Front-end Developer (Web & Mobile)

Organizational Setting

Under UNJP/ALB/022/JP, FAO Albania leads efforts with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to support the sustainable digital transformation of Albania’s agriculture and rural areas with an ambitious 3-years joint programme entitled “Digital Agriculture and Rural Transformation (DART)” as part of the SDG Fund – Digital Transformation Window call.

DART aims to increase agriculture productivity, advance socio-economic growth, and enhance rural livelihoods in Albania by 2027. It harnesses the potential of digitalization to transform the agri-food sector from national level to underserved rural areas in Albania delivering on three components: 1) the formulation of Albania’s National Digital Agriculture Strategy and Action Plan (led by FAO, with support from ITU) 2) the farmer-centric design and delivery of digital services via the recently launched national Farmers’ Portal (Portali i Fermerit) (led by FAO) 3) the development of digital capacities among national public workers, TVET schools and centres; smallholder farmers and other vulnerable groups in rural areas (led by ILO).

A key deliverable under Component 2 is the enhancement of the Albania Farmers’ Portal, ensuring user-centered, inclusive, and accessible digital services that support rural women and men equally. To achieve this, FAO Albania seeks a Front-end developer to implement the user interface for the Farmers’ Portal and its mobile app, ensuring a responsive, multilingual, and accessible experience.

This position offers a National Personal Service Agreement (PSA.NAT) contract for an initial 230 days (equivalent to 11 months). A break from duty of at least 30 consecutive days is mandatory within any twelve-month period after which the contract is renewable upon satisfactory performance and funds availability.

Only persons holding citizenship and/or valid residence permit in Albania are eligible to apply.

The incumbent shall be based in Tirana.

Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of the AFAO representative and technical leadership of the FAO Senior Technical Advisor on Digital Agriculture/Assistant FAOR (Programme), in close coordination with the Service Designer (Product Owner), Back-End Developer, Data Scientist, UN Agencies and international and national partners, the Front-end developer shall undertake the tasks and responsibilities outlined below.

Technical Focus

In close collaboration with the Service Designer and other technical team members, the Front-End Developer will lead the development of the user interface of the Farmers’ Portal and its mobile app. The focus is on delivering a responsive, accessible, and geospatially interactive digital platform tailored to the needs of Albanian farmers and institutional users. The role includes developing user-facing components for crowdsourcing, field and national-level monitoring, and chatbot interaction.

Tasks and responsibilities

1.    Develop and Maintain Front-End Interfaces
•     Design and develop the web-based interface and cross-platform mobile app (e.g. with React or React Native).
•     Ensure cross-device responsiveness, usability, and performance optimization especially on low-end Android smartphones.
•     Apply multilingual and accessibility standards, with a focus on usability for rural and underserved user groups.
•     Translate Figma Designs, wireframes and prototypes into responsive and maintainable code.

2.    Implement Geospatial and Farmer-Oriented Features
•     Integrate and customize map-based tools (e.g. field boundary drawing, geolocation, raster overlays).
•     Display geospatial products (e.g. LAI, NDVI) retrieved from the back end over user-defined areas.
•     Build intuitive interfaces for crowdsourced data submission (e.g. farmers, MARD inspectors and advisories), with support for offline functionality.

3.    Enable Interactive Services and Chatbot UI
•     Implement frontend components for Chatbot, a conversational interface powered by an open-source LLM.
•     Collaborate with back-end developer who will provide retrieval pipeline.
•     Handle input/output interactions, visual feedback, error messages, and fallback flows.

4.    Support Testing, Iteration, and Integration
•     Conduct frontend testing and participate in user validation sessions.
•     Coordinate closely with the Back-End Developer for API integration and data exchange.
•     Fix interface bugs, optimize load times and responsiveness under low bandwidth or offline conditions.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements    

•     University degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Web Development, or a related field.
•     5 years of relevant experience in front-end or mobile application development.
•     Working knowledge of English and Albanian
•     National of Albania

FAO Core Competencies

•     Results Focus
•     Teamwork
•     Communication
•     Building Effective Relationships
•     Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

•     Experience working on e-government services, platforms or digital agriculture is a strong asset.
•     Familiarity with version control systems (e.g.: GitHub), reproducible workflows, and clear documentation.
•     Proven Experience building responsive and mobile-first web applications.
•     Experience in map-based UI components, ideally using libraries like Leaflet, Mapbox, OpenLayers or equivalent.
•     Familiarity with offline-first design and low-bandwidth user environments.
•     Experience working in agile or iterative development environments.
•     Ability to collaborate with designers, back-end developers, and end-users.

Selection Criteria

•     Demonstrated experience with HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and frameworks such as React, React Native, Angular, or Vue.js.
•     Portfolio or examples of developed apps/web platforms, especially those involving user interaction with data or maps.
•     Proven ability to deliver user interfaces aligned with design mockups and wireframes.
•     Knowledge of international accessibility standards (e.g., WCAG) and multilingual UI practices.
•     Strong problem-solving and UI debugging skills.
•     Experience working with development teams in international or multi-stakeholder contexts.
•     Strong attention to detail.   
•     Strong problem-solving and time-management skills.  
•     Ability to collaborate effectively with team members and external stakeholders. 
•     Ability to work independently.