Principal React Engineer

Ocho People; Greater London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading technology organization in Northern Ireland seeks a Principal React Engineer to modernize their front-end architecture and lead technical direction. This role involves designing complex systems and collaborating with cross-functional teams while mentoring others. The position offers a compelling salary package, a strong engineering culture, and flexibility with only 2 days on-site in Derry.

Benefits

Exceptional salary package

Strong engineering culture

Collaborative environment

Real autonomy

Qualifications

• 5+ years' experience building complex front-end applications.
• React 18+ expertise, including advanced hooks and performance optimization.
• Strong understanding of micro-frontend architecture.

Responsibilities

• Design and evolve front-end architecture for complex systems.
• Implement UI/UX designs and develop new user-facing features.
• Stay updated on front-end trends and contribute to innovation.

Skills

React expertise

TypeScript

Component-driven development

Communication skills

Mentoring skills

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or similar discipline

Tools

TanStack Query

Vite

React Hook Form

Zod

Tailwind CSS

Vitest

Cypress

Storybook 8

Job description

Principal React Engineer

The Opportunity

We're partnering with a highly regarded technology organisation delivering enterprise-scale digital platforms used by some of the world's leading brands.

They are now seeking a Principal React Engineer to play a key role in modernising and evolving their front-end architecture as part of a major multi-year transformation programme.

In this role, you will act as the technical leader in the React space - shaping front-end architecture, improving performance, introducing best-practice engineering standards, and contributing significantly to shared codebases. You'll collaborate closely with product, UX, backend engineering, and data teams to deliver seamless, scalable, customer-facing applications used globally.

This is an opportunity to influence technical direction, set standards, and mentor others, while remaining deeply hands-on in building world-class front-end solutions.

Key Responsibilities

Front-End Engineering & Architecture (80%)

• Design and evolve front-end architecture for complex, distributed systems.
  * Ensure UI/UX designs are technically feasible, performant, and accessible.
  * Implement information architecture and interaction design aligned with backend specifications.
  * Develop new user-facing features using modern, component-driven development.
  * Build and maintain internal design systems and reusable component libraries.
  * Write clean, test-driven, production-quality React and TypeScript code.
  * Optimise applications for speed, scalability, maintainability, and accessibility.
  * Contribute regularly to shared codebases with minimal oversight.
  * Participate in the full software development lifecycle and communicate progress to the Development Director.
  * Update, maintain, and modernise existing front-end applications.

Product Analysis & Support (15%)

• Work with Customer Support and Implementation teams to resolve issues and bugs.
  * Support cross-functional teams with technical insights, solutions, and guidance.
  * Engage with customers and internal teams on technical requirements or project status.

Innovation & Continuous Improvement (5%)

• Stay ahead of front-end trends and emerging technologies.
  * Contribute ideas to improve processes, tools, and product capabilities.
  * Identify opportunities to drive innovation across the engineering function.

Essential Skills & Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or similar discipline (or equivalent experience).
  * 5+ years' experience building complex front-end applications at scale.
  * React 18+ & TypeScript expertise, including:
  - Advanced hooks
  - Strict typing, generics - Composition patterns - Performance optimisation
  * Experience with:
  - TanStack Query, Router, Table, Virtual
  - Vite
  - React Hook Form & Zod
  - Nx Workspace
  - Tailwind CSS
  - Vitest, Cypress, MSW
  - Storybook 8
  * Strong understanding of component-driven development and design systems.
  * Knowledge of micro-frontend architecture, Nx monorepos, and domain-driven design.
  * Experience writing high-quality unit, integration, and functional tests.
  * Ability to break down complex problems and collaborate with cross-functional teams.
  * Strong communication, documentation, and mentoring skills.

Desirable Skills

• Experience working with large-scale API-driven platforms.
  * Understanding of cloud-native architecture (Azure, AWS, or GCP).
  * Knowledge of CI/CD pipelines and modern DevOps practices.
  * Exposure to back-end or full-stack environments.
  * Experience working in fast-moving or customer-facing product environments.

Why Join?

• Play a pivotal role in a major front-end platform modernisation.
  * Lead technical direction in React while remaining fully hands-on.
  * Work across enterprise-scale products used globally.
  * Hybrid working with only 2 days on-site in Derry
  * Exceptional salary package
  * Strong engineering culture, collaborative environment, and real autonomy.
  * Opportunities to influence architecture, standards, and front-end strategy.