Senior Front-End Engineer | Must be SC cleared

amber labs; City Of London; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading technology consultancy in the UK is seeking a Senior Front-End Engineer to lead front-end development for government service platforms. The role involves collaboration with various teams to deliver accessible and performant services. Candidates must have proven front-end development experience, proficiency in HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, as well as active SC clearance. Benefits include competitive salary, private medical insurance, and hybrid working arrangements.

Benefits

Competitive salary

Performance-based bonus

Private medical insurance

Company pension plan

25 days annual leave

Access to Perkbox

Choice of device – PC or Mac

Qualifications

• Proven experience as a front-end developer in production and prototype environments.
• Deep understanding of accessibility, progressive enhancement, and performance optimisation.
• Experience working in Agile delivery teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead front-end development across multiple digital service projects.
• Build accessible, responsive user interfaces that meet GDS standards.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams, including UX designers and back-end developers.
• Maintain high code quality through code reviews and documentation.

Skills

HTML5

CSS3

JavaScript

Node.js

ReactJS

ExpressJS

Mongoose

Git

GitLab CI

Jenkins

SonarQube

Nexus

Artifactory

UX principles

Agile

Job description

Overview

Location: Hybrid – 2 days per week in the MOD offices in London and / or Bristol
Contract: Salaried 12-month FTC with full company benefits (NOT day rate)
Clearance: Must hold active SC clearance and have UK government / public sector experience

***We are unable to consider candidates who don’t have SC***

The Company

At Amber Labs, we’re a cutting-edge UK and European technology consultancy that empowers autonomy, promotes experimentation, and drives rapid learning to deliver exceptional value to our clients. Collaboration sits at the heart of our culture — every team member, regardless of role, works together to minimise risk and accelerate delivery. Our teams consist of highly skilled engineers, designers, analysts, and consultants dedicated to building world-class digital services for government and enterprise clients.

About the Role

We’re seeking an experienced Senior Front-End Engineer to lead the development, modification, and maintenance of the front-end elements that users interact with across our government service platforms.

You’ll work in multidisciplinary teams, collaborating with designers, developers, and user researchers to deliver accessible, performant, and standards-compliant services that meet the needs of real users and align with government digital standards.

This role is about setting the bar for front-end quality, defining best practices, ensuring accessibility and performance, and applying modern development techniques. You’ll champion progressive enhancement, responsive design, and usability across multiple browsers and devices.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead front-end development across multiple digital service projects.
• Build accessible, responsive user interfaces that meet GDS accessibility and usability standards.
• Ensure products are built with modern web development techniques and principles.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams, including UX designers, back-end developers, and testers.
• Maintain high code quality through code reviews, testing, and documentation.
• Optimise web performance and maintain browser/device compatibility.
• Mentor junior developers and promote a culture of continuous improvement.
• Contribute to design system evolution and reusable component libraries.

Key Skills & Experience

• Proven experience as a front-end developer in production and prototype environments.
• Strong proficiency in HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript (including Node.js, ReactJS, ExpressJS, Mongoose).
• Experience with templating and UI frameworks such as Nunjucks, Freemarker, Bootstrap, LESS, and SASS.
• Working knowledge of CI/CD tooling such as Git, GitLab CI, Jenkins, SonarQube, Nexus, and Artifactory.
• Deep understanding of accessibility, progressive enhancement, and performance optimisation.
• Experience building services that perform efficiently across multiple devices and browsers.
• Strong understanding of UX principles and user-centred design.
• Experience working in Agile delivery teams.

Clearance Requirement

• Must hold active SC clearance
• We are unable to consider candidates requiring visa sponsorship at this time.

Benefits

• Competitive salary and performance-based bonus structure.
• Opportunity to work on impactful government digital services.
• Hybrid and flexible working arrangements.
• Private medical insurance (Aviva).
• Company pension plan (Nest).
• 25 days annual leave plus UK bank holidays.
• Access to Perkbox – employee discounts, perks, and wellbeing resources.
• Inclusive and collaborative company culture that values experimentation and innovation.
• Choice of device – PC or Mac.