John Caldwell
Principal Product Designer | Product Architect | Design Engineer
Kansas City Metropolitan Area
SUMMARY
Principal Product Designer and Product Architect with 15+ years of experience specializing in the intersection of product strategy and engineering execution. Expert in transforming fragmented legacy systems into scalable, production-aligned platforms. Leveraging an advanced AI-native workflow (Claude, Cursor) to eliminate implementation friction and accelerate 0→1 feature delivery cycles.
CORE SKILLS
Strategy & Leadership: Product roadmap architecture, Executive alignment, and 0→1 startup scaling.
AI-Orchestrated Delivery: Prompt engineering for complex logic, agentic design-to-code workflows, and AI-assisted research synthesis.
Design Engineering: Component-driven development (React/Next.js), UI state modeling, and Design System governance.TECHNICAL STACK
AI & Workflow: Claude 3.5 (Opus/Sonnet), Cursor CLI, Gemini, Figma Make.
Design Architecture: Figma (Advanced Variables/Tokens), Design System Governance, Atomic Design, and WCAG 2.1 Accessibility.
Development: Next.js, React, Supabase, HTML5, SCSS, Git/GitHub, Azure DevOps.PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Principal UX Consultant
Freelance | Jan 2026–Present
• Product Architecture: Building a multi-tenant scheduling platform (RefSync) using Next.js and Supabase with an AI-native (Claude/Cursor) workflow.
• B2B E-commerce: Redesigned the Kraft Tank platform for Juniper Logic, architecting complex filter logic and a 5-step credit application.
• UX Strategy: Conducted comprehensive usability audits and discovery for Fluent Consultants to optimize internal tool workflows.Principal Product Designer
NeuAnalytics | Jun 2021–Dec 2025 (4.5 yrs)
• Strategic Alignment: Partnered with Product leadership to translate complex business objectives into actionable vision documents and prioritized roadmaps for Fortune 500 fintech platforms.
• Discovery & Facilitation: Led discovery sessions to uncover user pain points in legacy invoicing systems, resulting in a comprehensive redesign that improved operational speed for collections and compliance workflows.
• Engineering Collaboration: Acted as the primary bridge between design and engineering; contributed production-level React/SCSS code and performed PR reviews to ensure 1:1 fidelity between vision and implementation.
• System Governance: Architected and governed the company’s first integrated design system, reducing design-related QA bugs and accelerating speed-to-market by 30% through standardized interaction patterns.
Senior Product Designer (Contract)
TFI, Inc (Mainstream Nonprofit Solutions) | Jan 2024–Jan 2025 (1 yr)
• Technical Strategy: Modernized a regulated case-management platform by aligning complex interaction requirements with strict engineering and compliance constraints.
• Direct Implementation: Embedded structural UI components directly into the AngularJS production repository to eliminate handoff friction and maintain high design fidelity.Principal UX Consultant
Freelance | May 2020–Jun 2021 (1.2 yrs)
• Executive Facilitation: Led a full HubSpot CMS migration and redesign for a local agency while providing UX strategy and technical feasibility for B2B clients.
Senior UX Director
MarksNelson (Blue Ocean Consulting) | Oct 2015–Apr 2020 (4.5 yrs)
• Consulting & Discovery: Led UX for a 20-person consultancy, managing multiple concurrent engagements across industrial, e-commerce, and professional services.
• Executive Facilitation: Facilitated workshops with client executives to define requirements and operational workflows into phased delivery roadmaps.
• Strategic Roadmapping: Translated ambiguous client goals into clear, scalable B2B SaaS solutions, including asset and document and content management systems.
Manager, Creative Services
Cox Automotive (VinSolutions) | Feb 2010–Oct 2014 (4.75 yrs)
• Organizational Leadership: Built and scaled a 30+ person design organization from the ground up, establishing UX standards for dealership platforms integrated with complex CRM systems.
• High-Impact Strategy: Directed the UX strategy for enterprise-level search and scheduling experiences for global OEMs, including Toyota and Infiniti USA.EDUCATION & CERTIFICATIONS
• Kansas City Art Institute: BFA, Illustration & Design
• Scrum Alliance: Certified ScrumMaster®