Details
1107757
University of Edinburgh
01/06/2026
3 Months
35 hours per week, worked between Monday-Friday (9-5)
Not Applicable
Pay
£13.55
£2.45
Description
Role
The University of Edinburgh’s Information Services Group (ISG) are hiring an undergraduate student to work this summer as a Content Management Systems Development Intern. The key purpose of this role is to develop an automated migration plugin to convert thousands of legacy web pages into EdWeb 2’s modern component-based editorial system. The intern will use PHP to build a tool that transforms a five-year manual task into an automated process.
Within this role, you will gain practical experience in PHP development, Drupal migration systems, and agile project workflows. You will join the Website and Communications (WAC) team, who are responsible for a number of core university services, including the EdWeb 2 University Drupal website platform, Web Search, and the MyEd student portal.
You can expect to start work on the 1st June 2026 and work until the 21st August 2026. You will work 35 hours per week (Monday to Friday) in a hybrid working pattern split between working from home (commutable distance from Edinburgh), and in Forrest Hill. You will be required to attend the office a minimum of two days per week. You will be paid £13.55 per hour, plus £2.45 per hour holiday pay. Payment is one month in arrears, meaning your first payment date (should this position start when expected) will be 28th July 2026.
For more information on what to expect as an ISG Summer Intern and to hear from previous interns, please see our 2026 Summer Internships Webpage.
Duties and responsibilities
- Designing and developing a custom migration plugin to automatically identify and convert HTML tags (images, headings, tables) within body text into EdWeb 2’s paragraph entity components;
- Analysing legacy content structures from EdWeb 1 migrations, mapping patterns and edge cases to ensure the plugin handles diverse content types accurately and reliably;
- Implementing and testing migration functionality across thousands of pages, validating outputs and iterating on the plugin to ensure it meets quality standards before deployment;
- Documenting technical architecture, code, and user guidance to enable the Website and Communications team to use and maintain the migration tool long-term;
- Collaborating with senior Drupal developers, gaining practical experience in PHP development, Drupal migration systems, and agile project workflows.
Skills and experience
Essential criteria:
- A current University of Edinburgh undergraduate student (you must be a matriculated student for the duration of your employment). Internships are open to all undergraduate students, except those in their final year of study;
- Based in the UK for the duration of the work, within commutable distance of Edinburgh, and able to work on campus (we cannot accommodate individuals working overseas due to tax and legal implications), and able to attend a Right to Work Check in person if needed;
- You must be able to attend an in-person interview on campus on the 26th March 2026;
- Evidence of a basic understanding of web development concepts (HTML, CSS, Javascript, or similar);
- A proven familiarity with at least one programming language, preferably PHP;
- Demonstrable strong problem-solving skills;
- Evidence of an ability to work independently as well as part of a team;
- A proven interest in working with content management systems (CMS) such as Drupal or WordPress.
Desirable criteria:
- Prior experience using or developing with Drupal or another enterprise-scale CMS;
- Knowledge of data migration, content parsing, or working with structured content (e.g., HTML parsing, regular expressions);
- Experience using version control tools such as Git.
Location
Hybrid, split between working from home and in 5 Forrest Hill (EH1 2QL).
Benefits
- The full range of benefits as a Summer Intern is available on our 2026 Summer Internships Webpage;
- Being part of a welcoming community of over 50 ISG Summer Interns with opportunities to network, whilst working in a supportive and nurturing environment with a strong emphasis on work/life balance;
- Training and development opportunities, run by experts across a range of fields;
- Opportunity to participate in the prestigious Edinburgh Award for Work Experience.
Additional information
To apply for this role, please upload a CV and covering letter as Word documents that are under 4mb, saved with ".doc" at the end, these should clearly state how you meet the criteria for the role. To have the best chance of being offered an interview, we encourage you to view our two-page Application Guidance and attend one of our short, online internship overview sessions, bookable via the University System (you must use your UoE student login).
We ask that you carefully consider which internships best suit your interests, skills, and career goals, and apply for a maximum of 3 ISG internships. To view all our internships on offer this summer, please see our Unitemps Adverts page.
Interviews for this internship are expected to be held on the 26th March 2026, and will be in person.
The closing date for this advert is 23:59 on Sunday, 1st March. If you encounter any issues when applying, please e-mail unitemps@ed.ac.uk well in advance of the deadline, as we will only respond within office hours (9-5, Monday to Friday). Applications received after 23:59pm on 1st March will not be considered.