auto_awesomeApplication for Senior Design Engineer

Hi Buffer. I'm , and I'd love to be your next Senior Design Engineer

I build web experiences that feel as good as they look, accessible, performant, and crafted to delight users.

Crafted in Madrid, Spain

Companies that have used my code

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Career Intent

Choosing Buffer is a deliberate act of aligning the next step of my career. Answering the question - which company would I be excited to work for?

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Remote first

Several years as a digital nomad fundamentally changed how I think about work and life. What does life and work look like when you're not tethered to an office. That question led me to async-first teams, clear written communication, and the discipline of over-communicating by default.

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Building in public

I've started to share more of my thoughts, wins and failures. Whether it's a CSS trick or an accessibility lesson, teaching is the fastest way to master a topic. My work on GOV.UK's open-source various code repos are public by default, every PR, decision, and iteration visible to anyone. Making the code better, that anyone can learn from.

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The future of work

Salary transparency, trust, and a team that treats people like adults. Buffer is innovating the future of work and building the next generation of social tooling, I want in.

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The Story

The public salary table changed everything

In 2011, I stumbled across a company that had published its entire salary structure in a public webpage. I was early in my career, and naively assumed this was just how Silicon Valley worked, that this radical transparency was the exciting future of how the world of work would be.

It wasn't. As I learned more about big tech, I realised this company was the exception, not the rule. That webpage faded into a fond memory of what I thought work culture could be.

Then, recently, something shifted. I started seeing Buffer people show up in my feeds again with interesting insider posts. That old feeling came back, I realised that work culture was at Buffer. I want to be part of this.

As the web matures and culture shifts from traditional media to social-first content, the need for high-craft, human-centric, and accessible UI is higher than ever. Buffer's rare, global, remote-first culture where transparency, and collaboration is the environment where I want to do my best work, bring that energy back to the team by raising the bar on how Buffer.com looks, feels, and performs.

Share your experience with content creation or social media

I've been writing about the intersection between Design patterns, accessibility, disability and the human systems behind technical work. My blog explores more about the sociology of code, how logical fallacies impact UI, and why the resistance teams face when advocating for changes is often rooted assumptions. Several pieces have been picked up by industry newsletters and gained traction in the Design and QA community, reaching an audience beyond the typical accessibility bubble. I'll occasionally see someone on LinkedIn share one of my posts with decent engagement.

During COVID I grew a work-focused Instagram account to around 1,000 followers without short-form video. It's not polished enough to share as a portfolio piece, but I learnt about creating content and audience and the wisdom of crowds is real. I also realised my perspective was different from the typical tech account (more human-centred, more willing to challenge assumptions) and that resonated with people which lead to real-world connections which I didn't expect.

Finding my voice, Content style and figuring out what actually connects as well as optimising workflows was fun but a lot of work. That perspective would directly inform how I think about the people Buffer serves.

Design systems that scale

I’ve spent years inheriting, evolving, and maintaining design systems, not just building them from scratch. At GOV.UK I contributed components used across 1.8 billion annual visits. At Nespresso I remediated a multi-market design system across React and Preact. At Axate I consolidated 15 button variants into one, established shared design tokens, and gave the team a consistent foundation to ship from. I know how to fill gaps, refine patterns, and make a system that the whole team trusts and actually uses.

New ideas that suprise and delight

Working onsite at Apple taught me what obsessive attention to detail looks like when you’re given the time and that’s the standard. At Axate I elevated a checkout flow from functional to premium, increasing conversions. At The White Company I refined the frontend to match a luxury brand identity. I care about the micro-interactions, transitions, and visual rhythm that make a site feel alive rather than just correct.

Accessibility and performance as foundations

I’ve built my career around making the web work for everyone. At GOV.UK I shipped what is arguably the most accessible accordion. At Nespresso I shaped an entire accessibility strategy from zero. At Cyara I saved a Microsoft enterprise contract by delivering accessible components. I also care deeply about performance, at Axate I took Lighthouse scores from 40 to 95 and reduced page weight from 3MB to 500KB. Every visitor to Buffer deserves a fast, accessible experience, and I’ll work to ensure they get one.

Built for remote, async work

I’ve spent a lot of my recent career as a contractor embedded in distributed teams, joining fast, communicating clearly, and delivering without needing to be managed. I’ve operated self-directed across global markets and time zones, shaping strategy and shipping 50+ PRs at Nespresso without waiting for permission. I write clearly, I default to action, and I know how to keep work moving when there’s no one sat next to me.

GOV.UK - Design System implementation and contribution

GOV.UK's Design System serves many government services in the UK, from tax returns to passport applications. The existing accordion component had known WCAG accessibility failures affecting millions of users, including those relying on screen readers, keyboard navigation, and voice control.

I rebuilt the accordion using semantic HTML, CSS, and vanilla JavaScript, no framework dependency, no bloat. Every decision was made with the full range of assistive technologies in mind: VoiceOver, JAWS, NVDA, Dragon, and Windows High Contrast Mode. I then started the contribution process to get it adopted into the wider Design System, so the fix would cascade across the entire GOV.UK estate from a single source of truth.

