Summary

Senior Staff-level Frontend Engineer with 17+ years of experience designing and scaling high-performance, accessible web platforms used by millions of users. Proven technical leader with end-to-end ownership of frontend architecture initiatives across multiple domains, deep influence on backend contracts and system design, and a track record of setting long-term technical direction. Known for building foundational libraries, driving cross-team alignment, and raising engineering quality and velocity at an organizational level.

Open Source

  • Polaris Viz — Shopify’s Open-source React data visualisation library. Led architecture and long-term technical direction in a multi-team environment, shaping APIs, contribution patterns, and adoption across Shopify.
  • Vue Hotel Datepicker — Created and maintained a widely adopted Vue datepicker component. Designed the API and UX as a solo project.
  • Vue Image Lightbox — Contributor to a reusable Vue lightbox component focused on accessibility and smooth interactions.
  • Vue Animations — A collection of advanced animation examples (SVG, Canvas, and CSS) presented at VueConf US, Laracon EU, and Code Talks, demonstrating high-performance creative coding techniques.
  • Accessible Color Schemes — A tool for generating WCAG-compliant color palettes using Vue.js, bridging color theory with algorithmic UI design.

Writing

Experience

Sabbatical — Independent & Creative Work

Nov 2025 – Present

  • Planned sabbatical focused on independent technical exploration, advanced rendering experiments, and system-level performance research.

Shopify — Staff Engineer

Canada · Mar 2023 – Nov 2025

  • Led architectural direction for Shopify’s Core Creative Platform, defining frontend patterns and system boundaries for browser-based features used by millions of merchants across 175+ countries.
  • Drove cross-domain initiatives spanning frontend, backend, and product teams, influencing API design, data contracts, and performance strategy.
  • Set technical direction for AI-powered interfaces across Email and Product experiences, guiding teams on streaming, generation workflows, and UX constraints at scale.
  • Acted as a technical multiplier through mentorship and design reviews, raising the bar on complex UI interactions, animation systems, accessibility, and testing practices across teams.
  • Championed cross-team collaboration with internal and external contributors, aligning stakeholders on architecture decisions in ambiguous problem spaces.
  • Introduced platform-level CI/CD and developer-experience improvements that scaled beyond a single team.
  • Regularly partnered with senior engineering leadership to influence roadmap priorities and long-term frontend strategy.

HumanFirst AI — Staff Frontend Developer

Aug 2022 – Mar 2023

  • Led frontend architecture for an NLU (Natural Language Understanding) platform, building interfaces that enabled users to train, test, and refine AI models for enterprise applications.
  • Designed and evolved shared design systems and reusable component libraries across teams.
  • Improved testing practices and established frontend foundations for scalable AI tooling.

Shopify — Staff Frontend Developer

Jul 2021 – Aug 2022

  • Owned technical direction of Shopify’s analytics visualization platform, leading architecture decisions and mentoring engineers on data visualization techniques.
  • Architected and open-sourced Polaris Viz, using React, D3, and Canvas to support large-scale, data-driven applications with high-performance rendering.
  • Championed the theming system using Delta-E (Just Noticeable Difference) and Contrast Ratio calculations to create WCAG-compliant color palettes for light and dark modes.
  • Facilitated team workshops to define roadmaps and rituals, and created documentation organizing work streams into actionable timelines.
  • Created CLI tooling for auto-generating component stories and documentation, reducing friction in design system adoption.

Shopify — Senior UX Developer

Jan 2020 – Jul 2021

  • Acted as a pure Design Engineer, bridging Design and Engineering by building high-fidelity motion prototypes and transforming them into production-ready systems.
  • Specialized in performance-critical web animations and refining user interactions to achieve world-class polish.

Shopify — Senior Frontend Developer

Germany · Mar 2018 – Jan 2020

  • Led frontend development for Oberlo, implementing key features for their high-traffic Chrome extension used by millions of dropshippers.
  • Scaled the Oberlo design system with Storybook, implementing automated accessibility testing for all components.
  • Architected and implemented the migration of the core application from Vue.js to React, improving developer velocity and application performance.

Campsy (Camping and Co) — Senior Frontend Engineer

Germany · Mar 2017 – Mar 2018

  • Migrated a legacy jQuery codebase to Vue.js, Webpack, and Sass.
  • Created a reusable component system that became the foundation of the company’s design system.

Earlier Experience (2009–2017)

  • Co-founded a web marketing agency.
  • Worked across frontend engineering, data analysis, A/B testing, UI design, VR, 3D modelling, and animation.

Education

Vancouver Institute of Media Arts — Diploma with Honours, Game Art & Design