OPEN UNIVERSITIES AUSTRALIA

At Open Universities Australia, I worked with a multidisciplinary team of engineers to migrate from Sitecore to Contentful, unlocking the benefits of modern content workflows and empowering our Marketing and Content teams to independently manage, deploy, and iterate campaigns.

⁠Tasks

1. Contentful Content Modeling
2. Contentful Integration with GraphQL
3. 99% Jest Test Coverage
4. Tealium Event Tracking
5. Reusable Component Architecture
6. Dynamic SEO Structured Data

1. Contentful Content Modeling

Collaborated on the development of a wide range of content models focused on scalability, flexibility, and usability. This enabled us to use the content models supporting a diverse set of pages. including the Homepage, Campaign pages, Study Online pages & many more. Ensuring consistency across the site while giving non-technical teams complete control to focus on their area of expertise.

2. Contentful Integration with GraphQL

Integrated Contentful using its GraphQL API, leveraging TypeScript for type safety and maintainability. I implemented reusable GraphQL fragments to standardise data queries across components, and applied Contentful query limits to reduce payload size and complexity. Resulted in faster page loads, cleaner code, and a more efficient frontend architecture.

3. 99% Jest Test Coverage

Because our work served as the foundation for other development teams, robust test coverage was essential. We used Jest to implement targeted unit tests for every function and component, integrating them directly into the CI pipeline. This reduced the risk of regressions and ensured that future changes could be deployed with confidence.

We delivered a test suite with 99% unit test coverage, supporting long-term maintainability, enabling safe, consistent development across teams.

4. Tealium Event Tracking

To enhance the feedback loop for our Marketing and Content teams, we upgraded our Tealium event tracking. Tealium is more than just a tag manager, Tealium functions as a full-featured Customer Data Platform (CDP) offering enterprise-grade data governance, real-time data streaming, and deep integration flexibility.

This uplift empowered our Marketing & Content teams to track and analyse user behaviour with minimal developer involvement, enabling custom event data to flow directly into analytics dashboards. The result delivered faster insights, greater autonomy, and more data informed decision making across the company.

5. Reusable Component Architecture

One of my favourite parts of each project is designing custom, reusable component architectures tailored to the specific infrastructure needs. On this project, I had the opportunity to learn a lot from Gabi, whose guidance around accessibility and scalability was invaluable.

We used Storybook to document and support each component, showcasing configuration options and usage examples. This modular approach gave content editors the flexibility to build dynamic pages, while ensuring design consistency and maintaining code efficiency.

⁠6. Dynamic SEO Structured Data

Implemented automated structured data generation for each page, dynamically sourced from Contentful. This significantly improved SEO performance and enabled rich search features like enhanced listings and FAQs in Google Search.

The structured data highlighted key content categories—including Courses, Short Courses, FAQs, and other critical areas, boosting visibility across our platform, making high-value information more discoverable.

Lessons Learned

Coming from fast-paced, high-pressure projects, it was refreshing to be part of a team that truly prioritised quality over quantity. One quote from my teammate Blake stuck with me:

“Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.”
It’s a mindset I’ll carry into future work.

I really valued how the team approached complex content models taking the time to explore problems from multiple perspectives before aligning on the most effective solution. Our technical leads, Sandy and Michael, also taught me a great deal about clear communication, team morale, and how to navigate challenges with grace and confidence.

I’m genuinely excited about the work Open Universities Australia is doing and look forward to watching their platform continue to evolve, enabling more students to access their dream career.