Joe Velez

Lead UX Designer • Design Systems Specialist • Product Strategist

Experience

Sep 2025 – Present · Dearborn, MI

Spearheaded the transition of Ford's design system to a headless, variable-driven library that works across platforms, including mobile and next-generation in-vehicle displays.
Collaborated with visual, motion, and feature designers to process design system requests, building new components and updating existing ones.
Partnered with engineers to hand off component designs and ensure parity between Figma and code libraries throughout implementation.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

HTML/CSS/JS, React, Angular

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

Wayne State University

Bachelor of Arts — Dec 2009 • Detroit, MI