AI Frontend Developer

Role AI Frontend Developer

Location- Hybrid, expect remote with one or two days per month in offices in Manchester/Liverpool

Fletchers Solicitors Ltd have a fantastic opportunity to join our growing Team.

Fletchers Solicitors is seeking a skilled Frontend Developer to join our growing AI team. This person will be responsible for building and maintaining scalable, high-performance web applications that support our backend systems and enable seamless integration of our AI tools. This is a core part of a new exploratory team that reports directly to the executive team as a sort of start-up within the wider business. Our mission is to produce AI solutions that transform different aspects of the industry - initially integrating these within our business, before taking these to the wider legal market.

The Role

We are looking for an experienced frontend developer to join our AI team, responsible for creating intuitive and seamless web interfaces that support the deployment and functionality of our Machine Learning and data analytics tools. You will play a key role in designing and developing frontend applications that align with backend services, serving our ML capabilities to in-house and external clients through dynamic web interfaces.

Collaborating closely with backend engineers, data scientists, and infrastructure teams, you will guide the frontend development process, ensuring efficient and scalable integration with our backend solutions. For example, you might work on projects that involve displaying analytics from complex datasets sourced from unstructured documents, provide interfaces for smart document manipulation, or embed chatbots in webUIs. As our first frontend developer, you'll have immediate influence over all frontend architecture and design decisions. We'll lean on your insight and independent research to choose the best tools, frameworks, and methodologies for building and deploying our applications. As the team grows, you'll have opportunity to support other frontend developers should you want to.

To excel in this position, you'll have strong problem-solving abilities, a deep understanding of modern frontend architectures, and excellent communication skills. You should be adept at designing and building front-end systems from the ground up, with a clear vision of 'what good looks like' for web applications. As a self-starter, you will thrive on broad directives, taking initiative to identify solutions, prioritize tasks effectively, and assume ownership of the frontend components of our products.

We are building an MVP frontend with an external partner, which you will further develop and eventually own. Our current stack on the Frontend is TypeScript, React (using PrimeReact), Vite, and Tailwind v4, and on the Backend is Python (Flask), Postgres, Redis and is primarily on Azure-hosted infrastructure.

In return Fletchers can offer:

• 35 hours working week
• Bonus scheme (subject to targets being met)
• 35 days holiday a year including bank holidays and Christmas Closure, you also have an option to purchase up to 3 extra days' holiday per year, until you long service award the 3 days after your 5th, 7th, and 9th full year of employment
• Pension scheme with tax-efficient salary sacrifice option
• Life Assurance Policy
• Medicash policy to cover some dental, optical and other medical expenses
• Company sick pay
• Enhanced Maternity, Paternity and IVF schemes
• Flexible, agile working environment with a positive work-life balance
• Varied calendar of funded company social events (check out Fletchers Group on LinkedIn)
• Monthly voucher awards for winning nominees

Main Responsibilities include:

• Develop intuitive web interfaces that provide seamless integration with backend services for Machine Learning endpoints
• Lead the development of component-driven, scalable frontend architectures that prioritize performance and usability
• Work with data scientists to visualize data analytics, potentially integrating reports and dashboards into existing systems
• Provide technical guidance and support to our Product team and help translate complex technical requirements into simple, user-friendly interfaces for both in-house and external clients.
• Take ownership of our frontend architecture and leverage your understanding of full-stack development implications when designing or implementing new frontend features, as well as advising and influencing UI design
• Troubleshoot and resolve complex frontend challenges, delivering innovative solutions to enhance application functionality and user experience
• Collaborate closely and effectively with a range of technical and non-technical colleagues, including backend engineers, infrastructure & security teams, data scientists, product managers, business analysts
• Participate actively in Agile development processes, contributing to sprint planning, stand-ups, and retrospectives
• Maintain up-to-date knowledge of emerging frontend technologies and methods to ensure our tools stay cutting-edge
• Contribute to a collaborative team environment through effective communication, mentorship, and knowledge-sharing

Essential Skills and Experience:

• Proficiency in TypeScript and React, including hooks, state management, and component lifecycle.
• Experience with modern frontend architectures, including component-driven development
• Understanding of RESTful APIs and integrating frontends with backend services
• Motivation for solving customer problems and delivering value to customers at a fast pace
• Ability to work using the Agile methodology
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills
• Initiative to research and learn emerging technologies

Desirable

• Experience in startup environments, involving building frontends entirely from scratch
• Experience in building large PDF viewers
• Experience in backend development, familiarity with common database and deployment technologies
• Prior exposure to NLP and ML tools integration
• Familiarity with CI/CD concepts related to frontend development
• Knowledge of UX/UI best practices and design principles
• Experience in legal or healthcare domains can be a plus

We have a fast 'launch' agenda, so reserve the right to close this role before the date specified depending on the calibre and volume of candidates.

About Fletchers Solicitors:

Fletchers is a rapidly growing law firm specialising in personal injury and clinical negligence law. Over the last three years, we have had a small but successful data science project developing and implementing a decision-support neural network, and over the last 12 months have invested heavily in our data science and AI capability, by building an entirely new AI team. This small but growing team has the goal of developing and deploying a range of ML tools within our firm, and then to commercialise these for the wider industry in the near future. AI is a top priority for the wider business, so we're running the team as a mix of a 'priority project' and an internal start-up, reporting directly to the group CEO. We've initially focussed on two core products, which use in-house expertise and databases to develop custom ML models, and then are building LLM applications on top. These tools have passed the Proof of Concept phase and are rolled out as back-end solutions in the appropriate teams, but we're now building the bespoke front-end product to transform user experience and bring the solutions to market. Whilst we're building on these, we're also building the next phase of products across other businesses and processes within the group, which includes client-facing chat-bots, decision support systems, and tools for supporting or automating legal tasks.

Fletchers is based in the North-West of the UK, with offices in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Southport, Bolton, and Cambridge, although many of our colleagues often work from home. Our existing AI team is a mix of Data Scientists, Back-end Engineers, and one Product Manager, who are spread across Cambridge, London, Manchester & Liverpool. We currently meet as a whole team around once per month in Manchester.

Since we're a small and relatively new team, whoever joins us in this role will have ample opportunity to influence the team, in both the direction of all our projects, as well as the development of the team, the work culture and dynamic.

Fletchers Group is an inclusive employer with a diverse workforce, which is why we welcome applications from all diversity groups and backgrounds. We're committed to providing a culture and environment where everyone can thrive. Fletchers understand and celebrating that no colleague is the same. We're proud of our work on the Disability Confident scheme, and we are signing up to other diversity standards to reflect our ethos.