Senior Front-End Developer (Leaning Full Stack)

The Senior Front-End Developer (Leaning Full Stack) will support the GRACE Development Team by leading the design, development, and delivery of the user-facing experience for ARPA-H’s production AI assistant. This role is responsible for developing intuitive, responsive, and scalable web applications that enable users to effectively interact with advanced agentic AI systems while ensuring performance, accessibility, security, and exceptional user experience., * Lead the development and enhancement of the GRACE front-end application using React, TypeScript, and modern web technologies.

• Design and implement intuitive user interfaces that support conversational AI, agentic workflows, and rich AI-generated content.
• Develop interactive features including streaming AI responses, citations, code rendering, tables, diagrams, maps, generated images, and document previews.
• Build responsive, accessible, and user-friendly interfaces that comply with Section 508 and WCAG accessibility standards.
• Develop and maintain client-side state management, real-time communication, and streaming functionality using WebSockets, Server-Sent Events (SSE), or similar technologies.
• Collaborate with backend engineers to define APIs and implement seamless integrations with AI services, knowledge repositories, and enterprise systems.
• Customize and extend Chainlit and other conversational AI frameworks to enhance application functionality and user experience.
• Partner closely with UX designers and researchers to rapidly prototype, validate, and iterate on new product capabilities.
• Optimize application performance, responsiveness, reliability, and scalability while maintaining a high standard of code quality.
• Develop front-end observability capabilities, including client-side monitoring, analytics, and error tracking.
• Mentor software engineers by promoting development best practices, code reviews, testing standards, and technical excellence.
• Ensure all applications adhere to federal security, privacy, and responsible AI requirements.
• Participate in Agile development activities including sprint planning, technical design, and product demonstrations.
• Communicate technical solutions effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field; Master’s degree preferred or equivalent practical experience.
• Minimum of seven (7) years of professional software development experience with a strong focus on front-end web application development.
• Extensive experience developing applications using React, TypeScript, JavaScript, HTML5, and CSS3.
• Experience designing and developing AI-powered, LLM, conversational AI, chat, or agentic AI applications.
• Working knowledge of Python and full-stack application development.
• Experience developing real-time web applications utilizing WebSockets, Server-Sent Events (SSE), or similar technologies.
• Experience working with RESTful APIs and integrating front-end applications with backend services.
• Strong understanding of responsive design, accessibility (Section 508/WCAG), usability, and user-centered design principles.
• Experience building and deploying production-grade enterprise web applications.
• Familiarity with Chainlit or similar conversational AI frameworks is highly desirable.
• Experience with Microsoft Azure, CI/CD pipelines, containerization, and cloud-native application development is preferred.
• Strong analytical, troubleshooting, and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work independently and collaboratively within fast-paced Agile development environments.