Staff Software Engineer IC

SUMMARY

This position provides senior technical leadership across AmaWaterways' consumer and partner digital platforms, with a primary emphasis on frontend architecture, performance, user experience, and modern web application development. The Staff Software Engineer, Frontend serves as the technical lead within an Application Engineering scrum team and is responsible for defining frontend technical direction, leading architectural decisions, and delivering scalable, secure, and high-performing web experiences using Next.js, React, TypeScript, and modern composable architecture patterns.

This role combines deep hands-on engineering expertise with technical leadership responsibilities, including ownership of frontend architecture, development standards, technical design reviews, mentorship, and cross-functional collaboration. The Staff Software Engineer partners closely with Product, UX/UI, QA, Platform Engineering, and backend engineering teams to deliver exceptional digital experiences across AmaWaterways' global consumer and partner ecosystem.

Specific team assignments will be determined based on portfolio needs at the time of hire.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Serve as the technical lead for frontend development within an application engineering scrum team, owning frontend architectural direction and technical backlog prioritization.
• Lead the architecture, design, development, testing, and deployment of enterprise-scale web applications using React, Next.js, TypeScript, and related frontend technologies.
• Drive the implementation of scalable, maintainable frontend platforms that support AmaWaterways' consumer booking, lead generation, travel advisor, and guest experience initiatives.
• Establish and enforce frontend engineering standards related to code quality, accessibility, security, performance, scalability, observability, and maintainability.
• Design and implement advanced Next.js solutions using Server-Side Rendering (SSR), Static Site Generation (SSG), Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR), and modern data-fetching patterns.
• Own and evolve the organization's frontend architecture, component libraries, design system implementation, and reusable development frameworks.
• Lead technical design reviews and produce technical design documentation, architecture diagrams, system designs, and engineering decision records.
• Collaborate with UX/UI teams to translate customer journeys, wireframes, and visual designs into accessible, responsive, and engaging digital experiences.
• Develop and maintain integration with backend services and external systems through RESTful APIs, GraphQL services, identity providers, and third-party platforms.
• Lead implementation and optimization of Builder.io-powered experiences, reusable content models, templates, and components.
• Optimize applications for Core Web Vitals, search engine optimization, accessibility compliance (WCAG 2.1+), scalability, and overall user experience.
• Monitor application health and user experience through observability, analytics, telemetry, and performance measurement tools.
• Drive frontend security initiatives, including implementation of secure coding practices and mitigation of common web vulnerabilities.
• Provide technical estimates and solution recommendations supporting roadmap planning, sprint commitments, and delivery forecasting.
• Conduct code reviews and maintain high development standards through Git workflows, pull requests, automated testing, and CI/CD quality gates.
• Mentor engineers across the organization, providing guidance on frontend architecture, performance optimization, design systems, accessibility, and engineering best practices.
• Partner with backend engineers to influence API design and ensure effective frontend-backend integration patterns.
• Perform root-cause analysis and technical leadership during production incidents and participate in on-call support as required.
• Evaluate emerging frontend technologies, AI-enabled development tools, frameworks, and industry best practices to improve engineering effectiveness and product quality.
• Performs other related duties as assigned by management.

SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES

This position carries technical leadership responsibilities in accordance with the organization's policies and applicable laws. This is a senior individual contributor role with technical leadership responsibilities rather than direct people management authority.

Responsibilities Include:

• Providing day-to-day technical leadership, coaching, and mentorship to engineers across the team.
• Establishing frontend development standards, architectural patterns, and coding best practices.
• Leading technical reviews and providing architectural sign-off on significant frontend initiatives.
• Supporting hiring efforts through candidate interviews and technical assessments.
• Assisting with onboarding, training, and professional development of engineering staff.
• Coordinating technical work across multiple projects and helping ensure successful delivery.
• Contributing meaningful feedback regarding technical performance, growth opportunities, and engineering effectiveness.
• Helping resolve technical challenges, delivery risks, and project concerns, escalating issues when appropriate.
• Serving as a technology advocate and trusted technical advisor for Product, UX, QA, and business stakeholders.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or related technical discipline; or equivalent combination of education and experience.

Experience

• Eight or more years of professional software engineering experience, including significant frontend development expertise and demonstrated technical leadership.
• Proven experience leading architecture and delivery of large-scale React and Next.js applications in production environments.
• Experience serving as a technical lead, staff engineer, lead engineer, or equivalent role responsible for architectural direction and engineering excellence.

Technical Skills

• Expert-level proficiency with React.js, Next.js, TypeScript, JavaScript (ES6+), HTML5, and modern CSS frameworks.
• Deep expertise with Server-Side Rendering (SSR), Static Site Generation (SSG), Incremental Static Regeneration (ISR), React Server Components, and frontend performance optimization.
• Extensive experience building component libraries, design systems, and reusable frontend platforms.
• Advanced experience with Builder.io and modern headless CMS solutions such as Contentful, Sanity, Storyblok, or equivalent platforms.
• Strong knowledge of RESTful APIs, GraphQL, API integration patterns, caching strategies, and secure client-server communication.
• Experience with responsive design, accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 AA), semantic HTML, and inclusive user experience principles.
• Extensive experience optimizing Core Web Vitals and frontend performance through profiling, monitoring, and modern optimization techniques.
• Strong familiarity with backend technologies including .NET/C#, Node.js, and microservice-based architectures.
• Experience working with cloud platforms, preferably Microsoft Azure, including application hosting, CDN, storage, networking, monitoring, and security services.
• Experience implementing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines using Azure DevOps, GitHub Actions, or similar platforms.
• Understanding of identity and authentication technologies including Auth0, OAuth 2.0, OIDC, JWT, and Single Sign-On solutions.
• Strong understanding of web security principles, OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities, secure coding practices, and consumer-facing application security requirements.
• Experience with observability and monitoring tools such as Datadog, New Relic, Dash0, Azure Monitor, or similar platforms.
• Expertise using Git, GitHub, pull request workflows, branching strategies, and engineering governance practices.
• Experience leveraging AI-enabled development tools to improve quality, efficiency, and developer productivity.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience within hospitality, travel, cruise, tourism, or ecommerce industries.
• Experience supporting consumer booking engines, guest portals, loyalty programs, or digital commerce platforms.
• Prior experience operating within composable architecture ecosystems.

COMPETENCIES

Technical Leadership

Provides architectural vision, drives engineering excellence, influences technical decisions, and mentors engineers across teams.

Strategic Thinking

Understands business objectives and aligns technology solutions with organizational priorities and customer outcomes.

Innovation

Evaluates emerging technologies and identifies opportunities to improve performance, scalability, maintainability, and user experience.

Problem Solving

Analyzes complex technical challenges and develops effective, scalable solutions.

Collaboration

Builds effective partnerships across engineering, product, design, QA, and business functions.

Communication

Effectively communicates technical concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Quality Focus

Demonstrates commitment to code quality, testing, accessibility, security, and operational excellence.

Customer-Centric Mindset

Designs and develop solutions that prioritize user experience, business value, and customer satisfaction.

Adaptability

Thrives in an evolving environment and responds effectively to changing priorities and business needs.

Mentorship

Actively develops and coaches engineers while fostering a culture of learning and continuous improvement.