REF Lead Developer

REF Lead Developer

Salary: £54,043 to £60,049 per annum (dependent on skills and experience). 
Hours: Full time  
Contract Type: Fixed Term (Concluding March 2029)  
Location: Bristol (flexible working) 
Closing Date: 14 Jan 2024

About the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is the system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions, with the most recent exercise concluding in 2021. It is a peer review assessment process involving submissions from higher education institutions across the UK.  Research England delivered REF 2021 on behalf of the four UK funding bodies and the results have driven the annual distribution of approximately £2 billion of research funding to UK universities.  

Purpose of the role 

An exciting opportunity to lead and shape the design, development, and delivery of the UK’s next research assessment exercise. We require systems to be delivered to support: 

• Administration of the exercise 
• The submission of large volumes of research data from all participating HEIs 
• The dissemination and assessment of all elements of the research data submitted. 

Working in an agile development team following a user centered design approach.  We require passionate and innovative full-stack developers working with a combination of bespoke software and off the shelf products to produce a robust, accessible, and performant suite of systems to support the exercise over the next 5 years. 

About you 

A leader and a mentor, your team will be made up of developers who you will be able to coach and mentor to increase resilience within the team. 

Previous experience of working in a user centered design framework is desirable and ability to balance user needs with technical implementation is a must. 

As a lead developer you will be expected to have skills at the cutting edge of technology and capacity for continuous improvement.  Working with both bespoke developments and integrating with existing infrastructure and architectures within the wider organisational environment.

Key responsibilities 

• Assist in the recruitment of other delivery team members to ensure completion of all required systems and milestones for this 5½-year programme. 
• Collaborate closely with 2nd delivery workstream to ensure REF systems are cohesive. 
• Lead on the implementation of the REF systems ensuring systems are secure and accessible. 
• Work within team’s agile framework contributing to the continuous improvement. 
• Ensure the development teams work to high standards, implementing shared coding standards and code reviews. 
• Collaborate with whole REF systems team to ensure that systems design and delivery is led by key REF guidance, liaising closely with the Head of systems architecture and delivery. 
• Ensure that development is kept on track to meet required deadlines. 

Shortlisting criteria

• Extensive experience working in a cloud-based development environment (AWS and Azure). 
• Highly experienced working with complex data models. 
• Experience of developing robust batch processing engines with performance and stability at the core. 
• Experience of developing secure systems ensuring data is always protected. 
• Experienced in delivering WCAG2.1 compliant systems, embedding accessibility in all deliverables. 

In return, UKRI can offer the successful candidate:

– Flexible Working      

– 30 days annual leave + Public Holidays      

– Access to Civil Service Pension Scheme       

– Various everyday discounts through our dedicated provider

Job contact :

• Name : Recruitment@ukri.org
• Email : Recruitment@ukri.org

Recruitment team

• Email : Recruitment@ukri.org