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Zachery Ng

Design Engineer – Senior FE Specialist

About

I’m a front-end-focused Design Engineer at Airfoil.studio, working at the intersection of design and development to create thoughtful, high-performance digital experiences. My work involves:

  • Project Planning & Estimations: I assist the leadership team by providing detailed project estimations, helping scope work realistically so teams can collaborate efficiently.
  • Exploring New Technologies: I enjoy experimenting with AI-assisted development tools, modern CMS solutions, and UI libraries to improve workflows and development speed.
  • Building Thoughtful Front-End Experiences: I work on scalable, accessible, and performant web applications using React and Next.js, focusing on smooth animations, optimization, and usability.
  • Collaboration & Mentorship: As the first engineering hire at Airfoil, I help onboard new engineers, provide guidance on best practices, and contribute to fostering a strong engineering culture.

I’m always looking for ways to refine processes, build better experiences, and support my team in delivering high-quality work.

Experience

Airfoil

Senior Product EngineerMar 2022 - Present

As a senior front-end engineer at Airfoil.studio, I work closely with clients and leadership to build high-quality digital experiences. My role involves:

  • Project Planning & Estimations:
    I collaborate with product managers and clients to create clear, detailed project estimations—breaking down tasks, assumptions, and timelines to help teams work efficiently and confidently.
  • Exploring New Technologies:
    I regularly test and integrate emerging tools—like AI-assisted Figma-to-code solutions, GitHub Copilot, and modern CMS platforms (Sanity, Keystatic)—to improve workflows and speed up development.
  • Front-End Development & Performance Optimization:
    I focus on building fast, scalable, and visually polished web applications using Next.js (TypeScript), TailwindCSS, and custom animations. I prioritize performance, maintainability, and accessibility across all devices.
  • Internal Tooling & Process Improvement:
    Drawing on my product design experience, I’ve designed and built internal tools—including a Next.js project starter—to help engineers work more efficiently and maintain consistent quality.
  • Mentorship & Team Collaboration:
    I support the team by mentoring engineers, refining technical standards, and contributing to hiring and performance reviews. I also document best practices to ensure smooth collaboration across projects.

Through a mix of hands-on development, technical guidance, and process improvements, I aim to create well-crafted digital experiences while helping the team grow and adapt to new challenges.

Spark

Design EngineerApr 2020 - Mar 2022

At Spark, I built the foundation for a cohesive design and development workflow by creating the Spark Design System and a Figma component library. My work focused on:

  • Design & Traffic Optimization:
    I developed mockups and design solutions to guide users toward underutilized features, helping increase engagement with premium offerings and improving platform retention.
  • Consistent Product Experience:
    As the sole designer, I established a unified design language across multiple products within the same application. For example, I set the visual direction for LNG Basis—including its purple theme and icon—and designed a seamless product-switching mechanism.
  • End-to-End Product Design:
    I handled the full design lifecycle, from low to high-fidelity designs, ensuring clear validation and visualization of user inputs (e.g., submission flows with chart-based feedback). I worked closely with the team to refine designs through iterative feedback before handing them off to engineering.
  • User Research & Usability Testing:
    I led product research, created mockups, and conducted remote usability tests to gather user insights and improve design decisions.
  • Front-End Development Contributions:
    Beyond design, I implemented key features in VueJS, TypeScript, and TailwindCSS. I also re-designed and developed sparkcommodities.com with a mobile-first approach in NuxtJS, achieving a perfect Google Lighthouse performance score. Additionally, I contributed to core platform features like layout, dashboards, notifications, and marketing banners.

By bridging design and development, I helped create a more polished, user-friendly platform while improving internal processes for future projects.