Senior Frontend Developer

Summary

A senior frontend developer is an experienced developer who works with minimal support and can influence and mentor others.

At this role level, you will:

help set direction and embed good practice within teams
make decisions based on research
plan and lead development on sets of related stories, working with other disciplines to understand what needs to be built
have an understanding of the whole system
teach and mentor others

Background

Background Components

Description	Background
Demonstrates a concern and aptitude for considering the user’s perspective in IT development. Is familiar with the theory and practice of user-centred systems development and use of the relevant tools. Is familiar with the principles and application of ergonomics to IT systems, products and services. Is effective and persuasive in presenting technical issues, processes and solutions, both orally and in writing. Is capable of guiding and transferring knowledge to less-experienced colleagues.	Prior Knowledge and Skills

Description

Background

Demonstrates a concern and aptitude for considering the user’s perspective in IT development. Is familiar with the theory and practice of user-centred systems development and use of the relevant tools. Is familiar with the principles and application of ergonomics to IT systems, products and services. Is effective and persuasive in presenting technical issues, processes and solutions, both orally and in writing. Is capable of guiding and transferring knowledge to less-experienced colleagues.

Prior Knowledge and Skills

Work Activity Components

Title	Details
Design, analysis and iterative development	Designs and develop users’ digital and off-line tasks, interaction and interfaces to meet agreed usability and accessibility requirements. Translates concepts into outputs and prototypes and captures user feedback to improve designs.
Visual design and branding	Interprets and follows visual design and branding guidelines to create consistent and impactful user experience.
Test plans and evaluation of options	Evaluates alternative design options and recommends designs taking into account performance, usability and accessibility requirements.
Cost benefit and risk analysis	Provides input to cost benefit analyses, risk analyses and development plans to take account of human factors in design decisions, including failure/degradation and contingency arrangements.
Content publishing	Selects appropriate channels through which content should be published, providing advice to users and content authors to leverage the features of the relevant channels and tools used.
Web pages and sites	In collaboration with clients/users, uses agreed tools, templates and standards to design and create complex, well-designed and engineered web pages with specified structure and appearance. Takes account of the special requirements of the visually impaired and hard of hearing. Takes account of bandwidth and browser compatibility issues. Tests pages and corrects
Web tools	Uses appropriate tools to make finished content available on a web server extending the directory scheme where necessary. Takes account of the basic configuration of the web server software.
Web interfaces	Uses agreed tools and techniques to provide moderately complex web interfaces to new or existing applications. Maintains awareness of available tools.
Generative research	Executes generative research in order to find opportunities for innovation in, and enhancement of, systems, products and services.
Involve, synthesise and inform	Supports synthesis of findings and the creation of insights, reports and presentations to inform decision making and drive actions.
User-centred design	Creates data-driven user personas and uses them as a tool to support user-centred design decision making.

