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ellery.dev

Principal front-end engineer

Kris
Ellery.

I build interfaces and the systems
behind them.

Specializing in enterprise design systems, web performance, and tools that help teams ship consistent, accessible experiences.

Explore my approach

Engineering approach

Give focused teams a strong foundation, keep it healthy, and prepare for what comes next.

  1. Do less, better.

    Keep teams small, priorities clear, and decisions owned. Give people room to use their expertise, challenge ideas, and commit to a direction together. Improve incrementally where it matters most.

  2. Make the whole system usable.

    Give teams the documentation, tooling, and extension paths they need to get started and contribute. Build tools and focused AI context around everyday work, so adopting the system takes less effort.

  3. Measure and maintain.

    Keep dependencies current and track security, performance, accessibility, and adoption. Use historical data to spot trends, guide investment, and address problems before they become expensive.

  4. Explore early. Ship deliberately.

    Prototype often to understand emerging technology and prepare for likely needs. Bring it into production when it is mature enough and solves a clear problem. Let evidence shape the roadmap.

Could this approach help your team?

Let’s talk about your design system and where you want to take it.

Let’s collaborate

Career

I lead design system engineering, set technical direction, and help teams improve frontend performance and accessibility.

That work grew out of building components for several products. Over time, I took responsibility for the architecture, tooling, and adoption that let teams share them.

Earlier, I designed and built websites for different brands and audiences. Working across those projects gave me experience with the recurring problems I now address through design systems.

  1. HubSpot

    Principal Software Engineer, Design SystemsOct 2026–Present
    ReactBase UIStyleX

  2. Zillow

    Principal Software Engineer, Design SystemsAug 2022–Oct 2026
    ReactTypeScriptPanda CSS
    Senior UX Engineer, Design SystemsMay 2021–Aug 2022
    ReactJavaScriptStyled Components

  3. Previously

    Senior Front-End Engineer at CofenseSep 2017–May 2021
    VueTypeScriptSass
    Senior Developer at Publicis HawkeyeNov 2013–Aug 2017
    EmberJavaScriptSass
    Web Designer & Developer at Red VenturesApr 2012–Nov 2013
    JavaScriptPHPSass
    Technologist at Michigan State UniversityMay 2009–Apr 2012
    ColdFusionMSSQLjQuery

About me

I grew up in Poland and came to the US on an athletic scholarship at Michigan State. I swam competitively for over 12 years.

My first web project was a Polish swimming news portal I helped create. Early on, I worked across graphic design, posters, ColdFusion backends, and frontend development. That mix of design and engineering gradually led me to design systems.

Today, I live in Dallas with my family and plenty of animals. My wife and I own Windmill Stables in Richardson, where I get to experiment with business tools and integrations. Outside work, I’m into cars, sports, and travel.

Let’s connect

Have a design system challenge, a tooling idea, or something you’d like to discuss? Submit the form or find me on LinkedIn.