Senior Front End Engineer

Position: Senior Frontend Engineer
Department: Technology

Reports to: Lead Frontend Engineer
Location: Westlands, Nairobi

Direct Reports: None

Others Reporting Indirectly: None
Job Type: Full-Time, Permanent

About the Role:

As a Senior Front-End Engineer, you will design and build high-quality, responsive user interfaces, collaborating closely with design and backend teams to deliver exceptional user experiences. This role involves making key architectural decisions, mentoring junior engineers, and championing best practices for performance and maintainability.

Key Measures of Performance:

The performance of this role holder will be assessed on the basis of the achievements made on:

Code Quality & Maintainability:

§ Code Churn: % of code reverted/changed soon after commit.

§ Code Review Feedback: High-quality, constructive feedback.

§ Test Coverage: % of codebase covered by automated tests.

§ Linting/Static Analysis Reports: Number of warnings/errors from automated code analysis.

Performance and User Experience

§ Core Web Vitals: Google's key web performance metrics.

§ Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): Time for the largest visual element to load.

§ First Input Delay (FID) / Interaction to Next Paint (INP): Time from user interaction to browser response.

§ Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): Measures page layout stability during loading.

§ Page Load Time & Rendering Speed: Overall time for a page to load and become interactive.

§ Error Rate: Percentage of user sessions with JavaScript errors.

§ Accessibility (WCAG) Compliance: Adherence to web accessibility guidelines for users with disabilities.

Project Delivery and Efficiency

§ Cycle Time: Time from task start (e.g., first commit) to production deployment.

§ Deployment Frequency: How often code is successfully deployed.

§ Lead Time for Changes: Time from commit to deployment.

§ Change Failure Rate: Percentage of deployments failing.

Leadership and Mentorship

§ Mentorship & Knowledge Sharing: Measured by peer and 360-degree feedback.

§ Architectural Contributions: Quantified by significant codebase improvements.

§ Problem-Solving & Unblocking: Tracked via project tools and anecdotal feedback.

§ Documentation: Assessed by quality and quantity of technical documentation.

Organization Reporting Structure:

Key Responsibilities:

§ Design, develop, and maintain highly responsive, reusable, and scalable UI components and pages.

§ Collaborate with cross-functional teams to translate requirements into high-quality, user-friendly interfaces.

§ Define and implement front-end architecture, coding standards, and best practices.

§ Optimize applications for maximum speed, scalability, and accessibility.

§ Integrate front-end solutions with RESTful APIs and other backend services.

§ Conduct code reviews, provide feedback, and mentor junior engineers.

§ Stay current with emerging front-end technologies and industry trends to drive innovation.

§ Participate in planning sessions, contribute to technical design discussions, and help define project roadmaps.

Academic and Professional Qualifications:

§ A Bachelor’s degree in computer sciences or any other related field

§ Experience with SSR/SSG frameworks (Next.js, Nuxt.js).

§ Familiarity with testing frameworks (Jest, React Testing Library, Cypress).

§ Experience with design systems and component libraries.

§ Understanding of DevOps practices and cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure).

§ Knowledge of performance profiling tools (Lighthouse, Web Vitals).

Qualifications & Experience:

§ 5+ years of professional front-end development experience, including at least 2+ years in a senior or lead role.

Technical Skills:

§ Strong proficiency in JavaScript (ES6+), TypeScript, HTML5, and CSS3.

§ Deep experience with modern front-end frameworks (e.g., React, Vue, or Angular — React preferred).

§ Experience with state management libraries (e.g., Redux, Zustand, Recoil).

§ Familiarity with front-end build tools and bundlers (Webpack, Vite, etc.).

§ Experience integrating front-end code with APIs and backend services.

§ Understanding of accessibility (WCAG), performance optimization, and responsive design.

§ Proficiency with Git and modern CI/CD workflows.

§ Good understanding of SEO principles.

§ Good understanding in browser testing and debugging.

Soft Skills:

§ Strong problem-solving and debugging skills.

§ Excellent collaboration and communication abilities.

§ Ability to mentor and guide junior developers.