About Open Data Services Co-operative

At Open Data Services, we aim to make open data useful, usable and in-use. We like to work with projects that combine innovation and engagement to deliver sustainable social impact with open data. We work with transparency initiatives such as Open Contracting, 360 Giving, Open Ownership and the International Aid Transparency Initiative to provide tools and technical assistance to organisations across the world.

To strengthen our work, we’re looking for people to join our interdisciplinary team, working with data publishers and users.

We are a workers co-operative. After a probationary period, workers have the right to become members of our co-op, jointly owning and running the business. We are a remote working organisation. We do not have a fixed office.

About you and the role

You will:

• Build and maintain Python open source tools to help with the preparation, publication, processing and use of open data to unlock its social and political potential;

• Develop and maintain tools for data standards, including Open Referral, the Beneficial Ownership Data Standard & 360Giving (all of which use JSON Schema), and IATI (which uses XML Schema);

• Work as part of the development team to deliver both long term products and rapid prototypes for our partners, and to support open data standards;

• Engage with growing user communities around data standards;

• Get involved in planning development, deploying code and testing user experiences;

• Get involved in the wider work of the co-operative, supporting communities and organisations across the world to understand open data, to publish data using open standards, and to reuse data in accessible, user-centred tools and services.

Our Technology

We build tools for ourselves and for clients, and so we use a range of technologies. We are continually experimenting and evaluating new technologies that may better serve our projects and our client’s needs. 

Most of our development uses a mix of the technologies below, to give you an idea of what to expect in day-to-day life at our co-operative. We don’t expect applicants for this role to have knowledge of any of these except Python. 

Languages & Frameworks

• Python (Django, Flask)

• JavaScript (Vue, jQuery, D3.js, Leaflet, plotly)

Environments

• Web (uwsgi, web browsers,  NodeJS)

• Server-side (RabbitMQ, cron)

• Notebooks (Colab, Deepnote, Jupyter)

• Sphinx (Markdown, ReStructuredText, ReadTheDocs)

• Containers (virtualenv, docker)

Databases

• Postgres

• SQLite

• Redis

• elasticsearch

Data

• JSON

• XML

• CSV

• XLSX

• OpenDocument (ODS)

Hosting

• Linux (Ubuntu)

• Salt

• Containers (Docker, Dokku, Heroku)

Collaboration

• Git (GitHub)

• Communication tools (Trello, plan.io, etc)

Your skills

We are looking for people with strengths in several of the following areas and the desire to develop in the others:

• Web, library and command-line application development with Python

• Working with databases

• Working with data, in structured and tabular forms

• Working in a modern development team environment, including collaborating with colleagues, documenting your work and contributing to shared code

All candidates should have:

• An interest in using technology and open data as tools for social change

• The ability to work remotely, and with online collaboration tools

• The ability to work and learn autonomously and in a team, prioritising a complex workload

Multiple roles

Please note we are currently advertising for 2 roles in the development team; Data Visualisation Web Developer and Python Software developer. 

If you are not sure which you are interested in or are not sure which your skills are a better match for, we encourage you to apply for both. Some of the questions are the same; for those questions you can use the same answers for each application.

Co-operative working

In addition to working on client projects, you will take part in shared decision-making and running the business. All candidates should have an interest in co-operative working.

We welcome candidates with experience in, or the desire to learn about, any aspect of running the co-op: finance, staff welfare, business development, governance and communications. 

After your probationary period, you’ll have the option to become a co-operative member, and be involved in the running of the business: gaining a stake in its future, and the opportunity to develop new skills in co-operative business management.

Benefits

• We operate a flat rate of pay for all staff, currently set at £43,120 per calendar year. The Members (Directors) may also decide to pay all staff a bonus at the end of the financial year. 

• We provide a 4% pension contribution to our Workplace Pension scheme. 

• We will provide all of the hardware, tools and software required for the job, including a laptop or desktop computer and any equipment or furniture required for a safe and comfortable home-working setup. Staff are also free to use their own devices and equipment, provided they are suitable.

• We will pay for a local co-working space if you don't want to work from home. 

• We offer a training budget of £1,000 and 5 paid days per year, and are committed to supporting staff development, training and conference attendance. 

• Our benefit package includes a health cash plan, group life insurance, generous parental leave, a health and wellbeing service that includes GP consultations and counselling, a cycle-to-work scheme, and an allowance for eye tests.

Further details

• As we are a remote working organisation we will consider applications from anywhere in the UK. You must have the right to live and work in the UK.

• Full time hours are set at 37.5 hours a week with 33 days' holiday (inclusive of bank holidays). We welcome applications for part-time working of 0.6 FTE and above. Around half our workers are part time. 

• Within reasonable limits we operate a flexi-time policy to support a good work-life balance. 

• This role will involve regular calls with international partners, which may require occasional early mornings or late evenings.

• This role requires occasional national travel and offers the potential for international travel. We are committed to the safety and well being of our members and employees and offer a range of support for employees, to ensure that work travel complements your life situation, particularly during the ongoing pandemic.

Next steps

You can start the application process by clicking on the apply button.

You’ll answer some questions that are related to your day-to-day job. After the job closes, your answers will go through our de-biased sift process: all answers will be anonymised, randomised and then scored by members of our team.

If you are shortlisted, we’ll invite you to the next step, which includes a remote interview. At the end of the application process, we'll provide some feedback and let you know how well you performed.

Interviews are expected to take place in the first week of August. Interviews can be offered flexibly to accommodate work, caring or other commitments. 

We are an equal opportunities employer.

We are committed to equal employment opportunity and are determined to ensure that no applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of age, belief, disability, gender, marital status, religion, race, sex, or sexual orientation, or is disadvantaged by conditions or requirements which cannot be shown to be justifiable.

We particularly welcome applications from disabled, ethnic minority and women candidates as these groups are underrepresented in our organisation.

We look forward to hearing from you.