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For Companies At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead the development of innovative frontend solutions using React and mentor fellow engineers.
- Company: Join Halfords, a leader in motoring and cycling innovation with a focus on digital services.
- Benefits: Enjoy competitive salary, bonuses, 25 days leave, and 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 modern frontend architecture, with mentoring experience.
- Other info: Remote role with opportunities for personal and professional growth in a collaborative culture.
The predicted salary is between 43200 - 72000 £ per year.
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. Halfords is expanding into digital services with Avayler, a standalone SaaS division delivering a market-leading garage management and mobile van software platform.
This is a remote position that may involve occasional travel.
The Role
As Principal Engineer, you will 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 will 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 will 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 will 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 will 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 are moving from a startup environment into a more mature, scalable phase, and this role is central to that transition. You will help optimise our frontend platform and development practices so we can grow without adding unnecessary complexity or headcount. If you are 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.
- Confident working with modern JavaScript frameworks, and consuming RESTful APIs.
- 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.
Reward & Benefits
- 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.
- 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.
Not sure you meet all the criteria? We encourage you to take the wheel and apply anyway. At Halfords we are committed to creating an inclusive workplace for our colleagues. We are an equal opportunities employer and proud to welcome applications from all backgrounds and embrace diversity within our one Halfords Family.
Principal Front End Engineer (React) - [Remote UK] in London employer: Halfords
Contact Detail:
Halfords Recruiting Team
StudySmarter Expert Advice 🤫
We think this is how you could land Principal Front End Engineer (React) - [Remote UK] in London
✨Tip Number 1
Network like a pro! Reach out to your connections in the industry, attend meetups, and engage with online communities. You never know who might have the inside scoop on job openings or can put in a good word for you.
✨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, so make it visually appealing and easy to navigate.
✨Tip Number 3
Prepare for interviews by practising common technical questions and coding challenges. We recommend doing mock interviews with friends or using platforms that simulate real interview scenarios to boost your confidence.
✨Tip Number 4
Don’t forget to apply through our website! It’s the best way to ensure your application gets seen by the right people. Plus, it shows you’re genuinely interested in joining our team at Halfords.
We think you need these skills to ace Principal Front End Engineer (React) - [Remote UK] in London
Some tips for your application 🫡
Tailor Your Application: Make sure to customise your CV and cover letter for the Principal Front End Engineer role. Highlight your React expertise and any relevant experience that aligns with our mission at Halfords. We want to see how you can contribute to our journey!
Showcase Your Problem-Solving Skills: In your application, share examples of complex challenges you've tackled in frontend development. We love a good story about how you’ve influenced architectural decisions or improved performance—this is your chance to shine!
Be Authentic: Let your personality come through in your written application. We value authenticity and want to know what drives you, especially your passion for continuous improvement and emerging technologies. Don’t be shy—show us who you are!
Apply Through Our Website: We encourage you to apply directly through our website. It’s the best way to ensure your application gets into the right hands. Plus, it shows us you’re keen on joining our team at Halfords!
How to prepare for a job interview at Halfords
✨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
Since this role involves tackling complex challenges, be ready to share specific examples of how you've solved tough problems in the past. Think about situations where you had to balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution, and be prepared to explain your thought process.
✨Demonstrate Your Mentoring Experience
As a Principal Engineer, you'll be expected to mentor others. Bring examples of how you've supported and elevated your team members in previous roles. Discuss your approach to code reviews and how you've helped others improve their skills, as this will show your leadership potential.
✨Stay Ahead of Industry Trends
Halfords is looking for someone who champions modern practices and emerging technologies. Do some research on the latest trends in frontend development, especially around AI-assisted tools. Being able to discuss these topics will demonstrate your passion for continuous improvement and innovation.
