Joel Cory Resume 1-2024Resume PDF

SUMMARY

Over 20 years of experience creating user-centered, innovative solutions across EdTech and enterprise systems. Proven success in leading the design process from concept to delivery, enhancing user experiences while aligning with business goals. Expert in UX architecture, design systems, and cross-functional collaboration.

CORE COMPETENCIES

  • Information Architecture
  • User-Centered Design
  • Design Systems
  • Interaction Design
  • Optimizing Workflows
  • Reducing implementation costs through strategic design

EXPERIENCE

FEDPOINT

Jan 2024 – Aug 2024, UX Designer

  • Developed and optimized design systems, driving consistency across UX/UI experiences and improving page consistency.
  • Led comprehensive UX audits to refine system usability and accessibility, enhancing overall design quality.
  • Collaborated on design tasks and front-end development to ensure seamless UX across digital touchpoints.
  • Consulted with leadership to propose user experience changes to improve customer experience and drive user acceptance.

Southern New Hampshire University

Oct 2021 – Aug 2023, UX Architect

  • Spearheaded UX architecture for an AI-powered educational ecosystem, integrating back-office workflows and front-end experiences.
  • Led end-to-end design and development of the Confetti Design System, resulting in significant cost savings and streamlined user experiences.
  • Conducted extensive UX research, including user interviews, journey mapping, and heuristic evaluations, to inform design strategies.
  • Worked with cross-functional teams, incorporating Agile methodologies to deliver high-impact UX solutions.
  • Collaborated with Google AI experts to design a personalized learning platform, leading to collaborating with a team to file a patent application.

Emily Masterson – Product Design & UX Leadership, Design Strategist, Innovative Thought Leader

I had the pleasure of working closely with Joel for these last two years on designing a learning ecosystem from the ground up. Joel was invaluable throughout the experience, he led the design of the ecosystem through his robust and thoughtful architectural diagrams that carefully considered both experience and technical opportunities and constraints, he mentored both senior and junior staff on the architecture to ensure comprehensive understanding and fluency in the vision, and he was a collaborative and insightful thought partner, working across teams to ensure his designs met all requirements and user needs.

Additionally, Joel is an exceptional mentor to the team – his insights during design review often pushed designers to think more critically about their work and generate even stronger designs. He made himself available to any designer or product manager who wanted to talk through part of the ecosystem, and consistently provided sound advice while still ensuring designers had creative freedom to explore possible solutions. For me, he was a critical thought partner on vision and strategy and would ask deeply insightful questions and offer up potential solutions, through our collaboration we were able to produce even stronger work.

Finally, Joel is also an exceptional designer. Beyond his architecture work, Joel was never afraid to tackle sticky UX problems and draft up multiple wireframe solutions to engage stakeholders and developers in creative solutioning. He was design lead on multiple feature sets for our first major greenfield software release and delivered high quality, accessible, and engaging UX designs. He also served as a QA reviewer for all design system work and contributed significantly to the refinement of components and patterns. For these reasons and more, I enthusiastically recommend Joel for anywhere his career may take him!

PowerSchool, Inc.

Jan 2019 – Oct 2021, Manager UX / Principle UX Designer

  • Managed a multi-disciplinary team in delivering user-centered designs for enterprise K12 solutions, balancing usability with business objectives.
  • Led UX research and design sprints to drive innovation in the Student Information System (SIS), enhancing both web and mobile experiences.
  • Led redesign effort to overhaul Information Architecture to reduce user time on task by 30%.
  • Delivered design systems and guidelines, driving standardization across complex product suites and acquisitions.
  • Presented at a UX conference on best practices in design strategy, usability testing, and interaction design.

PowerSchool, Inc. (Pearson)

Dec 2007 – Dec 2019, Senior UX Designer / UI Developer

  • Designed and coded UX/UI solutions for key features in the K12 Student Information System, focusing on reusable, responsive, accessible, and intuitive interfaces.
  • Designed UI patterns and design system components to reduce time to market by 40%.
  • Developed information architecture and interaction patterns, ensuring consistent user experiences across multiple rebrands and system overhauls, reducing support calls by 10%.
  • Conducted UX research, including usability testing and persona development, to guide iterative design improvements.
  • Led workshops on design thinking and front-end coding standards, facilitating cross-functional collaboration.

Sam Spencer – Engineering Manager – Direct Manager

Joel has consistently received positive feedback from PowerSchool project stakeholders and from members of the core development team. This positive feedback is due in part to his attention to detail, ability to think through edge cases, and ability to anticipate user needs.

Joel has worked proactively to ensure the long-term system health of PowerSchool’s presentation layer. He has successfully met the objectives by developing reusable components and user interface modules and contributing to UI documentation and standards. Joel has been an effective steward of PowerSchool’s UI.

Joel made significant contributions across a number of important projects in 2013 and he has proactively supported the goals of the organization. He can be counted on to successfully complete tasks and meet his project commitments.

Joel has built solid relationships with his peers throughout K-12 Technology and he is a friendly and engaging member of the team. He has shown a willingness to help and teach teammates, shift his priorities to best support the business, and he effectively communicates with his teammates and project stakeholders. Joel is well respected throughout the engineering organization.

Hewlett Packard

Jan 2007 – Dec 2007, Instructional Designer / Developer / Technical Writer

  • Developed user-centered instructional designs for global procurement systems, aligning training materials with key user needs.

Insweb, Inc.

Dec 2005 – Sept 2006, UI Designer / UI Developer

  • Designed and developed UX/UI solutions for web and dynamic advertising, improving conversion rates through user-centered designs and A/B testing.
  • Pioneered accessible and SEO-compliant design practices, reducing page load times and enhancing user engagement.

EARLIER EXPERIENCE

Crawford & Associates International – Multimedia Developer

  • Created web-based training and interactive experiences for major corporations, focusing on accessibility and UX best practices.

Sevant Inc. – Graphical Courseware Designer / Developer

  • Designed graphically rich UX/UI experiences for in-home IT training, integrating personas and journey mapping into design processes.

CrystalGraphics – Product Manager / Graphic Designer / Tech Support

  • Managed design projects from concept to delivery, balancing UX needs with business and technical requirements.

EDUCATION

  • Industrial Design, San Jose State University
  • Project Management Training, Davis & Dean
  • ActionScript Certification, Macromedia
  • Business of Thinking Training, Herrmann International

SKILLS

  • UX Research & Strategy: Persona development, journey mapping, wireframing, and prototyping.
  • Design Systems: Creation, implementation, and governance for large-scale projects.
  • Agile UX Methodologies: Design sprints, iterative prototyping, and collaborative design thinking.
  • Information Architecture & Interaction Design: Structuring user flows, navigation systems, and interaction patterns.
  • AI & ML Integration: Experience with AI-driven UX enhancements and generative AI applications.
  • Front-End Development: Proficient in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and responsive design frameworks.
  • Design Tools: Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, InVision.
  • Leadership & Collaboration: Cross-functional team leadership, mentoring, and stakeholder engagement.
  • Public Speaking & Training: Conference presentations, design workshops, and training programs.