Design Systems · Leadership · DesignOps
I manage enterprise design systems at the intersection of design, engineering, and organizational change — translating component libraries into team velocity and design decisions into durable, scalable architecture.
design.tokens · v2.4.1 · production
color.primitive
typography.scale
Design systems work isn't primarily a craft problem — it's an organizational one. A token set no one trusts, a component no one adopts, a library that forks in every team it touches: these aren't failures of design. They're failures of alignment, advocacy, and process.
My work sits at the center of that problem. I lead teams that ship scalable component libraries, but I spend equal energy on the DesignOps layer: governance models, contribution frameworks, tooling that makes adoption the path of least resistance.
On the technical side, I'm comfortable close to the code — whether that's architecting a Figma plugin that lints design tokens, evaluating a migration from a dual HTML/web-component architecture to a unified React-to-web-component build, or configuring a Storybook integration in a Vite documentation pipeline.
On the people side, I manage cross-functional relationships with design, engineering, product, and brand, translating between the constraints of each without losing the system's integrity in the middle.
Selected Projects
Drove the architecture unifying a dual-stack design system (HTML + LESS and a parallel web component implementation) into a single React-compiled-to-WC pipeline. Aligned engineering leadership, managed migration sequencing, and maintained team delivery cadence throughout.
Built a suite of installable Figma plugins from scratch: a Token Auditor that surfaces hardcoded values not bound to Variables, a WCAG color accessibility linter, a table creator, and a component-matching tool that suggests library swaps. Wrote everything to ES5 for Figma's sandboxed engine constraints.
Designed a multi-board Jira DesignOps structure with label-based automation rules, Teams webhook integration for cross-team visibility, and a single-ticket lifecycle philosophy that reduced project fragmentation. Built governance that can scale to a growing team without a dedicated Jira admin.
Built a no-build-step static documentation site ("Orbit UI") with a shadcn-inspired design language and embedded Storybook integration via iframe and dev proxy. Structured to be maintainable by non-engineers and deployable without CI complexity.
Capabilities
System Architecture
Token taxonomy, component API design, theming systems, multi-brand architecture, and migration planning from legacy stacks to modern toolchains.
Figma & Design Tooling
Plugin development (Plugin API), Variables, component library structure, Make/AI prototyping evaluation, and design-to-code workflow optimization.
DesignOps & Governance
Contribution frameworks, adoption strategy, cross-team alignment, decision documentation, and process design for systems that outlast any one team's tenure.
Frontend Fluency
Comfortable in React, web components, LESS/CSS, Storybook, Vite, and accessible HTML. I can review a PR, scope a technical decision, and hold engineers accountable to system contracts.
Accessibility
WCAG 2.2 compliance at the system level — building contrast checks, ARIA patterns, and keyboard navigation directly into component contracts rather than auditing after the fact.
UX and Engineering Leadership
Managing IC designers and engineers, setting roadmap priorities, communicating system ROI to leadership, and building team culture around shared quality standards.
How I Think
A component no one uses is a liability, not an asset. The system's job is to be the easiest path to quality — not the most principled one sitting unused in a Figma file.
If the semantic layer isn't right, no amount of component polish fixes the drift. I invest heavily in token taxonomy before touching a component API.
The goal is a system where contribution, review, and decision-making are legible enough that the process works with minimal intervention.
Accessibility decisions belong at the component contract level. When they're treated as a later audit, they become someone else's problem — which means they become nobody's.
Contact
Open to leadership roles, consulting engagements, and conversations about systems at scale.