Senior Moodle / Totara Developer

Learningmate Solutions; United States; Remote; USD 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job description

Role Overview:

As a Senior Moodle / Totara Developer, you will be instrumental in designing, developing, customizing, and maintaining our Totara/Moodle-based learning management systems. You will play a key role in extending Totara/Moodle's core functionality, managing version upgrades (including Totara upgrades), integrating it with other critical systems, and ensuring optimal performance, security, and scalability. This role requires not only hands-on development expertise but also a strong understanding of Totara/Moodle's underlying structure to deliver high-quality, sustainable solutions.

Key Responsibilities:

• Totara/Moodle Development & Customization: Lead the development, customization, and maintenance of Totara/Moodle plugins, themes, and core functionalities to meet diverse business and educational requirements.
• LMS Upgrade Management: Plan and execute Totara/Moodle and Totara version upgrades, including pre-upgrade assessments, dependency validation, database migrations, regression testing, and post-upgrade stabilization.
• PHP Development: Write clean, efficient, reusable, and scalable PHP code to extend and enhance the Totara/Moodle platform.
• Totara/Moodle Architecture & API Expertise: Leverage an in-depth understanding of Totara/Moodle's modular architecture, APIs, and database structure to design and implement robust solutions.
• System Integration: Integrate Totara/Moodle with various third-party applications, including other LMS, CMS, CRM, HRMS, and external services using RESTful APIs and other integration methods.
• Performance Optimization: Proactively identify and resolve performance bottlenecks, optimize database queries (MySQL/PostgreSQL), implement caching strategies (e.g., Redis, Memcached), and ensure the scalability and reliability of Totara/Moodle instances.
• Troubleshooting & Support: Diagnose and resolve complex technical issues related to Totara/Moodle installations, configurations, integrations, and customizations. Provide technical support to internal teams and, at times, to clients.
• Security & Compliance: Ensure the Totara/Moodle system is secure, compliant with the latest security standards, and apply necessary patches and updates. Safeguard against common web vulnerabilities (XSS, CSRF, SQL injection).
• Code Review & Quality Assurance: Conduct thorough code reviews, adhere to coding guidelines, and ensure best practices in Totara/Moodle development. Contribute to automated and manual testing efforts (e.g., PHPUnit, Behat) to maintain high code quality.
• Documentation: Create and maintain comprehensive technical documentation for code, processes, and system configurations.
• Collaboration & Leadership: Work closely with instructional designers, content developers, project managers, system administrators, and other developers. Provide technical guidance and mentorship to junior developers.

Required Skills & Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field.
• 5+ years of proven professional experience in Moodle development and customization.
• Hands-on experience with Totara LMS, including Totara version upgrades and maintenance.
• Strong expertise in PHP programming.
• In-depth knowledge of Moodle's architecture, core APIs, and database structure.
• Should be using co-pilot/AI in this work
• This is a client facing role so he/she should have worked with overseas customer and interacted with the customer
• Extensive experience with Moodle plugin and theme development.
• Proficiency in web technologies: HTML, CSS, JavaScript (including modern JS frameworks like jQuery, React, Angular, or Vue.js is a plus), and AJAX.
• Strong experience with database management systems, particularly MySQL (and/or PostgreSQL), including schema design and query optimization.
• Familiarity with version control systems, especially Git.
• Experience with RESTful APIs and third-party service integrations.
• Ability to work with Linux-based servers and hosting environments.
• Experience with Moodle upgrades and managing large-scale Moodle implementations.
• Solid understanding of web security best practices.
• Excellent problem-solving, debugging, and analytical skills.
• Strong communication skills (written and verbal) and the ability to articulate technical concepts clearly to non-technical stakeholders.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a collaborative team in a fast-paced environment.

Desired Skills (Good to Have):

• Experience supporting large-scale Moodle and Totara enterprise implementations.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud).
• Familiarity with SCORM, LTI, and xAPI standards.
• Experience in Agile/Scrum development methodologies.
• Knowledge of CI/CD pipelines for code deployment and testing.
• Proficiency in PhpStorm or similar IDEs.