The Micro:bit Educational Foundation is a global not-for-profit organisation with the aim of bringing micro:bit inspiration to children around the world. Our mission 'to inspire every child to create their best digital future' is delivered through a holistic offer of educational products, services and resources designed for teachers that appeal to a broad range of children including those who think tech might not be for them. Our work is grounded in the belief that an ability to understand, participate and work in the digital world is vitally important to a young person’s life chances and we should allow as many children as possible to have the opportunity to expand their own digital world.

Partnerships all over the globe have helped deliver the learning of digital creativity using micro:bit to over 44 million children globally and we aim to reach 100 million children impacted by micro:bit by 2028.

The Micro:bit Educational Foundation is looking for front-end developer with a willingness to get involved in all aspects of software development in a small team.

Your work will empower and create a lasting positive impact on students, teachers, and partners across the globe.

Working with the Web Tech Lead and wider tech team, you will develop web-based coding tools and enhance the microbit.org website in order to help children around the world get creative with digital technology, with a specific focus on broadening the diversity of students passionate about computing. This is a broad role in a small organisation. Current projects include:

• An online Python IDE for students and teachers, https://python.microbit.org/v/3
• “micro:bit classroom”, https://classroom.microbit.org
• The micro:bit website, https://microbit.org
• Contributions towards Keyboard navigation, screen reading and accessibility for the Microsoft MakeCode editor, https://makecode.microbit.org
• CreateAI https://createai.microbit.org/
• Mobile apps in iOS and Android

We push the limit of what can be done in the front-end, using React, TypeScript and WebAssembly in order to keep a simple architecture for our smaller organisation. For infrastructure we use GitHub, AWS (CloudFront, Lambda, DynamoDB), Pusher and Sanity (a headless CMS).

Requirements

Essential

• Practical experience of web application development.
• Experience with modern JavaScript or TypeScript and a reactive front-end web framework (Angular, React, Svelte, Vue or similar).
• Excited to learn new tools and approaches.
• Diligent in delivering robust and maintainable solutions.
• Empathetic and effective communication. 

Desirable

• Experience contributing to Open-Source projects. 
• Expertise in accessibility standards and guidelines, including WCAG, ARIA
• Experience in Blockly

This role requires a deep grasp of our audience, and continuous collaboration with teams across The Foundation as part of planning and design of new features and day-to-day operations.

If you don’t feel you match these requirements but are interested in the role, please feel free to apply and explain further those areas where you might need support or would like to develop your experience in your covering letter.

We estimate that there are more than 56 million children around the world learning to code with the BBC micro:bit. We have achieved this by working closely with engineering teams at our global partners, including Arm, Microsoft, Google, MIT and Nominet. Through this partnership, the micro:bit is at the heart of a diverse ecosystem of hardware accessories, software editors and educational resource providers. A key role of the tech team at The Foundation is to support this ecosystem in growing and diversifying in an open way.

The Micro:bit Educational Foundation is committed to improving the diversity of our team. We actively seek and welcome applications from women, and from all sections of the community.

Benefits

Salary

£40,000 – £50,000

The Micro:bit Educational Foundation is a UK-based not for profit with the goal to inspire every child to create their best digital future. https://microbit.org/about/

One of the greatest benefits of working at micro:bit is knowing that the work you're doing is contributing to something positive, constructive and with beneficial social outcomes. The Micro:bit Educational Foundation offers the opportunity to include outreach activities in your work, these can include working with tech community groups, teaching with the micro:bit at code clubs and so on.

We are a small organisation with a large audience and reach. We thrive on creative problem solving and are open to new ideas and solutions. This gives each individual the chance to have enormous impact, as well as ensuring that your days will be diverse and the challenges complex.

Contractual benefits include flexibility in working hours, unlimited annual leave once probationary period is complete and a competitive pension arrangement.

This is a full time role but we would also consider candidates working 4 days a week on a pro-rata basis.

Location – Oxford, UK (flexible)

For this role, we believe there is value in face-to-face collaboration for design discussions and mentoring. This position is based at our central Oxford office, however a significant amount of flexible working is possible. We expect this role to be in the office at least 2 days per week. The Micro:bit Educational Foundation is a flexible employer and we love to support our team to work around other commitments in their lives. Please get in touch if you’re interested in this role but you require different working arrangements.

Application & recruitment schedule

Please could you send us a CV and covering letter explaining why you are suitable for the role. We will then be holding interviews to discuss the role further. Due to the urgency of this role we will be conducting interviews on an ongoing basis.

We are simultaneously recruiting for a Contract Front-end Developer - Accessibility. We only anticipate hiring one or other role, choosing the best candidate to fulfil our current needs.

We monitor our performance on hiring diversity, using a questionnaire at the end of the application process. This is viewed by the operations team only, the aggregated data is shared with the wider team. The questionnaire is optional and you have the choice to not answer any question, but is hugely valuable for us to understand our performance in this area. Equal Opportunities Questionnaire

Applicants must have the right to live and work in the UK.