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The Front-End Web Developer is the only web developer exclusively and uniquely dedicated to the Online Publications / Creative Production division in the Digital Media Department of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and reports to the division head, Senior Manager of Online Publications, Senior Producer.
The candidate who fills this position will work in conjunction with a web designer, and is responsible for the ongoing front-end web coding and development of Online Publications projects. This division functions in a creative, collaborative, high-quality, deadline-driven, and fast-paced environment. The candidate must demonstrate sound, thoughtful, innovative, responsive, and responsible front-end web development skills and technical vision in order to maintain and build on the division’s ambitious and multi-faceted program of online initiatives.
The primary focus of Online Publications is the large online resource Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History (www.metmuseum.org/toah), which receives 1.5 million visits per month and is the most visited section on the Met’s website. The Timeline of Art History features the history of world art across time and culture, and is authored by the Met’s experts. It includes 300 chronologies, close to 1,000 essays, close to 7,000 works of art, and includes a variety of robust indexes. The primary responsibility and expectation of the front-end web developer in the first six months to one year is to maintain ongoing development of this important resource, and to also re-assess the Timeline’s technical instructure, and as needed, implement a re-envisioned model.
Other Online Publications initiatives at The Metropolitan Museum of Art include:
• MetPublications (www.metmuseum.org/metpublications), the portal to the Met’s book and online publishing program from the last 50 years
• The Met Around the World (www.metmuseum.org/met-around-the-world), a presention of the Met’s historical and ongoing work via the global scope of its collections as it extends across the nation and the world through a variety of domestic and international initiatives and programs
• Connections (www.metmuseum.org/connections), a web series that asks 100 Met members of staff to talk about an aspect of the Met’s collection in personal, subjective ways
• 82nd & Fifth (www.metmuseum.org/82nd-and-Fifth), a web series that asks 100 Met curators to talk about 100 Met works of art that have changed the way they see the world
• Online Guide / MetSelects, scheduled to launch Spring 2014, and that which is a new online feature to present the Met’s highlights in new ways.
While the Timeline of Art History is and will always be the top priority, in time, the developer will become involved in these other current and future projects as well, and will work closely with Digital Media colleagues whose expertise reside with non-web digital platforms.
Primary Responsibilities and Duties:
- The front-end web developer’s primary responsibility, especially in the first six months to one year, is the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. This includes ongoing technical development, and a thorough re-assessment and upgrade of its technical infrastructure.
- With all projects, the front-end web developer will firstly work closely with the Online Publications team that includes content producers, editors, and imagers, and design colleagues, to thoughtfully develop, implement, represent, and maintain a successful, thoughtful, flexible, and intelligent online publishing program.
- Secondly, he or she will work in close collaboration and consultation with colleagues across Digital Media—especially those responsible for application development, database administration, and collections information for the institutional website at large—to ensure the Timeline and other Online Publications projects work well with legacy, institutional, and new technologies in both front- and back-end technical environments.
- The front-end web developer will direct the production of a variety of flexible templates for high content volume and as per individual project requirements, and will be held accountable for the documentation and technical development of all Online Publications projects.
- As mentioned above, he or she will ensure proper connection and / or integration with the Museum’s content and image asset management systems (TMS and Mediabin) and the Museum’s application development environment (Sitecore), and will establish publishing routines as per individual project requirements and needs.
- Overall, the front-end web developer, working under the direction of Senior Manager of Online Publications, Senior Producer, will work closely, collaboratively, creatively, responsibly, and effectively with editors (text, image, audio, video), producers, designers, collections information managers, database administrators, backend web developers, photographers, and external design studios to implement user interfaces and functionality.
- He or she will demonstrate a passion for the online / networked environment and for industry foresight, promote technical initiatives as appropriate, and will advise Senior Manager of Online Publications, Senior Producer, and Online Publications and other colleagues on technical development for digital publishing.
- Other related duties
Requirements and Qualifications:
Experience and Skills:
- Primary / advanced skills in design should be HTML5, CSS, and design implementation.
- Primary / advanced skills in user interaction should be Javascript, jQuery and other frameworks, Google Maps, and other APIs.
- Primary skills in data parsing should be XML parsing and JSON parsing.
- Secondary skills should include ASP.NET, SQL, PHP, other scripting languages, Drupal, WordPress, and most appropriately and beneficially, FileMaker.
- The candidate must demonstrate the ability to research and learn new technologies.
- The candidate must work independently, collaboratively, and creatively on multiple projects.
- The candidate must demonstrate superior communication, organizational, diplomatic, analytical, and motivational skills.
- Preferred experience in digital / online publishing, experience or strong interest in encyclopedic museums and museum culture.
Knowledge and Education:
- B.A. in computer science or related field required.
- Knowledge of both Macintosh and Microsoft desktop operating environments.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the world’s largest and finest art museums. Its permanent collection includes more than two million works of art spanning five thousand years of world culture, from prehistory to the present and from every part of the globe.
In addition to its permanent collection, the Museum also presents dozens of special exhibitions each year, as well as a variety of events and programs, including films, lectures, concerts, guided tours, talks, and family programs.
The Cloisters Museum and Gardens, the branch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted to the art and architecture of medieval Europe, was assembled from architectural elements, both domestic and religious, that date from the twelfth through the fifteenth century.
For more information about The Metropolitan Museum of art, please visit www.metmuseum.org
