Derek Misler

Front-end engineer, design enthusiast, and accessibility advocate with 15+ years of experience across diverse industries. Currently building AI‑powered developer tools at Docker.


Background

I’m a senior front‑end engineer and design‑focused UI/UX specialist with 15+ years of experience crafting accessible, engaging web experiences. At Docker, I work on AI agents and developer tooling, blending React, TypeScript, and design systems with a strong eye for typography and inclusive design. I lead teams through migrations, AI‑powered workflows, and analytics surfaces that feel as good as they perform.

Highlights

  • Senior front‑end engineer at Docker working on AI agents and Docker’s developer tools, bringing AI‑powered workflows into Docker Desktop.
  • Lead engineer on analytics dashboards and Insights experiences for enterprise customers, helping teams understand usage, adoption, and ROI.
  • Led Patreon’s migration to Next.js and a modern front‑end platform, cutting LCP by 55% while keeping UX quality, accessibility, and rollout safety front and center.
  • Served as the first front‑end engineer and later Staff‑level lead at Transfix, defining web and mobile architecture, shared libraries, and front‑end standards.
  • Can blend high‑quality design training, typography, and layout craft with 15+ years of engineering experience to ship inclusive, polished product surfaces quickly and reliably.

Education

BFA, Graphic Design


Docker

Senior Software Engineer

  • Senior front‑end engineer on AI agents and developer tooling, integrating AI‑powered workflows into Docker Desktop.
  • Built analytics dashboards and Insights features for enterprise customers to track usage, adoption, and ROI.
  • Drove front‑end architecture and UX for Go‑backed features, ensuring accessible, cohesive experiences across desktop and cloud.
  • Partnered with PM, Design, and Data on metrics‑driven iteration with high accessibility and performance standards.

Patreon

Senior Software Engineer

  • Led migration from Flask/React multi‑page app to Next.js, achieving a 55% reduction in LCP through incremental rollout with feature flags.
  • Built observability stack integrating DataDog, Sentry, PagerDuty, and Slack; migrated testing from Enzyme to React Testing Library and Cypress.
  • Drove TypeScript adoption, linting standards, and front‑end best practices; contributed to component library and Redux‑to‑Jotai migration.
  • Mentored engineers and created “Front‑End 101” onboarding track for new hires.

Cadre

Lead Software Engineer

  • Unified decoupled SPA and third-party marketing site into cohesive Django/React app; migrated front‑end to monorepo.
  • Built custom server-rendering with Webpack, React, and Node.js for marketing site.
  • Led internal design system built on Base Web component library (open-source contributor).
  • Mentored full‑stack engineers using Agile and Shape Up methodologies.

Transfix

Staff Software Engineer

  • First front‑end engineer; established web and mobile architecture, rebuilding Android/iOS apps in React Native.
  • Evolved web stack from Rails → Aurelia → React/Redux; developed internal library for web, mobile, and shared NPM modules.
  • Implemented CI/CD with CircleCI, defined linting/testing standards, and led creation of internal component library.
  • Rebuilt public site from WordPress to Jade templates, later migrating to 11ty.js.

Technical

Front‑end Architecture, Design Systems, Monorepo Architecture, API Design, Performance Optimization, AI Agent Development, LLM Integration, AI‑Powered Developer Tools, Developer Experience, Progressive Web Apps

Design & UX

UI/UX Design, Responsive Design, Typography & Layout, Accessibility (WCAG), SEO, Color Theory, Visual Hierarchy, Interaction Design, Design Tokens, Motion & Animation


Core Stack

TypeScript, JavaScript, React, Next.js, Node.js, Web Components, Figma

Extended Stack

Docker, Go, Python, Remix, Astro, React Native, Redux, Jotai, Adobe Creative Cloud

AI & LLMs

OpenAI API, Claude API, LangChain, MCP, CAgent

Dev Tooling

Vite, Webpack, Jest, Vitest, React Testing Library, Playwright, Cypress, ESLint, Prettier, Storybook, Biome, Chromatic, GitHub Actions, DataDog, Sentry