Senior Drupal Developer

UCAS is at the heart of connecting people to higher education and supporting our customers on their journey. 

UCAS is the world’s leading shared admissions service for higher education. We provide application services for UK universities and colleges as well as delivering a wide range of research, consultancy and advisory services to schools, colleges, careers services, professional bodies and employers.

We’re a successful and fast-growing organisation, which helps hundreds of thousands of people every year. We're committed to delivering a first-class service to all of our customers, they're at the heart of everything we do.

The Digital Services business unit is at the heart of UCAS’ technical innovation, data and infrastructure. It focuses on leveraging data science, technology, and enterprise architecture to enhance UCAS' digital products and services. The unit is dedicated to developing and improving customer-centric digital solutions, ensuring seamless and secure online experiences for all users. By providing insightful data and analysis, often made available to anyone with free-to-use intuitive dashboard, Digital Services empowers the Higher Education sector and those interested in the sector with valuable information to make informed decisions. By working in collaborative, expert led, multi-disciplinary teams, Digital Services drives UCAS’ mission to connect students with their next opportunities through advanced technological solutions.

We're on the look-out for a Senior Drupal Developer to join our self-managing, agile team within the Product Engineering unit where you’ll drive developments which enhance the user experience for over one million students looking to go into further and higher education every year. You’ll take a proactive approach in development of services for our customers, as well as identifying and resolving issues, and working closely with all stakeholders to help define requirements, and to provide technical input. You will be passionate about the production of high quality, reusable, and extensible code, and will champion this amongst the team, encouraging high development standards and practices. The role would be expected to take an active interest in all technologies used at UCAS, how they can be used to improve customer experience, and the effectiveness of the team.


Core requirements:

• Experience developing and maintaining websites using PHP and Drupal

• Ability to gather, challenge and document requirements with stakeholders

• Strong knowledge of web development standards, HTML5, JavaScript and accessibility

• Experience testing, deploying and supporting web applications and infrastructure

• Understanding of web servers, databases, caching solutions and application management

• Ability to produce technical documentation and collaborate across technical and non-technical teams

• Committed to quality assurance, continuous improvement and adopting new technologies.

Skills, qualifications, and experience: 

• Substantial experience of working in a development environment

• Experience of working with - Object-oriented MVC development patterns / JavaScript / HTML 5/ Drupal 10+/ Drush/ Twig / Composer package management/ git, git flow, git merge, git subtree/ AMP stack/ Apache configuration and administration / PhpUnit, Behat, linux, WSL, Playwright PHP CodeSniffer, ESLint, stylelint / Jetbrains PhpStorm / xdebug

• Ability to extract and translate user/stakeholder requirements into suitable documentation and to communicate with colleagues clearly and without unnecessary jargon

• Excellent understanding of functional requirements frameworks and concepts with good analytical and problem-solving skills

• Experience of delivering within an agile environment

• Comfortable working in a dynamic, large-scale, agile change initiative with multiple technologies 

• An interest and a willingness to learn and develop skills in new technology outside of their direct role. 
  
  

(For more insight into the role, please see attached JD.)

Fixed Term Contract - 18 months / Salary £55,000 + below benefits and a fantastic work environment

• Purpose-driven work in a charity-led organisation connecting people to education and opportunity

• Internal training, mentoring, and access to industry-recognised certifications through our development academies

• Hybrid working model built on trust and flexibility, with a 35-hour week and flexible contracts

• 30 days annual leave, 3 concessionary days over Christmas, bank holidays, and the option to purchase additional leave

• Everyday wellbeing support through Perkbox, offering discounts and wellness tools

• Onsite facilities including a subsidised gym, café, and free parking at our Cheltenham office

• Inclusive culture supported by employee networks, wellbeing champions, and Mental Health First Aiders

• Recognition and reward through our quarterly employee scheme and an ex-gratia bonus for going above and beyond