Joe Velez

Lead UX Designer • Design Systems Specialist • Product Strategist

joeallenvelez@gmail.com • (248) 464‑2910 • Waterford, MI • joevelez.design

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Experience

Senior UX Designer • Copper Hill Inc.

Mar 2024 – Present · Livonia, MI (Remote)

  • Established Copper Hill’s UX practice as the first design hire, defining processes and standards while owning end‑to‑end design for an AI‑powered trade compliance platform.
  • Partner with product owners, analysts, and engineers to translate complex workflows into intuitive, scalable experiences.
  • Built and maintain the Manifest Design System: semantic tokens, Figma components, and developer‑aligned documentation in Zeroheight.
  • Mentor and manage design interns through hands‑on feedback and real product work.

Senior Experience Designer • PPL Electric (Contract)

May 2023 – Mar 2024 · Allentown, PA

  • Improved self‑service features across PPL and RIE customer portals to drive adoption and reduce support volume.
  • Collaborated with UX research and product leaders to define scope and requirements; delivered detailed flows and prototypes.
  • Presented pitch decks to communicate CX impact to leadership and executive stakeholders.

Senior UX Designer • Shibumi.com

Sep 2022 – Sep 2023 · Norwalk, CT (Remote)

  • Built a collaborative UX practice as the first design hire; aligned patterns with MUI React to scale consistently.
  • Designed and shipped features for a low‑code platform supporting enterprise initiative management.
  • Provided UX consulting and UI audits for key clients, improving usability and adoption.

UI Designer → Senior UI/UX Designer • Workforce Software

Feb 2019 – Sep 2022 · Livonia, MI

  • Advanced from junior to senior designer while contributing to a multi‑year redesign of the Workforce Suite.
  • Led UI & UX for employee and manager workflows; conducted interviews, usability testing, and baseline research.
  • Scaled the design system across product lines; partnered closely with engineering and mentored junior designers.

Product Manager / Designer • Tiremetrix, LLC

Feb 2015 – Feb 2019 · Brighton, MI

  • First design hire; led UX/UI for two new platforms (Tire Registration Plus and a Bluetooth TPMS diagnostic app).
  • Modernized the TPMS Manager platform to improve usability and align with evolving industry needs.
  • Partnered with leadership and engineering on roadmaps and Agile processes; secured POS integrations to expand reach.

Skills & Tools

Tools

Figma, Sketch, Miro, FigJam, Jira, Azure DevOps, Notion, Confluence

Technologies

HTML/CSS/JS, React, Angular

Focus Areas

UX/UI Design, Prototyping, Design Systems, Accessibility, DesignOps, User Research, Agile Product Development

Education

Wayne State University

Bachelor of Arts — Dec 2009 • Detroit, MI