Museum of Science, Boston
www.mos.org
Innovation and creativity come from the unique perspectives of a diverse staff. We value your perspective.
Who We Are
As science and technology increasingly shape our lives, the Museum of Science strives to equip and inspire everyone to use science for the global good while keeping up with the pace of change. Among the world’s largest science centers and New England’s most attended cultural institution, we engage nearly five million people a year – at Science Park and in museums around the world, in classrooms, and online.
The Museum’s singular location connecting Boston and Cambridge puts us at the junction of some of the world’s most influential academic institutions and industries, local and state government, schools, and the public. Trusted by each sector, we are ideally positioned to convene, inspire, and create meaningful experiences for all. Come join us on our mission to inspire a lifelong love of science in everyone and living our vision for a world where science belongs to each of us for the good of all of us.
Why We Need You
The Museum's websites are how millions of people each year plan a visit, buy tickets, become members, donate, and explore science online. The Full Stack Developer owns the user-facing side of that experience: making thoughtful UX/UI decisions, building polished and accessible interfaces, and writing the server-side code and API integrations that make them work — connecting our sites to the ticketing, CRM, and payment systems behind every transaction.
You'll partner closely with our Lead Web Developer on a small, high-trust team where your work ships to production and reaches real visitors quickly. You'll bring genuine design judgment, care about getting the details right, and use AI development tools fluently as part of everyday coding, review, and research. Our properties run on Drupal hosted on Acquia, so CMS experience helps — but we are hiring a strong web developer first and will teach the platform.
What You’ll Accomplish
- User-facing feature delivery: Design, build, test, and ship user-facing features for the Museum's web properties — polished, accessible interfaces backed by the server-side code and API calls they need — taking ownership from problem definition through production deployment.
- UX/UI design ownership: Lead user experience and interface decisions for the web team: translate loosely defined needs into wireframes, prototypes, and polished, accessible (WCAG-conformant) interfaces, and build toward a reusable component/design system so the team no longer depends on other departments for UX/UI direction.
- API integration: Build and maintain the connections between the Museum's websites and business-critical systems — including Salesforce, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Ticketure ticketing, and payment/commerce services — consuming REST/JSON APIs and writing the server-side code that keeps transactional workflows like ticket purchase and membership registration reliable.
- Quality and craft: Verify your work thoroughly before handoff — across browsers, devices, and assistive technology — and catch the edge cases, not just the happy path. Where it adds value, contribute automated tests to the codebases we depend on most.
- AI-assisted engineering: Use LLM-based development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot and similar) as an integral part of coding, code review, debugging, and technical research, while applying the judgment to verify and validate AI-assisted output; contribute to the team's evolving standards for effective and responsible AI-assisted development.
- Codebase modernization and refactoring: Assess inherited and legacy codebases, plan incremental refactors, and execute them safely — reducing technical debt, improving structure and performance, and leaving the systems you touch easier to maintain than you found them.
- Timely research and solution design: Take ambiguous technical problems, run timeboxed investigations, and deliver clear, actionable recommendations (proofs of concept, architecture decision records) that move from question to working solution on a predictable timeline.
- Platform contribution: Contribute to the delivery work on the Museum's CMS-based properties (currently Drupal on Acquia) — component development, security updates, and releases within the team's Git, DDEV, and CI/CD workflows — in partnership with the Lead Web Developer, who provides technical leadership for the team.
- Perform other work-related duties as required by Manager.
This is a HYBRID position, requiring at least one day per week working onsite at the Museum of Science in Boston.
What We’re Looking For (Competencies)
- Technical chops — a frontend-forward developer: You bring 3+ years of professional web development experience with deep frontend expertise: semantic HTML, expert-level CSS/SASS, and strong modern JavaScript, including a framework such as React. Behind the interface, you're comfortable writing server-side code (PHP or Node) and calling APIs to power your features — you don't need to be a backend specialist, but you never need someone else to wire up an endpoint for you.
- A UX/UI practitioner: You have real experience making design decisions, not just implementing someone else's mockups: information architecture, interaction patterns, responsive layout, and accessibility. You can show interfaces you shaped and explain the reasoning. This matters here because the web team owns the UX/UI decisions for our properties.
- An API integrator: You have consumed REST/JSON APIs to connect websites to external systems (CRMs, payment or ticketing platforms, marketing systems), and you understand authentication and error handling in transactional workflows. Our sites are the front door to Salesforce- and Ticketure-backed business processes.
- High standards — you check your own work: You verify before you hand off: cross-browser, responsive, accessible, and edge cases included. You'd rather find the problem yourself than have it found in review or in production, and you report status accurately — including what you have and haven't tested.
- AI-fluent development: You use LLM coding assistants effectively in daily work — for generation, review, and research — and, critically, you know how to validate what they produce. AI tooling is integral to how this team develops and reviews code, and we need someone who amplifies their judgment with it rather than substituting it.
- Analytical skills — research to recommendation: You can take an open-ended technical question, structure an investigation, and deliver a clear recommendation with evidence on a committed timeline. On a small team, investigation work can't stall; we need someone who reliably converts ambiguity into decisions.
- Accountability and follow-through: You do what you say you will, and you raise blockers early instead of working in isolation. Trust on a small team is built on precise, honest communication about the state of the work.
- Curiosity and learning — growth mindset: You actively close your own skill gaps, absorb feedback, and apply it in the next piece of work. Our stack and tooling evolve quickly, and the role rewards people who enjoy that.
- Collaboration on a small team: You work fluently in Git (branching, merging, resolving conflicts independently), participate constructively in code review in both directions, and communicate clearly in agile ceremonies with technical and non-technical partners alike.
- Preferred: Any of these will shorten your ramp or expand what you can take on, and none are required: hands-on experience with Drupal or WordPress (theming, module/plugin development, site building); experience writing automated unit or integration tests (PHPUnit, Jest/Vitest) and wiring them into CI; TypeScript; or design-tool fluency (Figma).
- A flexible, local partner: You reside within commuting distance of Boston. We offer a highly flexible hybrid schedule that pivots with project needs, and you're ready to be on-site at the Museum when the work calls for it — planning sessions, rapid troubleshooting, or team events.
How We Work-Our Values
Mission-Focused: We inspire a lifelong love of science in everyone.
Audience-Driven: Everything we do begins with the people we serve.
Innovative: We are curious, take smart risks, share responsibility, and own outcomes.
Generous: We offer time and energy towards common goals.
The Museum of Science is fully committed to Equal Employment Opportunity and to attracting, retaining, developing and promoting the most qualified employees without regard to their race, gender, color, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, citizenship status, veteran status, or any other characteristic prohibited by federal, state or local law. We are dedicated to providing a work environment free from discrimination and harassment, and where employees are treated with respect and dignity.
