Application Developer, Lead

Georgia State University

Instructional Innovation and Technology

Strategic Initiatives and Development

What Makes GSU a Great Place to Work?

Georgia State University (GSU), one of the nation's most innovative public institutions, offers a collaborative environment where technology, research, and innovation drive student success and community impact.

GSU supports employee success through a comprehensive benefits package, including:

• Health, dental, and vision insurance
• Tuition Assistance Program (TAP)
• Competitive retirement plans, including pension options
• Professional development and career growth opportunities

Through TAP, eligible employees can continue their education while building their careers, reflecting GSU's commitment to lifelong learning and employee development.

Why Join the Instructional Innovation and Technology (IIT) Division?

Join a mission-driven technology division where your work directly supports student success, academic excellence, and university operations.

Position Overview

Georgia State University's Instructional Innovation and Technology (IIT) Division is seeking an experienced Application Developer, Lead to join our Strategic Initiatives and Development team supporting enterprise applications that serve students, faculty, and staff across the university. This role leads the development and support of multi-tenant workflow applications, vendor integrations, and cloud-based services that support critical business processes. Many of these systems directly impact a student's academic experience – reliability, maintainability, security, and operational excellence are key priorities.

The Application Developer, Lead must be comfortable working across a modern technology stack that includes Node.js, Angular, React, TypeScript, JavaScript, SQL, AWS, and CI/CD tooling. In addition to hands-on development, this individual will collaborate with stakeholders across academic and administrative units to gather requirements, evaluate solution approaches, and lead the delivery of scalable applications and integrations. Successful candidates must possess deep technical expertise, provide technical leadership and mentorship to other developers, establish engineering best practices, and serve as a trusted resource in the design and implementation of enterprise solutions.

Key Technologies

• Frontend: Angular, React, TypeScript, JavaScript, HTML, CSS
• Backend: Node.js
• Database: SQL and DynamoDB
• Cloud Platform: Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud services (specifically Lambda, ECS, EC2, S3, API Gateway, RDS, CloudWatch, IAM, Secrets Manager)
• Development Operations (DevOps): CI/CD Pipelines, Build Automation, Release Management, Environment Management
• Source Control: Git, Pull Requests, Code Reviews, Branching Strategies

Key Responsibilities

Leadership

•        Mentor, instruct, and support team members in best practices, tools, and processes.

Application Support

•        Respond to customer reports of issues, performance anomalies, and general inquiries.
•        Troubleshoot application code and design solutions.
•        Develop, test, and debug software patches and fixes.

Requirements and Systems Analysis

•        Define system scope and objectives through research and fact-finding.
•        Analyze and document business processes and functional requirements.
•        Evaluate the business impact of applying technology solutions.
•        Translate functional requirements into detailed technical specifications.

Application Programming

•        Design programs, code, test, debug, and document software applications.
•        Ensure code quality and maintainability through best practices.

Project Management

•        Identify necessary resources and develop project plans and schedules.
•        Facilitate project meetings and coordinate team activities.
•        Monitor and report project status to management and customers.

Communication

•        Participate in regular meetings with management and customers.
•        Provide updates on project progress and application support activities.

Version and Configuration Control

•        Code review for features and fixes.
•        Configuration updates for business logic changes.

Minimum Requirements:

Bachelor's degree and three years of related experience; or a combination of education and related experience.

Preferred Hiring Qualifications:

Candidates will be most competitive with:

• Solid understanding of web development fundamentals, including:
  • o   HTML semantics, document structure, and accessibility principles
  • o   CSS selectors, inheritance, specificity, layout techniques, and responsive design
  • o   JavaScript fundamentals and advanced concepts such as closures, asynchronous programming, event handling, and DOM manipulation
• Working knowledge of AWS cloud services, including core services such as Lambda, EC2, ECS, S3, API Gateway, RDS, CloudWatch, IAM, and Secrets Manager.
• Experience working within large, enterprise-grade application codebases utilizing modern web technologies such as Node.js, Angular, React, TypeScript, and JavaScript.
• Demonstrated ability to design, develop, troubleshoot, and maintain CI/CD pipelines, including build automation, deployment orchestration, release scheduling, environment management, and secrets management.
• Strong proficiency in SQL, including data modeling, query optimization, stored procedures, joins, indexing, transaction management, and database troubleshooting.
• Experience with utilizing Git-based source control workflows, including branching strategies, pull requests, code reviews, and release management practices.

Additional Information

• This position is based in Atlanta and requires on-site work. Remote and hybrid arrangements are not available.

• Georgia State University offers a competitive salary commensurate with qualifications, experience, and internal equity. The posted salary range represents the minimum to midpoint of the position's established pay grade.

To receive full consideration, applicants must submit the following documents that clearly provide proof of education and relevant experience.

• A complete and accurate GSU application
• Resume
• Three professional references, including at least one current or former supervisor (supervisors preferred)