Job Title: Assistant Director of Web Design and Development
Location: Case Main Campus
Regular/Temporary: Regular
Full/Part Time: Full-Time
Job ID: 8597
Strong Internal Identified

A strong internal candidate has been identified.

Job Description POSITION OBJECTIVE

The Assistant Director of Web Design and Development (ADWDD) will provide critical strategic guidance and data analysis needed to further the university’s mission through best-in-class online experiences. This individual will play a key leadership role in the roll-out and implementation of the university’s content management system (CMS), engaging actively with school and UGEN leaders and developers; assessing progress and quality of work; creating solutions for otherwise unsolvable technological challenges; and continuing to identify and integrate emerging features and programs essential to representing the university in the most engaging and modern ways.

This individual bears primary responsibility for ensuring that the CMS remains functional after full roll-out and through necessary updates, upgrades and redesigns. Fulfilling this charge requires a unique blend of technological and interpersonal skills—that is, the ability to know what to do and also to persuade others to do it in a timely and effective way. Finally, this individual will serve as the Sr. Executive Director’s deputy, assuming aspects of that individual’s duties (including technological leadership within the department, with [U]Tech and schools and units) when necessary.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

Provide essential strategic guidance and data analysis needed to ensure the university’s web presence fully reflects the university’s academic and research excellence—both with regard to the presentation of content and the quality of online experiences. Manage all aspects of the technological portion of the university’s web CMS, including fundamental back-end coding, development of advanced scripts and refinement of algorithms, used within the CMS. (20%)Lead the university’s efforts to raise its profile by providing a high-speed, error-free and fully mobile online experience to all visitors. After successful implementation of this model for the university’s top-level pages, facilitate its implementation across the university—i.e. within schools and individual units. Continue to maintain existing and forge new relationships with school and university-wide administrators key to continued operations and effectiveness of the university’s web presence. (20%)Identify and implement best practices in web-related programming with regard to critical features including security, accessibility, page-load speed, navigation, and visitor engagement. Identify emerging trends in web development—including personalization and artificial intelligence—to determine whether, how, and when to include them within the university’s web CMS and/or develop standalone sites to pilot their effectiveness. Become familiar with leading ideas, emerging trends and other key aspects of the web development, design, security and maintenance; propose new policies, procedures or programs as appropriate. Participate in a collegial, mutually supportive environment of communications professionals who share lessons, insights and best practices toward providing a high-quality, secure, and effective online experience for all who visit university websites. (20%)Analyze data and prepare reports for Sr. Executive Director, Assistant Vice President of Online and Internal Communications, and Vice President for UMC. Responsible for adapting reports for additional audiences (e.g. school leaders, university leaders, etc.) as needed. (5%)Develop training and dissemination strategies to improve and accelerate developers’ ability to implement and maintain web CMS at peak effectiveness. (5%)Develop proposals, plans and timelines both for continuous improvement and dramatic forward leaps in the university’s forward-facing web presence and the supporting technology and architecture behind it. Advise Executive Director, AVP, and VP for UMC regarding resources, staging and sequencing of such steps. (5%)Working in collaboration with the Sr. Executive Director and AVP, establish recommendations for the VP regarding tiered metrics (e.g. from worst to best) to measure and assess the performance of the web CMS overall and within individual units. Once these metrics are implemented, prepare reports to identify highest- and lowest-performing units and recommend steps for recognition and repair. (5%)Collaborate with Sr. Executive Director and AVP to identify areas of improvement within the unit with regard to clean and error-free code-writing, daily productivity, and advancement of skills. (5%)Working in collaboration with the Assistant Director of Online & Strategic Communication and AVP, seek opportunities to integrate social media and other UMC content into the university’s web presence. (5%)Collaborate with Sr. Executive Director and colleagues to manage website development or refinement requests to determine their need and urgency and then assign duties as appropriate. (5%)

NONESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

In the absence of the Sr. Executive Director, fulfill duties including, but not limited to identifying media opportunities, consultation on nature and timing of pitches, editing releases, crisis communications responses, updates to VP, etc. (4%)Perform other duties as assigned. (1%)

CONTACTS

Department: Regular contact with all of UMC staff

University: Contact with faculty, staff and students in colleges and management centers

External: Contact with vendors and thought leaders within web development, emerging trends, security and maintenance.

Students: Interaction with students

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITY

No direct supervision of staff employees

QUALIFICATIONS

Experience: 5 or more years of experience in web development, programming and related fields.

Education: Bachelor's degree required.

REQUIRED SKILLS

Knowledge of and experience in multiple programming languages, among them OOP principles in PHP 5.x and greater, Bootstrap, HTML/CSS3, WordPress, JavaScript, jQuery, Twig, MySQL.Fundamental knowledge of Gulp, Git or other version-control software.Understanding of command line (SSH, Drush, etc.)Working knowledge with RESTful Web ServicesAbility to engage audiences that have extensive programming experience as well as lay people to increase their understanding, appreciation and willingness to work within the university’s CMS.Talent for training individuals of widely varying skill, commitment, and learning ability in highly detailed and complex aspects of programming for the web (including mobile)—including in the implementation of cutting-edge advances including AI and personalization. High level of organization and ability to collect, analyze and present data in meaningful ways.Capacity to manage multiple priorities simultaneously with limited supervisionUnderstanding of and comfort with the rapidly changing nature of web development, including with regard to security, accessibility, mobile, personalization, AI, and back-end configurations. Passion and talent for programming across multiple media and languages.Ability to meet deadlines regularly.Ability to interact with colleagues, supervisors, and customers face to face. Ability to meet consistent attendance.Appreciation of the benefits of working with a close-knit team and desire to contribute to its success.Commitment to ongoing development of professional skills.

WORKING CONDITIONS

Typical office environment.

Diversity Statement

In employment, as in education, Case Western Reserve University is committed to Equal Opportunity and Diversity. Women, veterans, members of underrepresented minority groups, and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

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Reasonable Accommodations

Case Western Reserve University provides reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities. Applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process should contact the Office of Equity at 216-368-3066 to request a reasonable accommodation. Determinations as to granting reasonable accommodations for any applicant will be made on a case-by-case basis.

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