Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Front End Web Developer

🎯 Role Definition

As a Front End Web Developer, you will be responsible for crafting and implementing exceptional user‑facing web experiences that are responsive, performant and aligned with business goals. You’ll work closely with UX/UI designers, backend engineers, product owners and other stakeholders to translate designs into production‑ready code, optimise for cross‑device and cross‑browser use, integrate with APIs and ensure high levels of accessibility, usability and maintainability. You will also contribute to front‑end architecture decisions, build reusable component libraries, promote front‑end best‑practices and help drive continuous improvement of our web platform.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Junior Front End Developer
Web Designer with strong coding skills
UI Engineer or Web Application Developer

Advancement To:

Senior Front End Web Developer
Front End Team Lead / UI Engineering Lead
Head of Web Experience / Director of Front End Engineering

Lateral Moves:

Full‑Stack Web Developer
UI/UX Engineer (Design + Code)
Mobile Web Engineer / Progressive Web App Specialist

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Translate wireframes, mock‑ups and UI/UX designs into robust, responsive web pages and components using HTML5, CSS3/SASS/LESS and JavaScript.
Build and maintain interactive, high‑performing user interfaces leveraging modern frameworks/libraries (e.g., React, Vue, Angular) ensuring maintainability and reuse.
Collaborate with designers, backend developers and product stakeholders to define front‑end requirements, UI behaviour, data flows and deliverables.
Ensure technical feasibility of UI/UX designs, partner with UX teams to iterate and implement interactive features that delight users and meet accessibility standards (WCAG).
Optimize web applications for maximum speed, performance and scalability: implement lazy‑loading, code splitting, asset optimisation, caching strategies and monitor Core Web Vitals.
Ensure cross‑browser, cross‑device and cross‑platform compatibility: test and debug issues across desktops, tablets, mobile browsers, screen sizes and operating systems.
Integrate front‑end code with backend services through API consumption (REST, GraphQL) or real‑time data streams, manage state, error handling, offline modes and synchronization.
Develop and maintain component libraries, design systems, style guides, front‑end architecture documentation and reusable front‑end modules to accelerate development.
Participate in code reviews, maintain front‑end coding standards, ensure unit/integration/end‑to‑end test coverage, static analysis (linting), and continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) for front‑end deliverables.
Provide ongoing maintenance, enhancements and support of web applications: monitor analytics, user feedback, error logs, fix front‑end defects, address regressions and iterate features.
Maintain accessibility, usability and inclusive design: ensure websites comply with web accessibility standards (WCAG 2.x), support internationalisation/localisation, work with designers and content teams to deliver accessible experiences.
Lead front‑end build and deployment workflow: manage bundlers (Webpack, Rollup), package managers (npm/yarn), version control (Git), and ensure smooth deployment to staging/production environments.
Stay current with evolving web technologies, frameworks, browser APIs and best practices; evaluate and recommend new tools, libraries or frameworks to maintain competitive advantage.
Write and maintain technical documentation: front‑end architecture, component guidelines, onboarding documentation, user‑interface specifications and run‑books for development teams.
Balance feature development with technical debt reduction: refactor legacy front‑end code, improve modularisation, reduce dependencies, and increase long‑term maintainability of web platform.
Collaborate with SEO/analytics teams to ensure web pages are optimized for search engine discoverability: semantic HTML, metadata, structured data, accessibility and performance.
Liaise with marketing, content, product and operations teams to align web development with business goals: content updates, publishing flows, campaign microsites and site‑releases.
Estimate front‑end tasks, participate in sprint planning, backlog grooming, stand‑ups, retrospectives and help prioritise toolbar-coded tasks in agile team environment.
Mentor junior front‑end developers: provide feedback, guide best practices, assist with onboarding, share knowledge of frameworks, test strategies and performance optimisation.
Monitor front‑end application health: track user behaviour, application metrics, crash/bug reports, conversion events, usage data and use insights to influence front‑end road‑map and prioritise improvements.

Secondary Functions

Support ad‑hoc data requests and exploratory analytics for front‑end metrics or user‑engagement studies.
Contribute to the organisation’s front‑end strategy and web platform roadmap: propose front‑end standards, component libraries, dev environment improvements.
Collaborate with business units (marketing, content, product) to translate web and user‑interface requirements into engineering tasks.
Participate actively in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the web engineering and UX teams.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Proficiency in HTML5, CSS3 (including preprocessors like SASS/LESS), semantic markup and responsive/mobile‑first web design.
Strong experience with JavaScript (ES6+) and front‑end frameworks/libraries such as React, Vue.js or Angular.
Deep understanding of browser rendering engines, performance optimisation techniques, cross‑browser compatibility, mobile/device fragmentations and Core Web Vitals.
Experience building component libraries, design systems, style guides and reusable front‑end modules.
Skilled in consuming and integrating RESTful or GraphQL APIs, managing front‑end state (Redux, Context API, Vuex) and handling asynchronous data flows.
Experience with version control systems (Git), build tools/bundlers (Webpack, Rollup), package managers (npm/yarn) and CI/CD pipelines for front‑end deployments.
Familiarity with web accessibility standards (WCAG 2.x), inclusive design, internationalisation/localisation and usability best practices.
Strong knowledge of front‑end testing (unit, integration, E2E), tools (Jest, Cypress, Mocha) and front‑end QA practices.
Understanding of SEO best practices as they apply to front‑end development: semantic HTML, metadata, structured data, performance and crawlability.
Experience with responsive design, mobile‑first approaches, media queries, fluid layouts and design integration with UX/UI teams.

Soft Skills

Excellent communication and collaboration: able to articulate front‑end technical concepts, partner with cross‑functional teams (design, product, backend) and translate requirements into deliverables.
Analytical and problem‑solving mindset: diagnose front‑end performance, usability or compatibility issues, propose and implement practical solutions.
Ownership and accountability: take full responsibility for front‑end deliverables, code quality, user‑experience outcomes and project timelines.
Adaptability and continuous learning: stay current with evolving front‑end frameworks, browser APIs, tooling and best practices.
Time‑management and prioritisation: balance multiple tasks, features, bug‑fixes, refactoring and ensure timely delivery in an agile environment.
Mentorship and team‑player mindset: support junior front‑end developers, engage in peer code‑reviews, share knowledge and encourage development of best practices.
User‑centric mindset: understand the needs of end‑users, content authors and stakeholders; ensure front‑end code delivers usability, accessibility and business value.
Quality‑driven: maintain high standards of code cleanliness, testing, maintainability, modularity and performance rather than compromising for speed.
Strategic thinking: align front‑end engineering efforts with business and product goals, influence front‑end roadmap and highlight opportunities for platform improvement.
Attention to detail: ensure pixel‑perfect implementation, consistent design patterns, cross‑browser user‑experience and maintain brand integrity across web interfaces.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Web Design, Interactive Media or equivalent professional experience.
Preferred Education:
Master’s degree in Web Technologies, Human‑Computer Interaction, Digital Media or relevant field is a plus.
Relevant Fields of Study:

Computer Science
Web Design / Development
Digital Media / Interactive Design

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:
2 – 5 years of professional front‑end web development experience in a production environment, with experience in responsive, dynamic web applications.
Preferred:
Demonstrated experience building front‑end solutions using modern JavaScript frameworks (React, Vue, Angular), delivering high‑performance responsive sites, integrating with APIs, optimising web performance and mentoring others.

Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Front End Web Developer