About

Coder to the core, think like a designer.

I'm building Primitree, a token pipeline that grew out of FigmaVars Hooks and my token governance work on Variable Design Standard. I use Claude Code for architecture and automated validation, Cursor for implementation, and human review before shipping.

Open to Principal Design Engineer, Design Systems, DX Tooling and AI Agentic Workflow roles. Remote only. Also available for product consulting and open source collaboration.

Email about a roleEmail about a project
github.com/marklearstlinkedin.com/in/marklearst

Experience

Feb 2026 - Aug 2026ZoomInfo · Senior Design EngineerComponent-library architecture, design-token governance, and AI-assisted workflows
2015–PresentOpen Source Maintainera11y Companion, Primitree, FigmaVars Hooks, GlucoseIQ, Variable Design Standard
2024–PresentSelf-Employed · Design Systems, Product ConsultingShipped production design systems, accessibility tooling, and agentic workflows
2021–2024General Motors · Senior Design EngineerAurora design system across 4 brands, 60% reuse, WCAG 2.1 AA, trained 50+ engineers and designers
2019–2021Bottomline Technologies · Senior UI DeveloperES module migration via jscodeshift, build time cut ~50%
2015–2018CÜR Music · Senior Frontend DeveloperStreaming player build, editorial workflow tooling
Skills & tools
Design systems
Storybook, MDX, component libraries. Documentation architecture, versioning, governance, release notes, and migration strategy.
Tokens & theming
Figma Variables, Tailwind, Style Dictionary. Design tokens, semantic theming, token pipelines, and DTCG compliance. Design-to-code pipelines from Figma Variables to production.
Frontend
React 19, TypeScript, Next.js. Component APIs, composition, slot patterns, and headless patterns.
AI workflows
Claude Code, Cursor, MCP servers. Agentic development, subagent orchestration, CLAUDE.md guardrails, and AI-assisted codegen. Shipping portfolio, component libraries, and OSS with 60%+ faster iteration.
Quality & testing
Playwright, React Testing Library, Vitest, Jest. Visual regression, CI validation gates, and component testing.
Accessibility
WCAG 2.2 AA, semantic HTML, ARIA patterns, Axe. Keyboard support, VoiceOver, and screen reader testing.
Open source & credentials

Open Source

  • a11y Companion: Figma widget · 400+ users · accessibility reviews · live contrast inspection · Canvas Record

  • Primitree: Token governance · DTCG 2025.10 · CSS · Tailwind · TypeScript builds · Variable Design Standard

  • FigmaVars Hooks: React 19 hooks · Figma Variables API · 100% coverage

  • Diabetic Utils: TypeScript · glucose/A1C analytics

  • Variable Design Standard: Token governance spec · DTCG-compliant

  • GlucoseIQ: headless TypeScript library · 17 clinical metrics · FHIR interop · zero-dependency core

Notable

  • W3C Design Tokens Community Group contributor
  • Arctic Code Vault contributor
  • Claude Code in Action certified (Anthropic)
  • Cursor & Claude Code: Professional AI Setup (Frontend Masters)
Standards & working principles

Standards

  • WCAG 2.2 AA: Accessibility baseline, not a feature

  • DTCG 2025.10: Design token format compliance

  • VDS: Variable Design Standard for token governance

  • Semantic Versioning: Predictable releases

Values

  • Coder to the core, think like a designer
  • Accessibility is a baseline, not a feature
  • Systems over one-offs, clarity over cleverness
  • Open standards beat tool lock-in
  • Motion should inform, not distract
  • Systems that hold up long after launch