Knowledge/Skills

Knowledge/Skills Components

Title	Depth	Details	Type
Planning and Organisation		Determining a course of action by breaking it down into smaller steps and by planning and resourcing each of these, making allowance for potential problems and escalating if necessary.	Behavioural Skills
Creativity		Taking innovative approaches to problem solving and/or devising inventive and creative solutions.	Behavioural Skills
Attention to Detail		Applying specific quality standards to all tasks undertaken to ensure that deliverables are accurate and complete.	Behavioural Skills
Interacting with People		Establishing relationships, contributing to an open culture and maintaining contacts with people from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines. Effective, approachable and sensitive communicator in different communities and cultures. Ability to adapt style and approach to meet the needs of different audiences.	Behavioural Skills
Application Development Tools	Familiar with	Software tools which automate or assist part of the development process.	Technical Knowledge and Skills
Database Software	Familiar with	Software that enables the user to capture, create, populate and manipulate data structures and where appropriate unstructured data.	Technical Knowledge and Skills
Graphical User Interfaces (GUI)	Proficient in	Graphical human/computer interfaces that facilitate effective communication between human operator and computer.	Technical Knowledge and Skills
Programming Languages	Familiar with	A set of codes and syntax (supported by software tools) that enables the unambiguous translation of specified functionality into source code for the creation of computer programs.	Technical Knowledge and Skills
Corporate, Industry and Professional Standards	Familiar with	Applying standards, practices, codes, and assessment and certification programmes relevant to the IT industry, and the specific organisation or business domain.	Technical Knowledge and Skills
Graphic Design	Proficient in	The creation of graphical designs that are appealing to the viewer, appropriate to the material and the commissioning organisation and that project the desired ‘presence’.	Technical Knowledge and Skills
Systems Ergonomics and Iterative Design	Proficient in	Iterative methods and techniques to allocate and optimise the division of functions between the human, machine and organisational elements of IT systems and the functions themselves in terms of ergonomic impact. Systematic and iterative design of the physical and cognitive interfaces to create an effective user experience in a software system, product or service with attention paid to variety of locations and access devices employed by users.	Technical Knowledge and Skills
Web Specifics	Proficient in	Knowledge of web specific file extensions, Web 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 and other latest standards/ practices. Use of multimedia and Active-X controls. Understanding of the nature of browsers and how to design cross-browser layouts. Effective knowledge of metadata (e.g. tags, XML) and related aspects of Search Engine Optimization (SEO).	Technical Knowledge and Skills
Information Architecture	Familiar with	Methods, techniques and technologies for ingesting, securing, processing and using data and information within and beyond an organisation.	Technical Knowledge and Skills
Information and Data Visualisation/ Presentation	Proficient in	The ability to visualise and present information and data in an appropriate format that helps stakeholders understand the significance of the information and data.	Technical Knowledge and Skills
Data Handling	Familiar with	The ability to harvest, clean, curate, manage, process and manipulate data in a variety of formats.	Technical Knowledge and Skills
Legislation	Familiar with	Relevant national and international legislation.	Other Knowledge and Skills
Techniques for Effective Meetings	Aware of	Methods and techniques for running effective meetings and for understanding and influencing the roles played by participants.	Other Knowledge and Skills
Coaching Techniques	Familiar with	Methods and techniques for coaching individuals or groups by a balanced combination of support and direction, including use of virtual learning environments plus add-ons to augment feedback specific to work items, workflow or career plans.	Other Knowledge and Skills
Project Planning and Control Techniques	Aware of	Methods and techniques associated with planning and monitoring progress of projects.	Other Knowledge and Skills
Organisational Brand and Culture	Familiar with	Knowledge and understanding of the brand image and personality of the organisation’s products and/or services and the overall culture and personality of the work	Other Knowledge and Skills

Training Activities

Training Components

Title	Details
Technology Products for Future	Technology products or solutions that are potentially of use to the organisation.
Own Organisation’s Systems, Products and Services	Understanding of the organisation’s systems, products and services to enable selling, support and development activities.
Coaching	Concepts, methods and techniques for providing coaching in subject specialisms to individuals or groups (e.g. GROW model).
Human Factors Techniques	Methods and techniques for understanding human needs and limitations and for designing usable, accessible and ergonomically sound systems. Examples: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) approaches and iterative design methods and accessibility. Recognising ever evolving user expectations for use of a variety of access devices and locations and opportunities for environmental savings e.g. reducing office space, travel, etc.
Mentoring	Methods and techniques for providing mentoring support to less experienced individuals.
Security Awareness	Tools and techniques to help users and employees understand the role they play in helping to combat information security breaches and for IT and security professionals to prevent and mitigate risk.
Graphic Design and Web Development	Tools and techniques for graphic design, user interface design (UI design), content authoring using standardised code and proprietary software, user experience design (UX design), web development and search engine
User Interface Design	Principles, practices, tools and techniques for user interface design and the creation of graphical user interfaces that make user interaction with systems, software, and applications as simple and efficient as possible.

