Lead Front End Engineer

Overview

Natural Habitat Adventures, a nature-focused global adventure travel company, is seeking an experienced and innovative Lead Front End Engineer to enhance and lead the website development initiatives of the company. This person has deep technical expertise in modern web development frameworks, proven experience leading and mentoring development teams, and a strong architectural mindset focused on building scalable, maintainable, and high-performance websites using Contentful, Astro, and React.

This is a hands-on leadership role—the Lead Front End Engineer will spend a significant portion of their time writing, reviewing, and maintaining production code while also guiding technical direction and team execution.

The successful candidate aligns with our mission and values, communicates clearly, and thrives in a collaborative, fast-paced environment. The role is based in Louisville, Colorado and follows a hybrid work schedule, requiring in-office attendance 50% of the workweek.

• Lead and shape the technical direction, architecture, and ongoing evolution of Nat Hab’s websites and web applications by hands-on designing, building, and maintaining scalable front-end systems using Astro, React, and Contentful.
• Act as a hands-on developer by writing clean, efficient, and well-documented code, collaborating closely with designers, product managers, and engineers, and troubleshooting, debugging, and resolving complex front-end issues.
• Provide technical leadership to the web development team through mentorship, hands-on support, and code reviews; setting clear standards and shared practices for code quality, performance, accessibility, security, testing, documentation, CI/CD pipelines, and production monitoring.
• Drive website performance, scalability, and user experience by focusing on measurable outcomes and continuous improvement.
• Serve as a strong technical project leader by helping plan and sequence work, manage technical debt, plan refactors, and partner closely with cross-functional teams to support predictable delivery, business priorities, and high-quality user experiences.

• 5+ years (or equivalent experience) in professional web development, including team-lead responsibilities, with strong expertise in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Type Script, and deep experience with React and modern front-end development practices.
• Experience building content-driven websites using Contentful or other headless CMS platforms, along with hands-on experience with Astro or similar modern static or hybrid site frameworks.
• Demonstrated ability to design, build, and maintain scalable web architectures, with a strong understanding of performance optimization, accessibility, and SEO best practices.
• Experience with, actively learning, or a strong interest in applying new and emerging technologies (including AI-powered tools, AI-enhanced SEO, and Generative Engine Optimization) to improve efficiency and discoverability, with demonstrated experience in rapid prototyping, iterative development, and working effectively in a fast-paced environment.
• A proven track record of improving engineering velocity and delivery quality, supported by strong technical project management skills (planning, estimation, prioritization, stakeholder communication), familiarity with Asana or similar tools, and experience with version control, automated testing, CI/CD pipelines, and modern deployment workflows.

Starting salary range: $100,000 – $115,000 plus an annual bonus. Compensation will be commensurate with experience. (Per Colorado’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, employers must include compensation ranges in job postings.)

This role includes a comprehensive benefits package with medical, dental, and vision insurance; a 401(k)-retirement plan; generous paid time off; and paid holidays. Additional perks include annual opportunities for paid travel on Nat Hab adventures, complimentary stays at our Colorado mountain house, access to The Nest, significant discounts with partner travel companies, and pro-deal pricing on outdoor gear. Our Louisville, Colorado office also offers scenic trails, an on-site fitness…