Ruby on Rails Web Developer

Role: Ruby on Rails Web Developer

Work location: Remote

Duration: Long Term

Job Description:

The Client is seeking Web Developer (Programmer 2) to upgrade, repair, and support their digital platform, Decidim. This work will directly support The People’s Money (CEC’s participatory budgeting program) and advance the agency’s mission to expand civic participation and engagement across New York City.

Scope of Services:

• Assisting in upgrading the Ruby on Rails-based platform, , to the latest version (.31). Updating the latest version of Decidim will enable us to use the following features:
  • Taxonomies - These will give us flexibility in how we display and on the website based on categories we create.
    • Improve how we sort and filter projects and ideas
  • Spam prevention – Currently the client spends time manually flagging spam accounts. This feature can save us enormous amounts of time.
  • Bulk action answers to through Answers Templates - This is a huge improvement - it’s a feature that would allow us to move ideas from the Idea Generation Phase of in bulk through our process.
    • For example, if we decide that 100 of the ideas are disqualified because they’re capital projects, we can select all 100 at once and compose a single message to display: “This idea did not advance to Assemblies because it’s a capital project” - this helps us to address the problem of processing proposals at scale 
  • Enabling the built-in text editor to include alt text for embedded images. This is a very important accessibility feature that is currently not included in the text editor. 
  • Reordering and hiding menu items 
  • Bulk actions in , allowing us to change the progress of projects in the Implementation Phase () in bulk instead of individually.
  • Importing Proposals (Ideas) directly into . 
• Upgrading/repairing existing features on the platform:
  • Updating and repairing , the Decidim feature that allows us to persist/propagate changes to built-in terms that come with Decidim. This feature needs to be updated so that all the new terms on the platform are customizable - currently it’s only a limited set. 
    • Create nomenclature rules for translation sets 
    • Fix bugs/race conditions in Term Customizer
  • Repairing and customizing for easier usability
    • Fixing bugs in the Groups feature
    • Creating views for users to see statistics on their usage
  • Fixing bugs in export feature
  • Fixing bugs with image attachments and display
  • Fixing bugs with outbound links
  • Fixing bugs with account creation

The Ruby on Rails Programmer will provide technical design, development, and maintenance services for the organization’s Decidim-based digital participation platform. Decidim is a participatory democracy framework based on multiple Ruby on Rails engines that are mounted on top of a Ruby on Rails application. Work may include implementing new features, customizing Decidim modules, and ensuring smooth integration with existing systems and organizational workflows. The Programmer will collaborate with internal stakeholders to understand requirements, translate them into technical specifications, and deliver well-structured, maintainable code that aligns with Decidim’s architecture and community best practices.

Mandatory Skills/Experience:

Note: Candidates who do not have mandatory skills will not be considered.

• At least four years of experience with Ruby on Rails.
• Ability to onboard quickly to new platforms and systems, balancing independence with seeking support.
• Minimum four years of experience with version control.
• Minimum four years of experience in front-end web development including JavaScript and CSS.
• Minimum four years of experience working closely with other developers, project managers, and/or designers on a team.
• Candidate’s resume MUST include a link to portfolio.

Desirable Skills/Experience: 

• Experience working in an agile, iterative development setting.
• Experience working in AWS.