PDAs

PDA Components

Title	Details
Deputising	Standing in for supervisor or manager on a temporary basis during periods of absence.
Job Shadowing and Special Assignments	Undertaking temporary periods or secondments in other roles, inside or outside IT, particularly those that offer a new perspective on own function or exposure to other environments and cultures.
Research Assignments	Exploring a topic which is not part of own normal responsibilities and presenting findings to colleagues and/or management
Gaining Knowledge of Activities of Employing Organisation	Developing an understanding of the potentially diverse range of activities (service, governance, administrative, regulatory, commercial, charitable, industrial, etc.) undertaken by the employing organisation.
Gaining Knowledge of IT Concepts and Techniques	Undertaking study, learning and, where possible, practice in IT concepts and techniques external to own function.
Participation in Professional Body Affairs	Taking an active part in professional body affairs at branch, specialist group, committee or board level.
Negotiating and Influencing	Undertaking learning and practice of negotiating with and influencing others.

Qualifications

Qualification Components

Title	Awarding Body
Registered IT Technician (RITTech)	BCS – The Chartered Institute for IT
UX Certified Advanced Level	UXQCC User Experience Quality Certification Center
CXA – Certified User Experience Analyst	Human Factors International
FEDIP Senior Practitioner	FEDIP

Organisation Skills

Framework » Organisation Category » Subcategory	Skill Name and Description	Level
DDaT » Software Development	Software Development – Accessibility You can create accessible user interfaces that put user needs first. You can test components and pages against accessibility standards.	3 – Practitioner You can build user interfaces that meet a predefined set of standards. You can champion accessibility to internal stakeholders. You can offer design feedback to mitigate the risk of failing accessibility testing. You can offer recommendations on the best tools and methods to use when accessibility testing.
DDaT » Software Development	Software Development – Communicating information You can communicate effectively across organisational, technical and political boundaries. You can make complex and technical information and language simple and accessible for non-technical audiences. You can work effectively with others.	3 – Practitioner You can work collaboratively in a group and build relationships with others. You can identify issues through Agile ‘health checks’ and work with others to address them. You can manage stakeholder expectations. You can be flexible and capable of proactive and reactive communication. You can host or moderate difficult discussions within the team or with senior stakeholders.
DDaT » Software Development	Software Development – Community collaboration (frontend developer) You can contribute to the work of others and can build, motivate and empower teams. You can create the right environment for teams to work in and can create the best team makeup depending on the situation. You can give and receive constructive feedback, enabling the feedback loop. You can recognise and deal with issues.	3 – Practitioner You can work collaboratively in a group, actively networking with others. You can adapt feedback to ensure it’s effective and lasting. You can use your initiative to identify problems or issues in the team dynamic and rectify them. You can identify issues through Agile ‘health checks’ with the team, and help to stimulate the right responses. (
DDaT » Software Development	Software Development – Leadership and guidance (frontend developer) You can interpret a vision to lead on decisions. You create a collaborative environment and maintain a good service. You can understand and resolve technical disputes across varying levels of complexity and risk. You can solve issues and unblock problems.	3 – Practitioner You can understand the impact of decisions and can make decisions characterised by different levels of risk and complexity. You can resolve technical disputes between wider peers and indirect stakeholders, taking into account all views and opinions. You can make decisions characterised by medium levels of risk and complexity, and can recommend decisions as risk and complexity increase. You can contribute to best practice
DDaT » Software Development	Software Development – Modern standards approach (frontend developer) You can apply a modern standards approach throughout development, automation and testing.	3 – Practitioner You can competently apply a modern standards approach and guide others to do so.
DDaT » Software Development	Software Development – Programming and build (frontend developer) You can use agreed standards and specifications to design, create, test and document new software, or to make changes to existing software.	3 – Practitioner You can collaborate with others when necessary to review specifications. You can use the agreed specifications to build, test and document user interfaces of medium to high complexity, using the right standards and tools.
DDaT » Software Development	Software Development – Prototyping You can apply technical knowledge and experience to create or design workable prototypes, both programs and physical outputs. You can understand parameters, restrictions and synergies.	3 – Practitioner You can approach prototyping as a team activity, actively soliciting prototypes and testing with others. You can establish design patterns and iterate them. You can use a variety of prototyping methods and choose the most appropriate.
DDaT » Software Development	Software Development – Strategic thinking You can take an overall perspective on business issues, events and activities, and discuss their wider implications and long-term impact. You can determine patterns, standards, policies, roadmaps and vision statements. You can effectively focus on outcomes rather than solutions and activities.	3 – Practitioner You can define strategies and policies, providing guidance to others on working in the strategic context. You can evaluate current strategies to ensure business requirements are being met and exceeded where possible.
DDaT » Software Development	Software Development – Systems design (frontend developer) You can design system components which meet business needs. You can solve problems and understand technical and business complexity.	3 – Practitioner You can translate agreed designs into working user interfaces following modern standards. You can manage and document technical complexity to make sure work is easily maintained and reusable. You can work with well-understood technology and can identify appropriate patterns to make effective use of technologies’ best features.
DDaT » Software Development	Software Development – Systems integration (frontend developer) You can integrate and test user interfaces, systems and programme components.	3 – Practitioner You can define the static assets build. You can co-ordinate all aspects of the integration and take responsibility for the tests around the user interface. You can configure the part of the system that uses the network and test that it works as expected.
DDaT » Software Development	Software Development – User focus (frontend developer) You can understand users and identify who they are and what their needs are, based on evidence. You can translate user stories and propose design approaches or services to meet these needs. You can engage in meaningful interactions and relationships with users. You can show that you put users first and can manage competing priorities.	3 – Practitioner You can collaborate with user researchers and interaction designers to represent user needs internally. You can explain the difference between user needs and the desires of the user. You champion user research to focus on all users. You can effectively prioritise and define approaches to understand the user story, guiding others to do so. You can offer recommendations on the best tools and methods to use.
DDaT » Software Development	Software Development – Web performance optimisation You can understand how web performance can impact users. You can solve problems to improve performance. You can use different sources of data to monitor and identify performance issues.	3 – Practitioner You can identify and fix web performance issues. You can collect data from various tools to monitor and fix web performance issues. You can understand that poor web performance has a negative effect on user experience. You can offer guidance on the best tools and methods to use.

