Africa Check Recent Job Vacancy

Africa Check is a non-profit organisation set up in 2012 to promote accuracy in public debate and the media in Africa. The goal of Africa Check’s work is to raise the quality of information available to society across the continent. Since 2012 they have fact-checked hundreds of claims on topics from crime and race in South Africa to population numbers in Nigeria and fake health cures in countries around Africa.

Job Title: Developer
Job Location: Based in the Journalism Department of the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

This position requires a combination of programming skills and aesthetics. The candidate should have a strong understanding of content management systems particularly WordPress. Also essential is a deep understanding of the entire web development process, including design and development.  Experience with responsive design is preferred.

The developer will be responsible for the upkeep of our content-rich websites, trouble-shooting when problems arise, project-managing and developing new features in liaison with our digital support services, and managing the updating of static content pages. The job also entails regularly monitoring of digital performance to make our websites as efficient as possible and being responsive to the requirements of our editorial teams.

Key responsibilities for this position include:

• Ongoing routine website maintenance & trouble-shooting, in liaison with support services
• Developing and implementing new features and functionality in accordance with overall plans
• Overseeing the updating of static pages – in liaison with relevant teams
• Conducting periodic reviews and making modifications as necessary to ensure efficiency of digital performance.
• Establishing and guiding the website’s architecture – in liaison with management and digital support services
• Ensuring high-performance and availability, and managing all technical aspects of the CMS, including testing and deployment
• Working with a non-technical team to conceptualise and develop projects – including the use and development of new fact-checking tools.
• Leading the planning and implementation of outsourced digital services
• Leading efforts in developing fact-checking tools
• Contributing to Africa Check projects by carrying out activities which may fall outside of the job description when required to do so

The Developer must be able to demonstrate:

• Minimum 5 years of relevant work experience in a news media environment, working with content-heavy websites
• Ability to work and communicate with a wide range of internal and external constituents
• Good research, analysis, design and project management skills
• Experience of developing search systems
• Experience building user interfaces for websites and/or web applications
• Experience designing and developing responsive design websites
• Experience working with debugging tools
• Ability to understand CSS changes and to ensure consistent style across platforms and browsers
• Ability to convert comprehensive layout and wireframes into working HTML pages

Please send your CV, letter of motivation and complete the AA bio summary form in MS word format to: [email protected]

Application Deadline: 18th December, 2018