P

Senior Front-End Engineer

Pty
1 day ago
Full-time
On-site
Pretoria, South Africa

Introduction

Senior Front-End Software Engineer

Reports To: Tech Lead

Location: Bryanston (Office-based, hybrid model available upon successful completion of probation)

Business Unit: Technology

Role Overview

We are seeking an experienced Senior Front-End Software Engineer to play a key role in the evolution of our frontend technology stack. You will lead the migration from a legacy JSP-based frontend to a modern React and Next.js architecture, helping establish best practices, development standards, and scalable frontend solutions.

Working closely with the Tech Lead, backend engineers, product managers, designers, and marketing stakeholders, you will drive frontend excellence while ensuring high performance, accessibility, SEO, and maintainability across the platform.

Duties & Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

Frontend Modernisation & Migration

  • Lead the hands-on development of a modern Next.js frontend architecture.
  • Drive the incremental migration of legacy JSP pages to a contemporary frontend framework.
  • Establish reusable component libraries, design patterns, and frontend development standards.
  • Deliver solutions that balance technical excellence with business value and speed to market.

Architecture & Technical Leadership

  • Collaborate with the Tech Lead to define frontend architecture and technical direction.
  • Contribute to decisions around rendering strategies, state management, API integrations, and deployment pipelines.
  • Promote scalable, maintainable, and high-performing frontend solutions.

SEO, Performance & Discoverability

  • Build applications with SEO and Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) principles in mind.
  • Deliver fast, accessible, and semantically structured experiences that perform well across search engines and AI-powered discovery platforms.
  • Implement structured data, metadata strategies, server-side rendering, and Core Web Vitals optimisation.
  • Partner with Product and Marketing teams to improve content discoverability and organic performance.

Software Development

  • Design, develop, test, and maintain high-quality frontend applications.
  • Create responsive and accessible user experiences across a wide range of devices and browsers.
  • Ensure code quality, maintainability, and long-term scalability.

API & Cross-Functional Collaboration

  • Work closely with backend engineering teams to define and refine API contracts.
  • Support a seamless migration path away from server-rendered legacy systems.
  • Collaborate effectively with designers, product managers, and engineering stakeholders.

Engineering Excellence

  • Conduct thorough code reviews and champion engineering best practices.
  • Develop and maintain technical documentation.
  • Establish and uphold coding standards, testing strategies, and quality frameworks.
  • Mentor team members and contribute to knowledge sharing initiatives.

Innovation & Continuous Improvement

  • Stay current with developments in the React and Next.js ecosystems.
  • Evaluate emerging tools, frameworks, and performance optimisation techniques.
  • Embrace AI-assisted development practices where they enhance productivity and quality.

 

Desired Experience & Qualification

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's Degree in Software Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related discipline.

Experience & Technical Skills

Frontend Development

  • 6+ years of professional frontend software development experience.
  • Strong expertise in React and modern frontend architecture.
  • Previous experience in e-commerce, marketplace, or high-traffic digital platforms is advantageous.

Next.js

  • Proven experience designing, building, and deploying production-grade Next.js applications.
  • Strong understanding of routing, rendering strategies, data fetching patterns, performance optimisation, and deployment models.

Modernisation & Migration

  • Experience migrating legacy frontend applications to modern frameworks.
  • Strong understanding of migration strategies, including incremental migration versus full platform rewrites.
  • Ability to deliver measurable business value throughout transformation initiatives.

Frontend Fundamentals

  • Advanced knowledge of JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML5, CSS3, and responsive design principles.
  • Strong understanding of accessibility standards and frontend performance optimisation.

SEO & Discoverability

  • Server-Side Rendering (SSR)
  • Static Site Generation (SSG)
  • Structured data (Schema.org, JSON-LD)
  • Core Web Vitals optimisation
  • Semantic HTML and clean URL structures
  • Familiarity with AI-driven search and Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) is beneficial.

API Integration

  • Comfortable consuming and shaping API contracts in collaboration with backend teams.
  • Experience working with RESTful APIs and modern integration patterns.
  • Exposure to Java-based backend environments would be advantageous.

Testing & Quality

  • Jest
  • React Testing Library
  • Playwright
  • Cypress or similar tools
  • Commitment to building reliable, maintainable software through effective automated testing.

DevOps & Tooling

  • Experience with modern frontend build tools and CI/CD pipelines.
  • Familiarity with cloud-based environments, preferably AWS.
  • Understanding of deployment automation and release processes.

Collaboration & Communication

  • Strong communication and stakeholder engagement skills.
  • Ability to clearly articulate technical decisions, trade-offs, and recommendations.
  • Proven ability to collaborate within cross-functional agile teams.