The Chicago Architecture Foundation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing public interest and education in architecture and design. The Chicago Architecture Foundation presents a comprehensive program of tours, exhibitions, lectures, special events, and adult and youth education activities, all designed to enhance the public’s awareness and appreciation of Chicago’s outstanding architectural legacy.

The Chicago Architecture Foundation seeks a talented Web Developer to serve as the primary resource responsible for back-end development and technical maintenance of CAF’s expanding suite of public-facing digital properties including web, mobile, in-gallery interactives, and e-commerce. CAF has recently established an institutional digital strategy, and this role will be important in supporting the growth and stability of CAF’s digital presence.

Ideal candidates should be passionate about working in a non-profit environment and contributing to a mission-focused organization. They will be fluent in modern web development methods, proficient with web-based content management systems and have experience customizing the functionality of these systems based on organizational needs.

We seek an innovative, flexible, and self-directed developer who is excited to join a growing digital team. They should show a willingness to share, discuss, and brainstorm ideas; and enjoy writing code, solving problems and working/communicating with other team members. We will expect this person to work with us to establish a sustainable, forward-thinking approach to web development for our organization.

CORE OVERALL RESPONSIBILITIES
● Provide primary technical and development support for CAF’s core digital properties: architecture.org, discoverdesign.org, openhousechicago.org, bigdata.architecture.org
● Provide supplementary technical and development support for: shop.architecture.org (vendor-hosted), tickets.architecture.org (vendor-hosted), aaonetwork.org, volunteers.architecture.org (system TBD), e-communications system (TBD)
● Guide CAF toward a more agile development approach by developing and releasing new features on existing properties.
● Work extensively with PHP-based Content Management System. Maintain the existing modules and plug-ins, and create new functionality when necessary.
● Maintain and interface with existing MySQL databases.

DEVELOPMENT AND ONGOING MAINTENANCE
● Ongoing feature development on all “foundational” public-facing digital properties
● Day-to-day troubleshooting of content management system, e-commerce system, and e-communications system technical issues
● Monitor and execute software patches and security updates on all public-facing web properties
● Install and monitor advanced analytics and conversion tracking on general and e-commerce web properties
● Work with marketing department to optimize websites for SEO (site map submission, crawler view analysis)
● Work with APIs to connecting various CAF web software products into a network of systems
● Set up GIT version control, source code structure and workflow standards for all public-facing digital properties
● Documentation of CAF hosting and development practices for all digital properties

DEVELOPMENT OPERATIONS, DOMAIN NAME MANAGEMENT
● Serve as main liaison with web hosting vendors (Rackspace, MediaTemple)
● Review site/server performance ongoing and making server adjustments as needed
● Work with managed hosting partner to set up hosting for any new properties
● Manage the annual openhousechicago.org site server scale-up for traffic increases
● DNS (domain name) management

• Bachelors degree
• At least 5 years of experience working with LAMP stack technologies with an emphasis on PHP and MySQL expertise
• High proficiency with web technologies: HTML, CSS, Javascript
• Familiarity with jQuery Javascript framework
• Experience with PHP-based content management software
• Knowledge of object-oriented development
• Experience using Git version control system
• Strong knowledge of contemporary online best practices and a dedication to producing standards compliant, accessible code
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to multi-task and work under deadline pressures while maintaining a great attention to detail
• Ability to manage and collaborate with outside vendors and design and development partners
• Understanding of design concepts like Responsive Web Design and grid systems
• Creativity

Chicago Architecture Foundation is an Equal Opportunity Employer.