Senior Frontend Developer – Digital Archiving Access Team

The National Archives; London Borough of Richmond upon Thames; Hybrid; GBP 54,000 - 66,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension

On-site gym

Sports & social club facilities

Discounted on-site cafe

Training & development

Job summary

The National Archives is seeking a Senior Frontend Developer to deliver accessible, high‑quality user interfaces for the Access Your Records and Find Case Law platforms. You will lead frontend work, coach junior colleagues, and collaborate with designers, researchers and suppliers to turn prototypes into production features.

You will apply GOV.UK Design System standards, champion accessibility to WCAG AA, and help define frontend patterns, tooling and security practices while working in a hybrid

Qualifications

• Production-quality server-side rendered frontends.
• HTML, CSS preprocessors (Sass) and JavaScript mastery.
• Web performance optimization and network fundamentals.
• Web accessibility to WCAG AA, using a design system.
• Security mindful with frontline security practices.
• Automated testing across unit, integration, visual, accessibility and performance.
• Ability to lead, review code, and mentor teammates.

Responsibilities

• Build accessible, performant frontends following GOV.UK Design System.
• Complete features end-to-end, design automated testing plans, ensure accessibility.
• Develop and expand shared component libraries.
• Own frontend standards and tooling, including linting and CI/CD alignment.
• Take ownership of frontend security, performance and maintainability.
• Mentor and coach developers, leading code reviews and pair programming.
• Work with designers, researchers, backend developers and stakeholders to turn prototypes into working software.
• Support production services during working hours as part of the in-house rota.

Skills

HTML

CSS/SASS

JavaScript

WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility

Agile methodologies

Design systems

Tools

GOV.UK Design System

Django

Flask

Storybook

Job description

As the living, growing home of our national story, The National Archives is a special place to work. We’re an institution nearly 200 years old with a collection spanning 1,000 years of history. We’ve set ourselves the challenge of becoming the 21st Century national archive - a different kind of cultural and heritage institution: Inclusive, Entrepreneurial, Disruptive. We won’t become this overnight. It will take time, focus, effort and daring. That’s where you come in. Because we can’t do this without you.

Job Overview

• Recruitment Stage: External
• Salary: £60,000 per annum (£57,354 plus £2,646 market supplement)
• Contract type: Permanent
• Band: F / SEO
• Closing date: 18th November 2026 at midnight

What you’ll work on

• Access Your Records (AYR) – secure, self service access for government departments to born digital records transferred to The National Archives (currently in private Beta).
• Find Case Law (FCL) – the public site for judgments and tribunal decisions, including data feeds under an innovative licensing approach—an important step towards open justice. Both services are growing: AYR is moving beyond MVP, and FCL is expanding with richer metadata and new publishing workflows. Your work will help us scale features while keeping services robust and secure.

What you’ll do

• Own and deliver frontend features across AYR and FCL—set technical direction, write high quality code, and work with external suppliers when needed.
• Operate production services—monitor, troubleshoot, and improve resilience, robustness and stability.
• Coach and mentor developers; line manage a junior colleague.
• Champion secure engineering and consistent standards; contribute to code reviews and quality practices.
• Stay curious and share—engage with the wider dev community, evaluate new technologies, and help colleagues keep up with digital preservation developments.

What you’ll bring

• Strong experience delivering server side rendered accessible interfaces (WCAG 2.2 AA)
• Strong web fundamentals (HTML, CSS/SASS, JavaScript) with an “open by default” mindset that makes reuse easy through components, design systems etc.
• Comprehensive approach to testing new features and bug fixes and delivering in an AGILE team
• Good knowledge of common frontend security vulnerabilities and how to mitigate them.
• Experience operating live services and explaining complex systems clearly to others.

