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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for UTS App Developer

💰 $ - $

Mobile DevelopmentSoftware EngineeringUTS

🎯 Role Definition

The UTS App Developer is responsible for designing, building and maintaining high-quality mobile applications that serve the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) ecosystem. This role requires strong full lifecycle mobile development experience (native and cross-platform), a user-focused mindset, and the ability to deliver reliable, secure, and performant digital experiences. The UTS App Developer collaborates closely with product managers, UX/UI designers, backend engineers and stakeholders to translate business needs into production-grade mobile solutions and continuous delivery pipelines.

Key search-friendly skills and focus areas: mobile app development, iOS (Swift), Android (Kotlin), React Native / Flutter, RESTful APIs, GraphQL, CI/CD, automated testing, app performance optimization, security & privacy (GDPR/Australian privacy), accessibility, app store release management, AWS/GCP/Firebase integrations, analytics and crash monitoring.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Junior Mobile Developer or Graduate Mobile Engineer (iOS/Android)
  • Front-end Developer with strong JavaScript/TypeScript experience migrating to mobile
  • Software Engineer with mobile internship or small app projects

Advancement To:

  • Senior Mobile Developer / Senior App Engineer
  • Lead Mobile Engineer or Mobile Tech Lead
  • Engineering Manager, Mobile Platforms
  • Product Owner / Product Manager for mobile products

Lateral Moves:

  • Full-stack Engineer (mobile + backend)
  • Front-end Web Developer (React/TypeScript)
  • UX/Product Designer specializing in mobile UX

