Full Stack Developer

Plan, build and maintain high-performing websites and web applications within a fast-paced agency environment, combining modern JavaScript expertise, engineering judgement and AI coding agents to turn client briefs into fast, secure sites that generate quality leads.

About Us

ICAAL is an award-winning, AI-first digital marketing agency and Google Premier Partner, based in beautiful Grade 2* listed offices in Southampton city centre.

We help installers, home-improvement brands and other growth-focused businesses across the UK and internationally generate more of the enquiries that matter. Our work spans PPC, paid social, SEO and web experiences, with a simple focus: turning digital marketing investment into measurable commercial results.

We’re growing our Web Studio and are looking for a Web Developer who builds production websites and web applications with AI coding agents, on mature, version-controlled platforms.

You’ll work under our CIO and Technical Director and our Senior Developers, and collaborate closely with our Web Project Manager, designers and Account Managers, who own client relationships and coordinate activity across ICAAL’s wider digital services. You’ll be the developer they rely on to turn a brief into a fast, secure, well-built site that generates enquiries.

Your core focus will be client websites and web applications built on our modern stack: TypeScript, React, Next.js and Node.js, with a headless CMS and Postgres. We also support a portfolio of legacy WordPress sites, and you’ll help maintain these as clients move across. You’ll also have the opportunity to work on bespoke client tools and ICAAL’s own AI-powered products, including Laravel apps and other business-focused tools.

An AI-first approach to web development

AI isn’t a side project at ICAAL. It’s changing how we build.

Our developers work with agentic coding tools, but we still build in a developer-focused environment, using Git, CI/CD pipelines, and proper testing. The agent writes a lot of the code. You decide what gets built, how it’s structured, and whether it’s good enough to ship.

To be clear, this isn’t prompt-to-app building in Replit, Lovable or Bolt. Those tools are great for demos. We need production sites that clients rely on, that we can maintain for years, and that hold up to security, performance and SEO scrutiny. We’re committed to working with real developers who understand the core principles of application architecture, produce clean code, and respect best practices.

You’ll write clear specs for the agent, give it the right context through rules files such as CLAUDE.md, review every diff before it merges, run the tests, and catch what the AI gets wrong. We want someone who combines the speed of AI-assisted development with the engineering judgement, curiosity and care that still requires a great developer.

It’s a different way of working, and we’re looking for someone who wants to help shape it.

The Opportunity

This is a hands-on role for a developer who cares about what a website achieves, not just whether it renders.

You’ll take ownership of website builds and ongoing development across a varied portfolio of client sites, with AI coding agents at the heart of how you work. You’ll be responsible for understanding what each site needs to achieve, turning that into a clear technical plan, and delivering it to a high standard.

The expectation isn’t that you paste a ticket into an agent and ship whatever comes back. It’s the opposite.

You’ll need to know when the AI is right, when it’s wrong, what it’s missing, and what to do next.

That means using your experience and engineering judgement to:

• Plan builds and features with clear specs, acceptance criteria and boundaries before the agent starts
• Keep project context, conventions and rules files up to date so agents produce consistent, maintainable code
• Review AI-generated code line by line on critical paths, and catch hallucinated functions, logic errors and security gaps
• Build sites and apps with TypeScript, React, Next.js and a headless CMS
• Write and modify your own code where necessary
• Support and maintain our legacy WordPress sites, and help migrate them to our modern stack
• Test across browsers and devices, and fix what you find before the client does
• Keep sites fast, accessible, secure and search-friendly
• Explain technical decisions clearly to Project Managers, Account Managers and clients

Building on mature platforms

We build on established, well-supported platforms that clients can grow with, and we want to keep it that way.

Our core stack is TypeScript, React, Next.js and Node.js, with a headless CMS and a Postgres database. If you’re already confident here, you’ll hit the ground running. If you’re strong in JavaScript but newer to TypeScript or headless architecture, we’ll support you in building that capability.

WordPress is a legacy platform we continue to support, so PHP and WordPress experience is useful but not the focus.

We’re particularly interested in people who understand that AI makes good engineering practice more important, not less. Version control, code review, testing, sensible architecture and documentation are what make AI-assisted development safe to put in front of clients.

More than shipping code

We’re not looking for someone who simply knows how to get an AI to produce a website.

You’ll become the developer that both our clients and Account Managers trust. That means being able to explain what you built, why you built it that way, what the trade-offs are, and what you’d recommend next.

You’ll bring a test-and-learn mindset, challenge assumptions, and look beyond “it works on my machine” to whether a site loads quickly, converts visitors and is easy to maintain.

We’re looking for someone who is curious, commercially minded and AI fluent, with the organisation and confidence to manage multiple live projects without dropping the ball.

If you’re ready to work as a modern, AI-native developer on real production work, we’d like to hear from you.

Key Responsibilities

Website build and development

• End-to-end development of client websites, from technical specification and environment setup through to build, QA, launch and handover.
• Build and maintain sites and web applications with TypeScript, React, Next.js and Node.js, working from designs in Figma or similar.
• Support our legacy WordPress sites, including fixes, updates and plugin maintenance, and help migrate clients onto our modern stack.
• Integrate third-party services and APIs, including CRMs, forms, quoting tools, maps and analytics.
• Estimate work realistically and deliver on time and within budget.