Nice to have

• Working to the Government Digital Service Standard.
• Understanding of python web frameworks such as Django and Flask

Working here

• Hybrid working: We typically ask colleagues to be on site around 60% of the time—especially early on—so you can meet users and teammates.
• Security: SC clearance (or willingness to obtain) is required. This requires candidates to have been resident in the UK for at least the past three years. (Please do not apply if you have been resident in the UK for less than three years as your application will be rejected).
• Inclusive culture: We’re committed to improving the diversity of our workforce and warmly encourage applications from under represented groups This is a full time post. However, requests for part-time working, flexible working and job share will be considered, taking into account at all times the operational needs of the Department.

Essential criteria

• A strong track record of delivering production-quality, server-side rendered frontends with deep knowledge of HTML, CSS (including preprocessors such as Sass), JavaScript and templating, building services that work without JavaScript and layering enhancements on top
• Experience designing and optimising performant web interfaces, with a strong understanding of browser and network fundamentals (for example HTTP, caching, cookies, headers and the same-origin policy), and how HTML, CSS and JavaScript affect page load times, rendering, responsiveness and user-perceived performance.
• Experience building interfaces that meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines at level AA, tested with assistive technologies, using a design system (such as the GOV.UK Design System) or shared components and patterns
• A good understanding of common web security risks and how to prevent them (for example cross-site scripting and cross-site request forgery), with experience implementing security controls in services where security matters, ideally those that handle sensitive or personal data
• Experience of automated testing at several levels (for example unit, integration, visual, accessibility and performance tests), choosing tests that catch real problems rather than just covering code, balancing confidence against speed, and working with continuous integration and delivery in an agile team
• Experience keeping a codebase easy to change by applying and enforcing frontend standards and conventions (for example from GOV.UK, MDN or an agreed house style), through linting and formatting configuration, code review and refactoring, and building and documenting reusable component libraries (with tools such as Storybook) and driving adoption across teams or products
• Experience coaching or mentoring other developers, formally or informally, with a clear interest in developing people, giving constructive feedback, supporting technical growth, and sharing knowledge across teams.
• Experience making sound technical decisions, weighing trade-offs and explaining the reasoning clearly to different audiences, working closely with designers, user researchers and product managers, and acting as a frontend expert who collaborates with peers beyond their own team

Desirable criteria

• Experience line managing developers, including setting objectives, holding regular one-to-ones, and supporting performance and progression
• Experience with a Python web framework such as Django or Flask, or a willingness to learn quickly
• Experience working to the GOV.UK Service Standard
• Experience operating production services, monitoring systems and responding to incidents
• Experience with search or large information content-heavy services
• Familiarity with cloud-hosted and containerised deployment (Desirable criteria will only be used in the event of tied candidates during the selection process)

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.

Job Description

You will deliver and integrate software to form complete services within the Access to Digital Records team, which is part of the Digital Archiving department. The Access to Digital Records team provides services for access to government records and court records, supporting people to find the evidence that they need. These important information services increase transparency of how the government and the courts make decisions which shape people’s lives, as well as developing archival best practice in providing access to digital records. We currently have two products in active development. The Access Your Records service provides secure, self-service access to government departments and other bodies to born-digital records that have been transferred to The National Archives. It is currently in its private Beta phase. [link Brief] The Find Case Law service (https://caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/) provides public access to court judgments and tribunal decisions. It provides case law as data via an atom feed under an innovative licensing regime. It is an important step towards open justice and transparency of the justice system. The Access to Digital Records team is committed to improving and developing these products, as well as developing or enhancing additional services to facilitate better access to digital records. Working closely with the Lead Developer, you will plan and lead frontend development on sets of related stories across our products, including the Access Your Records service and the Find Case Law service. As a Senior Frontend Developer, you will have a deep understanding of our frontend and how it fits with the services behind it and take responsibility for teaching frontend patterns, standards and accessibility practice. You will work collaboratively across multidisciplinary teams, coach and mentor more junior colleagues, and support what you ship in production while continuously finding ways to improve frontend quality; performance, accessibility, security and maintainability. This role would suit someone who is motivated to increase access to public digital records, who thinks hard about how the technological landscape is changing, enjoys working in agile teams, and wants to take ownership of significant technical deliverables while developing their leadership skills.

