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ZS Associates
JOB ROLE
Senior UI/UX Designer
INDUSTRY
Life Science, Tech, SaaS
YEAR
2022 - Present
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Design Systems & UI
I build the visual languages that connect design and development.
System Overhaul: Modernized ZS's core component libraries with semantic design tokens to streamline developer handoff.
Production Speed: Anchored frameworks in strict WCAG accessibility standards to wipe out design debt and boost production speed.
System Overhaul: Modernized ZS's core component libraries with semantic design tokens to streamline developer handoff.
Production Speed: Anchored frameworks in strict WCAG accessibility standards to wipe out design debt and boost production speed.
Product Experience
I translate complex, highly ambiguous problems into straightforward UX and UI design.
Iterative Process: Lean into rapid prototyping and testing to pivot quickly whenever an initial hypothesis fails.
Business Value: Balance data-driven strategies with strong visual execution to boost adoption and reduce user churn.
Iterative Process: Lean into rapid prototyping and testing to pivot quickly whenever an initial hypothesis fails.
Business Value: Balance data-driven strategies with strong visual execution to boost adoption and reduce user churn.
Leadership & Strategy
I bridge the gap between high-level business strategy and everyday design execution.
Cross-Functional Reality: Partner closely with product and engineering to navigate complex lifecycles and build scalable workflows.
Strategic Alignment: Keep design decisions tightly tied to the broader product roadmap to drive measurable business objectives.
Cross-Functional Reality: Partner closely with product and engineering to navigate complex lifecycles and build scalable workflows.
Strategic Alignment: Keep design decisions tightly tied to the broader product roadmap to drive measurable business objectives.
What I Built at ZS Associates
AI-Enabled Design Systems
From Manual Maintenance to Scalable Intelligence
I love using smart automation and custom scripts to get rid of the tedious chores of maintaining a design system. It frees up our team to focus on actual design craft. Setting up automated gap detection helped us stop chasing fires and settle into a smooth, predictable rhythm. Whether I'm building tools to make onboarding a breeze or auditing system health, I keep things grounded by balancing pure operational speed with scalable system governance.
Speed & Automation
Speeding up documentation: I created workflows to generate component descriptions and usage guides, slashing the time we used to spend writing them manually.
Smart system auditing: I used automated scripts to scan large libraries, catching hidden specification gaps and outdated patterns before they ever hit production.
Iterating on workflows: I targeted repetitive tasks to cut down team overhead, rapidly pivoting our setups whenever an initial prompt or strategy failed.
Smart system auditing: I used automated scripts to scan large libraries, catching hidden specification gaps and outdated patterns before they ever hit production.
Iterating on workflows: I targeted repetitive tasks to cut down team overhead, rapidly pivoting our setups whenever an initial prompt or strategy failed.
Tooling & Governance
Evaluating the architecture: I evaluated Supernova vs. Zeroheight to provide leadership with clear roadmaps covering cost, integration, and scalability ultimately defining the migration strategy to consolidate our tooling footprint.
Building practical tooling: I turned emerging automation capabilities into simple, everyday workflows that add immediate value without creating design debt.
Quality & accessibility governance: I balanced automated tools with strict manual reviews, ensuring all generated documentation met core accessibility standards.
Building practical tooling: I turned emerging automation capabilities into simple, everyday workflows that add immediate value without creating design debt.
Quality & accessibility governance: I balanced automated tools with strict manual reviews, ensuring all generated documentation met core accessibility standards.
Leadership & Adoption
Hands-on team training: I led interactive workshops to help designers adopt new tools responsibly, focusing on practical workflows that drove organic adoption.
Cross-functional alignment: I aligned design, engineering, and leadership on technical limits to ensure we shipped stable features within our actual product lifecycle.
Keeping design human-led: I managed automated tools purely for data synthesis and scaling, keeping core UX strategy and product judgment strictly human-led.
Cross-functional alignment: I aligned design, engineering, and leadership on technical limits to ensure we shipped stable features within our actual product lifecycle.
Keeping design human-led: I managed automated tools purely for data synthesis and scaling, keeping core UX strategy and product judgment strictly human-led.
Accessibility Overhaul
From Zero to 100% AA Compliance
I led the charge to scale our system to 100% WCAG Level AA compliance across web and iOS. Instead of just slapping reactive checklists at the end of a project, I built proactive token libraries and documentation that got design and engineering on the exact same page. The result? A measurable, audit-ready framework that took the guesswork out of all future client work.
