Front End Web Developer / Designer

At Fleximize, we've lent over £550 million to small businesses across the UK, won a ton of awards, and helped thousands of business owners fulfil their ambitions - but we're just getting started.

Our mission is to make life better for business owners with flexible funding, unrivalled customer support, and so much more. As we kick off our next growth phase, we're looking for an energetic Front End Web Developer / Designer with an outstanding work ethic, excellent communication skills and a flair for visual design to join our development team. The successful candidate will be driven by a passion for creating slick, industry-best user experiences and have a good track record of delivering high-quality end-to-end solutions at speed.

The role

As a Front-End Developer at Fleximize, you'll be instrumental in shaping our digital products and delivering exceptional user experiences. Below are the core objectives that define success in this role and guide your day-to-day contributions to the team and the business:

Contribute to core digital products

Play a central role in building and enhancing the group's websites, customer portals, broker platforms, and other key web systems.

Deliver technically excellent web pages

Use a wide range of front-end technologies to create pages that excel in speed, accessibility, SEO, code quality, and cross-browser/device compatibility.

Create high-quality UI from a range of briefs

Interpret everything from detailed mockups to loose concepts or written ideas, crafting polished, on-brand user experiences that align with business goals.

Optimise front-end performance

Apply performance best practices (e.g. rendering path optimisation, preloading, deferring, caching) to ensure sites meet or exceed Core Web Vitals.

Develop and refine interactive components

Build and improve dynamic web systems and custom interactive components, while identifying and improving user experience issues and interaction flows.

Write clean, custom code

Build solutions from scratch using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, with backend support in Laravel. Avoid reliance on pre-built plugins or templates.

Leverage modern front-end frameworks

Demonstrate hands-on experience with Vue.js and Livewire for building custom components or full websites. Maintain, replace and modernise legacy code using jQuery where necessary.

Collaborate with marketing & stakeholders

Work directly with marketing and key stakeholders to understand requirements and deliver high-impact digital solutions that support wider business objectives.

Responsibilities

Website and systems development

• Website and web app programming, across a range of web products, including custom-built back-end loan and customer management platforms and the group’s customer-facing websites
• Leading on front-end development, with particular focus on JavaScript, Vue.Js, Livewire, CSS, HTML and Laravel Blade templating language, to create effective user experiences and feature-rich customer solutions
• Maintaining or migrating away from legacy jQuery
• Good understanding of Laravel development within a professional setting
• Working understanding of back-end technologies — predominantly working with LEMP — including liaising with back-end developers as appropriate
• Effective, consistent, standards-compliant, and extensible use of front-end development frameworks
• Potential development of React components (desirable)

Brand development

• Creating, designing or implementing slick, industry-best front-end experiences, which elevate the group’s brands in the marketplace
• Defining front-end visual standards for dynamic web components, and coordinating with the company’s in-house designer to align these with existing brand standards for static or offline material

Quality control

• Liaising with the development team and the CTO to ensure appropriate consistency and quality standards are met, along with the timely delivery of tasks and projects
• Dedication to optimisation and coding standards

Accessibility

• Development of device-agnostic, cross-browser compatible websites, using the latest HTML / CSS standards-compliant code, to produce fully responsive web experiences
• Combining a working knowledge of UX and UI design with a solid understanding of customer behaviour, to hone key user journeys, and improve conversion metrics
• Pro-active auditing of existing front-end code, to identify problematic use-cases and addressing through improved accessibility or optimisation

Security

• Strict dedication to the implementation and adherence of web security standards appropriate to the use of authentication, sensitive personal data, and financial records
• Awareness of Javascript security vulnerabilities, ensuring that JS libraries are as up-to-date as possible, including version control and patching

Version control

• GIT version control

Communication and workload management

• Encouraging the adoption of new methodologies likely to improve efficiency, accuracy, usability and overall performance
• Accurate task estimation, general organisation, and high and low level management of web development projects
• Communicating with suppliers of third-party solutions, APIs, tools, and integrations
• Directly communicating with key stakeholders within the business to define project specifications, particularly with the internal marketing team
• Working with and taking instruction from other developers on tasks requiring multiple developers

