Senior Frontend Developer (i.AI)

at  Cabinet Office

ESSENTIAL SKILLS:

• Excellent grasp of HTML, CSS and the fundamentals of JavaScript.
• Experience delivering frontend code to production in a multidisciplinary team.
• Proficient with the core technical tools for frontend development.
• Experience working with design systems such as the GOV.UK Design System.
• Working knowledge of web application security and accessibility standards (OWASP, WCAG).
• Writing accessible code following a progressive enhancement approach.
• Ability to collaborate with software engineers, designers and non-technical stakeholders to ensure that the team’s work meets requirements.
• Able to prototype rapidly in code, for example using tools such as the GOV.UK prototype kit.
• Proactive in learning new skills and keeping up to date with the constantly changing landscape of frontend development

EXPERIENCE OF ANY OF THE FOLLOWING WOULD BE BENEFICIAL, THOUGH ALL WE REQUIRE IS AN INTEREST IN DEVELOPING THESE SKILLS IN POST:

• Experience working with products that have an AI component, such as chat interfaces.
• Experience building apps and services using server-side JavaScript runtimes such as Node.js.
• Proficiency with the wider ecosystem of frontend tools, such as linters, module bundlers and preprocessors.
• Python, which we use for our backend services.
  Strong candidates come from many different backgrounds, and we encourage a broad range of applications to ensure we have a well-balanced team. Studies show that talented people, especially those from groups underrepresented in their field, are more likely to doubt themselves and feel like an “imposter”. Unique perspectives enrich teams, so we urge you to have confidence in your potential contributions. If aspects of this role resonate with you, please apply. We look forward to your application.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

We’ll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Technical assessment at interview 1

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £55,403, Cabinet Office contributes £16,050 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• Learning and development tailored to your role.
• An environment with flexible working options.
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity.
• A Civil Service Pension which provides an attractive pension, benefits for dependants and employer contributions of 28.97%.
• A minimum of 25 days of paid annual leave, increasing by one day per year up to a maximum of 30.

Things you need to know

NATIONALITY REQUIREMENTS

This job is broadly open to the following groups:

• UK nationals
• nationals of the Republic of Ireland
• nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
• nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
• individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
• Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service

Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)

ABOUT THE ROLE

Alongside AI engineering, software engineering is the core technical discipline in the Incubator. Whilst AI engineers focus on the implementation and evaluation of machine learning and LLM technology, software engineers, including frontend developers, are responsible for integrating that technology into working software that delights users and delivers against well-defined metrics.
Frontend engineers collaborate with AI engineers to deliver working code from development to production, taking responsibility for the creation, testing and deployment of user interfaces using standard web technologies. They champion usability, accessibility and simplicity in frontend engineering.

ROLE RESPONSIBILITIES

• Delivering clean, semantic HTML, CSS and JavaScript to support high-quality, accessible user experiences.
• Advocating for progressive enhancement, ensuring that applications work across a range of devices.
• Quickly delivering prototype code to support user research.
• Using your experience working with different frontend technologies to help the team make decisions about which technologies to adopt.
• Sharing your knowledge via activities like pair programming.
• Advocating for coding standards and good practices, especially for JavaScript.
• Supporting the effective management and performance of the team by promoting diversity, inclusion, regular, honest and constructive feedback, and supporting continuous improvement.

For this role we’ll be assessing you against the following Civil Service Behaviours:

• Seeing the big picture
• Working together
• Delivering at pac