01 | Hello

Hi, I’m Calley.I build interfacesthat behave likeeveryone is the default.

Senior frontend engineer with 10+ years in UI engineering, with a focus on accessibility and UX. I design systems where shipping fast and shipping inclusively are the same path.

AI-assisted development is the leverage point that finally makes inclusive engineering the path of least resistance rather than the path of most resistance.

Read the essay Download resume PDFContact

02 | Thesis

Accessibility is not a feature. It is an architectural decision.

I build products from the assumption that disabled users are not edge cases. If the architecture treats inclusion as optional, the interface will eventually expose that decision.

AI-assisted development is the first meaningful chance to invert accessibility economics. My work focuses on making the inclusive implementation the easiest implementation for product teams.

03 | Writing

Recent essays

Full index ->

  1. Congratulations on your promotion. You’re not a UI engineer anymore.

    The career ladder for UI engineers has exactly one rung, and it leads off the team. That’s a design decision, not an accident — and it’s about to get expensive.

    Jun 18, 202615 minCareer / Craft / AI

  2. The Retina image trick everyone forgot — and whether it still holds up in 2026

    A decade ago I started serving sharp Retina images from a single oversized, low-quality file. The trick still works in 2026. The more interesting question is why, and where it stops working.

    May 30, 20267 minPerformance / Images / Engineering judgment

  3. Which model of disability is your AI product operating from?

    Society's understanding of disability has evolved through five distinct models over the past century. AI interfaces are making the same journey right now — most of them are stuck in 1950.

    Mar 14, 20267 minAccessibility / AI / Philosophy

04 | Speaking

Talks and workshops

  • 2015

    JS.LA

    Conference talk on JavaScript and frontend practice

  • 2015

    DeveloperWeek

    Conference speaker

  • 2018

    Crypto Invest Summit

    Women of Crypto Track — Marketing Workshop panelist

  • 2022

    McKinsey — What is a Disability?

    The five models of disability and their implications for how we build recruiting products

05 | Resume

Resume

PDF download ->

Senior frontend engineer in Los Angeles with 10+ years building consumer products, with a focus on accessibility and UX. I treat accessibility as an architectural decision rather than an end-of-sprint feature, and I bring deep experience in real-time UIs, performance, and design systems. I work primarily in Vue today and am actively shipping React, Next.js, and TypeScript in current client engagements.

Experience

  1. Senior Frontend Engineer

    Calley Co (independent) | Mar 2023 - Present

    AI-focused product engineering and accessibility engagements for startups, agencies, and e-commerce brands.

    • Product designer and lead frontend engineer on a React + Shopify storefront with an AI-powered sizing recommendation system for a national school-uniform supplier.
    • Led a WCAG 2.1 audit and remediation of a 200+ page agency site — ARIA, semantic HTML, contrast, keyboard navigation — without sacrificing SEO or design.

  2. Senior Software Engineer

    McKinsey & Company | Jun 2021 - Jul 2023

    Game-Based Innovations Lab — globally used game-based assessments and leadership training.

    • Built a distributed real-time multiplayer experience over WebSockets — globally synchronized shared state, turn-based control, and live drag-and-drop rendered on every player's screen.
    • Architected the team's Vue 3 + TypeScript component library and design system, with accessibility, performance, and reusability as core requirements.

  3. Expert Frontend Developer (Contract)

    Milliman | Dec 2020 - May 2021

    WCAG 2.0 conversion of data-heavy SaaS interfaces from ASP.NET Webforms to MVC.

    • Delivered a responsive, WCAG 2.0-compliant overhaul across four codebases and unified them under a new global navigation experience.

  4. Founder & Principal Engineer

    Syren.io | Nov 2011 - Nov 2021

    Design, development, and product-strategy consultancy applying lean, empathy-driven design to complex technical problems.

    • Delivered frontend and full-stack work across 40+ client engagements, often refactoring large legacy codebases for measurable improvement.

  5. UI Engineer & Co-Founder

    Popularium (acquired) | Feb 2016 - Dec 2018

    Storytelling-driven product recommendation platform.

    • Built the initial platform end-to-end in Django and established a custom testing and analytics framework that informed product decisions.

  6. UX Developer

    Crowdrise (acquired by GoFundMe) | Sep 2013 - Feb 2016

    Charity crowdfunding platform used by many of the world's largest nonprofits.

    • Shipped a higher-converting responsive signup flow and established frontend standards in SASS and JavaScript.

Core skills

  • Currently shippingReact · Next.js · TypeScript · Node.js · Vue 3 (Composition API) · Shopify (Liquid + Hydrogen) · Tailwind CSS · AI-assisted development workflows
  • AccessibilityWCAG 2.0–2.2 AA remediation · WAI-ARIA patterns · Semantic HTML · Focus & keyboard architecture · Screen reader testing (NVDA, VoiceOver, JAWS) · Accessible live-region patterns
  • Real-time & streaming UIsWebSockets · Shared-state synchronization · Event-driven architecture · Multiplayer interactions · Optimistic UI updates
  • Performance & design systemsCore Web Vitals · Lighthouse auditing · Bundle analysis · Component library architecture · Storybook · Design tokens · Cross-codebase design system unification

Education

Full Sail University — Web Design & Development · 2010 - 2011

06 | Contact

Say hello.

Job inquiries and professional conversations only.

Emailhi@calley.ioLinkedIn/in/calleynyeGitHub/syren