Senior Developer

About Portable

We care about people and the world. We seek out areas of social need and policy failure and make transformational change using research design and technology. Our clients are as passionate as we are and are working in government agencies nonprofit organisations and socially-minded businesses.

There are currently 50 of us working as researchers strategists designers technologists and producers towards our mission from our head office in Collingwood and remotely from co-working spaces and homes across Australia.

This role sits in one of our Digital Product teams which is made up of producers designers and developers who care deeply about helping our clients solve interesting problems.

Then theres you!

A Senior Developer who thrives on solving complex technical problems in service of meaningful impact. Youve worked across multiple applications and systems and you bring deep technical expertise (ideally in AWS but other platforms are great too) paired with the flexibility to adapt across a diverse tech stack.

You write clean thoughtful code and know that good development isnt just about building things; its about building the right things the right way in the right context. Youre comfortable navigating a variety of technical environments and bring a solid understanding of architecture performance and modern development practices.

Beyond the code youre a team player. Offering guidance to more junior developers providing constructive feedback during pull requests and collaborating with designers and producers to deliver integrated solutions. You enjoy mentoring but you also know theres always more to learn. Youre curious generous with your knowledge and open to new approaches.

We are looking for someone who:

• Is passionate about solving difficult problems
• Is very experienced with developing and supporting full-stack web applications in node and React (in typescript ideally) and has very strong web fundamentals
• Is ideally comfortable with devOps managing platforms in AWS with terraform or other infrastructure-as-code frameworks
• Has good knowledge of secure development and cybersecurity practices and has worked in government or other regulated environments
• Has experience integrating applications with third-party systems and working with external teams to define interface requirements
• Brings deep expertise in one or more technologies and is adaptable across a diverse technology stack
• Is able to work collaboratively in multidisciplinary teams of designers developers and producers
• Seeks out opportunities to learn and helps others by providing feedback
• Is able to communicate clearly to a broad range of stakeholders both in person and in writing
• Is a senior developer who has had significant experience and worked on a number of different applications during their career.
• Has experience with test-driven development (TDD) and is confident in building and maintaining automated test frameworks (unit integration and end-to-end)

An example of what a week at Portable as a Senior Developer might look like:

• Spending time writing code - implementing new APIs for a court scheduling app and adding new elements to the UI components for a family law project
• Pairing and mentoring on a feature with a mid-level or junior developer to provide directed advice and guidance that will help them grow professionally as a developer
• Reviewing a few pull requests to help individuals and the team grow with their ability to commit good code to projects
• Running one of our fortnightly Deep Dive sessions helping other developers at Portable increase their skill in a technology youre interested in
• Collaborating with producers and client teams to plan new features and assist with the execution of the overall project architecture
• Working with the team to do some sprint planning writing up some tickets in Jira and thinking about how you could break up the tasks to give some learning opportunities to junior developers. And plan to have some of your time to be available to mentor them while they pair.

Heres how we remunerate and support the experience growth and wellbeing of our team:

The salary range for this role is $115000 to $140000 plus superannuation.

Joining Portable means becoming part of an organisation with an award-winning workplace culture where your contributions are valued and youre supported by a multidisciplinary team.

Heres what else you can look forward to:

• Meaningful work with impact: We take on projects that aim to make a positive difference in areas like mental health social justice and accessibility
• Flexible work arrangements: We support a flexible working environmentwhether its from home the office or a caféwith remote and hybrid options (up to 4 days per week) flexible hours and personalised start/finish times
• Enhanced leave benefits: Enjoy bonus annual leave based on tenure the option to purchase additional leave paid volunteering leave and paid mental health days as personal leave with no explanation or medical certificate required
• Growth and career development: We offer structured career pathways an annual professional development allowance of $1000 and two working days access to our Emerging Leaders program twice-yearly salary reviews and ongoing leadership coaching for those ready to step up
• Wellbeing support: Through our Employee Assistance Program with The Mindroom our team can access up to 4 counselling sessions per year with support for general wellbeing career planning and managing lifes challenges
• Financial incentives: Team members are eligible for a profit-sharing bonus and can explore employee share plan options as well as salary sacrificing
• Family-friendly policies: We offer enhanced parental leave and support part-time arrangements that work around family commitments such as school drop-offs and caring for sick loved ones

How to apply:

We are committed to building a diverse and equal team. People from underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply.

To be considered for this role please send us:

1. Your resume
2. A short (max. 1 page) cover letter answering these questions:

• Whats attracted you to this role and why do you think it would be a good fit for you
• Tell us about a time you adapted your approach to a complex and ambiguous project environment ensuring your team was able to deliver successful results on time and on budget