Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for AEM Front End Developer

🎯 Role Definition

The AEM Front End Developer is a specialized web developer responsible for creating engaging, high-performance user interfaces within the Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) platform. This role involves developing reusable components, templates, client-side scripts, and responsive designs while integrating with AEM back-end services. The developer collaborates closely with UX/UI designers, content authors, and backend engineers to ensure scalable, maintainable, accessible, and SEO-friendly web experiences. Additionally, the AEM Front End Developer mentors peers, enforces best practices, optimizes performance, and contributes to the overall AEM front-end strategy to support business goals and digital experience initiatives.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Front End Developer (specialising in React/Angular/Vue)
AEM Component Developer (front‑end track)
UI Developer in Digital Experience or CMS team

Advancement To:

Senior AEM Front End Developer
Lead AEM Front End Engineer / AEM Architect (Front End Specialist)
Head of Digital Experience Front End / Director of Web Experience Engineering

Lateral Moves:

Full‑Stack AEM Developer (Front & Back End)
Front End Architect – Digital Platform
UX‑Technical Lead – AEM / Content Management

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Translate high‑fidelity UX/UI designs, wireframes and business requirements into pixel‑perfect front‑end code (HTML5, CSS3/SASS/LESS, JavaScript/TypeScript) that integrates with AEM templates and components.
Develop and maintain AEM‑specific front‑end artifacts including client libraries (clientlibs), HTL/Sightly scripts, AEM components, dialogs, templates and Experience Fragments, ensuring adherence to best practices.
Collaborate with AEM back‑end and integration engineers to implement REST/GraphQL API consumption, dynamic content rendering and headless/paged‑rendering architectures within AEM.
Ensure front‑end solutions built for AEM deliver responsive, cross‑browser, cross‑device experiences, meeting mobile and desktop requirements, performance targets and accessibility standards (WCAG).
Optimize web performance for AEM‑based sites including asset compression, code splitting, lazy loading, caching strategies, Core Web Vitals improvement and SEO‑friendly markup.
Design, build and document reusable front‑end libraries, frameworks or component sets within AEM, enabling authors and developers to create pages and experiences efficiently.
Participate in sprint planning, Agile ceremonies (standups, retrospectives, backlog grooming) and collaborate with product, design, QA and operations teams to deliver high‑quality AEM web features on time.
Write unit, integration and end‑to‑end tests for front‑end components (e.g., Jest, Mocha, Cypress), manage Storybook or similar front‑end documentation/tools, and ensure component integrity and usability.
Maintain version control (e.g., Git), assist with CI/CD pipelines, code reviews, build scripts, deployment workflows and code quality standards within the front‑end team working in AEM ecosystems.
Provide technical leadership in front‑end matters: review code, mentor junior front‑end developers, guide best practices in CSS/JS architecture, AEM front‑end implementation and maintainable code structure.
Troubleshoot production front‑end issues in AEM: debug JavaScript/CSS problems, analyze performance bottlenecks, collaborate with QA and backend engineers to resolve defects quickly and implement preventive enhancements.
Work with UX/UI designers to validate feasibility of design specifications, provide front‑end feedback on accessibility, usability, component constraints, and ensure the final product aligns with brand guidelines and content strategy.
Stay up to date with latest front‑end frameworks (React, Angular, Vue), ECMAScript standards, module bundlers (Webpack, Babel), and AEM front‑end integrations to continuously improve the stack and maintain competitive advantage.
Manage digital asset management front‑end flows within AEM (DAM, Content Fragments, Experience Fragments), ensure images, videos, media assets are optimized, properly versioned and consumed effectively by front‑end.
Ensure front‑end front‑end and AEM templates comply with SEO best practices: semantic HTML, meta tags, structured data, crawlability, site architecture and integration with marketing/analytics.
Assist in migrations and upgrades of AEM front‑end stacks (for example AEM 6.x to AEM Cloud Service), ensuring front‑end components remain compatible, performant and maintainable.
Write and maintain front‑end documentation for AEM developers and authors: component usage guidelines, style guides, front‑end architecture diagrams, onboarding materials and support documentation.
Collaborate with DevOps/infrastructure teams to ensure front‑end build tools, CDNs, caching layers and front‑end deployment processes support AEM cloud or on‑prem configurations.
Enforce front‑end quality, accessibility, compliance, performance and best practice standards within the AEM‑development lifecycle, including mentoring content authors and developer teams in front‑end usage.
Engage with stakeholders to highlight front‑end technical debt, roadmap enhancements, new tool adoption (e.g., Progressive Web Apps, headless AEM), present impact to senior leadership and drive front‑end innovation.

