Freelance Senior Developer

VSA’s purpose is to design for a better human experience. As a strategy and design agency, we blend consumer insights and data with human-centered design to activate meaningful, motivating and measurable experiences in an increasingly noisy world. With offices in Chicago, New York and San Francisco, VSA offers a full range of fully integrated capabilities—branding, advertising, data science and technology—all under one roof. VSA is also a proud member of Meet The People, an international family of unified and independent agencies. For more than 40 years, we have delivered solutions for business and creative leaders at some of the world’s most respected brands and forward-thinking organizations, including Google, Nike and IBM. 

VSA’s Digital Practice exists to guide and inspire human interaction. At points where brands and businesses need to engage their audiences, we provide interfaces and craft digital experiences that transform interactions, elevate understanding and improve value. The Freelance Senior Developer is responsible for building highly functional and compelling interactive experiences for our clients.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Bring an experienced UX, UI, and functional viewpoint as part of a multi-functional project team.
• Manage within the project team in ways that set and satisfy realistic client expectations, while also helping to foster creativity with technically driven solutions.
• Provide management continuity across disciplines to ensure that team members are aware of their own work and deadlines and the effect that missed milestones (design approvals, content delivery) will have on the development resourcing and delivery.
• Apply your particular expertise in ways that support the accurate prioritizing of an engagement.
• Focus primarily on front-end development, but often apply skills and understanding to back-end systems, and leverage knowledge to help drive the design process.
• Assist with quality assurance testing, including cross-browser, device, and platform compatibility.
• Additional responsibilities as assigned.

REQUIREMENTS:

• 5-7 years of experience.
• Experience with UI-building and familiarity with content management systems, portals or other platforms.
• Extensive experience in hand coding HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
• Extensive experience with JavaScript-based frameworks and libraries.
• Experience integrating HTML-based content with other, third-party environments; excellent debugging and problem-solving skills.
• Experience and practical understanding of HTML5 and CSS3 with a foundation in SEO and Accessibility.
• JavaScript animation library experience (Greensock)
• Experience with: - Source control management (git, SVN) - SASS/LESS - Ruby, Python, PHP - Java, Objective-C, .NET, SQL - MVC frameworks - Mobile First or Responsive Design techniques
• Possession of a Bachelor’s degree.
• Skills of well-rounded generalist with a solid grasp of front-end development approaches and architectures, integration with other systems.
• Experience with the Adobe Creative Suite, IDEs, and other development tools.
• Working knowledge in web standards and best practices, and equipped with at least a basic understanding of the relationships between diverse systems and platforms.
• Aware of cross-browser/platform issues and their common code solutions.
• Ability to communicate effectively at all levels of the company and with external parties in a professional manner maintaining effective communication, both written and spoken.
• Adept at preemptively identifying problems and devising solutions.
• A commitment to high quality work and to positive and productive relationships with all - clients, team members, peers, and managers.
• Skills in sophisticated problem solving, judgment, critical thinking and decision-making.
• Ability to be versatile and handle multiple projects and re-prioritizations.
• Ability to organize information, prioritize, have attention to detail, and accurately follow procedures.
• Ability to maintain self-motivation and to work independently in team environments.