The Smart Data Donation Service Since the birth of the internet in the early 1980s, our lives have become increasingly digitised. Many important questions about what makes us happy, healthy, and human are now about what we experience in digital spaces rather than physical ones. These questions range from the nature and impacts of technological addictions, to the effects of echo chambers and algorithmic biases, to the consequences of online engagement on cognition, health, and attitudes amongst young people. Unfortunately, understanding how things like social media, smartphones, and other digital technologies shape our wellbeing is severely constrained by a simple problem: almost all high-quality behavioural data sit inside the servers of platform providers and multinational corporations, beyond the reach of independent researchers. This creates a data asymmetry in which those with the greatest access to real-world data also face strong commercial conflicts of interest, while governments, researchers, parents, and the public must largely work in the dark. The Smart Data Donation Service (SDDS) is a new piece of national research infrastructure designed to break these corporate data monopolies. SDDS enables people to lawfully and safely donate the digital data that corporations already hold about them, under informed consent and with strong participant control. The service then securely ingests, standardises, enriches, and stores these sensitive behavioural records within a dedicated, high-assurance environment. Access for independent researchers is governed through layered technical safeguards, rigorous governance procedures, and transparent oversight. The SDDS aims to finally allow high-quality data to be used for public-interest research. By facilitating radically improved scrutiny of digital environments, we hope to create a step change in parents, clinicians, and policymakers' understanding of online environments and how they are affecting society. By doing so, we believe we can help create a safer and better future for everyone. Role We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Full Stack Developer to join the exciting Smart Data Donation Service (SDDS) project. As a Senior Full Stack Developer, you will play a crucial role in bridging the gap between frontend and backend development to create seamless, secure and scalable solutions for SDDS data donors. Your work will ensure an efficient and engaging user experience while supporting the robust backend needed for a groundbreaking data donation platform. A typical day in this role might include: Designing and implementing robust, scalable and secure APIs and backend services for the SDDS platform Supporting frontend developers through building modern, dynamic and user-friendly frontends Collaborating closely with researchers, UX designers and developers to ensure stable integration between frontend and backend components Writing and maintaining automated tests for both backend and frontend, ensuring reliable code Participating in code reviews, providing constructive feedback, and maintaining high coding standards cross the team Enhancing system performance by monitoring and addressing bottlenecks in both backend and frontend components Exploring and integrating new tools and technologies to continually improve the SDDS platform Taking the lead in resolving complex technical challenges, and ensuring the platform can scale with growing user demand Engaging with the wider SDDS team to align development work with the project timeline You will have the opportunity to learn, innovate and collaborate within a diverse team of researchers and IT professionals. Skills, Experience & Qualification needed: Demonstrable experience as a full stack developer, working with both frontend and backend technologies, with a focus on delivering a comprehensive full stack solution Strong understanding of cloud infrastructure and experience with key services such as EC2, S3, Lambda and IAM for scalable and secure backend development Strong understanding of a backend programming language such as Python Hands-on experience with API development and integration, enabling seamless communication between frontend and backend systems Experience in developing responsive frontend applications, ensuring consistent user experiences across web, mobile and desktop platforms Proven ability to work effectively in a cross-functional team, including frontend developers, data engineers and security specialists, to deliver integrated solutions Experience in the following areas is desirable: Familiarity with infrastructure as code tools, such as Terraform, to automate cloud deployment and provisioning Experience with secure data handling and compliance with GDPR, particularly in managing user data across frontend and backend environments Experience with monitoring and alerting tools to maintain system performance, stability and security If you are passionate about technology and are inspired by the vision of the Smart Data Donation Service, we want to hear from you! This role offers a fantastic opportunity to enhance your skills while contributing to the groundbreaking research that the SDDS aims to deliver, making a positive impact on the world. For an informal discussion, or if you'd like a chat about how your existing experience might be a good fit for the role - please reach out to Dan Miller at dan.miller@york.ac.uk The University strives to be diverse and inclusive – a place where we can ALL be ourselves. We particularly encourage applications from people who identify as Black, Asian or from a Minority Ethnic background, who are underrepresented at the University. We offer family friendly, flexible working arrangements, with forums and inclusive facilities to support our staff. EqualityatYork