Product Design
Why I'm Excited About WorkOS
Infrastructure is Philosophy
The best design systems don't feel like constraints—they feel like superpowers. The same is true for developer tools. When a platform removes friction, developers don't think about the platform. They think about what they're building.
I spent two years on the VA Lighthouse Developer API platform, working directly with developers to mature the pathway to production. What I learned wasn't about buttons or navigation. It was about mental models. Developers have a job to do. Our job is to get out of the way and make the right decision obvious.
That principle extends to everything I build: CMS Design System (10+ teams adopted it voluntarily), QPP token architecture (React and Angular teams sharing foundations without forced migration), accessibility governance (structural, not a gate). Infrastructure works when teams choose to use it because it makes their work faster.
Systems Thinking Scales
WorkOS is solving a frontier problem: who are your agents, and what are they allowed to do? That requires thinking at the infrastructure level. Not just beautiful auth flows, but patterns that scale across humans and agents, that handle edge cases without special-casing, that let developers reason about access control clearly.
I've spent my career on exactly this: defining architectures that don't break when you add complexity. At CMS, I designed token hierarchies (primitive → semantic → component) that scaled to new themes and brand variants. I formalized contribution models so eight multidisciplinary teams could extend the system without fragmenting it. That's the thinking WorkOS needs.
But it's not just architecture. It's listening. I run research with technical audiences, synthesize feedback, and let findings redirect direction. On Lighthouse, think-aloud sessions with developers shaped the entire product roadmap. At VA Disability Benefits, I reset objectives based on evidence, not assumptions. That research discipline is how you build infrastructure that developers actually want.
This Moment Matters
AI is reshaping what authentication and identity mean. Agents have different trust requirements than humans. Access control patterns need to evolve. WorkOS is at the frontier of that shift, and the design decisions you make now will define the shape of this for years.
I want to be part of that.
I use Claude, Figma Make, and GitHub Copilot in my daily workflow. I co-led a 42-person AI & Design Community of Practice because I believe designers need to understand this shift deeply. I published "Twelve AI Workflows for Designers" because these tools change how we think about the work itself. I'm not curious about emerging technologies as a trend—I'm committed to understanding how they change design practice.
Let's Build This Together
WorkOS values teams that work in public, pull feedback early, and default to showing work. That's how I operate. A lead engineer I work with said this: "Before Brent arrived, design handoffs lacked context around tradeoffs. He intentionally brought engineers in earlier, sparking healthy pushback before designs were finalized."
Design systems and developer tools thrive when design and engineering solve problems together. WorkOS already gets that. I want to help scale it.
The best design systems don't feel like constraints—they feel like superpowers. The same is true for developer tools. When a platform removes friction, developers don't think about the platform. They think about what they're building.
I spent two years on the VA Lighthouse Developer API platform, working directly with developers to mature the pathway to production. What I learned wasn't about buttons or navigation. It was about mental models. Developers have a job to do. Our job is to get out of the way and make the right decision obvious.
That principle extends to everything I build: CMS Design System (10+ teams adopted it voluntarily), QPP token architecture (React and Angular teams sharing foundations without forced migration), accessibility governance (structural, not a gate). Infrastructure works when teams choose to use it because it makes their work faster.
Systems Thinking Scales
WorkOS is solving a frontier problem: who are your agents, and what are they allowed to do? That requires thinking at the infrastructure level. Not just beautiful auth flows, but patterns that scale across humans and agents, that handle edge cases without special-casing, that let developers reason about access control clearly.
I've spent my career on exactly this: defining architectures that don't break when you add complexity. At CMS, I designed token hierarchies (primitive → semantic → component) that scaled to new themes and brand variants. I formalized contribution models so eight multidisciplinary teams could extend the system without fragmenting it. That's the thinking WorkOS needs.
But it's not just architecture. It's listening. I run research with technical audiences, synthesize feedback, and let findings redirect direction. On Lighthouse, think-aloud sessions with developers shaped the entire product roadmap. At VA Disability Benefits, I reset objectives based on evidence, not assumptions. That research discipline is how you build infrastructure that developers actually want.
This Moment Matters
AI is reshaping what authentication and identity mean. Agents have different trust requirements than humans. Access control patterns need to evolve. WorkOS is at the frontier of that shift, and the design decisions you make now will define the shape of this for years.
I want to be part of that.
I use Claude, Figma Make, and GitHub Copilot in my daily workflow. I co-led a 42-person AI & Design Community of Practice because I believe designers need to understand this shift deeply. I published "Twelve AI Workflows for Designers" because these tools change how we think about the work itself. I'm not curious about emerging technologies as a trend—I'm committed to understanding how they change design practice.
Let's Build This Together
WorkOS values teams that work in public, pull feedback early, and default to showing work. That's how I operate. A lead engineer I work with said this: "Before Brent arrived, design handoffs lacked context around tradeoffs. He intentionally brought engineers in earlier, sparking healthy pushback before designs were finalized."
Design systems and developer tools thrive when design and engineering solve problems together. WorkOS already gets that. I want to help scale it.