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Architect, design and implement robust, maintainable mobile application features for UTS across iOS and Android platforms, adhering to best practices and modern mobile architecture patterns (MVVM, Clean Architecture, Redux/MobX where applicable).
  • Develop and maintain native applications using Swift for iOS and Kotlin for Android, producing production-quality code, modular components, and well-documented APIs that integrate with UTS backend services.
  • Build and support cross-platform mobile solutions using React Native or Flutter where appropriate to accelerate delivery while ensuring platform-specific UX and performance parity.
  • Integrate mobile apps with RESTful APIs and GraphQL endpoints, handling authentication, caching, offline sync, error handling and efficient data serialization for responsive user experiences.
  • Design, implement and maintain automated unit, integration and UI tests (XCTest, JUnit, Espresso, Detox, Jest, Flutter Driver) and ensure strong test coverage as part of the Definition of Done.
  • Configure and optimise CI/CD pipelines for mobile build, test and deployment workflows (GitHub Actions, Bitrise, Jenkins, Fastlane) to enable continuous delivery to TestFlight, Google Play internal tracks and enterprise distribution.
  • Lead app release processes including build signing, provisioning profiles, Play Console management, App Store submission, release notes, regression testing and post-release monitoring.
  • Profile and optimize app performance across memory, CPU, and battery usage — identify bottlenecks, reduce startup time, and apply lazy loading, caching strategies and background processing where necessary.
  • Implement secure coding standards and integrate security controls (OAuth2/OpenID Connect, certificate pinning, secure storage, encryption at rest/in transit) to protect user data and meet institutional privacy requirements.
  • Support accessibility (WCAG) and internationalization/localization efforts to ensure mobile experiences are inclusive and usable by students, staff and external users across languages and assistive technologies.
  • Instrument apps with analytics and crash-reporting tools (Firebase Analytics/Crashlytics, Sentry, Amplitude) to capture usage metrics, user flows, and error conditions and translate them into actionable improvements.
  • Refactor legacy mobile codebases to improve maintainability, modularity and testability while minimizing user disruption and technical debt.
  • Collaborate with UX/UI designers to translate wireframes and prototypes into pixel-perfect, responsive interfaces and implement animations and interactions that meet UTS brand standards.
  • Troubleshoot and triage production incidents, work with SRE/DevOps and backend teams to resolve issues, and implement monitoring/alerting for app health and uptime.
  • Mentor and onboard junior developers, conduct code reviews that focus on maintainability, readability, testability and performance, and promote team standards and best practices.
  • Participate actively in Agile ceremonies (sprint planning, stand-ups, retrospectives) contributing realistic estimates, clarifying acceptance criteria and driving feature delivery within sprint commitments.
  • Produce and maintain technical documentation, API contracts, runbooks and developer guides to enable faster future onboarding and cross-team collaboration.
  • Evaluate third-party SDKs and libraries (authentication providers, mapping, push notifications, analytics) for security, licensing and compatibility, and manage their lifecycle in the app.
  • Implement push notification systems (APNs, FCM) including segmentation, deep linking and in-app messaging in coordination with product and comms teams.
  • Lead prototyping efforts and proof-of-concepts to validate new mobile features, platform capabilities or emerging cross-platform frameworks, presenting trade-offs and recommended approaches to stakeholders.
  • Liaise with campus IT, legal and compliance teams to ensure apps meet university policies related to data retention, consent, student information security, and research data handling.
  • Maintain developer tooling and local developer environments to ensure reproducible builds, reliable emulation/simulation and consistent debugging experiences across the team.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc feature requests, urgent bug fixes and data-driven enhancements in response to student and staff feedback.
  • Contribute to the organization's mobile strategy and roadmap by evaluating platform trends, costs and technical feasibility.
  • Collaborate with analytics and data teams to deliver instrumentation and event schemas that power behavioral insights and product improvements.
  • Participate in cross-functional working groups for campus digital services, helping align mobile development with broader UTS digital initiatives.
  • Assist with procurement and vendor management for third-party mobile services and platform subscriptions.
  • Provide estimator input for project proposals, helping product managers scope mobile deliverables and resource requirements.
  • Engage with student communities and pilot user groups to gather early feedback on prototypes and beta releases.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Native iOS development: Swift, SwiftUI/UIKit, Combine/async-await, Xcode, Cocoapods/Carthage/SPM, App Store Connect.
  • Native Android development: Kotlin, Android Jetpack (Compose/ViewModel/LiveData), Gradle, Play Console.
  • Cross-platform frameworks: React Native (JavaScript/TypeScript) and/or Flutter (Dart) with experience producing production deployments.
  • API integration: RESTful API consumption, GraphQL clients (Apollo/Relay), JSON handling, pagination and offline-first patterns.
  • Testing & QA automation: Unit testing, integration testing, UI automation (XCTest, JUnit, Espresso, Detox, Flutter Driver), test coverage tools.
  • CI/CD & release automation: GitHub Actions, Bitrise, Fastlane, Jenkins, artifact signing and automated deployment pipelines.
  • App monitoring & analytics: Crashlytics, Sentry, Firebase Analytics, Amplitude, performance monitoring and instrumentation best practices.
  • Cloud & backend fundamentals: familiarity with AWS/GCP/Firebase services used in mobile backends (Auth, Firestore, Cloud Functions, S3).
  • Security & privacy: OAuth2/OpenID Connect flows, secure storage (Keychain/Keystore), encryption, data minimization and privacy-by-design.
  • Performance profiling & optimization: memory management, threading, battery optimization, instrumentation tools (Instruments, Android Profiler).
  • Databases & caching: SQLite, Room, Core Data, Realm, local caching strategies and sync conflict resolution.
  • Push & messaging systems: APNs, Firebase Cloud Messaging, push notification strategies and deep linking implementation.
  • App store compliance & submission: knowledge of App Store and Google Play policies, rate limits and review processes.
  • Version control & collaboration: Git workflows, branching strategies, code review best practices and dependency management.
  • Scripting & tooling: shell scripting, node.js tooling, build configuration, and familiarity with package managers (npm/yarn).

Soft Skills

  • Strong verbal and written communication to explain technical trade-offs to non-technical stakeholders and to document design decisions.
  • Collaborative team player who partners effectively with product managers, designers, QA and backend engineers.
  • User-centered mindset with the ability to balance UX goals, accessibility standards and technical constraints.
  • Problem-solver who can rapidly triage issues, perform root-cause analysis and deliver practical fixes under pressure.
  • Time and priority management to meet sprint commitments while maintaining high code quality.
  • Mentoring and leadership: ability to coach junior engineers and lead technical discussions that improve team capability.
  • Adaptability to new frameworks, changing requirements and cross-platform development challenges.
  • Stakeholder management and influencing skills to drive alignment across distributed teams and vendor partners.
  • Attention to detail for UI polish, localization nuance and regulatory compliance matters.
  • Proactive ownership: takes responsibility for app health, user feedback loops and continuous improvement.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology or equivalent practical experience.

Preferred Education:

  • Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) or a related discipline; postgraduate qualifications or relevant certifications in mobile development are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Computer Science
  • Software Engineering
  • Information Technology
  • Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
  • Mobile Computing / Mobile Application Development

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 2–5 years of professional mobile app development experience (combination of native and/or cross-platform).

Preferred:

  • 3–7+ years mobile development experience with demonstrable production apps on the App Store and Google Play, experience working in Agile teams at scale, and exposure to higher-education or large enterprise digital services.
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