Senior Developer

Common Sense (commonsense.org) is the nation's leading nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of all kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in the 21st century.

Every day, millions of families turn to Common Sense for trusted advice and unbiased ratings. We offer the largest library of independent, age-based, and educational ratings and reviews for everything your kids want to watch, play, read, and learn. Our movie and TV ratings are available on Target.com, Xfinity, Apple TV, and many other partner platforms helping families make smart media choices. Through our schools program, we provide educators with a curriculum that teaches the essential digital citizenship and literacy skills every student needs to succeed. We also work with policymakers, industry leaders, and concerned parents, caregivers, and teachers to improve the media and education landscape for kids, families, and schools.

We are currently seeking an experienced full-stack engineer with strong front-end skills to join a team of developers, QA engineers, product managers, and UX designers who work closely with UI designers led by a creative director. This role will help build and maintain all things client-facing and will help translate our organization and customer needs into functionally seamless and appealing interactive applications. Creating a great user experience is a focal point of this role, and the ideal candidate is curious about new digital technologies and stays abreast of coding best practices. There are also likely to be back-end tasks and problems to solve. This role will collaborate with a top-notch team of developers on a feature-rich, responsive site and help build personalized and social site experiences to help connect members with each other and the rest of the world.

EMPLOYMENT TYPE: Full-time, exempt

REPORTS TO: Chief Product & Technology Officer

LOCATION: San Francisco, CA, or remote

Please note: If this role allows for remote work, we will consider applicants for employment in the following states: AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, IL, IN, MA, ME, MI, NC, NE, NM, NY, OH, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX, and WA.

WHAT YOU'LL DO:

You'll be issued a Mac laptop for local development (you may use Linux as well), use GitHub for version control, and work using a Docker instance that emulates servers hosted with Pantheon. We primarily code to Drupal standards and strive toward industry best practices. We also use the latest API-driven methodologies embraced by Drupal 9 and frameworks such as React. Our engineers take pride and ownership in our projects, working closely with the product team and other stakeholders to build user experiences that are reliable and easily maintained. You'll have your voice heard and will help shape the products you're working on.

You will be working on high-traffic websites that get millions of users/month, including:

• Common Sense Media (www.commonsensemedia.org): The platform that hosts media reviews, tech advice, and more for families.
• Common Sense Education (www.commonsense.org/education): Helps pre-K–12 educators discover and use the best apps and websites for learning. Our team creates classroom teaching materials, professional development trainings, and supporting resources for educators and school administrators who use technology with students.

WHAT WE NEED TO SEE ON YOUR RÉSUMÉ:

• Bachelor's degree and a minimum of 4 years of relevant experience.
• Demonstrated proficiency with writing standards-compliant HTML5 and CSS3.
• Proficiency with JavaScript in a cross-browser, cross-device environment (both jQuery and Vanilla JS).
• Understanding of current front-end and mobile development best practices, including responsive design, touch interfaces, performance optimization, and progressive enhancement.
• Experience working with source control with Git.
• Experience working in a LEMP (or similar) stack with PHP skills.

THE X FACTOR:

• Experience developing in Drupal 8/9 with custom modules and themes for Drupal and TWIG experience.
• Experience with Laravel programming.
• Experience with TDD (test-driven development).
• Two or more years of experience with JavaScript development. Knowledge of one or more front-end frameworks is a plus.
• Knowledge of accessibility best practices.
• Experience using CSS preprocessors such as LESS, SASS, and/or Compass.
• Experience with mobile-first responsive design, leveraging atomic design and brand-specific style guides.
• Work expertise in the Education sector or experience in edtech is a plus.
• Experience with xAPI, SCORM, Google Classroom, and LTI is a plus.
• You are a committed and disciplined team player who communicates effectively with cross-functional teams and writes clear documentation.
• You are inspired by the Common Sense mission to help kids, families, and educators. Working on a project that helps educators holds value for you.
• You are able to work autonomously and are not afraid to ask for help or share your opinion when discussing technical approaches. You are willing to learn new tools and approaches to complex problems.

WHAT WE OFFER:

• Work with passionate professionals.
• Comprehensive health and wellness benefits: medical, dental, vision, and fitness.
• Matching 401(k).
• Work-life balance.
• The opportunity to make a difference in the lives of kids and families!

Common Sense values the diversity of its employees and is an equal opportunity employer. For more information on our values, please visit our statement on diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Common Sense will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. However, job offers are made on the condition that the applicant subsequently passes a criminal background check. If the background check indicates a prior criminal conviction, we will conduct an individualized assessment to determine whether the conviction should result in denial of employment.