UX engineer for hire
A UX engineer sits on the seam between product design and engineering — fluent in both, owned by neither. I run the user research, structure the information architecture, draw the flows and wireframes, prototype in Figma, then build the same thing in production-grade, accessible React. Nothing is lost in handoff because there is no handoff: the person who designed the interaction is the person who implements it.
- User research and synthesis into real product decisions
- Information architecture and user-flow design
- Wireframes and interactive Figma prototypes
- Design systems: tokens, components, interaction states
- Accessibility (WCAG AA): keyboard, focus, ARIA, contrast, reduced motion
- Production React and Next.js implementation of the design
- Interaction and motion design that respects performance
- The Figma-to-code path with pixel-and-behaviour fidelity
Shipped work for the same brief.
- 2023Wanderlust Woof — end-to-end mobile UXUser research, information architecture rebuilt around discovery and booking intent, and a complete Figma prototype across all four journeys — annotated for direct developer handoff.FigmaUser ResearchIAPrototyping
- 2023NextDoor — UX redesign + design systemInformation architecture restructured around trust signals; navigation depth cut from four levels to two, with a design system built for engineering handoff.FigmaUXDesign SystemMobile
- 2025CVLeap AI — UX-led SaaS, shippedOnboarding flow and AI editor designed and then built in React — the UX engineer's full loop, from flow diagram to deployed, accessible product.FigmaNext.jsTypeScripta11y
Not a designer who can code. Not a developer who likes design.
The UX engineer exists because the handoff between design and engineering is where products quietly degrade. The designer ships a Figma file; the developer interprets it; the interaction states, the empty states, the focus order, and the motion all get approximated. A UX engineer removes the interpretation step entirely by owning both sides.
Research and information architecture
It starts with the user, not the screen. Who is this for, what are they trying to accomplish, and what is the shortest path? That becomes an information architecture and a set of user flows before any pixels — the structural decisions that are expensive to change once code exists.
Wireframes, prototypes, and design systems
Low-fidelity wireframes test the structure; interactive Figma prototypes test the feel. The design system — tokens, components, variants, interaction states — is built as the bridge artifact: precise enough to design with, structured enough to implement directly. See the dedicated design systems page for how that's built.
Accessibility as a design decision
Accessibility isn't a QA pass at the end — it's decided in the flow. Focus order follows reading order; interactive targets meet size and contrast minimums; motion respects prefers-reduced-motion; every state has an ARIA story. Because the same person designs and builds, WCAG AA is baked into the component, not retrofitted.
Implementation that matches the intent
The output is production React/Next.js where the build matches the prototype — not a degraded approximation. The Figma-to-React path covers the fidelity and performance side in detail.
The result: design intent and shipped product are the same thing, because the same person owned both.
What founders ask before reaching out.
What is a UX engineer?
A UX engineer bridges product design and frontend engineering. They do the user research, information architecture, flows, wireframes, prototypes, and design systems — and then implement that work in production code. They're fluent in both Figma and React, which removes the lossy handoff between a designer and a developer.
How is a UX engineer different from a UX designer?
A UX designer's deliverable is the design — research, flows, and a Figma file someone else builds. A UX engineer's deliverable is the working, accessible interface, designed and implemented by the same person. You get the design thinking and the shipped product without the translation gap in between.
How is a UX engineer different from a frontend developer?
A frontend developer implements a design they're handed. A UX engineer creates the design — the research, IA, flows, and prototypes — and then implements it. The engineering quality is the same; the difference is upstream ownership of the user experience.
Do you do accessibility work?
Yes, as a first-class design concern. Keyboard navigation, focus management, ARIA semantics, colour contrast, and reduced-motion support are decided during design and verified in implementation — WCAG AA baseline on every build, not a retrofit.
Can you work from an existing design system or Figma file?
Yes. I read a Figma file the way a developer reads a spec — tokens, variants, interaction states, edge cases — and either implement it faithfully or extend the system where it has gaps. I can also build the design system from scratch if one doesn't exist yet.
What do you deliver at the end?
A production-grade, accessible React/Next.js interface plus the design artifacts behind it (flows, prototype, documented component system). The design and the implementation ship together and stay in sync because one person owns both.
Let's see if it's a fit.
30-minute call. No pitch, no slides. Tell me what you're building, including the AI parts, and the constraints. I'll tell you if I can help, and who else to call if I can't.