Front End Web Developer in Sunderland

About The Role

We are looking for a Front End Web Developer to join our growing engineering team. You will work primarily on the Great Teaching Toolkit, with opportunities to contribute across our wider product portfolio. This role is ideal for a developer who enjoys crafting high-quality user experiences, owning features end-to-end from UI design through to production, and working closely with product and design to turn research-informed ideas into intuitive, accessible software.

While this role is frontend-focused, you will collaborate closely with backend developers and be comfortable working with APIs and data-driven interfaces. Our frontend stack centres on React, with an emphasis on usability, accessibility, and maintainability. Automated testing is increasingly becoming an important part of how we build confidence in our changes, and you will play a key role in strengthening frontend testing practices within the team.

Reporting to the Engineering Lead, you will collaborate closely with Product Managers, Designers, and Researchers to build software used by educators around the world. The role is permanent and full-time, though we are open to part-time applicants, secondments and other working arrangements.

About EBE

Evidence Based Education is dedicated to improving teaching and learning outcomes through evidence-informed practice. Our flagship Great Teaching Toolkit (GTT) supports over 17,000 teachers worldwide in developing their practice through our evidence-based framework the Model for Great Teaching.

Key Details

• Location: Based out of our Sunderland office. A flexible balance between home and office working is ideal, though we are also open to full remote working for the right candidate.
• Salary: From £35,000-45,000, depending on experience.
• Start date: As soon as possible.
• Contract: Full-time, permanent (though open to part-time or secondment arrangements).
• Working hours and flexibility: Core hours are 10am-3pm Monday to Friday. Outside of this window, flexible working is encouraged.

What We Offer

• Mentorship: Direct coaching from experienced engineers and product professionals to help you grow professionally.
• Impact: The work you do will directly improve the professional lives of thousands of educators.
• Ownership: Real responsibility for meaningful features, not just isolated tickets.
• Growth: We are a small team, meaning you will have visibility across the entire product lifecycle—not just one small feature.
• Flexibility: Our workplace is a flexible one, and we pride ourselves on the excellent working culture. While any role would benefit from more in-house time early on, most of our team have a hybrid work pattern.

Benefits Of Working With EBE

• A motivated team
• Opportunity to make the role your own
• Generous parental leave and pay policies
• Uncapped annual leave
• Various salary sacrifice schemes in operation
• And much more!

Key Responsibilities

• Front End Feature Development: Design, build, and maintain user-facing features using React and modern frontend tooling. Translate product requirements and designs into well-structured, accessible, and maintainable UI components. Implement full end-to-end features, collaborating with backend developers on APIs and data contracts. Ensure the Great Teaching Toolkit is usable, performant, and accessible across devices and browsers.
• Collaboration & Product Delivery: Work closely with Product and Design to understand user needs and iterate on solutions. Participate in sprint planning, technical discussions, and code reviews. Take ownership of frontend features from initial implementation through to deployment and post-release improvements.
• Quality, Accessibility & Reliability: Write and maintain automated frontend tests to help ensure reliability and confidence in changes. Champion accessibility best practices (e.g. semantic HTML, ARIA, keyboard navigation, colour contrast). Help diagnose and resolve UI bugs and usability issues before and after release. Contribute to improving frontend standards, component patterns, and documentation.
• Platform Awareness: Work effectively with backend services, APIs, and data models, even if you are not implementing them directly. Collaborate with the team on deployment, monitoring, and performance considerations related to frontend code. Help identify opportunities to improve performance, usability, and user experience.

Person Specification

You can read all of EBE’s core values, capabilities and behaviours here – what we expect from everyone in the team – and below, you can read the key details pertaining to this role. That said, if you are unsure whether you meet some or all of the criteria below, but are excited by the opportunity nevertheless, we encourage you to send in an application, as at least some of these skills are developable with guidance and experience. We hire for potential and mindset over a rigid checklist. You don’t need to tick every box, but you should be excited about building high-quality software that supports teachers and school leaders. You are likely someone who cares deeply about how software feels to use, enjoys collaborating across disciplines, and takes pride in clean, well-tested frontend code.

The Qualities That Matter Most To Us

• Strong frontend thinking: You care about component design, state management, performance, and maintainability.
• User-centred mindset: You think about usability, accessibility, and edge cases as part of everyday development.
• Attention to detail: You notice inconsistencies, rough edges, and opportunities to improve the experience.
• Clear communication: You can explain frontend decisions to both technical and non-technical colleagues.
• Curiosity: You enjoy learning new tools, patterns, and approaches and questioning existing ones.
• Responsibility & ownership: You see work through and take pride in the quality of what ships.

You might currently be a mid-level frontend developer looking for more ownership, a full-stack developer leaning towards frontend, or someone in an agency or consultancy role wanting to work more deeply on a single product. We’d typically expect 2–5 years of relevant experience, but we’re open-minded for the right person.

Key Skills And Experience

• Strong experience building modern frontend applications.
• Experience with component-based frameworks (e.g. React).
• Solid understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript fundamentals.
• Experience consuming APIs and working with data-driven UIs.
• Familiarity with agile software development practices.

Desirable

• Experience with React and modern frontend tooling.
• Experience writing automated frontend tests (unit, integration, and end-to-end).
• Familiarity with accessibility standards (WCAG) and inclusive design practices.
• Experience collaborating with backend teams and working with RESTful APIs.
• Exposure to performance optimisation and frontend monitoring.
• Experience deploying frontend applications or working with CI/CD pipelines.
• Experience working in EdTech or on products used in education or professional development.
• Experience with Linear as a development management tool and analytics tools such as PostHog or Mixpanel.

How To Apply

Thanks for getting this far! If you think you are who we’re looking for, please complete this application by 5pm, Friday 27th February.

By submitting this application, I confirm that all the information given by me in this application for employment and any additional documents attached hereto are true to the best of my knowledge and that I have not wilfully suppressed any material fact. I confirm I have disclosed if applicable any previous employment with Evidence Based Education. I accept that if any of the information given by me in this application is in any way false or incorrect, my application may be rejected, any offer of employment may be withdrawn or my employment with Evidence Based Education may be terminated summarily or I may be dismissed. By submitting this application, I agree that my personal data will be processed in accordance with Evidence Based Education's Candidate Privacy Notice.