Location: Porto (Portugal) or Manilla (Philippines).

Fee: Competitive. We look forward to discussing this with you.

Reports to: Head of Front-End Development.

Are you an experienced Drupal developer? Are you looking for an exciting opportunity to work at an award-winning, innovative digital consultancy? Are you smart, enthusiastic, and ready to help us architect modern, robust, and permanent software solutions? Then this is the opportunity you’ve been searching for!

The Opportunity
We’re seeking an experienced Front-End Developer who will complement and bolster our current team of talented developers. You will get to explore new technology and influence ways of working within our collaborative environment and be a protagonist for best practice. You will learn from our existing team while also being able to contribute your own ideas to help us progress and innovate. We will support you in developing your skills and hope that you will help us develop ours; we are receptive to new solutions and love finding innovative ways of delivering modern software solutions.

We’re looking for someone who’s serious about front-end technologies and also has a keen eye for nice design and really cares about how the things they make end up looking on screen. You’ll have experience building high-quality, responsive layouts and with silky smooth interactions, transitions and animations, collaborating closely with both the design and development team to come up with beautiful award-winning solutions to challenging yet exciting briefs.

This role will be the first Front-End Developer role in the region, and initially be stand-alone, supported by the wider Development Team. It is an exciting time to join us as grow our global presence beyond our current locations in Hong Kong, USA, Europe (Germany and Portugal) and the UK.
Key Responsibilities & Accountabilities

• Work with the Front-End Development team implementing web applications, and with the Back End Development team to integrate Front End and Back End components
• Develop and maintain code standards and guidelines for the Front-End team
• Collaborate with the UX/UI team to ensure a seamless user experience
• Advise on, and drive best practice from both a UI and UX perspective on designs
• Optimize web applications for maximum speed and scalability
• Work with PMs to ensure project timelines and budgets are met
• Review code and provide constructive feedback to team members
• Stay up to date with emerging trends and technologies in Front End Development
• Communicate effectively with stakeholders and team members

About you

This is a key role for our business. In recent times, we’ve won a number of new client projects and are looking to augment the team with an individual who has a great deal of experience in Front-End development, owns the solution and delivers an exceptional end product that we’re all proud to put our names to, and the client is equally delighted with. We want someone used to working with component-based design systems, who is proficient in modern Java Script, and who is familiar with frameworks like Vue.js or React.

It goes without saying that you’ll need to be a strong communicator, both verbally and in writing, demonstrate excellent problem-solving and analytical skills, and have a team-orientated approach, with the ability to work independently.

Project leadership, self-motivation and collaboration will be essential skills. As we grow the regional team, there may be the opportunity to mentor junior members.

Skills, knowledge and experience

• Extensive knowledge of HTML5, CSS3, SCSS and Java Script
• Experience working with one or more major JS frameworks (ideally Vue, but any modern framework experience is fine)
• Development of fully responsive, mobile first, cross browser front ends
• Ensuring UI components are compliant with accessibility requirements ((WCAG) 2 Level AA)
• Experience setting up and configuring cmd line task runners and package builders such as Webpack or Vite
• Working knowledge of Jira, Confluence and Bit Bucket
• Experience integrating front ends with CMS driven websites, particularly Drupal
• Deep understanding of Drupal’s theming architecture, including theme layers, template files, libraries, theme suggestions, regions, etc.
• Ability to manage theme inheritance and overrides for custom and sub-themes.
• Skilled in Twig templating, with expertise in rendering HTML, creating, customising, and debugging templates, and implementing complex theming logic.
• Understanding of how to write and manage preprocess functions in the .theme file to prepare and manipulate data for templates where necessary.
• Familiarity with content types, paragraphs, and their display modes in Drupal, including understanding how to configure and customise their presentation.
• Experience with Drupal Views, including customising the display and functionality of listings.
• Experience with Drupal Form API to customise the appearance and behaviour of forms.
• Knowledge of Drupal’s block management and layout systems.
• Understanding of Drupal's configuration management system.

Nice to have

• An understanding of component based or atomic design patterns
• Automated testing; Node.js; Type Script
• Experience working with Storybook; Docker
• Experience implementing Core Web Vitals / Lighthouse recommendations

You don’t need to tick all the boxes to be considered, so please do still apply if you have most of what we’re looking for.

About Us

Reading Room is a user-led, data-centric digital transformation consultancy. It is the home for the curious! We believe that understanding users’ needs, motivations and behaviours in relation to our clients’ products and services is the key to success.
We help all kinds of passionate brands and organisations to realise their digital ambitions. And, as a 50-strong team of digital specialists across the UK & Europe, we cover the whole caboodle – from the deep dive and digital strategy, right through to the design, technology and communications that define how customers feel and interact.
Reading Room’s existing client base is impressive, including well-known organisations spanning; central Government, blue light services, public and private healthcare, membership, not-for-profit, charity, and construction… to name a few. In recent times, we’ve seen an uplift in demand and requirement for our specialist services, with a number of new clients joining our growing portfolio.
We’re proud to be part of the independently owned Rippleffect Group, alongside RONIN International, a research consultancy which provides an even bigger toolbox for clients to collect data, understand their customer and scale up in other countries.

Working together
We’ll be a great fit if you embody the values that underpin how we think, work, create and play:

• Be curious: Our innate inquisitiveness means we ask the right questions. Being curious gives us the time and space to collect the evidence we need to get it right.
• Be candid: Our knowledge and diverse skills mean we are the confident and trusted voice in the room to support clients with their digital journeys.
• Be empathetic: By understanding the world through customers’ eyes, we create experiences they’ll want to use. This principle is at the heart of everything we do.
• Be forward-thinking: We are agile, adaptable and forward-looking. This helps us and our clients navigate uncertainty and be prepared for the future.
• Be inclusive: We celebrate differences of all kinds. It’s what makes our team uniquely placed to find the right answers. Everyone has the opportunity to make their voice heard.

How to apply…
Do you like the sound of all of this? If so, we’d love to hear from you! Please send us your CV and a short paragraph telling us about you and why you would like to work with us, and we’ll be in touch.
Please submit your application through our careers site so that it is uploaded onto our recruitment system. We have tried to simplify the application process as much as possible, and won’t ask you to complete a lengthy application form – you can apply with your CV or Linked In profile - but if you don’t apply through our careers site, unfortunately we cannot always guarantee your application will be reviewed, or that you will receive a response, particularly if we receive strong interest in the role.
The interview process will consist of 2 stages... the first will be an introductory call for you and us to find out a bit more about each other and consider if it could be the right opportunity for you and your skills; the second stage would be a competency-based and behavioural interview with the Hiring Manager, and a team member.
Given the nature of the business and our clients’ requirements, any job offers issued will be conditional upon the satisfactory completion of pre-contract checks and references.

Reading Room & Rippleffect Group are committed to encouraging equality, diversity and inclusion among our workforce and everyone we work with, and eliminating unlawful discrimination. We base all our employment decisions on merit, job requirements and business needs. The aim is for our workforce to be truly representative of all sections of society and our customers, and for each employee to feel respected and able to give their best.
Find out more...https://www.readingroom.com/