Principal Front End Engineer

Software Developer Senior

What You'll Do

Define and drive the strategic direction for frontend engineering practices, tooling, and skillset across the organization

Lead the development of accessible, performant, and user-centered web applications that serve government customers

Serve as the technical authority and thought leader for frontend architecture and engineering excellence

Design and implement modern frontend architectures, development pipelines, and deployment infrastructure

Deliver new features and improvements to our customer-facing applications with a strong focus on user experience and accessibility compliance (Section 508, WCAG)

Collaborate with product managers to ideate and balance optimal UI/UX experience with implementation effort, making pragmatic trade-offs that deliver value

Build and maintain component libraries, design systems, and shared frontend infrastructure that enable team velocity and consistency

Identify opportunities to modernize our frontend stack and take ownership of technical initiatives that improve developer experience and application quality

Establish and champion frontend best practices including mobile-first development, testing strategies, performance optimization, accessibility standards, and code quality patterns

Mentor and coach engineers at all levels on frontend technologies and establish career development pathways for frontend specialization

Influence technical decisions across teams and serve as a strategic advisor on frontend initiatives

Work across the full stack when needed to solve problems end-to-end - backend experience is valuable but frontend is your primary focus

What We're Looking For

Evidence of frontend engineering accomplishment

Demonstrated track record of leading and delivering multiple production-ready, accessible, proven experience architecting and implementing modern frontend applications at scale using React and/or Angular

Track record of establishing frontend engineering standards, practices, and tooling that improve team productivity and code quality

Working experience with frontend build tooling, bundling strategies, and deployment pipelines (Webpack, Vite, pnpm, npm, or similar)

Strong understanding of web accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 AA minimum, Section 508 compliance) with practical implementation experience including accessibility linting (axe-core, eslint-pluginjsx-a11y) and automated accessibility testing in CI/CD pipelines

Experience with automated frontend testing strategies including unit testing, component testing, and end-to-end UI testing with tools like Playwright, Cypress, or similar

Familiarity with frontend infrastructure, CDN strategies, asset optimization, and progressive enhancement patterns

Experience with design systems, component libraries, and maintaining consistency across multiple applications

Technical Excellence

Strong proficiency in modern JavaScript/TypeScript and deep understanding of web platform APIs

Solid understanding of CSS architecture, mobile-first responsive design, and cross-browser compatibility

Working knowledge of automated testing strategies including unit testing (Jest, Vitest), component testing (React Testing Library, Angular Testing Library), and end-to-end UI testing (Playwright)

Experience integrating accessibility validation into testing pipelines using axe-core or similar tools

Experience with state management patterns and asynchronous data handling in frontend applications

Practical knowledge of web performance optimization, Core Web Vitals, and frontend monitoring

Understanding of API integration patterns, GraphQL or REST, and working with backend services

Familiarity with cloud deployment patterns for frontend applications (CDN, static hosting)

Experience establishing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines with automated accessibility checks, linting, and testing

Product Mindset & User Experience

Strong product thinking with ability to balance user needs, business requirements, and technical constraints

Willingness to work closely with product managers to ideate on best UI/UX experiences, making pragmatic trade-offs between optimal user experience and implementation effort

Working knowledge of modern UI/UX principles, design patterns, and user-centered design methodologies

Experience collaborating with product managers and designers throughout the development lifecycle on customer-facing applications

Ability to provide technical input during design discussions and advocate for feasible, accessible solutions

Data-driven approach to measuring and improving user experience through analytics and user feedback

Leadership, Ownership, & Communication

Demonstrated ability to lead large-scale technical initiatives from vision to production, influencing outcomes across multiple teams

Quality driven, sets the standard for excellence in communication, code, and documentation

Ability to communicate complex technical concepts and strategic vision clearly to engineers, designers, product managers, executives, and external stakeholders

Proven track record of mentoring and developing engineers at all levels, building organizational frontend capability

Recognized advocate for sound engineering practices who establishes patterns and influences engineering culture

Comfort leading cross-functional initiatives, making architectural decisions with organizational impact, and navigating technical/business trade-offs at the principal level

Required

Must be a US Citizen and able to obtain and maintain Public Trust

Position is remote, with approximately 0-10% business travel