Job Description

UE08: £50,253.00 to £61,759.00 per annum

Information Services Group / Learning, Teaching and Web Services Directorate / Website and Communications

Full Time: 35 hours per week

Fixed-term contract: 2 years

The Opportunity:

Shape what happens next. Be part of something bigger. Make a meaningful impact.

Here, you can continue to make a difference in everything around you. Take on new challenges, grow your career, be recognised for your contributions, and benefit from our commitment to your wellbeing. Be part of something bigger — where your work has real impact and your development matters. There are so many reasons to take your next step with us.

The University of Edinburgh is a world-class organisation. We are a large University covering a wide range of activities. In Professional Services, we support the University’s research and teaching, offering many career and role specialisms.

We are looking for a highly motivated individual to lead, build and evolve the continuous development and ongoing support of the University's central web services, including its student portal (MyEd). This is a great opportunity for a Senior Web Developer to bring their expertise and knowledge to design and deliver complex enterprise-level web platforms, and bring positive influence to the highly collaborative, supportive environment of the central Website and Communications team.

The University operates a centrally managed student portal with nearly 0.5 million student and staff visits per month. This role offers the opportunity to shape the future of that platform by modernising its foundations using open-source software, improving the experience for students and staff, and delivering against a roadmap informed by data-driven insights and user research.

This platform, in parallel with the University's web platform (EdWeb 2), will use Drupal as its core foundation alongside modern frontend and integration technologies, reinforcing the University's commitment to open-source software and enabling the Website and Communications team to support both platforms from a shared technology base.

What the job involves:

• Lead, develop, provide technical direction and deliver professional web development services, both individually and as part of a team.
• Deliver high levels of customer service and communication.
• Ensure project initiation and requirements capture is effective and that deadlines are met.
• Manage, support, and share knowledge with other developers in the team to ensure the development and deployment of high-quality software.
• Work closely with other Website and Communication (WAC) colleagues to architect technical solutions and write user stories to ensure the successful delivery of value in MyEd via a continuous improvement path.
• Raise awareness, engage with appropriate internal and external communities and attend training/conferences, etc. to ensure our understanding of best practice stays at the highest level possible.

A bit about you:

• Substantial demonstrable experience building complex PHP web applications and Drupal/WordPress web applications with proven experience of modifying contributed and custom modules, themes and plugins.
• Substantial demonstrable expertise in frontend web technologies, including HTML, CSS, SASS, JavaScript, JavaScript frameworks (React preferred), jQuery and Bootstrap.
• Experience in API development and integration, including working with custom and third-party APIs.
• Excellent analytical and technical problem-solving skills.
• Excellent organisational skills, with the ability to prioritise workloads and work independently.
• Well-developed communication skills to enable the identification, understanding and interpretation of staff and student requirements.

“People have always been at the heart of our work. Our people are at the centre of the University community and everything we do. We value colleagues with drive, determination and a passion for what they do. We are a place where everyone is welcome and offer a range of policies and benefits designed to support you in building the right meaningful flexibility that works for you.”

A career with us has a range of other benefits that can be tailored to your lifestyle:

• Professional development and subject matter expertise
• Opportunities to develop new skills and broaden your experience
• Working within one of the world’s leading universities
• Interesting work
• Responsibility and autonomy
• Contributing to the work and purpose of the University

This post is full-time (35hrs per week); however, we are open to considering flexible working patterns, such as compressed hours or longer breaks in the working day.

The team office location is at the west edge of the University’s central campus, in 5 Forrest Hill, Edinburgh, EH1 2QL.

The role offers a hybrid working pattern, and the successful individual will likely work partly from home and partly on campus.

View the full (opens in a new browser tab)

How to apply:

We welcome informal enquiries about the role – to find out more, please email Billy Wardrop, Head of Website and Communications at Billy.Wardrop@ed.ac.uk

Please include the following documents in your application:

- CV

- Cover letter

As a valued member of our team, you can expect:

• A competitive salary.
• An exciting, positive, creative, challenging and rewarding place to work.
• To be part of a diverse and vibrant international community.
• Comprehensive Staff Benefits, including generous annual leave entitlement, a defined benefits pension scheme, a wide range of staff discounts, family-friendly initiatives, and flexible work options. Check out the full list on our staff benefits page (opens in a new tab) and use our reward calculator to discover the value of your pay and benefits.

Championing equality, diversity, and inclusion:

The University of Edinburgh holds a Silver Athena SWAN award in recognition of our commitment to advance gender equality in higher education. We are members of the Race Equality Charter, and we are also Stonewall Scotland Diversity Champions, actively promoting LGBT equality.

The University is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion. If you have the right skills for the job, we want to hear from you. We encourage applications from the right candidates regardless of age, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation, religion, belief or race.

Prior to any employment commencing with the University, you will be required to evidence your right to work in the UK. Further information is available on our right to work webpages (opens new browser tab).

On this occasion the University will not consider applicants requiring sponsorship for this role. International workers will therefore only be able to take up this role if they can demonstrate an alternative right to work in the UK.

Key dates to note:

The closing date for applications is 10 June 2026.

Unless stated otherwise, the closing time for applications is 11:59pm UK time. If you are applying outside the UK the closing time on our adverts automatically adjusts to your browsers local time zone.

As a world-leading research-intensive University, we are here to address tomorrow’s greatest challenges. Between now and 2030 we will do that with a values-led approach to teaching, research and innovation, and through the strength of our relationships, both locally and globally.