Framework » Organisation
Category » Subcategory

Skill Name and Description

Level

DDaT » Software Development

Software Development – Accessibility

You can create accessible user interfaces that put user needs first. You can test components and pages against accessibility standards.

3 – Practitioner

You can build user interfaces that meet a predefined set of standards. You can champion accessibility to internal stakeholders. You can offer design feedback to mitigate the risk of failing accessibility testing. You can offer recommendations on the best tools and methods to use when accessibility testing.

DDaT » Software Development

Software Development – Communicating information

You can communicate effectively across organisational, technical and political boundaries. You can make complex and technical information and language simple and accessible for non-technical audiences. You can work effectively with others.

3 – Practitioner

You can work collaboratively in a group and build relationships with others. You can identify issues through Agile ‘health checks’ and work with others to address them. You can manage stakeholder expectations. You can be flexible and capable of proactive and reactive communication. You can host or moderate difficult discussions within the team or with senior stakeholders.

DDaT » Software Development

Software Development – Community collaboration (frontend developer)

You can contribute to the work of others and can build, motivate and empower teams. You can create the right environment for teams to work in and can create the best team makeup depending on the situation. You can give and receive constructive feedback, enabling the feedback loop. You can recognise and deal with issues.

3 – Practitioner

You can work collaboratively in a group, actively networking with others. You can adapt feedback to ensure it’s effective and lasting. You can use your initiative to identify problems or issues in the team dynamic and rectify them. You can identify issues through Agile ‘health checks’ with the team, and help to stimulate the right responses. (

DDaT » Software Development

Software Development – Leadership and guidance (frontend developer)

You can interpret a vision to lead on decisions. You create a collaborative environment and maintain a good service. You can understand and resolve technical disputes across varying levels of complexity and risk. You can solve issues and unblock problems.

