Frontend Engineer

Core Requirements & Responsibilities

Unless otherwise specified, all Frontend Engineer levels at Matchbox share the following requirements and responsibilities:

Requirements

• Professional experience developing custom WordPress themes using PHP, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
• Demonstrated ability to create blocks, custom metadata, custom post types, custom taxonomies, sidebar positions, and templates in WordPress without the use of a plugin.
• Professional experience using a modern development workflow (local development w/ build processes, merge/pull requests, testing/linting, code reviews, deployments, hosting)
• A solid understanding of semantic HTML, CSS, and core JavaScript concepts.
• Experience using Git in a professional/workplace environment.
• Demonstrated ability to onboard and integrate with an organization long-term.

Responsibilities

• Develop features and improvements for our client’s sites and applications in a secure, well-tested, and performant way.
• Work with Producers and other stakeholders (Fullstack, UX, etc.) to iterate on new features within existing sites and applications.
• Work with Producers and other stakeholders (Fullstack, UX, etc.) to develop new websites and applications based on design comps and functional requirements.
• Work with the Engineering team to solve complex issues for our clients.
• Craft code that meets our internal standards for style, maintainability, and best practices. 
• Learn, collaborate and teach other Engineers. Everyone can contribute something new to the team regardless of how long they’ve been in the industry.
• Submit and comment on bug reports and feature requests in Asana and GitLab.
• Create or update documentation based on features you develop.
• Assist in the remediation of accessibility issues for our clients
• Assist in functional testing of merge requests
• Conduct code reviews of peer merge requests
• Assist with task detailing
• Estimate and track the time required to complete tasks
• Proof/test your code to produce accurate and high-quality work
• Work alongside Engineering Managers to define and shape project goals, roadmaps, priorities, and strategies based on your experience.
• Continually research and learn the current and future best practices of using WordPress, Laravel, and our development tools.
• Contribute to and follow our workflow process, alongside the rest of the Frontend Engineers
• Participate in our hiring processes by reviewing applications and assessments and conducting interviews.
• Suggest and implement improvements to development workflows.

Job Levels

• Intern
• Junior
• Intermediate
• Senior
• Manager

Frontend Intern

While sharing the same requirements and responsibilities outlined above, an intern will typically join with less or alternate experience than typical Frontend Engineers. This contract position is less client-facing and is generally reserved for an individual enrolled in a web development program. 

Desired Qualifications

• You are enrolled in or just completed a coding boot camp, degree program, or self-taught individual looking to make a career change.
• You desire to learn as much as possible.
• You enjoy solving problems.
• You have a working knowledge of HTML, CSS, and PHP.
• You have a working knowledge of Git and the command line.
• You have a working knowledge of building tools such as Composer and NPM.
• You have a working knowledge of WordPress.
• You have a good understanding of MVC and CRUD principles.

Jr. Frontend Engineer

As a Jr. Frontend Engineer, you are expected to give your best effort to take on any assigned task but balance your desire to solve the problem with knowing when to ask for help.

Desired Qualifications

• You have a solid understanding of semantic HTML, CSS, and core JavaScript concepts.
• You have experience using PHP in a professional or workplace environment.
• You have experience using VueJS or another modern JavaScript web framework (React, Angular, Ember, etc.) in a professional or workplace environment.
• You have experience using Git in a professional or working environment.
• You have experience creating merge requests or pull requests.
• You have a solid understanding of core web and browser concepts (e.g., how the browser parses and constructs a web page)
• You have experience creating detailed written instructions for non-technical users.
• You have experience working in a multi-tiered environment that includes local installs, development servers, staging servers, and production servers.
• You have experience using build tools such as Composer and NPM in a professional or workplace environment. 
• You can install and build a local WordPress or Laravel environment using Git, Composer, NPM, and Valet.
• You enjoy testing others’ work and providing feedback.
• You have an inclination towards communication, inclusion, and visibility.
• You are self-motivated and self-managing.
• You can write documentation for processes or features that are undocumented.
• You can demonstrate excellent spoken and written English.

Intermediate Frontend Engineer

The Intermediate level is an extension of the Jr. level. All Intermediate Frontend Engineers are expected to meet the qualifications and execute the responsibilities with minimal assistance from management or peers.

Additional Responsibilities

• Assist junior team members with new technologies and development tools.
• Assist team members with troubleshooting and resolving technical issues.
• Write in-depth documentation for project features and processes that the entire engineering team can use.
• Assist with writing project requirements
• Create and detail tasks associated with the development of new features and projects
• Solve technical problems of high scope and complexity.
• Research and introduce new tools that can provide efficiencies and improve customer satisfaction.
• Fix escalated issues from support.

