Frontend Software Engineer , UI Foundations - Confluent

IBM; Winchester; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

IBM Software is seeking a Frontend Software Engineer to join the UI Foundations team in the UK. You will help build core UI infrastructure and contribute to a Design System while enabling high‑quality, data‑intensive web apps.

You will work with React, TypeScript, and modern tooling to connect to REST/GraphQL APIs, write unit and E2E tests, and participate in CI/CD processes. Bachelor's degree required; Master’s preferred.

Qualifications

• Professional software development experience building web applications.
• Strong foundation in modern JavaScript/TypeScript, HTML5, CSS, algorithms and design.
• Hands-on experience with React (or similar) and testing (Jest, Playwright).
• Familiarity with frontend build tools (Webpack, Rspack, Babel, NPM/Yarn).
• Experience delivering data‑intensive, performant web apps and CI/CD workflows.

Responsibilities

• Build & Maintain Core UI Infrastructure using TypeScript and React.
• Design Systems & Productivity: contribute to the Design System and tooling.
• Performance & Architecture: optimize UI performance and influence frontend choices.
• API Integration: connect client-side to REST and GraphQL APIs.
• Testing & QA: write unit tests (Jest) and end‑to‑end tests (Playwright).
• Modern CI/CD: participate in deployments with feature flags and test environments.

Skills

Modern JavaScript/TypeScript

React

HTML5/CSS

Unit testing (Jest)

E2E testing (Playwright)

CI/CD tooling

REST/GraphQL APIs

Frontend architecture

Data‑intensive apps

Web performance optimization

Education

Bachelor's Degree

Master's Degree

Tools

Webpack

Rspack

Babel

NPM/Yarn

Playwright

Jest

Job description

Introduction

At IBM Software, we transform client challenges into solutions. Building the world’s leading AI-powered, cloud-native products that shape the future of business and society. Our legacy of innovation creates endless opportunities for IBMers to learn, grow, and make an impact on a global scale. Working in Software means joining a team fueled by curiosity and collaboration. You’ll work with diverse technologies, partners, and industries to design, develop, and deliver solutions that power digital transformation. With a culture that values innovation, growth, and continuous learning, IBM Software places you at the heart of IBM’s product and technology landscape. Here, you’ll have the tools and opportunities to advance your career while creating software that changes the world.

Your role and responsibilities

About the Role We are looking for a Frontend Software Engineer to join our UI Foundations team. The UI Foundations team empowers engineers across Confluent with the processes, tools, technologies, and guidance necessary to deliver a consistent and exceptional user experience. In this role, you will help build the core building blocks and infrastructure that directly power and improve Confluent Cloud.

What You Will Do

• Build & Maintain Core UI Infrastructure: Work with our modern stack based on TypeScript and React.
• Design Systems & Productivity: Contribute to our Design System and engineer tooling to boost overall frontend developer efficiency.
• Performance & Architecture: Monitor and optimize UI performance while participating in frontend architectural decisions.
• API Integration: Connect client-side applications to multiple REST and GraphQL APIs.
• Testing & Quality Assurance:
  • Write unit tests using Jest.
  • Maintain and write end-to-end (E2E) test suites using Playwright to ensure high-quality, resilient releases.
• Modern CI/CD:
  • Participate in daily production deployments, using feature flags and commit-level testing environments to ship code safely.
  • Utilize automation tools and bots to maintain dynamic dependencies.

Required education

Bachelor's Degree

Preferred education

Master's Degree

Required technical and professional expertise

• Experience: Professional software development experience building web applications.
• Core Web Tech: Strong foundation in modern JavaScript/TypeScript, HTML5, CSS, algorithms, and application design.
• Frameworks & Testing: Hands‑on experience with React (or equivalent modern frameworks), unit testing (Jest), and E2E testing frameworks like Playwright.
• Tooling & Ecosystem: Familiarity with modern frontend build tools (Webpack, Rspack, Babel, NPM/Yarn).
• Data‑Intensive Apps: Experience building responsive client‑side web applications tailored for complex data environments.
• Deployment & Systems: Familiarity with continuous integration, deployment workflows and managing web application builds.

Preferred technical and professional experience

Hands‑on experience or familiarity with Terraform for Infrastructure as Code (IaC).

ABOUT BUSINESS UNIT

IBM Software infuses core business operations with intelligence—from machine learning to generative AI—to help make organizations more responsive, productive, and resilient. IBM Software helps clients put AI into action now to create real value with trust, speed, and confidence across digital labor, IT automation, application modernization, security and sustainability. Critical to this is the ability to make use of all data, because AI is only as good as the data that fuels it. In most organizations data is spread across multiple clouds, on premises, in private datacenters, and at the edge. IBM’s AI and data platform scales and accelerates the impact of AI with trusted data, and provides leading capabilities to train, tune and deploy AI across business. IBM’s hybrid cloud platform is one of the most comprehensive and consistent approach to development, security and operations across hybrid environments—a flexible foundation for leveraging data, wherever it resides, to extend AI deep into a business.

YOUR LIFE @ IBM

In a world where technology never stands still, we understand that, dedication to our clients success, innovation that matters, and trust and personal responsibility in all our relationships, lives in what we do as IBMers as we strive to be the catalyst that makes the world work better.

Being an IBMer means you’ll be able to learn and develop yourself and your career, you’ll be encouraged to be courageous and experiment everyday, all whilst having continuous trust and support in an environment where everyone can thrive whatever their personal or professional background.

Our IBMers are growth minded, always staying curious, open to feedback and learning new information and skills to constantly transform themselves and our company. They are trusted to provide on‑going feedback to help other IBMers grow, as well as collaborate with colleagues keeping in mind a team focused approach to include different perspectives to drive exceptional outcomes for our customers. The courage our IBMers have to make critical decisions everyday is essential to IBM becoming the catalyst for progress, always embracing challenges with resources they have to hand, a can‑do attitude and always striving for an outcome focused approach within everything that they do.

ABOUT IBM

IBM’s greatest invention is the IBMer. We believe that through the application of intelligence, reason and science, we can improve business, society and the human condition, bringing the power of an open hybrid cloud and AI strategy to life for our clients and partners around the world.

Restlessly reinventing since 1911, we are not only one of the largest corporate organizations in the world, we’re also one of the biggest technology and consulting employers, with many of the Fortune 500 companies relying on the IBM Cloud to run their business.

At IBM, we pride ourselves on being an early adopter of artificial intelligence, quantum computing and blockchain. Now it’s time for you to join us on our journey to being a responsible technology innovator and a force for good in the world.

IBM is proud to be an equal‑opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, pregnancy, disability, neurodivergence, age, or other characteristics protected by the applicable law. IBM is also committed to compliance with all fair employment practices regarding citizenship and immigration status.

OTHER RELEVANT JOB DETAILS

For additional information about location requirements, please discuss with the recruiter following submission of your application.