Skip to main content
Joshua Briley.

My role is Product Engineer · I focus on Design & front-end

My best work lives at the interface. I build the stack behind it, too.

I'm a design- and front-end-focused product engineer with 20 years in production UI. The interface is where I bring the most value, and I'm full-stack capable enough to own what's behind it.

  • Design-grade front-end
  • React · TypeScript · 20 yrs
  • Accessibility built in
  • Full-stack capable
My work has shipped at Shipped at
  • Travelers
  • Berkshire Hathaway
  • America's Test Kitchen
  • NASCAR
  • NFL

Why my products feel finished.

Most engineers treat design and accessibility as someone else's job, or the first thing cut when a deadline closes in. I build them in. That's why the things I ship work for everyone, not just the average user on a fast laptop, and why they hold up after launch.

Where the value is

The UI is where I bring the most value

Twenty years in design systems taught me where interfaces break: type, spacing, motion, the empty and error states most engineers leave blank. I build it myself, design-grade, instead of handing a spec to someone who will approximate it.

Accessible by construction

Keyboard paths, focus management, and screen-reader behavior built in from the start. Accessibility is the mechanism that makes a product work for everyone, not a checkbox.

I sweat the last 10%

Empty states, recoverable forms, the screen that shows when there is nothing to show yet. Those are the parts that decide whether a product feels finished, and whether it holds up after launch.

Full-stack enough to own it

A capable full-stack developer in Rails and TypeScript: auth, tenancy, data, API. Not because the backend is the point, but so the UI never stalls waiting on someone else to wire it up.

Joshua Briley, product engineer

Designer by origin. Engineer by practice.

I started in design and moved into engineering because I wanted to build the things I drew, not hand them off. Twenty years later, the front end is where I do my best work: design-grade, accessible UI with the judgment most engineering teams have to hire a separate designer to get. I'm also a capable full-stack developer in Rails and TypeScript, so I can carry a product the rest of the way.

I build by feel, fast, and I sweat the finish. Away from the screen, I play bass and gig regularly, which is its own lesson in getting the details right in real time.

Looking for a team that cares about the finish.

I want to build complete, accessible products on a team that treats the last 10% as the point, not the afterthought. If that's the work, let's talk.

Latest writing

Notes on building complete products.

Accessible interfaces, the details that make software feel finished, AI-assisted development, and the changing shape of the front-end engineer.