The result is arguably the most accessible accordion in production anywhere, open source, framework-agnostic, and now used across thousands of government pages.

Beyond component work, I implemented the Design System across many bespoke pages, including the Past Prime Ministers page to pay back the huge technical debt of legacy code and to ensure a consistent, accessible experience for all users. Accessibility improvements would cascade across the entire estate.

Design System ownership
Accessibility
Component architecture
Vanilla JS
1.8 billion annual visits

Axate - elevating the user experience

Axate is a media payments startup enabling casual payments for prestige newspaper content. When I joined, the product worked, but it didn't feel trustworthy.

I used existing brand identity and updated, polished and tightened the Design across multiple touch points including the Sign Up journey. Code wise I paid back huge volumes of technical debt including consolidating 15 button implementations into one, established shared design tokens, and drove performance improvements that took Lighthouse scores from ~40 to ~95. Checkout conversions increased.

Next.js
React
TypeScript
Design tokens
Animation
Performance
Lighthouse 40 → 95
Conversions up 15%

Apple iPhone X homepage screenshot with the device in view, texts reads 'iPhone X. Say hello to the future.'

Apple - pixel perfection

I was contracted to work onsite at Apple's Cupertino headquarters on two separate occasions - first via Kino Design (2017), then returning via Hogarth (2018). The work is under NDA, but the standard isn't a secret. Every pixel, every line break is scrutinised and I loved being able to deliver that attention to quality and detail.

Pixel-perfect implementation
Typography
Animation timing
Interaction polish

Nespresso accessibility work, a hand holding a phone showing the Nespresso product. On the left reads Global Accessibility awareness day

Nespresso - building an Accessibility function from zero

Nespresso had no dedicated accessibility function. With the European Accessibility Act deadline approaching, they needed someone who could operate at both the strategic and technical level.

I shaped the entire strategy, audited critical journeys, generated ~280 JIRA tickets with WCAG 2.1 AA criteria, and shipped 50+ pull requests across legacy and modern design systems. All done remotely, across global teams and time zones.

React
TypeScript
Storybook
Design systems
Cross-functional leadership
Remote/async
50+ PRs
280 tickets
Global markets

Problem

Interactive components like modals, carousels, and navigation menus were visually functional but didn't meet WCAG standards. Keyboard users couldn't close modals with Escape, focus states were missing from navigation, carousels didn't communicate active slide position, and several elements failed contrast requirements.

Approach

I worked incrementally within the existing systems rather than proposing a rewrite. I audited component libraries, prioritised fixes that would cascade across the most pages, and shipped iteratively. Key changes included focus indicators on the menu system, correct focus trapping inside modals with Escape key dismissal, reworked carousel ARIA attributes, and contrast fixes within Nespresso's brand palette.

Technologies

React component libraries and CSS Modules across multiple design system codebases, both legacy and newer pattern sets. The work required careful judgement about which tokens and patterns belonged where, fixing components at the system level so improvements propagated to every page consuming them.

Impact & lessons

50+ pull requests shipped across multiple design systems. Beyond code, I added annotations in Figma so designers could understand the mindset shift from "anything goes" to accessible-by-default, catching accessibility concerns at the design stage rather than as engineering debt later. The biggest lesson: improving an existing design system takes shifting the mindset of the whole team.

Missing button when alt text is longer

Problem

I added some alt text while posting to Threads however while the alt text character field has 1000s characters, as I populated this the save button became cut off.

Solution

I would resolve this small defect by ensuring the save button remains visible regardless of text length, either by pinning it to the bottom of the modal or making the text area scrollable.

Colour contrast & WCAG compliance

Problem

The muted grey (#8D8C89) used for body text currently fails WCAG 2.1 AA for regular text against white.

Solution

Shifting to a darker tone would bring this section into compliance. I would also propose using an additional badge or visual flourish to indicate the inactive state.

Adjust the UX of the disabled button

Problem

I got confused twice trying to understand why I couldn't post a thread. It turned out “Add post” was an empty entry that needed to be deleted.

Solution

I would add an “x” button next to this or add an inline error state so it's clearer this needs to be removed to compliment the tooltip on the button.

Reflection

Tell us about a time you were wrong at work

There are many Design patterns that are considered good and even normal, for example sticky headers, the ones where the menus stay fixed. This is a common Frontend Design pattern and one I’ve implemented. However upon seeing actual user testing this challenged all of my assumptions and in one company stopped using this. I've been wrong about what patterns work but only after user testing.

What does that mean day-to-day? There’s a difference between shipping fast and adding to a Design System. One is move fast and iterate, the next is build for long-term user experience. This has happened many times, popular or common doesn’t mean it’s most effective. Even on this page, I've hidden this sticky header on scroll to find a compromise. Balancing Design expectation and effects with new learnings. I'll talk about carousels another day.

I learnt very quickly that Design without user testing (and disabled user testing) has a technical word: guessing.

Can you see my screen?

Hey Mr Clark - you've made it this far, hopefully something landed. I'm ready add value to the Buffer engineering team and I'd love to chat more.

Email me directly View case studies

Hi Buffer. I'm , and I'd love to be your next Senior Design Engineer