Secondary Functions

Support ad‑hoc data requests and exploratory analytics from web front‑end and AEM authoring teams.
Contribute to the organisation’s digital front‑end strategy and roadmap for AEM implementations.
Collaborate with business units (marketing, content, ops) to translate front‑end content‑authoring needs into engineering tasks.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the broader front‑end and AEM engineering teams.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Proficiency in HTML5, CSS3 (SASS/LESS), JavaScript (ES6+), TypeScript and responsive web design.
Experience working on the AEM platform: AEM Sites, Content Fragments, Experience Fragments, HTL/Sightly, clientlibs, templates and components.
Strong knowledge of front‑end frameworks/libraries such as React, Angular or Vue.js and integration with AEM environments.
Familiarity with module bundlers/build tools (Webpack, Babel), front‑end testing frameworks (Jest, Mocha, Cypress), Storybook or component libraries.
Proficiency in version control (Git), CI/CD pipelines, agile development and supporting front‑end build/deploy workflows.
Understanding of web performance optimisation: code‑splitting, lazy loading, caching, Core Web Vitals and front‑end SEO.
Knowledge of accessibility (WCAG), cross‑browser compatibility, semantic HTML and front‑end security best practices.
Familiarity with headless or hybrid AEM architectures, REST/GraphQL integration, and digital asset management front‑end flows.
Experience in migration/upgrades of AEM front‑end stacks (for example on‑premises to AEM Cloud Service) and ensuring compatibility of front‑end components.
Ability to write comprehensive front‑end documentation: style guides, onboarding guides, component usage, front‑end architecture within AEM.

Soft Skills

Excellent communication: able to articulate front‑end technical concepts, trade‑offs and roadmap implications to both technical and non‑technical stakeholders.
Collaboration: strong team‑player, working seamlessly with UX/UI designers, backend engineers, content authors and product teams to deliver cohesive solutions.
Problem‑solving and analytical mindset: proactively identify front‑end challenges, debug issues, optimise performance and implement robust, maintainable solutions.
Ownership and accountability: take full responsibility for front‑end deliverables, component quality, UI/UX integrity, performance and maintainability within AEM.
Leadership and mentoring: guide and elevate the front‑end capabilities of the team, review code, set standards, and coach juniors on best practices.
Adaptability and continuous learning: stay current with evolving front‑end technologies, frameworks, browser APIs, AEM releases and industry trends.
Time‑management and prioritisation: manage multiple front‐end tasks, balancing feature delivery with refactoring, debt reduction and technical improvements.
Customer/user‑focus: ensure front‑end solutions provide great user experience for editors, content authors and end‑users across channels.
Quality mindset: advocate for clean code, maintainable architectures, automated front‑end tests and documentation rather than rushing features.
Strategic thinking: align front‑end efforts with business goals, digital experience objectives and scalable AEM architecture roadmaps.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:
Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Web Engineering, Digital Media or equivalent professional experience.
Preferred Education:
Master’s degree or advanced certification in Web Engineering, Digital Experience Platforms or relevant discipline is a plus.
Relevant Fields of Study:

Computer Science
Software Engineering
Digital Media / Web Technologies

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:
3 – 6 years of front‑end development experience including at least 2‑3 years working specifically with AEM front‑end implementations.
Preferred:
Proven experience working on Adobe Experience Manager (AEM 6.x or AEM Cloud Service) front‑end development, building reusable components/templates, migrating front‑end stacks, working with headless/hybrid AEM architecture and mentoring other developers.

Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for AEM Front End Developer