Web Developer / Programmer

Contract Duration: Initial term of 12 months, with the possibility of successive 12-month extensions, allowing for a total duration of up to 5 years.

Hybrid Model: Weekly 3 days Onsite + 2 days Remote (Hybrid)

The Client is an independent statutory body established to improve the delivery of education services to persons with special educational needs, with a particular emphasis on children. The Client delivers services through its national network of Special Educational Needs Organisers, who interact with parents, schools, and the HSE to coordinate resources and support.

• Providing advice and information on special education to parents and schools
• Allocating supports and coordinating local service delivery
• Conducting research into special education
• Advising the Minister for Education on special education policy

CLIENT requires the development, enhancement, and ongoing support of digital systems that facilitate:

• Communication between parents, schools, and CLIENT staff
• Application processing and case-management activities
• Planning and coordination of special classes and special school placements
• Delivery of information services to the public
• Support for research and policy advisory functions

The objective is to procure a Developer capable of delivering secure, accessible, scalable, and user-centred digital solutions tailored to CLIENT’s statutory functions.

Mandatory Requirements (Pass / Fail): Candidates MUST meet ALL of the following:

· It is a mandatory requirement, that the Resource proposed has the equivalent of 7+ years of relevant experience (Senior Resource)

· Must be available to start 01/06/2026

· CEFR C2 Proficiency/Mastery (or equivalent)

· If there is no certificate, fluency will be assessed at presentation stage

The following non-exhaustive list of Key Deliverables are applicable to this role.

CLIENT requires the development, enhancement, and ongoing support of digital systems that facilitate:

• Communication between parents, schools, and CLIENT staff
• Application processing and case-management activities
• Planning and coordination of special classes and special school placements
• Delivery of information services to the public
• Support for research and policy advisory functions

The objective is to procure a Developer capable of delivering secure, accessible, scalable, and user-centred digital solutions tailored to CLIENT’s statutory functions.

The Developer must deliver end-to-end design and development of web applications including:

• Responsive and accessible (WCAG-compliant) front-end interfaces supporting parents, schools, and CLIENT staff.
• Secure back-end systems that incorporate CLIENT workflows such as resource allocation, school placement planning, and case management.
• Integration with systems operated by the Department of Education and the HSE as required to support cross-sector coordination.
• Development of digital tools for the dissemination of research and policy information.

The Developer must:

• Serve diverse user groups including parents of children with complex needs
• Support ease of use for CLIENT staff coordinating services at local level

The Developer must:

• Implement GDPR-compliant data handling, noting the sensitive nature of CLIENT case data
• Provide secure authentication and user access control
• Ensure encrypted data transmission, secure storage, and audit capabilities
• Support continuity of service for high-volume application periods

The Developer must produce and maintain documentation including:

• System architecture and data flow diagrams
• Configuration and deployment documentation
• End-user and administrator guides

The Developer must carry out

• Unit, integration, and end-to-end testing
• Accessibility testing
• Performance and load testing appropriate for national-scale usage

The solution must be compatible with cloud hosting within an approved public-sector environment (e.g., Microsoft Azure). A CI/CD pipeline must be provided to ensure controlled, auditable deployments

The Developer must provide:

• Ongoing technical support and issue resolution
• Security patching and performance optimisation
• Agreed SLAs for incident response
• Optional development capacity for future enhancements.

The Developer will be required to deliver:

1. Fully functioning, accessible web applications meeting all CLIENT requirements.
2. Integrated tools
3. A secure and scalable back-end platform with appropriate API integrations.
4. All documentation required for maintenance, onboarding, and governance.
5. A full testing suite and test documentation.
6. Training sessions for CLIENT staff to enable knowledge transfer.
7. A maintenance and support plan for each application including SLAs and update cycles.
8. Technical documentation and knowledge transfer sessions

The solution and Developer must comply with:

• EPSEN Act 2004 governance principles applicable to CLIENT roles and functions
• Public Sector ICT and cybersecurity standards
• Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.1 AA)

During the contract, Developer performance will be evaluated based on:

• Accessibility compliance
• System reliability and uptime
• Ability to reduce manual processing for operational staff
• User satisfaction (parents, schools, CLIENT internal users)
• Responsiveness to issues within agreed SLAs
• Delivery timelines vs. milestones

The following Experience/Competencies/Skillsets are applicable to this Role. xcfaprz

• Modern front-end frameworks (React, Angular, Vue)
• Server-side development (Node.js, .NET, or equivalent)
• SQL and/or NoSQL data stores
• CI/CD, containerisation, and cloud deployment pipelines
• Government grade security and logging standards
• Expertise in designing systems that support data collection and reporting