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- Tasks: Lead the development of innovative frontend solutions using React and mentor fellow engineers.
- Company: Join Halfords, a leading retailer transforming into a digital services powerhouse.
- Benefits: Enjoy a competitive salary, annual bonus, remote work, and extensive employee discounts.
- Why this job: Shape the future of our frontend platform and make a lasting impact in a growing tech environment.
- Qualifications: Expertise in React and experience in mentoring and influencing engineering teams.
- Other info: Be part of a dynamic team with a focus on personal growth and wellbeing.
The predicted salary is between 72000 - 108000 £ per year.
About us
At Halfords, our mission is to inspire and support a lifetime of motoring and cycling. As a specialist retailer, we lead the market through customer-driven innovation and a distinct product range. We are dedicated to providing our customers with an integrated, unique, and convenient service experience—from e-bike and electric vehicle servicing to on-demand solutions. Our commitment is to foster customer loyalty by offering compelling reasons to keep coming back to our stores, ensuring a lifetime of motoring and cycling enjoyment.
Halfords is quickly becoming a digital services business. In addition to being a leading UK retailer, Halfords has now developed a market leading field service management platform that enables businesses to deliver their complex services to customers through an end-to-end digital solution. The platform is deployed throughout Halfords stores, garages and their mobile business. This SaaS division is called Avayler (Avayler.com). As the leading global Garage Management and Mobile Van software platform, we help customers become operationally efficient and compliant through our advanced technology.
The role
As Principal Engineer, you’ll play a critical role in shaping the future of our frontend platform and the way our engineering teams build, scale, and deliver products globally. Working closely with the Head of Engineering, you’ll bring deep React expertise to the most complex challenges in the business, helping teams move faster while raising the bar on quality, performance, and maintainability. You’ll be a trusted technical authority, influencing architectural decisions and setting standards that enable consistent, high-quality delivery.
This is a hands-on role, balancing strategic thinking with real-world problem solving. You’ll design and build new features, tackle core frontend challenges, and explore emerging technologies, including AI-assisted development to improve how we work. Through mentoring, guilds, and knowledge sharing, you’ll elevate frontend capability across the organisation, promoting best practice in React, TypeScript, testing, accessibility, and performance.
Your focus will always be on building for the future: scalable architectures, reusable components, and tooling that allows teams to deliver efficiently at scale. We’re moving from a startup environment into a more mature, scalable phase, and this role is central to that transition. You’ll help optimise our frontend platform and development practices so we can grow without adding unnecessary complexity or headcount.
If you’re a React expert who enjoys solving hard problems, influencing how great software is built, and creating a stable foundation for long-term growth, this role gives you the autonomy, impact, and technical depth to do exactly that.
Key responsibilities
- Act as the technical authority for our React frontend, setting standards and best practice across architecture, performance, accessibility, and testing.
- Work closely with the Head of Engineering to shape the frontend roadmap and focus effort where it delivers the most value.
- Design and build scalable, maintainable frontend solutions, balancing long-term architecture with pragmatic delivery.
- Lead the development of complex features and resolve high-impact issues across the frontend stack.
- Champion modern React patterns, tooling, and frameworks, staying ahead of industry trends and applying them pragmatically.
- Establish and evolve component libraries, design systems, and frontend architectural patterns.
- Mentor and support frontend engineers through coaching, code reviews, and technical leadership.
- Run and contribute to frontend guilds and communities of practice to share knowledge and upskill teams.
- Promote and embed the effective use of AI-assisted development tools to improve speed, quality, and developer experience.
- Drive quality through strong ownership of testing strategies, performance optimisation, and continuous improvement.
- Collaborate closely with Product, Design, and Backend teams to deliver high-quality user experiences end to end.
- Support the evolution of build pipelines, deployment practices, and frontend infrastructure to enable smooth, reliable delivery.
About you
- Proven expert in React with deep experience building and scaling complex, production-grade frontend applications.
- Strong background in modern frontend architecture, including component libraries, design systems, and performance optimisation.
- Demonstrated experience mentoring and influencing engineers, raising standards through coaching, code review, and technical leadership.
