[Jobs] Large Student Website based in Brighton looking for experienced Perl Developers

Tue Aug 9 13:00:13 BST 2011

Dear List,

Acumen PI is a dynamic and fast growing publisher of two of the world's largest student websites. From our converted grain store in the vibrant North Laine area of Brighton, we are seeking an experienced, passionate and independent-minded Perl Developer to lead web development on the largest student website in the world.

You will report to the Technical Director, and be excited by the opportunity to really stamp your own mark, as our first in-house lead Perl Developer.

*About Us:*
Acumen PI is a small, passionate company with 16 employees and an annual turnover of £2 Million. Founded in 2001, we have steadily and profitably grown our two main sites which now receive around 4 million unique visitors per month: www.thestudentroom.co.uk and www.coursework.info

The Student Room is well established as the largest student community in the world. Students aged 14-24 use the site for academic and emotional support from their peers, fun and making friends. In the last few months the Prime Minister, the leaders of all the main political parties and Lord Browne, have all conducted Q&As with the UK's students on our site.

Coursework.Info is the UK's largest academic coursework library. It is endorsed by teachers and the academic community at large. We work closely with the academic community and the government-supported Turnitin plagiarism detection software to ensure all our model coursework is used as a valuable academic aid.

For a number of years our web development and hosting has been outsourced to a company based in Canada with whom we have regular video conferences. We have now decided to bring the technical capability in house.

*Job Description:*
Coursework is a highly customized and extended version of Gossamer Links - a Perl Framework. You will need to take total ownership of the codebase in order to understand completely the inner workings of the site, including:

* The management of over 180,000 documents, including document conversion and categorisation process.
* Integration with our own Google Search Appliance.
* Our bespoke payment system integrating with Datacash, Paypal and WorldPay.
* The optimisation and fine-tuning required to enable over 1 million unique visitors each month to access the site.

Our current development partner will help us in this transition and there may be trips to Canada during the knowledge transfer.
Going forward, working with the Technical Director and the rest of the technical team, you will:

* Lead on all technical developments for Coursework.info.
* Scope, design and deliver all new Perl developments.
* Maintain the existing codebase.
* Provide great technical insight and great documentation.
* Mentor junior members of the team.
* Be a champion for quality assurance throughout the role.

*Skills Range:*
*Essential:*
* A good Computer Science degree or equivalent.
* A number of years experience in commercial web development in an established team.
* Solid programming experience in perl/mod_perl.
* Strong MySQL database design and complex query generation and optimisation.
* Great communication skills and a professional and friendly manner.
* Confidence to work independently and under own initiative.

*Desirable:*
* Experience of high traffic websites.
* Experience of e-commerce integration and development.
* Other languages: PHP, Javascript, HTML, CSS.
* PCI compliance.
* Virtualisation
* SVN, Git.
* GAS, Varnish, Wine, Crossover Office.
* Pagespeed, YSlow.

* Salary:*
£32,000-£40,000 salary + generous contributory pension, family health insurance, 25 days holiday, training & development opportunities & excellent working environment.

*Additional Information: *
* A great working environment.
* A real opportunity to define your role.
* Dedicated R&D time each week.
* Knowledge that your designs and implementations will be used by millions of people each week.

How to apply: If this sounds like you, then please apply to pete.kelly at acumenpi.com<mailto:pete.kelly at acumenpi.com> with CV and covering letter, including salary expectations.

The closing date for applications is 5pm Friday, 2nd September 2011

Thanks

Pete.

P.S. We get students - sign up for the latest research and insight<http://insight.thestudentroom.co.uk/newsletter-sign-up/> (it's free!)

[cid:image001.jpg at 01CC568E.A93B6AD0]<http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/>

Pete Kelly
Technical Director
The Student Room
e:  pete.kelly at acumenpi.com<mailto:jamie.oconnell at thestudentroom.co.uk>
p:  +44 (0)1273 624 948
m:  +44 (0)7825 086 611

The world's largest student site

| www.thestudentroom.co.uk<http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/> | insight.thestudentroom.co.uk<http://insight.thestudentroom.co.uk/> |

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________________________________

The Student Room is a trading names of Acumen Professional Intelligence Ltd, registered in England and Wales. Registered No. 04666380. VAT No. 806 8067 22.
Registered Office: The Grain Store, 127 Gloucester Road, Brighton, BN1 4AF
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