Magnús.
As a UI Designer & Front-End Developer I love
making things like this illustration of my home town:
Although originally from Reykjavik, Iceland today I find myself exploring the beautiful Pacific Northwest with my wife and our puppy.
Oh hey, fancy seeing you here among the clouds! Let me give you the 30,000 foot view of what has happened so far...
WORK EXPERIENCE
I'm a frontend-focused software engineer and designer with over a decade of experience crafting polished, intuitive user interfaces. I've spent most of my career in startups, thriving in fast-moving environments where I've shipped dashboards, component libraries, and developer tools that balance performance, usability, and aesthetic detail. I'm passionate about simplifying complex workflows, mentoring teammates, and creating products that users love.
Dec 2022 – Jun 2025
Senior Frontend Engineer@ Garden.io
Migrated Garden's web app to a multi-tenant architecture with org/team/user management, modernized the UI (shadcn, TailwindCSS), and built reusable components like data tables with detail sheets. Prototyped a Tauri desktop app (Rust/TypeScript) for environment monitoring and debugging, and developed a VSCode extension to bring Garden's workflow into IDEs.
ReactTypescriptNodeJSTailwindCSSShadcnTauriRusttRPCgRPCKyselyPlaywrightVSCode Extension APIPostgreSQLFigma
Sep 2021 – Dec 2022
Senior Frontend Engineer@ Tilia
Worked on a React-based user interface for partner-facing end-users, enabling secure, seamless flows for payments, payouts, KYC data collection/validation, and transaction history. Led the integration of @jsdocs type safety into the CI pipeline and initiated the migration of the JavaScript codebase to TypeScript to improve maintainability and type safety.
ReactJavascriptNodeJSEmotionMySQLFigma
Jul 2018 – Aug 2021
Senior Frontend Engineer@ Jyve
Redesigned and rebuilt the internal dashboard (TypeScript, React, Webpack), collaborated with product managers to prototype and deliver high-fidelity designs for client-facing mobile apps, and led the design and development of the corporate website. Integrated a shared component library with Storybook for company-wide reuse and implemented an end-to-end testing suite with Cypress.
ReactTypescriptNodeJSStyled ComponentsWebpackDjangoPostgreSQLFigmaFramerStorybookCypress
Apr 2013 – Jan 2018
User Interface Designer@ Jive Software
Redesigned and optimized the search engine frontend in Jive's main web product by developing a Chrome extension that replaced the existing search, later integrating it into the core product in collaboration with product managers, designers, and frontend engineers. Designed user interfaces for iOS, Android, and web applications, from quick prototypes to high-fidelity designs with developer-ready redlines, and contributed to web development with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
HTMLCSSJavaScriptChrome Extension APISketch
Jan 2009 – Apr 2013
Chief Design Officer@ CLARA
Managed all design oriented decisions, developed front-end (both HTML, CSS, Javascript as well as Python on Pyramid) and enjoyed the start-up spirit. CLARA eventually got acquired by Jive Software.
HTMLCSSJavaScriptjQueryIllustratorPhotoshopPythonPyramid
Download my full resumé here: