Front-End Developer Roles and Responsibilities

A front-end developer is a professional who designs, builds, and maintains the front end or client side of a website, software, or other development project. Some front-end developer roles and responsibilities include designing page layout and considering user experience (UX), coding and building user interfaces, collaborating with a team of development professionals, and testing and optimizing websites or apps. 

Working as a front-end developer, you’ll have the opportunity to earn a higher-than-average salary in a growing field. Front-end developers make an average annual base salary of $86,949 [1]. Employment for software developers will likely grow at a rate of 17 percent from 2023 to 2033, which is much faster than average [2]. For web developers, a growth rate of 8 percent is likely in that same timespan, so front-end developers should have ample career prospects in the coming years [3]. Discover the roles and responsibilities you might encounter in this career.

What is a front-end developer?

As a front-end developer, you design, build, test, and maintain web development projects like websites, software, or video games while focusing on the front end, or the part that the end user will see and interact with. Front-end developers are members of a development team, working with other professionals like back-end developers and quality assurance analysts to create a cohesive, functional, and enjoyable product. 

When you load a software program or open a website, you can see what a front-end developer designed and coded—the layout and everything you can interact with, including menus, buttons, and interactive elements. A back-end developer creates the infrastructure and code needed for the project to function, store data, and interact with servers.

Professionals who work on the front and back end are full-stack developers who can take a more flexible role in the development process. The concept is similar to that of building a new house. You might hire contractors who build the infrastructure you won’t see, like the plumbing and electrical wires hidden in the walls (back-end developers). You might hire a different team of contractors to complete the areas you do see, such as interior design and painting (front-end developers). In some cases, you may be able to hire a builder who can oversee both sides of the process and deliver a finished product (full-stack developers). 

Key front-end developer roles and responsibilities

As a front-end developer, you play an important role on a development team designing and creating the interfaces that users interact with when they use your product. Explore some of the key front-end developer roles and responsibilities, as well as the skills that can help you become successful. 

Designing page layout and user experience

Front-end developers design page layouts and the graphic elements of a website, app, or software development project. You need to work with the client to determine the style and brand message of the software and use design principles to create an engaging and pleasing final product. You think about how end users will interact with your website and find design solutions that make it easier for your users to meet their goal, whether they want to enjoy a game, find information on a website, or use an app to solve business challenges. 

Front-end design skills

A few of the skills you’ll need to design page layout and user experience include: 

• Responsive design: A technique that allows your website or app to display on different devices with different screen sizes. Responsive design is important because it makes it possible for more people to access your product in different ways. 

• User interface (UI)/user experience design: User interfaces are the menus, links, images, buttons, and interactive elements of your project, while user experience is the entire journey a user takes through your website or app. You’ll need to consider both to create projects that are enjoyable and easy to use. 

• Graphic design: You need to create visual elements for your project, so knowledge of graphic design can be helpful as a front-end developer. You may work with designers who supply the images and 3D models you’ll need, or you may play a role in directly creating these assets. 

Building and maintaining user interfaces

After you work with the client and other members of your team to create the design and mockup of your project, your next responsibility as a front-end developer is to write the code. You will use programming languages like JavaScript to build the elements you need, as well as other programming tools and resources. You may work with professionals like marketing team members and designers to help supply components you need during development, such as text and images. 

Front-end technical skills

Some of the skills you’ll need to build and maintain user interfaces include: 

• Programming languages: The main three programming languages front-end developers need to learn are HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. HTML is a language that explains how the computer should display the page, such as where the header and footer are, where text and other content will appear, and the location of buttons. CSS is a style sheet that allows you to use colors, layouts, fonts, and other style components. JavaScript, meanwhile, is a versatile language for adding interactive features to your project, like menus that appear when you hover over a link.

• Front-end libraries and frameworks: You will use front-end libraries and frameworks to add elements and function to your project without writing the code from scratch. Some of the front-end frameworks and libraries you’re likely to work with include React, Vue, Angular, Bootstrap, and Tailwind CSS. 

• Version control: You also need to understand software development principles like version control, or a system of saving work that makes it easy to go back to a previous version if you need to make changes or if you develop a bug in a new feature. This is an important element of working with a team on development projects so multiple developers can work on one project at a time while protecting the code as written. 

Collaborating with designers and back-end developers

As a front-end developer, you work on a team with other professionals to design and develop your project. You’ll need communication and collaboration skills to collaborate with different stakeholders and teams involved. For example, you’ll need to work with the client to understand what they want, and with creative professionals so your project has a cohesive brand message with the company’s other assets. You’ll also need to work with developers on the back end who create the support, structure, and back-end functionality of your project. Skills like creativity, problem-solving, positive collaboration, and strong communication can help you succeed. 

Conducting user testing and feedback analysis

Other important components of front-end development are conducting user testing, gathering feedback from clients, and implementing that feedback to create a better, more engaging project. You’ll start looking for bugs and errors as you write the code, but sometimes you won’t notice a problem until people start to use your app or website. User testing is a method of creating use cases for how someone might navigate the website so you can look for problems they might encounter. After you release your project, you’ll get feedback from real users who can further help you understand how to improve and debug your software. 

Learn more about front-end development with Coursera

As a front-end developer, roles and responsibilities include working on a development team to create the design side of a website, app, or other project to create engaging and interactive user interfaces. If you’d like to learn more about front-end development or are considering a career in the field, check out the Meta Front-End Developer Professional Certificate on Coursera. You’ll create a responsive website, begin learning how to use libraries and frameworks and prepare for a coding interview.