Senior Developer Full Time

Conservation Software Developer – Ruby on Rails / Javascript

Location: Cambridge, flexible – quarterly office visits, maybe fully remote.

Salary:  Up to £44K (+12% pension, healthcare and more)

Biodiversity is taking a beating at the hands of human expansion.

There’s lots of ways technology can be utilised to help, rather than hinder, nature and our environment to prevent mass extinctions and nature loss.

This organisation work with of governments, institutes, companies and orgs globally to build and implement solutions that improve outcomes.

From maintaining critical databases and expanding data services to deliver detailed insights and modelling. Or building tools for niche purposes, such as utilising remote sensors to track growth of reforestation and using Geographic Information Systems to improve planning efficiency.

Governments are scrambling to understand how valuable biodiversity is and how it intersects with their economic plans, questioning whether a diverse forest is more commercially or socially valuable than an oil rig or palm-oil plantation? How do you even measure that?

The aim [of the organisation] is to be more proactive in creating software and services that others can use and feed into to better deliver on their goals.

That means being more proactive in delivering software, websites, mobile apps and coaching or supporting their somewhat junior team to avoid technical debt and reach go-live for various projects on time, enabling people to make the change that’s needed.

A lot of their projects have geospatial and mapping elements, so experience with GIS tools and PostgreSQL is handy. Their software is built with Ruby on Rails and Javascript, VueJS and Nuxt specifically, so experience with one of those is a must.

They also use Python, MySQL, GraphQL MapBox, Esri and Github, working in an Agile environment

As a senior dev you’ll have a small team of 2-6 people whom you support, depending on your preferences, coaching them and doing code reviews, pair programming and testing so they can see and learn from how you and others tackle problems.

You’ll get involved in some more complex tasks like discussions on architecture and tooling, estimations for projects and assigning tasks within your team.

They’ll support you in your development, too. It’s not just about what you can give, they’ll ask what you need to progress too. Whether that’s paying for courses, textbooks, conference tickets – if you think of it, they’ll consider it, genuinely.

You’ll facilitate tangible benefits for economies and social progress that in the longer-term will reduce our dependency on problematic resources such as fossil fuels!

Ideally, you’ll be a fullstack developer but a front or backend focus is fine too.

You’ll work with scientists and researchers and all kinds of interesting stakeholders to design, build and implement tools. The people here are exceptionally passionate so will chart their own path where possible. You’ll facilitate some of that and be able to do the same.

If you’re serious about saving our planet this is definitely a role you should apply for.

What are you waiting for?