combination of C# and Typescript)
• AWS Relational Database Service (RDS, PostgreSQL)
• AWS DynamoDB database tables
• AWS API Gateway (for API Lambdas, and WSS connections)
• AWS S3 (for storage of workshop content, recordings, transcriptions)
• AWS Chime API for video call management
• AWS SAM / CloudFormation (infrastructure as code)
• GitHub Actions (deployment)

Frontend technologies

• React with Typescript
• Material UI (MUI) for the bulk of the user interface
• AWS Chime SDK for embedded video calls
• RevealJS for the slide deck UI

You will also be confident with

• GitHub and the git CLI
• Testing frameworks (we are using MSTest, and jest)
• SQL, JSON, XML

Some familiarity with these technologies will also be helpful

• Docker (containerisation)

What we offer

Salary: circa £75,000, plus an array of benefits, including private medical insurance, dental insurance, the ability to buy and sell annual leave, eyecare vouchers and more

Location: This role is based in Blackfriars, London, hybrid working arrangement with a minimum of two days in the office

Term: Permanent

Hours: Full time (37.5 hours a week) - negotiable, open to four days/flexible hours for the right candidate

At Nesta, we believe that a diverse workforce leads to an organisation that is more innovative, more creative and gets better results.

We want our workforce to represent the diversity of the people and communities we serve. We also want our workplace to be one where different experiences, expertise and perspectives are valued, and where everyone is encouraged to grow and develop.

This means that when we are recruiting, we actively seek to reach a diverse pool of candidates. It also means that we are happy to consider any reasonable adjustments that potential employees may need to in order to be successful.

We recognise the importance between work and home life, so we do everything we can to accommodate flexible working, including working from home, compressed or part time hours, job shares and other arrangements.

Please just let us know in your application or at any stage throughout the process (and beyond) if these are options you'd like to explore.