Frontend Engineer

This is a senior, hands on role for an engineer who will take a leading role in shaping frontend at Rowden, from strategy and standards through to shipping production code. Right now we have no dedicated internal frontend capability; we rely on external development partners for delivery. This role will help us build that capability internally. You'll be the bridge between our UX designers and our engineering teams, the technical lead for our external partners, and the person who actually builds the frontends that can't or shouldn't go outside.

You'll work across multiple projects simultaneously, research tools, operational interfaces, ML-adjacent products, and hardware-connected UIs, and you'll help ML engineers and backend developers contribute confidently to frontend work. This role has a potential path to building and leading an internal frontend team as we grow.

Due to the sensitivities of work involved, candidates must be willing to obtain UK National Security Vetting clearance, with SC required., * Own our frontend strategy: define standards, tooling, and patterns that raise quality and consistency across all Rowden products.

• Hands on delivery: actively contributing production frontend code across multiple concurrent projects.
• Bridge design and engineering: translate UX designs into polished, accessible, performant interfaces, working closely with our design team.
• Lead external partners: provide technical direction, review work, and maintain quality and consistency at the boundary with our external development partners.
• Champion accessibility: own WCAG compliance and embed best practice across the team; stay ahead of evolving legal requirements (e.g. European Accessibility Act).
• Analytics and data tracking: design and maintain frontend telemetry to support product and operational decisions.
• Share knowledge across disciplines: enable ML engineers and other non-specialist contributors to build confidently in the frontend.

• React and Node.js: proficient and experienced; able to architect and develop robust, maintainable frontend systems.
• Frontend strategy ownership: proven experience defining standards and tooling at a team or organisation level.
• Accessibility: deep understanding of WCAG and practical experience delivering accessible web applications.
• Analytics / data tracking: designing and implementing frontend telemetry and event tracking.
• External partner management: experience providing technical direction to, and reviewing work from, third-party development teams.
• Seniority and autonomy: comfortable managing your own workload across multiple concurrent projects with a high degree of autonomy.

Nice to have

• Design awareness: able to contribute to design discussions beyond pure implementation.
• Python: useful for prototyping, tooling, and collaborating with ML and data engineering colleagues.
• Hardware-adjacent UI: experience building interfaces for embedded or hardware-connected systems (e.g. Raspberry Pi, IoT); creating intuitive UIs for constrained environments is a real bonus.
• Wider engineering curiosity: interest in backend, infrastructure, or other disciplines; we value engineers who cross boundaries and get stuck into problems outside their primary domain.

About you

• Ownership and initiative: you'll help shape direction while working collaboratively with others. We are looking for someone who takes pride in product quality and proactively raises the bar.
• Collaboration: you'll work across engineering, design, and external partners. Clear communication and constructive challenge are essential.
• Adaptability: comfortable switching context across multiple concurrent projects in a fast-paced environment.
• Curiosity: our industry changes rapidly; you should be comfortable regularly learning new technologies, tools, and platforms.

We're building the UK's next generation engineering powerhouse, providing critical technology that strengthens national security and resilience. We specialise in turning advances in sensing, AI, and communications into operational capability for the edge, where connectivity may be degraded or denied. Our work focuses on accelerating the deployment of technology, improving decision-making for frontline teams, and protecting people and critical assets in demanding environments. Headquartered in Bristol, Rowden employs around 160 people and operates over 20,000 square feet of engineering and manufacturing facilities. We have a growing international footprint and are one of Europe's fastest-growing engineering businesses., We are committed to building a flexible, inclusive, and enabling company. Our aim is to create a diverse team of talented people with unique skills, experience, and backgrounds, so please apply and come as you are! We also recognise the importance of flexible working and support this wherever we can. We typically operate a flexible, hybrid-working model, with an average 3 days in the office each week (dependent on the role). We welcome the opportunity to discuss flexibility, part-time working requirements and/or workplace adjustments with all our applicants. Rowden is a Disability Confident Committed company, and we actively encourage people with disabilities and health conditions to apply for our roles. Please let us know your requirements early on so that we can make sure you have everything you need up front to help make the recruitment process and experience as easy as possible. Finally, if you feel that you don't meet all the criteria included above but have transferable skills and relevant experience, we'd still love to hear from you! About Rowden What matters to us? * Our focus is on the end user. We exist to deliver the best possible outcomes for the users of our systems. * Pace matters. The problems we solve are urgent. * Our diverse skills and backgrounds make us better. Our team prides itself on being inclusive and multidisciplinary. * We are radically honest. Saying what we mean, even when it isn't easy. * We are pragmatists. We provide realistic, focused solutions that get to the point. * We improve continuously. We are relentless in our drive to make things better.