Merkle is a leading data-driven, technology-enabled, global performance marketing agency that specializes in the delivery of unique, personalized customer experiences across platforms and devices. For more than 30 years, Fortune 1000 companies and leading nonprofit organizations have partnered with Merkle to maximize the value of their customer portfolios. 

The agency's heritage in data, technology, and analytics forms the foundation for its unmatched skills in understanding consumer insights that drive people-based marketing strategies. Its combined strengths in performance media, customer experience, customer relationship management, loyalty, and enterprise marketing technology drive improved marketing results and competitive advantage. 

With 5,500 employees, Merkle is headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, with 24 additional offices in the US and 25 offices in Europe and APAC. In 2016, the agency joined the Dentsu Aegis Network, now known as dentsu International.

Merkle is seeking a Front-End Architect to provide leadership and direction to our Digital Experience practice. As a Front-End Architect, you will own the technical design and documentation of custom-built client-side apps, websites, and tools. 

The successful candidate will be a Front-End subject matter expert who can act as a technical scout to quickly align projects to solutions, identify technical risks, implement prototypes, and serve as a mentor, reference point and representative of the technical teams they work with. The Front-End Architect will Support our Sales team and Business Development Managers in the sales process by communicating with prospective clients about our processes, potential solution architectures and estimations. The Front-End Architect also co-owns internal starter kits and the design of accelerators and tools to promote reuse and adherence to industry best practices. As a Front-End Architect, you will have exceptional communication skills, a high level of accountability, and a desire to provide best in class solutions to clients.
 
Responsibilities

• Working with sales, account, and solutions team on new business pitches and opportunities
• Consult on engineering best practices, features, functionality, and architecture
•  Lead client and team discovery sessions to identify technical requirements
• Design custom and robust Front-End applications adhering to development best practices
• Document architecture decisions and communicate intent to both technical and non-technical audiences
• Build proof-of-concepts to reduce risk and increase client and team buy-in
• Champion organizational understanding and education of Front-End technologies
• Facilitate project scoping and sales estimates
• Catalog and document reusable cross-system solutions and learnings
• Collaborating with other technical leaders on internal initiatives to improve methodologies and processes

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field
• 5+ years of experience in DXP and CMS specific platforms: AEM, ReactJs, Sitecore, Drupal, and/or Contentful
• Excellent knowledge of application design and architecture
• Outstanding client-facing communication and presentation abilities
• Demonstrated understanding of delivery methodologies such as Agile and Kanban
• An interest in sharing your contributions and teaching others through team meetings, code reviews, blogging, and presenting

Preferred

• Experience designing and architecting Headless/MACH/JAMStack based solutions
• Experience with the Server-Client rendering spectrum and involved technologies (SSR, SSG, etc.)
• Experience with TDD and testing frameworks such as Mocha, Jest, or Jasmine
• Experience in a professional services consultancy or agency
• Prior experience with scaled and global team delivery
• Active involvement in development community

The anticipated salary range for this position is $120,880-$174,900. Salary is based on a wide range of factors that include relevant experience, knowledge, skills, other job-related qualifications, and geography.  A range of medical, dental, vision, 401(k) matching, paid time off, and/or other benefits also are available. For more information regarding dentsu benefits, please visit https://dentsubenefitsplus.com/  

Dentsu (the "Company") is committed to a policy of Equal Employment Opportunity and will not discriminate against an applicant or employee of the Company, on the basis of age, sex, sexual orientation, race, color, creed, religion, ethnicity, national origin, alienage or citizenship, disability, marital status, veteran or military status, genetic information, or any other legally-recognized protected basis under federal, state or local laws, regulations or ordinances. Applicants with disabilities may be entitled to reasonable accommodation under the terms of the Americans with Disabilities Act and/or certain state or local laws. A reasonable accommodation is a change in the way things are normally done that will ensure an equal employment opportunity without imposing an undue hardship on the Company. Please contact [email protected] if you need assistance completing any forms or to otherwise participate in the application process or to request or discuss an accommodation in connection with a job at the Company to which you are applying.

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