Additional Qualifications

• You have 4+ years of experience in a frontend (or similar) engineering role.
• Within the last 5 years, you have worked at one company for at least 2 years.
• You have advanced knowledge of HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript.
• You have 2+ years of experience using JavaScript frameworks like Vue or React.
• You have experience with Terminal.
• You have experience with task runners like Webpack.
• You have experience using CSS Preprocessors like SASS or LESS.
• You have experience resolving accessibility issues.
• You are an expert at responsive web development.
• You have a basic understanding of SEO principles and how to implement them.
• You can clearly and concisely communicate complex technical, architectural, or organizational problems and propose specific iterative solutions through written and verbal communication.
• You can write documentation for processes or features that are undocumented.
• You have experience writing automated tests using Cypress or a comparable test library.
• You have 2+ years of experience developing with WordPress or you’re proficient in working with an MVC framework such as Laravel.

Sr. Frontend Engineer

The Sr. Frontend Engineer level extends the Intermediate Frontend Engineer level. This level is reserved for Intermediate Frontend Engineers that have demonstrated significant leadership and impact, typically around the completion of project work. 

Additional Responsibilities

• Help identify areas of improvement in the code base, both specific to your group and outside your group (e.g. component library), and help make it better.
• Attend and contribute to Sprint Planning meetings.
• Advocate for improvements to quality, security, and performance that have a particular impact across your team.
• Solve technical problems of the highest scope and complexity for your team.
• Exert influence on the overall vision and long-range goals of your team.
• Help define and improve our internal standards for style, maintainability, and best practices.
• Drive innovation on the team with a willingness to experiment and to boldly confront problems of immense complexity and scope
• Proactively seek out difficult impediments to our efficiency as a team (“technical debt”), propose and implement solutions that will enable the entire team to iterate faster.
• Provide mentorship for Junior and Intermediate Engineers in your section to help them grow in their technical responsibilities and remove blockers.
• Consistently ship moderately sized features and improvements with minimal guidance and support from other team members. Collaborate with the team on larger projects.

Additional Qualifications

• You have 8+ years of experience converting designs into HTML and CSS in a professional environment.
• You have advanced knowledge of JavaScript and jQuery.
• You possess strong analytical skills with excellent problem-solving abilities.
• You possess expert debugging skills.
• Demonstrated ability to onboard and integrate with an organization long-term.

Frontend Engineering Manager

The Frontend Engineering Manager specializes in Frontend Engineering and is a manager of people. Engineering Managers at Matchbox see their team as their product. While they are technically credible and know the details of what engineers work on, their time is spent safeguarding their team’s health, hiring an exceptional team, and putting them in the best position to succeed. 

The manager owns the delivery of project commitments and is always looking to improve productivity. They must also coordinate across departments to accomplish collective goals.

Additional Responsibilities

• Seek to build out a great team
• Keep your team happy and successful
• Improve processes to make your team more effective
• Hold regular 1:1s with all members of your team
• Plan and execute long term strategies that benefit the team and project pipeline
• Conduct code reviews, and make technical contributions
• Get involved in solving bugs and delivering small features
• Foster technical decision making on the team, and make final decisions when necessary
• Discern engineering metrics and seek to improve them
• Assist with annual performance reviews

Additional Qualifications

• You have 8+ years of front-end engineering experience.
• You have 2+ years of experience in a leadership role
• You collaborate effectively with others
• You have the ability to achieve consensus amongst stakeholders
• You have an expert comprehension of core web and browser concepts
• You have in-depth experience writing CSS, HTML, and JavaScript
• You have an in-depth knowledge of WordPress
• You have excellent written and verbal communication skills

Growth Opportunities

At Matchbox, we love to promote from within. Below are common growth opportunities from the Frontend Engineer role.

Within Frontend Engineering

The most common promotion is merit-based. However, a promotion into a management position is based on both merit and company need.

Based On merit 

Intern → Jr. Frontend Engineer → Intermediate Frontend Engineer → Sr. Frontend Engineer

Based On Merit And Company Need

Sr. Frontend Engineer → Frontend Manager → Engineering Manager → Sr. Engineering manager → Director of Engineering

Transfer Options

The following table outlines some of the possible lateral transfer options at any level of the role. These transfer options are based on the company’s needs at the time.

Starting Role	Lateral Options
Frontend Engineer	Designer
Frontend Engineer	Full-stack Engineer
Frontend Engineer	Support Engineer
Frontend Engineer	Accessibility Engineer
Frontend Engineer	Quality Engineer