Front End Engineer

Location: Remote, UKSalary: £55,000 to £60,000About us

At Arbor, we're on a mission to transform the way schools work for the better.

You've probably seen the headlines. Heavy workloads, constant change, admin pressure on teachers and staff at every level… sometimes it feels like this is just part and parcel of school life today. But it doesn't have to be this way.

We passionately believe that there's a better way to work. And it starts by giving everyone the right tools and technology for the job.

We're building a platform and products we believe in - as well as a strong, diverse team of experienced specialists, ex-teachers and Edtech engineers passionate about making a difference to the sector.

Ultimately, we're here to help make our schools and trusts stress a little less, and focus on what matters most - improving the lives of teachers and outcomes of students everywhere.

About the role

We are looking for an experienced and collaborative Senior Front End Engineer to join one of our Engineering teams and help us with the ongoing development of Arbor's front-end library and React Native mobile application. The remit and focus of the role is to directly contribute to the ongoing migration to React from ExtJs, as well as developing new features and libraries, and a comprehensive component library. It's a broad and exciting role, so we're looking for someone up for a challenge - if you're a creative and a keen problem solver, this is the role for you.

Core responsibilities

• Work closely with the Product Manager, QA engineer and Technical Lead to solutionise feature requests
• Lead the creation of detailed documentation for new feature developments, incorporating diagrams for comprehensive understanding.
• Drive the development and implementation of tests around new features, ensuring appropriate coverage and the highest standards.
• Drive a user centric front-end platform that delivers exceptional user experiences.
• Play a proactive role in mitigating the occurrence of production incidents, identifying risks and ensuring quality. Active role in remediation in the event of an incident, and also root cause analysis with the team to implement measures that prevent future occurrences.
• Demonstrate expertise in producing well-architected, efficient, and scalable code using industry-leading design patterns and methodologies.
• Take a leadership role in code reviews and pair programming sessions, guiding and mentoring colleagues towards excellence.
• Lead and actively participate in tech-talks, workshops, and team-based learning initiatives - ensuring knowledge is disseminated effectively across the team.
• Proactively identify and address developer experience and workflow improvements.

Requirements
About you

• Extensive expertise in JavaScript and Typescript, with a deep understanding of JavaScript fundamentals.
• Proven experience in leading projects with modern Javascript frameworks such as React, Angular, Vue or similar.
• Excellent knowledge of HTML and CSS.
• Strong understanding of web accessibility.
• Strong experience with automated testing (unit testing, integration testing and end-to-end testing).
• Good understanding of good software delivery methodologies (e.g. Scrum, Agile)
• Advanced understanding and application of best practices and software engineering principles, including SOLID, DRY, etc.
• Good understanding of front-end build tools such as Webpack and Babel.
• Basic software architecture skills: understands the ways in which frontends can fit into the overall software stack..
• Experience with a backend language/framework such as PHP/symfony.
• Demonstrates leadership qualities and a proactive problem-solving mindset.
• Excellent team collaboration skills and experience in mentoring developers.
• A commitment to continuous learning, improvement and staying up-to-date with industry trends.
• Excellent written and spoken English for clear and effective communication.
• Experience with Docker and containerisation.
• Experience with build tooling (Github actions, bash scripting etc.)

Bonus skills

• Experience with React Native or other mobile app development technologies.
• Past experience with enterprise solutions
• Experience developing a frontend framework / platform. 
• Experience writing PHP
• Experience with relational and NoSql database technologies
• Experience with build tooling (GitHub actions, bash scripting etc.)
• Familiarity with software best practices such as Refactoring, Clean Code, Domain-Driven Design, Test-Driven Development, etc.

Benefits
What we offer

The chance to work alongside a team of hard-working, passionate people in a role where you'll see the impact of your work everyday. We also offer:

• A dedicated wellbeing team who champion initiatives such as mindfulness, lunch n learns, manager training, mental health first aid training and much more
• 32 days holiday (plus Bank Holidays). This is made up of 25 days annual leave plus 7 extra company wide days given over Easter, Summer & Christmas
• Life Assurance paid out at 3x annual salary
• Comprehensive wellness benefit provided by AIG Smart Health, which provides a 24/7 virtual GP service, Mental health support, Counselling, and personalised Health Checks 
• Private Dental Insurance with Bupa 
• Salary sacrifice Pension provided by Scottish Widows
• Enhanced maternity and adoption leave (20 weeks full pay) and paternity (6 weeks full pay) pay
• 5 free return to work maternity coaching sessions, helping you adapt to this new exciting time of life
• Access to services such as Calm and Bippit (financial wellbeing coaching) 
• All of our roles champion flexible working and we are happy to discuss what this means to you
• Social committees that plan team, office and company wide events to bring people together and celebrate success
• Dedicated professional development training budget (CPD courses, upskilling resources, professional memberships etc)
• Volunteer with a charity of your choice for a day each year
• Dog friendly offices

Interview process

1. Phone screen
2. 1st stage
3. 2nd stage

We are committed to a fair and comfortable recruitment process, so if you require any reasonable adjustments during your application or interview process, please reach out to a member of the team at -

Our commitment is also backed by our partnership with Neurodiversity Consultancy, Lexxic who provide us with training, support and advice. 

Arbor Education is an equal opportunities organisation

Our goal is for Arbor to be a workplace which represents, celebrates and supports people from all backgrounds, and which gives them the tools they need to thrive - whatever their ambitions may be so we support and promote diversity and equality, and actively  encourage applications from people of all backgrounds. 

Refer a friend 

Know someone else who would be good for this role? You can refer a friend, family member or colleague, if they are offered a role with Arbor, we will say thank you with a voucher valued up to £200 Simply email: - 

Please note: We are unable to provide visa sponsorship at this time.

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