- Comfortable operating at a strategic level while remaining hands-on with complex technical challenges.
- Experienced in driving best practice across testing, accessibility, and frontend quality.
- Passionate about continuous improvement, with a strong interest in emerging technologies and AI-assisted development tools.
- Pragmatic problem-solver who can simplify complexity and make sound technical decisions in a fast-moving environment.
- Collaborative by nature, able to work closely with Product, Design, and Engineering to deliver high-quality user experiences.
- Looking for a role in a maturing scale-up where you can bring stability, shape standards, and have a lasting technical impact.
A fair and competitive salary evaluated against market data, annual discretionary bonus scheme, pension, life assurance, 25 days annual leave plus bank holidays and enhanced family leave. Commitment and dedication to your ongoing personal and professional development. We help you to own and grow your potential so you can be at your best in your current role and to support your future career aspirations. You will have access to a wealth of employee discounts across the Halfords suite of products and services. Wellbeing and inclusion are at the heart of our colleague experience. We offer resources and ongoing support to enhance your wellbeing at work and active Colleague Networks supporting inclusion initiatives across Halfords.
This is a remote position that may involve occasional travel.
Principal Front End Engineer (React) - [Remote UK] employer: Halfords Group PLC
Contact Detail:
Halfords Group PLC Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Principal Front End Engineer (React) - [Remote UK]
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to your connections on LinkedIn or other platforms. Let them know you're on the lookout for a Principal Front End Engineer role. You never know who might have the inside scoop on job openings!
✨Tip Number 2
Show off your skills! Create a portfolio showcasing your best React projects. This is your chance to demonstrate your expertise and problem-solving abilities. Make sure it’s easy to navigate and highlights your achievements.
✨Tip Number 3
Prepare for interviews by practising common technical questions and coding challenges. We recommend using platforms like LeetCode or HackerRank to sharpen your skills. The more prepared you are, the more confident you'll feel!
✨Tip Number 4
Apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets noticed. Plus, you’ll be part of a dynamic team that’s shaping the future of frontend engineering. Don’t miss out on this opportunity!
We think you need these skills to ace Principal Front End Engineer (React) - [Remote UK]
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your CV: Make sure your CV is tailored to the Principal Front End Engineer role. Highlight your React expertise and any relevant experience that aligns with our mission at StudySmarter. We want to see how you can contribute to our dynamic team!
Craft a Compelling Cover Letter: Your cover letter is your chance to shine! Use it to tell us why you're passionate about frontend engineering and how your skills can help us shape the future of our platform. Keep it engaging and personal, so we get a sense of who you are.
Showcase Your Projects: If you've worked on any impressive projects, make sure to showcase them in your application. Whether it's a personal project or something from your previous job, we love seeing real-world examples of your work and how you tackle challenges.
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to apply through our website for a smoother process. It helps us keep track of your application and ensures you don’t miss out on any important updates. Plus, it’s super easy to do!
How to prepare for a job interview at Halfords Group PLC
✨Know Your React Inside Out
Make sure you brush up on your React knowledge before the interview. Be prepared to discuss your experience with building and scaling complex frontend applications, as well as any modern patterns or tools you've used. They’ll want to see that you can not only talk the talk but also walk the walk when it comes to React.
✨Showcase Your Problem-Solving Skills
Be ready to tackle some real-world problems during the interview. Think about examples from your past work where you’ve solved complex issues or improved processes. This role is all about balancing strategic thinking with hands-on problem-solving, so demonstrate how you can do both effectively.
✨Highlight Your Mentoring Experience
Since this position involves mentoring other engineers, come prepared with examples of how you’ve supported and elevated your team in the past. Discuss your approach to coaching, code reviews, and how you’ve influenced best practices in your previous roles.
✨Understand Their Business and Culture
Research Halfords and their SaaS division, Avayler, to understand their mission and values. Show that you’re not just interested in the technical aspects of the role but also in how you can contribute to their goal of providing an exceptional customer experience. This will help you connect with the interviewers and demonstrate your enthusiasm for the company.
