Our client is a well-established charity that mobilises volunteers to support individuals, local communities and public health services across the UK.
They have developed a volunteering platform. Your role is to be the skilled and motivated Senior Engineer who helps guide the design, development, and delivery of the platform's Next.js front-end.
Reporting to the CTO, you'll manage a small team of offshore engineers in your time zone while actively contributing to code, architectural decisions, and quality outcomes yourself.
Our client's engineering today is a mix of hands-on development and AI-assisted coding, without disciplined TDD.
You'll work directly with the CTO and the other Senior Engineer to move the team to an AI-assisted + TDD way of working — specs and tests agreed up front, AI coding agents handling the bulk of initial implementation, and engineering time increasingly spent on quality: refactoring, verification and system assurance rather than hands-on typing.
You'll be critical for setting this standard, both by example in your own code and at each code review, especially in how rigorously AI-generated output is verified before it ships.
We're looking for someone who has already worked this way and can bring that discipline in from day one — the benchmark we're aiming for is how leading AI labs build software.
You'll thrive here if you enjoy the shift from author to architect and editor — defining intent, catching what AI misses, and raising the bar for the team around you.
What you will be doing
Hands-On Development
- Design, build and maintain features primarily in Next.js, React and TypeScript
- Write clean, testable code that adheres to team standards
- Partner with team members to debug issues and deliver robust solutions
Driving the AI-Assisted + TDD Transition
- Work with the CTO and the other Senior Engineer to establish spec-first, test-first practices across the team
- Help define what "spec and tests agreed before coding starts" looks like in practice
- Coach engineers through the shift from ad hoc AI-assisted coding to disciplined TDD
Spec & Test-First Discipline
- Contribute to and validate the specification (stories, acceptance criteria, architecture, UI, data structures) before coding starts, so decisions are made once and not relitigated mid-sprint
- Write or review unit tests against the spec ahead of implementation
- Use AI coding agents (e.g. Claude Code, GitHub Copilot) to accelerate implementation once spec and tests are agreed
Quality, Refactoring & Assurance
- Treat QA, refactoring and system health as the majority of engineering time, not an afterthought
- Verify AI-generated code for correctness, security and maintainability rather than assuming it's right
- Use tooling such as SonarQube to maintain code quality
- Raise blockers early
Technical Guidance & Mentorship
- Line-manage and provide technical leadership to a small team of offshore engineers in your timezone
- Keep the team aligned with project goals and technical standards
- Give complete, thought-through feedback during code review and handover
- Model the spec-first, test-first approach by example
Collaboration & Communication
- Work closely with Product, Design and QA across the feature and story delivery flow
- Proactively engage — raise questions or problems rather than waiting to be asked
- Be available for quick syncs during the day
- Clearly communicate progress, risks and technical decisions to the CTO and relevant stakeholders
- What you need to know
Knowledge
- Strong experience in front-end development with Next.js, React and TypeScript
- Component architecture, server-side rendering/static generation, and modern Next.js patterns (e.g. App Router, server components)
- RESTful API integration from the front-end
- Deep, practical understanding of test-driven development (TDD) — writing unit tests against a spec before implementation, not after
- AI-assisted, agentic coding workflows and tools (e.g. Claude Code, GitHub Copilot), including how leading AI labs apply these practices to their own engineering, and how to critically verify AI-generated output
- CI/CD pipelines and code quality tooling (e.g. SonarQube)
- Strong problem-solving skills and comfort working in a spec-first, collaborative environment
Skills
- Next.js, React, TypeScript, JavaScript
- RESTful APIs, API integration
- Test-driven development and unit testing frameworks (e.g. Jest, React Testing Library) — end-to-end/Cypress testing sits with the Automated QA function, so this role collaborates with them on coverage rather than owning it directly
- AI coding agents/assistants (e.g. Claude Code, GitHub Copilot) used in a disciplined, spec-first workflow
- Coaching and embedding new engineering practices within a team
- Git, GitHub, CI/CD (e.g. Azure DevOps)
- Code quality and static analysis tooling (e.g. SonarQube)
- Design-system implementation and Figma-to-code workflows
- Clear written and verbal communication
Experience
- 5-7 years engineering experience, with strong recent focus on front-end/Next.js or React development
- Proven experience working in an AI-assisted + TDD development workflow — not just AI-assisted coding, but
- disciplined test-first practice — ideally close to how Anthropic and similar organisations build software
- Experience leading or actively driving a team’s transition to a new engineering methodology, not just working
- within an established one
- 1-2 years experience managing or mentoring developers, ideally in an offshore/distributed team setup
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering or a related field (or equivalent experience)
- Experience collaborating closely with Product, Design and QA in a fast-moving, sprint-based environment
- Comfort setting technical direction directly with the CTO, without a Tech Lead layer in between
- Track record of shipping production features end-to-end, from spec through to release
Requires 5–7 years of engineering experience, strong Next.js or React expertise, AI-assisted TDD experience, 1–2 years managing or mentoring developers, and a bachelor's degree or equivalent experience.
Key Responsibilities
- designing features
- guiding engineers
- verifying code
Skills & Tools
Next.js, React, TypeScript, JavaScript, RESTful APIs, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, SonarQube, Jest, React Testing Library, Cypress, Git, GitHub, Azure DevOps, Figma, CI/CD
Job Details
- Category: Software Development
- Seniority: Senior Level
- Commitment: Full Time
- Workplace: Remote — Kenya
- Languages: English
About Semata
A technology company providing software development and engineering services. — Industry: Information Technology