Jacob Ikola

Design engineer with 6+ years shipping web applications from Figma to production. Design-systems builder, sole-developer product owner, client-facing engineer — comfortable owning the whole stack and the AI-augmented workflows around it. Range across React, TypeScript, Node.js, and GraphQL.

[ Experience ]

Independent

Design Engineer · Aug 2025 – Present · Remote

  • Built Loom — a token-first design system generator. One JSON spec produces a populated Figma library and a Next.js + Tailwind scaffold, eliminating Figma↔code drift structurally. Validated in production through three downstream projects.
  • Shipped JAMIE — a programmable AI operating layer for daily engineering work. Identity, memory, sessions, and routing as version-controlled markdown; Anthropic Agent SDK integration; runs across Claude Code, Codex, and Gemini.
  • Shipped Paperboy and Party Wipe as design-system proofs — Paperboy (daily news dashboard, in daily use) and Party Wipe (D&D combat roguelike), both built end-to-end on Loom’s output.
  • Frontend motion craft — Three.js / React Three Fiber hero scenes, IntersectionObserver-based scroll-reveal, prefers-reduced-motion discipline, individual transform properties for atom-level animations.
  • Next.js
  • React
  • Tailwind CSS
  • TypeScript
  • Node.js
  • Figma Plugin API
  • React Three Fiber
  • Three.js
  • Agent SDKs
  • Claude Code

Spectrum Net Designs

Full-Stack Developer, UI Designer · Feb 2022 – Jul 2025 · Grand Rapids, MI

  • Established a company-wide design system from the ground up — Figma components, reusable libraries, and living documentation — significantly reducing stylistic code bloat across the team's output.
  • Operated as a 1:1 client-facing developer, leading engagements from requirements through technical architecture and delivery; balanced multiple concurrent client timelines and stakeholder relationships.
  • Contributed full-stack to Auctioneer Software (SaaS) — React/TypeScript UI, GraphQL resolvers, and PostgreSQL schemas handling bidding data, user management, and auction lifecycle. Shipped through PR-based code review and GitHub Actions CI/CD.
  • Contributed across the company's broader portfolio of custom software projects beyond direct client work — different stacks, different codebases, as the team needed.
  • HTML
  • JavaScript
  • React
  • SCSS
  • TypeScript
  • Git
  • GitHub
  • GitHub Actions
  • GraphQL
  • SQL
  • Figma

Independent Contractor

Design & Development Consultant · Mar 2021 – Jan 2022 · Remote

  • Designed and built single-page applications for marketing, advertising, and internal office use — solo developer working directly with each project's designer and owner.
  • Owned the full design-to-development lifecycle — wireframing in Figma, iterating through feedback, and shipping production-ready code to spec.
  • Identified technical constraints early in design, proposing scalable solutions that prevented rework during implementation.
  • CSS
  • HTML
  • JavaScript
  • Figma

PropelUp

Full-Stack Developer · May 2019 – Jul 2020 · Indianapolis, IN

  • Sole developer on a Learning Management System — grew the codebase from zero to a product that software companies beta-tested in production. React, Express, Node.js, PostgreSQL with REST APIs, deployed on Heroku.
  • Traveled on-site with the sales team to conduct user interviews and deliver live product demos, directly shaping the roadmap from real feedback.
  • Served as the connective thread between design, engineering, and sales — the only team member with full context across all three.
  • CSS
  • HTML
  • React
  • Express
  • Git
  • GitHub
  • Heroku
  • Node.js
  • PostgreSQL
  • REST APIs
  • Figma

[ Education ]

Blaizing Academy(formerly Eleven Fifty Academy)

Full-Stack JavaScript Cohort · Jan 2019 – Apr 2019

  • Completed 500+ hours of hands-on training in full-stack development using React, Angular, Node.js, and PostgreSQL.
  • Collaborated on multiple team projects, applying best practices in clean code, version control, and UI/UX fundamentals.
  • Awarded the Teamwork Award, voted by peers for collaboration and mentorship.
  • Angular
  • React
  • Node.js
  • PostgreSQL

[ Skills ]

// Frontend & Code

  • CSS
  • Cypress
  • JavaScript
  • Next.js
  • React
  • SCSS
  • Tailwind CSS
  • TypeScript

// Backend & Data

  • Apollo
  • Docker
  • Express
  • GitHub Actions
  • GraphQL
  • Node.js
  • PostgreSQL
  • REST APIs

// Design, Motion & Craft

  • Figma
  • Figma Plugin API
  • GSAP
  • Motion.js
  • React Three Fiber
  • Three.js

// AI

  • Agent SDKs
  • Claude Code
  • ComfyUI
  • Context Engineering
  • Figma Make
  • Prompt Engineering