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DESIGN ENGINEER · PRODUCT × FRONTEND × AI

I design and build software.

Design engineer with 20 years of visual and product design experience, now focused on shipping interfaces, systems, and product ideas in code. Currently building developer tools at the intersection of product design and frontend engineering.

EXPERTISE

One practice from product
thinking to working software.

Product design, interface systems, and frontend implementation in one continuous loop.

Three paths converging into a product directionFIG 0.1
01

Product direction

Clarify the opportunity, frame the right problem, and turn ambiguity into a product direction a team can act on.

Discuss a project
Connected interface system componentsFIG 0.2
02

Interface systems

Design calm, precise interfaces and reusable systems for complex workflows, data, and emerging AI behavior.

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Three prototype screens progressing toward a buildFIG 0.3
03

Frontend implementation

Turn product decisions into production-minded React and TypeScript interfaces, with responsive behavior, reusable components, and attention to interaction detail.

Discuss a project
SELECTED WORK

Products I design,
build, and ship.

Developer tools and complex product systems, from interface decisions to implementation.

Reviewing pull request #247
Visual regression baseline matches
Color contrast passes AA
Button spacing differs from system
Suggested: spacing / md
DEVELOPER TOOLS · 2026

Lint-UI

An open-source UI quality gate for modern web development. I am building the TypeScript/Playwright core for visual regression, layout, and accessibility checks across routes and responsive breakpoints.

TypeScriptPlaywrightVisual regression
View project
12.4kRequests42msLatency0.08%Errors
DEVELOPER TOOLS · 2023—NOW

Datadog

Designing CI/CD and software-delivery experiences for developer teams, turning complex workflows, quality signals, and automation into clearer paths from code to production.

Product designSystemsDeveloper tools
NDA — case study available on request
user-service.ts
01import { logger } from './logger'0203export const getUser = (id: string) => {04 return api.users.find(id)05}
Unused importRemove logger · Quick fix available
DEVELOPER TOOLS · 2020—2022

Codiga

Acquired by Datadog

As Codiga’s founding designer, I shaped the product across web, IDE, and desktop experiences, defining the interface system and working close to implementation across developer-facing products that shipped to real users.

Product designDesign systemsImplementation
View project
FROM THE BLOG

Thinking through the work.

All posts
Design practice4 min read

The handoff is no longer a Figma file

Conversations with designers about incomplete handoffs, scattered artifacts, and packaging the context behind a decision instead of forcing everything into one file.

By Alex Martinez
HOW I WORK

A measured process.
Real momentum.

Enough structure to stay aligned, enough flexibility to discover the right answer.

01

Understand

Research the context, users, constraints, and the decision behind the brief.

02

Shape

Model the system and explore the experience through focused prototypes.

03

Build

Bring the strongest direction into code and refine against reality.

04

Ship

Partner through implementation, polish the details, and learn from use.

ABOUT

Design engineer,
builder, and musician.

Alex Martinez

I’m Alex Martinez, a design engineer with 20 years of experience across visual design, product design, and frontend implementation. I work where product decisions, interface systems, and code meet.

I currently design developer tools at Datadog. Before that, as founding designer at Codiga, I shaped products across web, IDE, and desktop experiences before the company was acquired by Datadog.

My public work is intentionally code-forward: React and TypeScript interfaces, developer tools, and experiments such as Lint UI where design quality is part of the implementation itself.

Outside of screens I play guitar, record music, and in 2019 pressed a vinyl record with my band Los Monoplonicos. I think about interface design the same way I think about arrangement: every element earns its place or it’s gone.

  • 2022, nowProduct DesignerDatadog
  • 2020, 2022Founding Product DesignerCodiga
  • EarlierDesigner & Frontend DeveloperVarious
START A CONVERSATION

Design the product.
Build the interface.

I’m open to design engineering and product roles where strong visual craft and frontend execution belong in the same job.

Get in touch