Frontend Architect - React.js
First seen by Alion on Jul 21, 2026.
Frontend Architect
Overview
We are looking for a Frontend Architect to keep the lights on for "Test Drive", our internet-facing web application that delivers interactive lab experiences for customers, partners, and systems engineers while we rebuild the platform. Your mandate is to keep the current React/TypeScript application stable, supportable, and well-understood .
What You'll Work On
The current Test Drive frontend is a React/TypeScript single-page application that powers: - End-user experiences (lab catalog, console launcher, course flows) - Admin/operator tooling (provider health, queue visibility, voucher and event management)
Key characteristics of the stack :
- React 16.14 + TypeScript 3.7
- Redux 4 with redux-thunk for async state management
- Axios for HTTP, with a typed API layer under src/api/ (~20 modules)
- Centralized state under src/state/ (~20 slices)
- Build and deploy via react-scripts 3.x to S3 + CloudFront - Styling via SCSS, styled-components, and Emotion
Responsibilities In this role, you will:
- Keep the UI stable and responsive : Triage and fix user-reported UI bugs (e.g., stuck launch screens, broken console handoff, auth redirect loops, empty dashboards, and layout regressions in admin views).
- Guard the API boundary : Maintain the typed API layer in src/api/ and act as an early-warning system when backend serializers, URLs, or methods change and risk breaking the UI.
- Own Redux state health : Operate and debug Redux slices in src/state/, including async thunks, stale state issues, race conditions, and cross-slice dependencies.
- Support operational tooling : Maintain and enhance admin queue and operations views (e.g., /admin/worker-queue) that the receiving team relies on to support Test Drive.
- Establish a baseline test suite : Introduce and expand Jest + React Testing Library coverage for critical flows: login + redirect, lab launch, admin queue actions, and other core paths as agreed.
- Coordinate cross-repo changes : Work closely with the backend engineer to ensure frontend changes that depend on backend modifications are sequenced and deployed safely; no breaking changes on either side.
- Enable a smooth handoff : Document patterns (e.g., src/api/ - src/state/ - src/containers/), deployment steps, and operational runbooks. - Pair with the receiving team for code walkthroughs and knowledge transfer sessions.
Required Experience :
We are looking for someone who can be productive quickly in a mature React codebase:
- 8+ years building and shipping React/TypeScript applications in production environments
-Hands-on working experience in System Design and building things, for example, working knowledge as in "https://github.com/donnemartin/system-design-primer"
- Basic hands-on Linux
- Understanding of deploying UI applications on a web server/Tomcat server
- RBAC (Role-Based Access Control) - Single Sign-On, AAA, Control, Service account ..etc
- Strong working knowledge of React 16 (class and function components)
- Deep experience with Redux 4 and redux-thunk : - Action types, reducers, async thunks, selectors, and middleware
- Comfort managing a Create React App / react-scripts 3.x build : - TypeScript configuration, dependency resolution, and environment-specific builds
- Solid experience with Axios : Interceptors, cancellation, error normalization, and consistent client-side API contracts
- Proficiency with SCSS and component-scoped styling using styled-components and Emotion
- Strong discipline around API contracts : You are comfortable reading Django views/serializers to validate payloads rather than assuming frontend types are correct
- Experience operating in AWS : S3 + CloudFront deployment behavior, cache invalidation, and environment-specific build configs
Nice to Have :
- Bringing up Jest + React Testing Library on a codebase with little or no existing test coverage
- Experience supporting admin/operator UIs alongside end-user UIs within the same SPA
What's Out of Scope :
This role is explicitly focused on stability and transition, not major re-architecture. Out of scope unless explicitly approved:
- Framework, library, or build-tool overhauls
- Replacing the state management layer
- Broad re-theming or visual redesign
- Component-library rewrites
Skills
React.js, TypeScript, Redux, Frontend Architecture, UI Architect, Javascript, HTML, CSS