Drupal Developer – Web Applications & Public Sector Projects

Build digital experiences that improve how public services work.

At Design Centered Co., we bring together strategy, design, and technology to help organizations improve how they work and serve people. Our Impact Centered Design approach connects purpose, people, and process—keeping outcomes at the centre of our decisions.

We’re hiring an experienced Drupal Developer for a senior development and application architecture role supporting a Government of Canada client project. You’ll help modernize enterprise applications, improve search and accessibility, and build reliable digital experiences alongside designers, researchers, and client teams.

What you’ll do

• Assess Drupal architecture, module dependencies, and opportunities for improvement.
• Develop and maintain content models, taxonomy, reusable templates, modules, and application features.
• Manage configuration and Composer workflows.
• Improve enterprise search, indexing, navigation, and content discovery.
• Translate business requirements and UX/UI designs into technical solutions.
• Define acceptance criteria, develop automated tests, and validate accessibility, usability, and performance.
• Support releases through CI/CD pipelines, including deployment documentation and rollback procedures.
• Produce technical documentation, train technical teams, and provide knowledge transfer.
• Communicate progress, risks, and technical decisions to colleagues and client management.

This role requires substantial, demonstrable experience:

• At least 10 years delivering Drupal-based software solutions within the past 15 years. Your experience must cover activities such as architecture, development, configuration, extension, or maintenance and be demonstrable through no more than four project references.
• At least 10 years working with content management solutions within the past 15 years , demonstrable through no more than four project references. Collectively, those references must show experience in all of these areas:
• Eliciting and documenting business requirements.
• Installing and configuring content management platforms.
• Producing detailed technical documentation and training technical teams.
• Configuring content structures and templates to Government of Canada standards, including accessibility and usability.
• Resolving implementation and technical solution issues.
• Reporting progress to management through established reporting methods and visualizations.
• At least five years within the past eight years working on projects involving both:
• Enterprise search analysis, design, and implementation.
• This search and testing experience must be demonstrable through no more than two project references.

We also require experience delivering digital projects for Canadian public sector organizations, directly or through a delivery partner, and fluent English communication skills.

Experience calculations must reflect your actual participation. Concurrent project periods cannot be counted twice.

Technical capabilities

• Experience with custom modules, themes, integrations, and reusable components.
• Familiarity with Git, Composer, Drupal configuration management, and CI/CD workflows.
• The ability to connect technical decisions to user needs, accessibility, maintainability, and organizational goals.

Work arrangement and security

• This is a full-time position with Design Centered Co.
• The client assignment requires hybrid work, including at least two days onsite each week .
• Onsite work is in Ottawa. An applicable regional office may be available for candidates outside the National Capital Region, subject to confirmation.
• You must be legally authorized to work in Canada.
• You must hold, or be able to obtain, Government of Canada Reliability Status and maintain it throughout the assignment. Required security approvals must be in place before accessing protected information or restricted client environments.
• You must provide the documentation needed for security screening and verification of your project experience.

Additional assets

• Experience implementing the Government of Canada Design System (GCDS), including reusable components and design tokens.
• Experience collaborating with UX teams using Figma or equivalent tools.
• Familiarity with ITSG-33.
• Existing Government of Canada Reliability Status or a higher security clearance.

How we work

We care about the impact of what we create and how we get there. We ask thoughtful questions, connect technical decisions to user needs, and make room for different perspectives.

You’ll collaborate across strategy, research, design, and technology. We value initiative, clear communication, and colleagues who share what they know. We expect people to raise concerns early, give constructive feedback, and adapt when evidence points to a better approach.

Accessibility and inclusion are part of how we define quality. As a BIPOC-owned company, we welcome the perspectives that different backgrounds and lived experiences bring to our work.

We welcome applicants from diverse backgrounds and career paths. Please let us know if you need an accommodation during the hiring process.