Role and Responsibilities

• Build and maintain accessible, performant, progressively enhanced user interfaces following the GOV.UK Design System and our own design systems, to serve a variety of citizen and government needs, taking responsibility for the quality of the code produced and making sure it follows agreed standards
• Complete features end-to-end, design and implement automated testing plans to help the team deliver with confidence, and champion accessibility, making sure services meet the current Web Content Accessibility Guidelines at level AA and are tested with assistive technologies
• Develop and expand our own shared component libraries, so that components are documented, tested and reused consistently across products
• Own and evolve frontend standards and tooling across all products, including code linting and formatting configuration aligned to government and organisational standards, testing practices, and continuous integration and delivery
• Take ownership of frontend security, performance and maintainability, working with backend developers and the wider security function to protect sensitive data
• Evaluate and recommend relevant software technologies and products, so that the organisation gains optimum benefit from technological advances
• Act as the team’s frontend expert, advising on patterns and approaches, helping to prioritise and direct technical work, and acting as a sounding board for the Lead Developer on frontend decisions, capability and standards
• Mentor and coach developers, leading by example in code review and pair programming
• Line manage a more junior developer in the team, with support from the Lead Developer; agree goals for continuous self-improvement, hold regular one-to-ones, give constructive feedback and support their progression
• Work closely with designers, user researchers, backend developers, key stakeholders and external suppliers where needed, turning prototypes and research findings into working software that meets the needs of users, the business and the organisation’s digital strategy
• Act as a digital ambassador across the organisation and wider government by collaborating with developers in other teams and departments, contributing improvements and components back to shared design systems, identifying good practices for the organisation to adopt, supporting recruitment, and sharing experience, for example through blog posts and technical talks
• Support production services during working hours as part of the in-house support rota by triaging alerts, issues with CI/CD, and investigating and fixing bugs

Benefits

• Generous benefits package, including pension, sports and social club facilities, onsite gym, discounted rates at our on-site cafe and opportunities for training and development.
• Annual leave entitlement of 22 days per calendar year (rising to 25 after the first year, and incrementally to 30 days after six years) and 10½ days public and privilege holidays per annum.
• Any move to The National Archives from another employer will mean you can no longer access childcare vouchers. This includes moves between government departments.
• You may however be eligible for other government schemes, including Tax-Free Childcare. Determine your eligibility at https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/ (opens in new window)

Reasonable adjustments

If a person with disabilities is put at a substantial disadvantage compared to a non-disabled person, we have a duty to make reasonable changes to our processes. If you need a change to be made so that you can make your application, you should: Contact The National Archives via [e-mail] as soon as possible before the closing date to discuss your needs Complete the ‘Reasonable Adjustments’ section of your application form to tell us what changes or help you might need further on in the recruitment process. For instance, you may need wheelchair access at interview, or if you’re deaf, a Language Service Professional Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must pass a disclosure and barring security check. People working with government assets must completebasic personnel security standardchecks (opens in new window)

Nationality requirements

This job is broadly open to the following groups: UK nationals nationals of the Republic of Ireland nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window) nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020 Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service Further information on nationality requirements (opens in new window)

Working for the Civil Service

TheCivil Service Code (opens in new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants. We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission'srecruitment principles. (opens in new window) The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria. The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy. This vacancy is part of theGreat Place to Work for Veteransinitiative. (opens in new window)

Contact point for applicants

Name: The National Archives Recruitment Team Email: [e-mail]

Further information

If you feel your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance, you should contact The National Archives via email: [e-mail] If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission at https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/recruitment-complaints/ (opens in new window)

Additional information

The National Archives need passionate, ambitious and innovative individuals to help us change the way people think about archives. We employ more than 500 staff in a diverse range of roles, from records specialists and researchers to web developers and marketing assistants – and we want you to join us. To find out more about us, please visit our website: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk (opens in new window) or view our Accessibility Statement (opens in new window)