What are the responsibilities and job description for the Lead Developer position at Ulta Beauty, Inc.?
OVERVIEW
Live the experience. From professional empowerment to continual learning opportunities. From ongoing investment in new and emerging technologies to a career of self-determination. At Ulta Beauty, our tech team is critical to our scalability—and is recognized that way. We’ve been defined as a “mature start-up.” A place where interdepartmental exposure, open doors, and genuine collaboration is ubiquitous. Where challenges come fast and furious, requiring agility, mental dexterity, and creativity. Where our passion for better solutions drives us and is core to who we are.
We’re engineering for the future of retail, and it’s no-holds-barred. But for those motivated by continual change and ambiguity, by superior leadership, by whip smart colleagues who will press you daily for your very best, you’ll find that virtually nothing’s impossible at Ulta Beauty.
THE IMPACT YOU CAN HAVE:
Ulta Beauty is seeking a Front-End Lead to guide our development stream for the Ulta.com and affiliated websites, in building engaging, high-performing, and AI-driven digital experiences for millions of beauty enthusiasts. You will work alongside talented architects, technical leads, software engineers, and quality engineers in our highly collaborative and fast paced environment where our goal is to design and implement the state of the art performance friendly ecommerce solutions in agile fashion. This is 70% hands on and 30% team management split.
YOU'LL ACCOMPLISH THESE GOALS BY:
Architect & Build: Lead the design and development of a new web and mobile platform using modern JavaScript, responsive, and adaptive stacks.
Drive Innovation: Take product initiatives from conception through delivery, iteratively producing measurable business value.
Team Leadership: Manage a small team of front-end developers, oversee day-to-day work allocation, and ensure delivery of high-quality code by performing code reviews.
Hands-On Delivery: Take ownership of technical design and implementation, ensuring multiple projects move forward in a fast-paced Agile environment.
Creative: Display high creativity and strategic decision-making while collaborating across UX, product, and backend teams.
Ownership: Partner with product owners to deliver projects on time and at scale, from start to finish.
AI Adoption: Drive the use of AI-assisted development tools (e.g., Copilot, LLM-powered testing and optimization) to boost productivity and innovation.
Problem Solving: Participate in addressing root cause analyses, incident reports and provide direction in problem resolution.
Production Support: Ability to analyze production defects, troubleshoot systems, identify root cause, and implement fixes.
Performance: Identify ways to increase efficiency and improve system performance.
Collaborate: Work with third party vendors to develop software and/or integrate their software into Ulta Beauty products.
THE ESSENTIALS FOR SUCCESS:
10 years of professional software development experience, with recent leadership of small to midsize teams.
Deep expertise in JavaScript, CSS, HTML5, with strong hands on knowledge of React, Redux, NodeJS, React Testing Library (RTL).
Experience with responsive/mobile-first design, design systems, micro-frontends.
Good understanding of cloud platforms, preferably Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
Previous full stack experience; familiarity with Java and JEE preferred.
Strong grasp of web performance, SEO, and accessibility (WCAG).
Proven experience applying AI tools (e.g., code generation, test automation, performance optimization).
Experience integrating with GraphQL APIs and handle state management effectively.
Experience implementing SSR for React applications and optimize for performance and SEO.
Familiarity with Agile methodologies and tools like JIRA.
Proactive, self-directed, detail-oriented, and organized.
Bachelor’s in Computer Science or related field (preferred).
WORKING CONDITIONS:
Fast-paced, dynamic environment with shifting priorities.
Support off-hours production issues and code deployments when needed.
Minimal travel required (e.g., training, conferences).
The pay range for this position is $102,900.00 - $160,000.00 / Year with the opportunity for eligible associates to earn additional compensation pursuant to the Company’s bonus plan. Exact pay will be based on factors including, but not limited to relevant education, qualifications, certifications, experience, level, shift, geographic location, and business and organizational needs. Full-time positions are eligible for paid time off, health, dental, vision, life and disability benefits. Part-time positions are eligible for dental, vision, life, and disability benefits. For additional information concerning our benefits, visit our Benefits and Career Development page: https://learn.bswift.com/ulta
ABOUT
At Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ: ULTA), the possibilities are beautiful. Ulta Beauty is the largest North American beauty retailer and the premier beauty destination for cosmetics, fragrance, skin care products, hair care products and salon services. We bring possibilities to life through the power of beauty each and every day in our stores and online with more than 25,000 products from approximately 500 well-established and emerging beauty brands across all categories and price points, including Ulta Beauty’s own private label. Ulta Beauty also offers a full-service salon in every store featuring—hair, skin, brow, and make-up services.
We will consider for employment all qualified applicants, including those with arrest records, conviction records, or other criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of any applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance, the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, and the New York City Fair Chance Act.
Salary : $102,900 - $160,000