Resume

BENJAMIN SHORT
Product and UI/UX Design Leader | Design Systems & Accessibility Expert
(email address and phone number removed)

Summary

Results-driven design leader with 15+ years in human-centered UX/UI design, scalable design systems, and inclusive design. Proven ability to architect and evolve systems that drive consistency, cross-functional alignment, and accessibility at scale across global enterprises. Passionate about design thinking, designOps, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement and collaborative innovation. Skilled at mentoring teams and aligning design vision with business outcomes.

Professional Experience

General Motors, Austin TX
UX Design Manager, Global Markets (Apr 2023 – Aug 2024)
Directed a team of cross-functional designers to deliver 20+ digital products within a 300+ product ecosystem, impacting $11.9B in revenue for the company, and serving 12,000+ dealerships globally.
Championed the creation of atomic design-based pattern libraries to ensure UX/UI consistency, WCAG 2.1 AA compliance, and scalable interfaces.
Collaborated with engineering to integrate componentized front-end frameworks, reducing dev overhead and ensuring design-development parity.
Facilitated cross-team workshops to drive designOps best practices, increase design system adoption, and improve cross-platform UX alignment.

Senior UX/UI Designer, Dealer, Aftersales, and Supply Chain (Jul 2021 – Apr 2023)
Led end-to-end development of a UX/UI system leveraging design tokens, reducing design and development time while improving brand cohesion.
Conducted structured usability testing and a11y audits to validate system performance and refine design patterns.
Shipped Unified Inventory Visibility & Vehicle Retail Inventory Management apps, improving operational efficiency (vehicle lot time down 60%, delivery time down 40%).
Supported talent onboarding through design system onboarding guides and mentorship aligned with GM design standards.

Emerson Automation Solutions, Austin TX
Senior Visual Designer (Jul 2018 – Jul 2021)
Spearheaded the creation of a multi-brand design system, achieving 100% adoption across departments and reducing time-to-market by 2x.
Acted as a designOps champion, driving scalable collaboration between designers, developers, and product managers.
Facilitated cross-functional design sprints and UX research initiatives to drive business transformation through user insights.
Conducted hundreds of hours of accessibility testing, contributing to inclusive product experiences across global markets.

IBM, Austin TX
User Experience Visual Designer (2011 – 2017)
Developed modular UI components and visual standards for IBM Business Process Management tools, aligned with the emerging IBM Design Language.
Participated in user-centered design workshops, heuristic evaluations, and A/B testing to refine enterprise workflows and boost adoption by 16%.
Served as an internal and external design advocate, representing IBM Design at industry events and contributing to enterprise design system governance.

Committees & Leadership

General Motors: Design Center of Excellence & GMIT Accessibility Council
Emerson Automation Solutions: Human-Centered Design Institute

Education

🎓 Appalachian State University – B.A. in Advertising, Minor in Graphic Design (2005 – 2009)

Core Skills & Expertise

Design Systems Development – Scalable, token-based architecture for UI components
UI Component Libraries – Figma-driven, reusable, and consistent across platforms
Accessibility (WCAG Compliance) – Inclusive design and thorough usability testing
Cross-functional Leadership – Aligning teams, mentoring talent, stakeholder buy-in
DesignOps & Governance – Process optimization and UX/UI standardization
Prototyping & Validation – Interactive UX flows and iterative user testing

Tools & Technologies

🛠 Design & Prototyping: Figma, Sketch, Adobe CS, UXPin, InVision, Miro
🛠 Development & Handoff: HTML, CSS, Web Components, Custom Elements
🛠 Collaboration & Documentation: Confluence, Jira, Slack, Microsoft Office