Note: The job is a remote job and is open to candidates in USA. General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) is a global technology and professional services company delivering technology solutions and mission services to government, defense, and intelligence customers. The Principal Front End Engineer will lead frontend engineering strategy, architecture, and development for accessible, performant web applications while mentoring engineers and influencing technical decisions across teams.
Responsibilities
- Define and drive the strategic direction for frontend engineering practices, tooling, and skillset across the organization
- Lead the development of accessible, performant, and user-centered web applications that serve government customers
- Serve as the technical authority and thought leader for frontend architecture and engineering excellence
- Design and implement modern frontend architectures, development pipelines, and deployment infrastructure
- Deliver new features and improvements to our customer-facing applications with a strong focus on user experience and accessibility compliance (Section 508, WCAG)
- Collaborate with product managers to ideate and balance optimal UI/UX experience with implementation effort, making pragmatic trade-offs that deliver value
- Build and maintain component libraries, design systems, and shared frontend infrastructure that enable team velocity and consistency
- Identify opportunities to modernize our frontend stack and take ownership of technical initiatives that improve developer experience and application quality
- Establish and champion frontend best practices including mobile-first development, testing strategies, performance optimization, accessibility standards, and code quality patterns
- Mentor and coach engineers at all levels on frontend technologies and establish career development pathways for frontend specialization
- Influence technical decisions across teams and serve as a strategic advisor on frontend initiatives
- Work across the full stack when needed to solve problems end-to-end – backend experience is valuable but frontend is your primary focus
Skills
- Amazon Web Services (AWS), Web Applications, Web Platforms
- 10 + years of related experience
- Yes
- • Proven experience architecting and implementing modern frontend applications at scale using React and/or Angular
- • Track record of establishing frontend engineering standards, practices, and tooling that improve team productivity and code quality
- • Working experience with frontend build tooling, bundling strategies, and deployment pipelines (Webpack, Vite, pnpm, npm, or similar)
- • Strong understanding of web accessibility standards (WCAG 2.1 AA minimum, Section 508 compliance) with practical implementation experience including accessibility linting (axe-core, eslint-pluginjsx-a11y) and automated accessibility testing in CI/CD pipelines
- • Experience with automated frontend testing strategies including unit testing, component testing, and end-to-end UI testing with tools like Playwright, Cypress, or similar
- • Familiarity with frontend infrastructure, CDN strategies, asset optimization, and progressive enhancement patterns • Experience with design systems, component libraries, and maintaining consistency across multiple applications
- • Strong proficiency in modern JavaScript/TypeScript and deep understanding of web platform APIs
- • Solid understanding of CSS architecture, mobile-first responsive design, and cross-browser compatibility
- • Working knowledge of automated testing strategies including unit testing (Jest, Vitest), component testing (React Testing Library, Angular Testing Library), and end-to-end UI testing (Playwright) 1
- • Experience integrating accessibility validation into testing pipelines using axe-core or similar tools
- • Experience with state management patterns and asynchronous data handling in frontend applications
- • Practical knowledge of web performance optimization, Core Web Vitals, and frontend monitoring
- • Understanding of API integration patterns, GraphQL or REST, and working with backend services
- • Familiarity with cloud deployment patterns for frontend applications (CDN, static hosting)
- • Experience establishing and maintaining CI/CD pipelines with automated accessibility checks, linting, and testing
- • Strong product thinking with ability to balance user needs, business requirements, and technical constraints
- • Willingness to work closely with product managers to ideate on best UI/UX experiences, making pragmatic trade-offs between optimal user experience and implementation effort
- • Working knowledge of modern UI/UX principles, design patterns, and user-centered design methodologies
- • Experience collaborating with product managers and designers throughout the development lifecycle on customer-facing applications
- • Ability to provide technical input during design discussions and advocate for feasible, accessible solutions
- • Data-driven approach to measuring and improving user experience through analytics and user feedback
- • Demonstrated ability to lead large-scale technical initiatives from vision to production, influencing outcomes across multiple teams
- • Quality driven, sets the standard for excellence in communication, code, and documentation
- • Ability to communicate complex technical concepts and strategic vision clearly to engineers, designers, product managers, executives, and external stakeholders
- • Proven track record of mentoring and developing engineers at all levels, building organizational frontend capability
- • Recognized advocate for sound engineering practices who establishes patterns and influences engineering culture
- • Comfort leading cross-functional initiatives, making architectural decisions with organizational impact, and navigating technical/business trade-offs at the principal level
- • Must be a US Citizen and able to obtain and maintain Public Trust 6C
- • Position is remote, with approximately 0-10% business travel
Benefits
- Medical plan options, some with Health Savings Accounts
- Dental plan options
- Vision plan
- 401(k) plan with the ability to contribute both pre-tax and post-tax dollars up to IRS annual limits and receive a company match
- Full flex work weeks where possible
- Paid time off plans, including vacation, sick and personal time
- Paid holidays
- Paid parental leave
- Paid military leave
- Paid bereavement leave
- Paid jury duty leave
- 15 days of paid leave per calendar year for new employees, prorated based on date of hire
- 10 paid holidays per year, prorated based on date of hire
- Up to 160 hours of paid leave in a rolling 12-month period through the GDIT Paid Family Leave program for eligible employees
- Short- and long-term disability benefits
- Life insurance
- Accidental death and dismemberment insurance
- Personal accident insurance
- Critical illness insurance
- Business travel and accident insurance
- Remote position
Company Overview