Jonathan Blades

Résumé

Senior Front-End Engineer

Profile

Senior front-end engineer and UX practitioner with over a decade of commercial software development experience, specialising in Angular, TypeScript, accessibility and complex enterprise applications.

I currently help design and deliver a large-scale asset-management platform supporting Scotland’s transport infrastructure. My work spans front-end architecture, accessible interaction design, automated testing, CI/CD, stakeholder collaboration and developer mentoring.

Before moving into software engineering, I worked in enterprise infrastructure and systems administration. That background gives me a broad understanding of the environments in which web applications are built, deployed and supported.

Skills

Front-end
Angular, TypeScript, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, SCSS, RxJS
UX & Accessibility
UX design, WCAG accessibility, user-centred design, responsive design
Testing
Vitest, Jest, Cypress
Cloud & DevOps
Azure, Azure DevOps, CI/CD, Docker, AWS, Git
Leadership
Technical leadership, mentoring, line management, agile methodologies, stakeholder management

Experience

Senior Front-End Engineer

IBI Group, acquired by Arcadis in 2022 Present

Lead front-end engineering and UX work on an enterprise asset-management system used by approximately 600 people to support critical transport infrastructure across Scotland.

  • Design and deliver complex, user-centred workflows using Angular, TypeScript and modern front-end development practices.
  • Establish and promote front-end standards through reusable components, shared implementation patterns, automated testing, architecture decisions and code review.
  • Improved application accessibility by embedding WCAG-informed practices into feature design, implementation, code review and testing.
  • Have improved Azure DevOps build and deployment processes, reducing the time required to build and release application changes.
  • Translate complex operational requirements into accessible interfaces in collaboration with stakeholders, subject-matter experts and end users.
  • Line manage one developer and have mentored another, providing technical guidance, delivery support and professional development.

IT Administrator

IBI Group
  • Managed IT infrastructure and end-user support across a dozen UK and European offices.
  • Administered servers, networks, user accounts and business-critical systems including file servers, DNS and domain controllers, and backup solutions.
  • Collaborated with stakeholders to improve service reliability and operational processes.

Field Support Engineer

Experisys IT
  • Provided on-site technical support and infrastructure services within customer environments across central Scotland.
  • Diagnosed hardware, software and network issues while maintaining clear communication with users and client stakeholders.

Selected Work

Transport Asset-Management Platform

Professional project

An enterprise application used by approximately 600 people to support the management of critical transport infrastructure across Scotland.

Lead front-end engineering and UX work across complex operational workflows, translating specialist requirements into accessible and maintainable Angular interfaces.

Technologies and practices: Angular, TypeScript, UX design, accessibility, automated testing, code review and developer mentoring.

Reusable Angular Components and Testing Strategy

Professional engineering initiative

Identified repeated implementation patterns across complex application workflows and developed reusable Angular components and shared conventions to address them.

The approach reduced duplicated code, improved consistency and made common behaviour easier to test and maintain. Supporting test utilities and expanded automated coverage increased confidence in subsequent application changes.

The shared patterns are now used across multiple application areas and form the default approach for new workflow development.

Technologies and practices: Angular, TypeScript, component architecture, automated testing, accessibility and technical leadership.

scan-compromised

Personal open-source project

A self-contained, CI-friendly npm command-line tool for identifying packages associated with known supply-chain compromises.

Built and maintain the project independently, including its Node.js implementation, dependency-security logic, documentation, release automation and automated threat-data updates.

Technologies and practices: Node.js, npm tooling, CI integration, security-advisory data, documentation and release automation.

Professional Development

Accessibility Development Learning Path

Deque University

Completed Deque University's assigned development learning path, earning 18.5 IAAP Education Credits (ECs).

Education

Bachelor of Science in Computer and Electronic Systems

The University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

Achievements

Developer Challenge Winner

npower

Won first place in the national npower Developer Challenge and received a £10,000 award for an innovative app that helped customers forecast energy prices for a new home. The project led directly to my move from infrastructure into professional software development.