Lead Software Developer - Researcher Engagement

We’re looking for a proactive senior software developer with several years of experience who can help our team build new tools and services. Our vision is that researchers have access to a free personalised service with Springer Nature from the moment they log in. Using this they can publish quickly, discover relevant content, make connections, and accelerate their careers. We're creating one convenient place where researchers can manage their tasks, find relevant information to support their work and develop their careers. We support increased submissions to Open Access journals, collections and expedite turnaround times for the publishing process while building lasting relationships with researchers as shown by deeper engagement, curiosity and advocacy.
                        
The job is based in our Lisbon hub, with team members also in London and Berlin. We offer a mix of remote and in office working, with up to four days a week working from home. You'll be part of our bigger community of developers located in Portugal, Germany, UK and India.
                        
Visit sndigital.springernature.com to learn more about who we are and what we do.

About Us                        

We are looking for skilled and passionate software developers to help us build the best products that enable the research community to advance the progress and understanding of science.

We need a senior software developer to work on the team responsible for building the infrastructure, including APIs, which supports our platforms that publishes research content to the academic community and the general public. The platform, used by our publishing imprints Nature, Springer and BMC, reaches over twenty million users a month.

We strive to continually improve user journeys; allowing customers to discover, access, and consume content in a way that suits them. Our customer-centric approach is fundamental to the way we work.  

We also work closely with partners across the organisation to evolve our content and business models; keeping us competitive in a rapidly changing digital landscape.

You will be joining a cross functional team with different nationalities, backgrounds and experience levels. All team members collaborate to deliver solutions that best satisfy the needs of researchers and other readers.
 

About You 

• You have several years of experience developing software in Java, Kotlin, or other JVM languages.
• You would enjoy working in a Test Driven environment and understand the benefits.
• You would enjoy pair programming and working in a trunk-based development environment; practising Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery.
• You like working in a collaborative team, where there is collective ownership of the product.
• You enjoy getting involved with every stage of the software development lifecycle.
• You see the value in developers owning production software and view failure as a chance to learn.
• You have extensive experience working with stakeholders and non-developers to come up with creative solutions to their problems.
• You are comfortable leading streams of work and switching context when necessary.
• You enjoy mentoring less experienced developers.
• You believe in and can articulate our company strategy on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and you want to make Springer Nature Digital a more inclusive environment for everyone.
• You are a positive role model to others.
• You know how and when to delegate.

                
What you will be doing

Within 3 Months you will:

• Get to know all members of the team.
• Get familiar with our technology stack. Our applications are continually deployed from trunk to Cloud Foundry using Concourse.
• Take part in developing new features as a member of the tech team.
• Get familiar with, and help evolve, the team’s agile processes and ceremonies.
• Get to know the various stakeholders and their general requirements.

By 3-6 months you will:

• Be a supportive member of the tech team, developing the platform by using the appropriate technology solutions to solve the problem at hand.
• Lead a stream of work, working with both developers and stakeholders.
• Mentoring team members across different locations in a remote set up.
• Have an understanding of the team’s context within the publishing business they are working in.
• Transform high level requirements into actionable work.
• Become an advocate for defining and implementing non-functional requirements.
• Influence the design of the system architecture.
• Be able to explain and visualise the benefits and trade-offs of proposed solutions.
• Be able to understand and discuss business requirements with stakeholders and Product Managers, and help other disciplines with these conversations.
• Take part in the recruiting process, helping to assess applicants.
• Hold technical discussions with the team in order to improve the product architecture and code quality.
• Foster a culture where continuous feedback is easy and natural.
• Set the technical direction of the work done by the team.

By 6-12 months you will:

• Switch context between multiple streams of work, providing guidance to both developers and stakeholders.
• Onboard new members to the team or help other teams in the onboarding process.
• Proactively provide useful and actionable feedback to team members.
• Triage support queries and diagnose issues in the live applications.
• Contribute to blameless post-mortems.
• Understand our customers’ needs, both internal and external, and how your work affects their experience.
• Proactively improve ways of working and practices.
• Help domain leadership to make and implement decisions.
• Actively look for opportunities to help developers grow.
• Arbitrate disagreements within the team and do not avoid difficult conversations.

Day to day responsibilities

As part of an Agile product team, day-to-day you will:
 

• Take part in our daily stand-ups.
• Contribute to ceremonies like planning, story writing, collaborative design and retrospectives.
• Develop new features and improve code quality by pair programming with other team members, as well as working independently.
• Take part in support and monitoring of our websites.

                        
To apply please upload a copy of your CV and cover letter, stating your salary expectations.

SPRINGER NATURE - springernature.com
Springer Nature employs more than 10,000 people in over 50 markets, and is home to some of the best-known names in research, educational and professional publishing. 
 
We value and celebrate the diversity of our people. We recognise the many benefits of a diverse workforce and strive for an inclusive workplace that empowers all our colleagues to thrive. Our search for the best talent fully encompasses and embraces these values and principles.
 
Working at the heart of a changing industry, we are always looking for great people who care about delivering quality to our customers and the communities we work alongside. In return, we provide opportunities to learn from some of the best in the business, with a culture that encourages curiosity and empowers people to find solutions and act on their instincts.
 
In addition, we offer:

• 10% time (‘hack day’).
• Private Health Insurance for you and your partner and children if applicable – Medis TOP + serious illnesses.
• Personal accidents insurance.
• Work Accidents Insurance – by law.
• Food allowance, € 8,32 EUR per working day via meal card.
• Up to 5 additional days off
  • In Portugal we have 22 vacation days by law after 1 year of service.
  • We will offer you 2 additional days off from the start.
  • After 1 year of service: 1 additional day = 25 days.
  • After 2 years of service: 1 additional day = 26 days.
  • After 3 years of service: 1 additional day = 27 days.
  • “Jubilee day” off after 5 years of service.
• Up to 3 times a year, up to 3 days SN will “continue to pay” the salary for those sick days, as the first 3 days sick leave (baixa medica) are not covered by social security.
• Up to 4 days per week working from home.
• Work Mobile Phone.
• Travel costs compensation for the commute to the office via a commute card (with the company NIF) up to max. € 40 per month.
• Access to LinkedIn Learning via our internal learning and development platform 
• Free access to all SN Publications.
• Use of Urban Sports gyms at a reduced price.

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At Springer Nature, we value the diversity of our teams and work to build an inclusive culture, where people are treated fairly and can bring their differences to work and thrive. We empower our colleagues and value their diverse perspectives as we strive to attract, nurture and develop the very best talent.

Springer Nature was awarded Diversity Team of the Year at the 2022 British Diversity Awards. Find out more about our DEI work here.

 

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