Job Description

American Ancestors/New England Historic Genealogical Society is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving family historians. Founded in 1845, are the oldest – and one of the most-respected – genealogical organizations in the world. We serve 350,000 members, patrons, and subscribers both in person and online, from our elegant seven-story building on Boston’s Newbury Street and on our award-winning website, American Ancestors.org.

Reporting to the Vice President for Digital Strategy and Communications, The Director of Database & Search Technology oversees day-to-day operation of the database team in a hands-on role. This candidate will ensure all search-related systems are running smoothly and are well positioned to scale. The Director of Database & Search Technology will work with internal staff, team members, and offsite vendors to maintain and improve applications that support search technology, AmericanAncesTREES, and the database creation and publishing process. Additionally, this position will select and manage hosting and development partners to support database and search business applications. Other responsibilities may include the maintenance of required code integrations that make search-related parts of the website function effectively.

Members of American Ancestors can search one billion genealogical records (birth, marriage, death, census, and other types of data-rich records) across 478 databases on the AmericanAncestors.org. Database search is the primary customer experience for American Ancestors members, and the main revenue driver for the business. Members can also upload personal genealogical data into AmericanAncesTREES, a family tree application that integrates with our record-based databases.

The database team is responsible for three major areas of operation: 1) creating new databases, 2 ensuring online database search and American AncesTREES are functioning as they should, and 3) making improvements and adjustments to the suite of applications – some proprietary and some SaaS — that supports all the above applications.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Manages application development and support for a suite of Database Publishing, Search, and Family Tree applications.
• Designs, implements, and supports key integrations across search applications, the website (on Drupal CMS), and the CRM (Tessitura)
• Manages multiple projects simultaneously and communicates value and results internally.
• Stays current with technology trends and emerging leadership practices to manage product portfolio.
• Works across internal departments to capture requirements and move new integrations into operation.
• Solicits member feedback and ideas to improve the end user experience.
• Maintains and extends internal applications to streamline the database publishing process.
• Defines the technical strategy and plan to ensure applications leverage modern infrastructure and can scale to support demand.
• Manages budget and expenses for vendors for hosting and development services and negotiates new and renewed contracts.
• Manages Systems Architect and contract engineers

Education Level:

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Technical Project Management, or related areas.

Skill and Qualifications:

• At least six years of experience in disciplines including software development, database management, and systems integration
• Experience with project management of application software, including Agile techniques
• Hands-on experience leading, or working with, physically distributed teams
• Experience with writing queries and updating data with SQL Databases, preferably Microsoft SQL Server and the SQL Server Management Studio
• Experience deploying systems in Amazon AWS
• Skills with one or more scripting language, such as Python
• Solid skills with Microsoft Excel or equivalent including sorting, filters, merging and importing and exporting data
• Practical experience with change control and Dev/Ops tools for managing applications software is a plus
• Ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical staff
• An interest in family history and genealogical research a plus
• Patience and a sense of humor

Salary $95,000-$100,000

NEHGS offers exceptional benefits including generous paid time off, medial, dental, 403b, EAP, tuition assistance, and more.

This position is classified as an exempt, benefit eligible, full time position. This is an on-site position located in Boston, MA. Note: during the COVID-19 pandemic, the position location is a combination of on-site and remote working environments.

How to Apply

Job Categories: Equal Opportunities. Job Types: Full-Time. Salaries: 80,000 - 100,000.

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