Sr. Application Developer

TITLE: Sr. Application Developer

DEPARTMENT: Technology

REPORTS TO: Director of Application Development

STATUS: Full-time, Exempt

SALARY: $100,000 - $120,000

LOCATION: Chicago, IL. - Hybrid

POSITION OVERVIEW: The Senior Application Developer collaborates with developers, designers, the Digital Product Manager, and the Director of Application Development to develop and maintain Shedd Aquarium’s website and other applications across its product portfolio.

This experienced full-stack developer designs and develops back-end databases and implements new front-end features and enhancements. As an active member of the Scrum team, the Senior Application Developer contributes to planning, reviews work in progress and helps shape future sprints. The role also leads projects by providing technical recommendations, requirements and solution designs.

With a growth mindset and positive approach to challenges, the Senior Application Developer actively pursues opportunities to learn and grow. This role builds strong partnerships across the organization through active listening, clear communication, and effective collaboration.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. Other duties may be assigned. To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

• Demonstrate commitment to Shedd’s vision, mission and values.
• Develop and maintain Shedd Aquarium’s website codebase using Ruby on Rails, PostgreSQL, React and other software libraries.
• Work closely with team members to translate business requirements into scalable technical designs, requirements, user stories and implementation plans.
• Develop intuitive and accessible web interfaces in coordination with UI/UX designers and accessibility specialists.
• Apply and promote engineering best practices for reliability, scalability, observability, security and maintainability.
• Participate in peer reviews, code reviews, design reviews and architecture discussions.
• Develop and maintain unit tests, integration tests, regression tests and other automated quality checks.
• Perform manual testing on new features and enhancements.
• Diagnose and resolve defects, integration failures, performance issues and production-support concerns.
• Support sprint planning, backlog refinement, daily standups, demonstrations, retrospectives and other Scrum related activities.
• Provide accurate estimates and identify technical risks, dependencies, assumptions and implementation constraints.
• Support application modernization, refactoring, technical-debt reduction and replacement of obsolete components.
• Support development of .NET/C# application and other web applications as needed.
• Build API solutions, define service contracts, payload schemas and OpenAPI/Swagger specifications.
• Contribute throughout the software lifecycle, including deployment, monitoring, support and documentation.
• Develop and maintain technical documentation on new and existing features.
• Support continuous integration and continuous delivery pipelines.
• Ensure successful delivery of customer-focused products with a product ownership mindset.
• Use approved version-control practices, including branching, merging, pull requests, tagging and release management.
• Evaluate emerging technology and AI trends to inform solution design, architectural standards and strategic system modernization.
• Leverage approved AI tools and technologies (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Microsoft Copilot) to streamline workflows, automate tasks, improve code quality, and enhance engineering delivery efficiency.
• Other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS: The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

Education: Any combination of education and training equivalent to a bachelor's degree which demonstrates the ability to perform the duties and responsibilities as described; advanced coursework in computer technology field is desirable.

Experience:

• 5+ years of experience developing full-stack web applications using Ruby on Rails, React, Node.js and relational database systems.
• Experience with modern JavaScript or TypeScript frameworks and component-based front-end development.
• Experience designing and implementing RESTful APIs, web services, asynchronous integrations, or event-driven services.
• 2+ years designing high-level system architectures and developing technical specifications.
• Experience maintaining web applications over time, upgrading various components in the Ruby/Rails/React/Node stack and addressing breaking changes.
• Experience building mobile-first responsive websites.
• Working knowledge of quality assurance methodologies and tools, including load/performance, security, end-to-end/regression testing.
• Experience using the Cypress test automation framework preferred.
• Working knowledge of technology infrastructure, hosting architecture, DevOps practices and tools.
• Working knowledge of project management and software development methodologies, including Agile/Scrum.
• Working knowledge of business analysis and user experience best practices, methods, and tools.
• Ability to work collaboratively across teams with different roles and expertise.
• Ability to manage relationships, understand incentives, and think creatively to solve business problems.
• Experience with C#, .NET is preferred.
• Experience developing applications with additional web frameworks is preferred.
• Self-starter with strong self-management skills
• Ability to organize and manage multiple priorities
• Willingness to adapt and learn new skills

BENEFITS OF WORKING AT SHEDD: We offer competitive compensation packages and opportunities for professional growth within our organization.

• Medical Insurance, including FSA and HSA plan options
• Vision and Dental Insurance
• Accrued Paid Time Off
• Up to 12 Paid Holidays
• Life Insurance
• Parental Leave and Adoption Assistance
• 401(k)
• Discounted Parking and Public Transit Subsidies
• Employee Assistance Program
• Employee Wellness program, including Preventive Care Incentive
• Employee Discounts
• Employee Tickets

Reasonable Accommodations:

Shedd Aquarium is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with disabilities. If you need reasonable accommodations for any part of the employment process, please email us at jobs@sheddaquarium.org.

We strongly encourage people of color, LGBTQ+ community, veterans and active duty military, parents, individuals with disabilities, and individuals from all cultural backgrounds to apply. Shedd Aquarium is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes everyone to our team.