Client support

• Providing effective support to the business, sometimes requiring re-prioritisation to achieve a fast turnaround

Team and business involvement

• Participation in team activities, meetings and other business responsibilities
• Other tasks appropriate to the post, as determined by senior staff members

What we're looking for

The following criteria have been deemed essential for the role, and candidates unable to demonstrate these essential criteria will not be considered for the role:

• Degree educated (or above) in a relevant field, such as computer science, web design, or experience to an equivalent level
• Extensive online portfolio. Must be able to demonstrate a proven track record of web and systems development. Applications without real world examples will not be considered.
• 4+ years development of front-end websites and web systems in a commercial environment
• Extensive experience of using ECMAScript (13th edition onwards)
• 2+ years developing front-end components with Vue.js in a commercial environment
• 2+ years experience developing dynamic customer-facing applications a professional setting
• Demonstrable experience of building front-end websites which pass all Core Web Vitals metrics
• Good understanding of back-end development through PHP and Laravel
• Highly proficient, masterful knowledge of HTML, CSS, JS, and RWD, including search and performance optimisation
• An infectious passion for learning, a drive to constantly improve, and an eagerness to learn new skills from other developers
• Ability to demonstrate key qualification criteria through an online technical proficiency test (will be arranged as part of the application process)

Bonus points for:

Demonstrable knowledge or experience of any of the criteria listed below would be deemed advantageous; however, none are considered essential:

• Experience of working with financial services or banking data and technologies
• Familiarity with Agile development methodologies
• Experience of building and using automated test frameworks
• Experience of working with Git in a multi-developer workplace
• Familiarity with continuous integration workflows
• Extensive working knowledge of Laravel
• Experience of working with Laravel Livewire
• Experience of working with React
• Experience of building websites in Statamic
• Working knowledge of Cloudflare or an equivalent CDN for front-end optimisation
• Native mobile app development

In return you'll get:

There are plenty of reasons to join us at Flex HQ. From our modern waterfront office (with a fully stocked kitchen) to our staff perks, including private medical insurance, employee benefit scheme, and more. We're a friendly bunch at Fleximize, with regular team events and socials, and we’re excited to welcome you into the family.

You can expect:

• A competitive salary: we’re committed to equal pay and professional development, so we review salaries annually. We also offer a company-wide pension scheme.
• Generous holiday entitlement: we offer 25 days holiday entitlement, with the added flexibility to buy and sell annual leave days. You get your birthday off too!
• Professional development: career advancement is as important to us as it is to you. We offer training courses and qualifications to develop your skills and knowledge. Taking time to attend webinars and in-person seminars that can help you in your role is also encouraged.
• Healthcare benefits: all team members get private healthcare as standard, which can even be extended to cover your family. We also offer a generous sick pay scheme and company death-in-service insurance.
• Perks & discounts: everyone gets access to exclusive discount codes and offers on thousands of high-street and online stores.
• Free breakfast every day: our kitchen is filled with fresh fruit, cereals, and other goodies to start your day right.
• Team socials: regular team outings give us all a chance to have fun and relax, whether it’s an escape room, theme park, football match, or evening at the local restaurant.

The interview process

Our interview process involves four stages:

• Portfolio review: We'll review your online portfolio and work samples to assess your strengths in front-end development, performance optimisation, and design.
• Technical proficiency test: Our online test will focus on technical coding standards and understanding of key technologies.
• Technical call (circa 30 minutes): Video call focused on your technical background and proficiencies.
• Face-to-face interview (60-90 minutes): An in-person interview at our Ipswich office with key stakeholders, where we’ll discuss the role in detail, provide insights into our business, and explore how well your experience and skills align with the position.

Ready to apply?

To apply, please submit your CV to [email protected]. Click the button below to find out more about life at Flex HQ.

Life at Fleximize