Lead Engineer, Front-End (E-commerce)

About Blackhawk Network

Today, through BHN’s single global platform, businesses of all kinds can tap into the world’s largest network of branded payment solutions. BHN helps businesses grow revenue, increase loyalty, motivate and reward their teams, disburse funds and engage consumers. Branded payment solutions include the issuance and distribution of gift cards, egifts, corporate payouts and rewards, along with the technology to deliver these products in seamless, integrated ways. BHN’s network spans the globe with more than 400,000 consumer touchpoints. Learn more at BHN.com.

Overview

We are hiring a hands-on front-end technical lead for our high-traffic, multi-region e-commerce experience (digital gift cards). This is a builder role first. You will write code, set engineering standards, and raise the bar for front-end quality and delivery speed.

Our platform competes directly with major retailers for gift card purchases — performance and UX directly impact conversion. This is a small team with big ownership and a ship-it culture.

You will partner closely with Product and Design. You will mentor engineers through code reviews, pairing, and clear technical direction. You will improve performance and reliability across the end-to-end customer journey (browse to checkout).

AI-assisted development is part of how modern teams ship. We want someone who uses tools like GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, (and similar) to move faster, while keeping quality high through disciplined PR size, testing, and review. You must be able to explain and debug code, including code created with AI assistance.

Location: Pleasanton, CA. You must be able to come into the office 2 days a week.

You'll Love This Job If…

• You thrive on architecting and optimizing high-traffic digital platforms that serve customers across multiple regions, directly impacting performance metrics experienced by millions of users daily
• You're energized by leading technical strategy for Core Web Vitals and SEO optimization on revenue-generating e-commerce platforms where your performance improvements translate to measurable business outcomes
• You enjoy designing scalable React architectures and headless CMS solutions that handle complex multi-region requirements while maintaining exceptional user experiences
• You're passionate about driving accessibility and privacy standards across customer-facing platforms where your technical decisions directly shape how users interact with digital gift card experiences

Responsibilities

• Lead front-end development for a customer-facing, revenue-generating e-commerce platform.
• Own the technical standard for the team:
  • coding quality, code reviews, patterns, and maintainability
  • performance and reliability expectations
• Build and ship React features across the end-to-end funnel:
  • landing and browse experiences
  • cart and checkout flows
  • payment-adjacent UI experiences
• Drive measurable improvements in:
  • site performance and Core Web Vitals
  • accessibility
  • SEO fundamentals (nice-to-have expertise; not required on day one)
• Partner with Product and Design to translate requirements into clean, scalable implementation.
• Mentor other engineers through pairing, design reviews, and practical coaching.
• Use AI-assisted tooling to accelerate delivery, while keeping code readable and safe:
  • small PRs
  • strong tests
  • clear reasoning and debugging skill

Qualifications

Must-haves

• Strong, hands-on React and modern JavaScript/TypeScript skills
• Proven ability to ship customer-facing web experiences in production
• Demonstrated ownership of end-to-end work, not just a narrow UI slice
• Ability to design and implement maintainable front-end architecture
• Strong debugging ability and judgment
• Clear communicator who can mentor without acting as a manager
• Comfort working in a fast-paced, startup-like environment with shifting priorities

Helpful, but not required

• Experience with high-traffic e-commerce funnels (conversion, checkout, payments-related UI)
• Experience improving Core Web Vitals and front-end performance at scale
• SEO experience (we can teach this if fundamentals are strong)
• Experience with headless CMS (not required on day one)
• Experience working across regions or multiple markets

Typical experience level: 6-10+ years in front-end engineering, though we care more about what you can do than years on a resume.

We seek candidates who not only demonstrate curiosity and adaptability in emerging technologies but have also successfully implemented and utilized AI tools to enhance their work, improve processes, or deliver measurable results.  Our teams embrace continuous learning and the thoughtful integration of AI to create meaningful impact – for our employees and the future of work.

Benefits

Salary Range for California Residents Only: $157,030.00 to $212,000.00

Salary Range for Illinois Residents Only: $125,100.00 to $168,900.00

Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to education, work experience, certifications, etc. In addition to your salary, Blackhawk Network offers benefits including 401k with employer match, medical, dental, vision, 12 paid holidays in the year 2025, 1 hour of sick pay accrual for every 30 hours worked, parental leave, life insurance, disability insurance, accident and illness insurance, health and dependent care flexible spending accounts, wellness benefits, and flexible time off for all full-time employees. 

EEO Statement

Blackhawk Network provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.  Blackhawk Network believes that diversity leads to strength. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

Blackhawk Network encourages applicants with previous criminal records to apply to all positions and, pursuant to the San Francisco and Los Angeles Fair Chance Acts (and other “Fair Chance” laws), Blackhawk Network will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.  For Philadelphia applicants or jobs, please see a copy of Philadelphia’s ordinance on this topic by clicking this link: https://codelibrary.amlegal.com/codes/philadelphia/latest/philadelphia_pa/0-0-0-280104.