Systemic Impact
Nationwide Enablement: Led US-wide lunch-and-learn presentations for our consultants, training them on how to confidently pitch accessibility compliance to prospective enterprise clients.
VPAT & Sales Enablement: Conducted comprehensive audits to achieve 100% WCAG Level AA compliance across web and iOS, authoring the formal VPATs that directly unlocked new enterprise sales revenue.
Accessible Architecture: Created semantic token libraries and strict screen-reader specifications to ensure a seamless, compliant product foundation across all client touchpoints.
VPAT & Sales Enablement: Conducted comprehensive audits to achieve 100% WCAG Level AA compliance across web and iOS, authoring the formal VPATs that directly unlocked new enterprise sales revenue.
Accessible Architecture: Created semantic token libraries and strict screen-reader specifications to ensure a seamless, compliant product foundation across all client touchpoints.
Problem Solving
Roadmap Development: Navigated a chaotic, undefined scope by mapping out a clear technical timeline for our massive accessibility migration.
Cross-Platform Parity: Balanced tricky WCAG rules with daily usability, keeping web and native mobile components perfectly in sync.
Adaptive Execution: Pivoted design strategies quickly when hitting technical development walls, keeping engineering moving without losing momentum.
Cross-Platform Parity: Balanced tricky WCAG rules with daily usability, keeping web and native mobile components perfectly in sync.
Adaptive Execution: Pivoted design strategies quickly when hitting technical development walls, keeping engineering moving without losing momentum.
Integration
Cross-Functional Bridge: Handled the end-to-end execution, acting as the daily translator between our design and engineering teams.
Process Optimization: Partnered with developers to build automated compliance checks and clean documentation directly into our active deployment pipeline.
Team Enablement: Created shared onboarding guides to take the pressure off a single owner, making the system easy for new teams to adopt.
Process Optimization: Partnered with developers to build automated compliance checks and clean documentation directly into our active deployment pipeline.
Team Enablement: Created shared onboarding guides to take the pressure off a single owner, making the system easy for new teams to adopt.
Implementing Design Tokens
Building a Scalable, Cross-Platform Foundation
To stop design and engineering from speaking two entirely different languages, I introduced design tokens to anchor our ecosystem. It cleared up the cross-platform static, ensuring that what we design in Figma actually matches what gets built. This system keeps our visual language tightly locked in, making team collaboration a breeze across every device.
Token Architecture
Scalable Structures: Spearheaded the foundation for a multi-tier (primitive and semantic) design token architecture that lets our system scale cleanly as the product grows.
Unified Grammar: Established a single naming convention inside Figma, aligning our design team around modern, engineering-friendly industry standards.
Future-Proofing: Wiped out massive design debt by constructing a flexible environment that adapts dynamically to changing product needs.
Unified Grammar: Established a single naming convention inside Figma, aligning our design team around modern, engineering-friendly industry standards.
Future-Proofing: Wiped out massive design debt by constructing a flexible environment that adapts dynamically to changing product needs.
Cross-Platform Sync
Platform Parity: Expanded the token system across web and iOS, ensuring a seamless, identical brand experience for users moving between devices.
Engineering Alignment: Partnered directly with mobile and web engineers to co-author a shared naming schema, cutting developer handoff friction and redundant code.
Source of Truth: Maintained a centralized token pipeline to bridge the design-to-code gap, guaranteeing 1:1 visual accuracy across production builds.
Engineering Alignment: Partnered directly with mobile and web engineers to co-author a shared naming schema, cutting developer handoff friction and redundant code.
Source of Truth: Maintained a centralized token pipeline to bridge the design-to-code gap, guaranteeing 1:1 visual accuracy across production builds.
Scale & Enablement
End-to-End Rollout: Owned the tokenization of our core component libraries, turning fragmented visual assets into a highly organized system.
Team Education: Acted as the core subject matter expert, running practical training workshops to drive token literacy and organic adoption across teams.
Iterative Problem Solving: Solved ambiguous edge cases by testing token structures in real time, rapidly pivoting our setup whenever engineering constraints hit a wall.
Team Education: Acted as the core subject matter expert, running practical training workshops to drive token literacy and organic adoption across teams.
Iterative Problem Solving: Solved ambiguous edge cases by testing token structures in real time, rapidly pivoting our setup whenever engineering constraints hit a wall.
