Lead Front-end Architect

Description

You are the top technical voice for front-end work on your projects, from early pre-sales talks through to live production.

Most of your time goes to one client project, with the rest spent on architecture, innovation, pre-sales and coaching across the company. Hands-on building stays central to the role.

The company is a European customer experience and digital transformation firm with 2,200 staff in 12 countries. The Ghent team has more than 50 digital specialists and works for large international brands such as Nestlé, Colruyt, Pierre Fabre and Jaguar Land Rover.

Clients increasingly want composable, headless and API-first front ends, and AI is becoming part of how these platforms are designed and built.

This role suits someone who has moved beyond the standard senior developer title and who people turn to when hard technical problems and key decisions come up.

Responsibilities

• Set the front-end architecture for complex digital projects
• Turn business and functional requirements into scalable technical solutions
• Split large solutions into clear technical designs, epics and development plans
• Question functional analyses and flag risks, dependencies and gaps in requirements
• Build complex components and set strong engineering standards
• Make well-reasoned technical decisions and explain them clearly to clients and delivery teams
• Support pre-sales with workshops, solution design, estimates and client presentations
• Check estimates and protect the technical and commercial health of projects
• Work with Project Managers on staffing, planning, epics and sprint preparation
• Coach developers through mentoring, code reviews and practical technical guidance
• Build reusable architecture blueprints and help shape new service offerings
• Maintain and improve development platforms, CI/CD pipelines, Docker environments and cloud deployments
• Use AI tools such as Claude and GitHub Copilot responsibly, to speed up work without lowering quality
• Collaborate with Project Managers, UX and UI designers, architects, developers and account managers in international teams

Requirements

• Deep technical skill combined with leadership, ownership and commercial awareness
• Defining front-end architectures and contributing to technical quotes and estimates
• Fluent English and Dutch
• React and Next.js
• HTML, CSS and Tailwind CSS
• JavaScript, and preferably TypeScript
• Headless and composable architectures
• Headless CMS platforms such as Contentful and Strapi
• Shopify, ideally including Hydrogen, Liquid or theme extensions
• GraphQL and REST APIs
• Git and CI/CD pipelines
• Docker and cloud-based deployments
• Working AI-native, with Claude Code
• Vercel hosting
• Unit testing with tools such as Vitest
• Accessibility and performance testing with tools such as Lighthouse and WAVE
• Story mapping and turning requirements into a workable technical delivery plan
• Optional, a strong plus: Drupal front-end theming, Vue.js, Node.js, Builder.io, Storybook, shadcn/ui, Vite or Webpack, Bootstrap and n8n
• Optional, a plus: French

Conditions

Employment is direct with the company only, with no contractors or agencies

Based at the office in Sint-Martens-Latem, which has outdoor space and quiet and informal areas

Flexible organisation of your working time, with regular time together as a team

A company car is part of the package

Benefits

• Competitive salary that reflects your experience
• Company car
• Apple laptop
• Phone subscription
• Other tools you need to do the job well
• Dedicated R&D time, training, certifications, seminars, mentoring, events and regular knowledge sharing
• Regular feedback and development conversations to shape your next step
• Access to an international network, exchange with experts in other markets and projects beyond Belgium
• Regular drinks and team events outside project meetings