Front End Software Developer

• Contract start 10 Jan 2022 To 30 Jun 23, 2x12 months extensions.
• Eligible work visa, Canberra or offsite

Send your responses to [email protected]

Overview

The Director of National Parks requires a software developer to work with the Biodiversity Informatics team to build websites for the Australian National Species List. We require a developer with demonstrated prior experience using frontend frameworks (e.g. React, Next.js, Vue.js, Rails etc) and sourcing data from the backend via API (GraphQL and REST) to build high-quality user interfaces.

An initial 6/7-month contract (full/part time) is available for immediate start, with the possibility to extend for 12/24 months.

About the Project

1. Purpose

The Australian National Species List Website project will deliver high-quality online user interfaces to taxonomic and descriptive information about Australias unique plants, animals, fungi and other living things.

1. Context

Background: The Australian National Species List (auNSL) provides an authoritative source of information about the naming and classification of Australias unique plants, animals, fungi and other living things. The auNSL is a key resource supporting the management and conservation of, and research on, Australias biodiversity. Data from the auNSL supports a range of national biodiversity data infrastructures including the Atlas of Living Australia, the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network, and the Biodiversity Data Repository. The auNSL runs on dedicated software infrastructure built and maintained by the Biodiversity Informatics team within the Biodiversity Conservation & Knowledge section of Parks Australia as part of the Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research (CANBR) a joint agreement with CSIRO.

Environment: The Australian National Species List infrastructure (NSLi) is delivered via an AWS cloud environment. The NSLi is built on a PostgreSQL database, has a data entry interface (Rails), and provides machine access through GraphQL and REST APIs delivered via Hasura as JSON.

Assumptions: The software developer will work with the Biodiversity Informatics team under the direction of the team manager. The user-interface will be built using a suitable frontend framework (e.g. React, Next.js, Vue.js, Rails etc) and containerised for deployment (ECS, Fargate). auNSL data will be integrated into the frontend via the GraphQL and REST APIs. An open-source headless CMS (e.g. strapi) will be implemented for descriptive information and other display assets to be used on the webpages. At the end of the engagement the Biodiversity Informatics team will be able to take on the further development and maintenance of the delivered infrastructure.

Scope: The software developer will contribute to building the frontend to the Australian National Species List and implementing a headless CMS and API integration for search and data services.

Constraints: The user interface must meet the Digital Transformation Agencys Digital Service Standard including for accessibility, security, and quality.

Every application requires to address selection criteria as part of application submission

Essential Criteria

1.Demonstrated prior experience building high-quality user interfaces for the web using the indicated technologies. Supporting evidence to include URLs for previous projects and code repository with examples.70 %

2.Experience using version control software such as git for source code management.10 %

3.Experience using GraphQL and REST APIs to source page data.10 %

4.Experience with performance optimisation and SEO using SSG, SSR and/or ISR (incremental static regeneration) or equivalent.10 %

Desirable criteria

1.Experience implementing an open-source headless CMS.

2.Experience with containerised deployment in an AWS cloud environment.

3.Experience applying website design principles.

4.Knowledge of the biodiversity taxonomy domain.