3 – Practitioner

You can understand the impact of decisions and can make decisions characterised by different levels of risk and complexity. You can resolve technical disputes between wider peers and indirect stakeholders, taking into account all views and opinions. You can make decisions characterised by medium levels of risk and complexity, and can recommend decisions as risk and complexity increase. You can contribute to best practice

DDaT » Software Development

Software Development – Modern standards approach (frontend developer)

You can apply a modern standards approach throughout development, automation and testing.

3 – Practitioner

You can competently apply a modern standards approach and guide others to do so.

DDaT » Software Development

Software Development – Programming and build (frontend developer)

You can use agreed standards and specifications to design, create, test and document new software, or to make changes to existing software.

3 – Practitioner

You can collaborate with others when necessary to review specifications. You can use the agreed specifications to build, test and document user interfaces of medium to high complexity, using the right standards and tools.

DDaT » Software Development

Software Development – Prototyping

You can apply technical knowledge and experience to create or design workable prototypes, both programs and physical outputs. You can understand parameters, restrictions and synergies.

3 – Practitioner

You can approach prototyping as a team activity, actively soliciting prototypes and testing with others. You can establish design patterns and iterate them. You can use a variety of prototyping methods and choose the most appropriate.

DDaT » Software Development

Software Development – Strategic thinking

You can take an overall perspective on business issues, events and activities, and discuss their wider implications and long-term impact. You can determine patterns, standards, policies, roadmaps and vision statements. You can effectively focus on outcomes rather than solutions and activities.

3 – Practitioner

You can define strategies and policies, providing guidance to others on working in the strategic context. You can evaluate current strategies to ensure business requirements are being met and exceeded where possible.

DDaT » Software Development

Software Development – Systems design (frontend developer)

You can design system components which meet business needs. You can solve problems and understand technical and business complexity.

3 – Practitioner

You can translate agreed designs into working user interfaces following modern standards. You can manage and document technical complexity to make sure work is easily maintained and reusable. You can work with well-understood technology and can identify appropriate patterns to make effective use of technologies’ best features.

DDaT » Software Development

Software Development – Systems integration (frontend developer)

You can integrate and test user interfaces, systems and programme components.

3 – Practitioner

You can define the static assets build. You can co-ordinate all aspects of the integration and take responsibility for the tests around the user interface. You can configure the part of the system that uses the network and test that it works as expected.

DDaT » Software Development

Software Development – User focus (frontend developer)

You can understand users and identify who they are and what their needs are, based on evidence. You can translate user stories and propose design approaches or services to meet these needs. You can engage in meaningful interactions and relationships with users. You can show that you put users first and can manage competing priorities.

3 – Practitioner

You can collaborate with user researchers and interaction designers to represent user needs internally. You can explain the difference between user needs and the desires of the user. You champion user research to focus on all users. You can effectively prioritise and define approaches to understand the user story, guiding others to do so. You can offer recommendations on the best tools and methods to use.

DDaT » Software Development

Software Development – Web performance optimisation

You can understand how web performance can impact users. You can solve problems to improve performance. You can use different sources of data to monitor and identify performance issues.

3 – Practitioner

You can identify and fix web performance issues. You can collect data from various tools to monitor and fix web performance issues. You can understand that poor web performance has a negative effect on user experience. You can offer guidance on the best tools and methods to use.

This job role profile was created in collaboration with BCS, using Role Model Plus. BCS is the professional body that has the responsibility of updating this job family.

Summary

Background

Background Components

Work Activity Components

Knowledge/Skills

Knowledge/Skills Components

Training Activities

Training Components

PDAs

PDA Components

Qualifications

Qualification Components

Organisation Skills

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