AI-assisted development

• Use agentic coding tools such as Claude Code and Cline as a core part of your daily workflow, directing them to plan, build, refactor and test.
• Write clear specs for the agent, with acceptance criteria, file boundaries and what is out of scope, and use plan-first workflows for larger or higher-risk changes.
• Maintain project rules and context files (for example Agents.md) so agents follow our conventions, and connect tools through MCP where it adds value.
• Review, validate and own every line that ships, applying human judgement rather than accepting AI output at face value.
• Feed back to the Technical Director and Senior Developers on where our AI workflows work well and where they need improving, helping shape how the team uses them.

Quality, security and performance

• Work in Git with branches and pull requests, and take part in code review, both giving and receiving.
• Test layout and functionality across browsers and devices, and add automated tests where they protect critical functionality.
• Keep sites secure: manage secrets and credentials properly, keep dependencies and plugins updated, and flag security concerns early.
• Optimise for Core Web Vitals, accessibility (WCAG) and technical SEO.

Conversion and tracking

• Build pages, forms and CTAs that turn visitors into qualified enquiries, working with the Paid Media, SEO and Graphics teams.
• Implement and validate tracking across GA4, Google Tag Manager and client CRM feeds.
• Support landing page builds and tests that improve campaign performance.

Client communication and workflow

• Work alongside the Web Project Manager and Account Managers, giving them clear technical updates, timelines and recommendations in good time.
• Join client calls where needed to talk through technical requirements, agree scope and capture feedback.
• Manage and resolve support tickets on live sites, explaining what changed and why in language a client can act on.
• Manage your workload across multiple projects, keeping tasks updated and deadlines visible to the Senior Developers and your Project Manager.

Requirements

We are seeking a commercially minded developer with real experience shipping production work using AI coding agents:

• Demonstrable hands-on experience building and maintaining production websites or web applications (agency, in-house, freelance or open source).
• Regular, day-to-day use of agentic coding tools such as Claude Code, Cline, Cursor or Codex on real codebases, not only prompt-to-app builders.
• Solid fundamentals in HTML, CSS and JavaScript, and commercial experience with TypeScript, React and Next.js.
• Experience with Node.js, headless CMS architecture and databases such as Postgres, MySQL and MongoDB. Working knowledge of PHP and WordPress is useful for supporting legacy sites.
• Confident using Git, branches and pull requests, and comfortable reviewing code, including code you didn’t write.
• The ability to read and debug AI-generated code, and sound judgement about when to trust it and when to rewrite it.
• Understanding of web security basics, including authentication, input validation and handling secrets.
• Familiarity with performance, accessibility and technical SEO fundamentals.
• Understanding of conversion tracking, including GA4 events and Google Tag Manager (training provided).

Personal attributes

• Motivated by results, not just outputs, with a strong interest in testing and continual improvement.
• Comfortable owning the quality of your work and being accountable for what goes live.
• Able to work under pressure and manage multiple deadlines without sacrificing quality.
• Clear, confident communicator, comfortable working with both colleagues and clients.
• Self-driven and proactive about keeping up with fast-moving AI development tools and practices.

Why Work for Us?

• Fantastic Remuneration and Benefits Package: From £30,000 per annum, 23 days paid holiday plus 8 bank holidays, enhanced company sick pay and an attractive pension opportunity.
• Professional Development: Enhanced training and development programme with in-house training, a personal development plan with industry accreditations and certifications, a career progression plan, and industry learning days.
• Work Environment: Beautiful Grade 2* listed offices in central Southampton, spacious and air-conditioned workplace, excellent transport links, and a vibrant location near retail and hospitality hubs.
• Staff Wellbeing: Exciting social events calendar, with free teas, coffees and healthy snacks. Free Perkbox discount scheme membership with hundreds of discounts from leading brands including department stores and fashion brands.

This role is not for you if…

• Your AI coding experience is limited to prompt-to-app tools like Replit, Lovable or Bolt, and you haven’t worked in a real codebase.
• You’d paste a ticket into an agent and ship whatever comes back without reading it.
• You’re not comfortable editing AI-produced code yourself.
• You’re sceptical about AI having a role in development, or you’d rather write everything by hand.
• You want someone else to own testing, security and quality rather than owning them yourself.
• You’re looking for a fully remote role. This position is based in our Southampton office.

How to Apply

To apply, please send your covering letter and CV, with a link to your GitHub or a live project you built using AI coding tools. In your covering letter, tell us briefly how you reviewed and tested what the AI produced. Please note that this is a full-time, office-based role in our Southampton offices.

Our Interview Process

1. Intro Call: We will review your application and a member of our team may contact you to discuss your application further.
2. Assessment & Interview: We’ll invite you to our offices for an interview and a practical session. You’ll build a small feature on a real codebase using your AI tool of choice, talking us through your approach, and review an AI-generated pull request to spot what needs fixing.
3. Offer: We’ll call you shortly after the assessment to let you know whether you have been successful or not.

Join us at ICAAL and help shape the next generation of AI-powered, performance-driven digital marketing. We’d love to hear from you.