Manoj Venkatesun

Open to new opportunities

Product Designer based in Chennai, with a habit of building what I design.

Recent projects

Jan 2026 - Present

Our Ability, AI Platform for Disability Employment

Our Ability helps people with disabilities find jobs and get the support they need at work. I directed the design and build of three AI tools that help match candidates to jobs, reach out to them over SMS, and answer their workplace questions automatically.

Role

Technical Product Designer

Company

Our Ability

Check Back Soon

Screenshot of the Our Ability Assistant showing the Self-Disclosure tab, with topic filters and an AI-powered question interface for disability workplace questions.

Mar 2024 - Jan 2026

PlatePost: Designing a video-first menu platform for restaurants

Restaurants spend thousands on food photography that lives on Instagram and dies on their website. I designed PlatePost's entire product experience, from the marketing site to the white-label VideoMenus that restaurants use in-store, to make food video the center of the dining decision.

Role

Lead UI/UX Designer

Company

PlatePost

Screenshot of the Our Ability Assistant showing the Self-Disclosure tab, with topic filters and an AI-powered question interface for disability workplace questions.

12 Weeks

Jobs Ability: Making job search accessible for people with disabilities

I redesigned the Our Ability job-seeker dashboard so people with disabilities could actually find and apply to jobs without hitting accessibility walls at every step.

Role

Lead UI/UX Designer

Company

Our Ability

Screenshot of the Our Ability Assistant showing the Self-Disclosure tab, with topic filters and an AI-powered question interface for disability workplace questions.

16 Weeks

OrangeWork Hub: Replacing paper schedules with a mobile app for Syracuse University student workers

Syracuse University Food Services managed 200+ student shifts on paper. I designed a mobile app that lets students view, schedule, swap, and drop shifts without ever needing to track down a supervisor.

Role

Sole Designer (end-to-end)

Company

Syracuse University

Screenshot of the Our Ability Assistant showing the Self-Disclosure tab, with topic filters and an AI-powered question interface for disability workplace questions.

4 Days

Knowt: Designing a streak system that makes students come back every day

Knowt turns notes into quizzes, but users weren't building a daily habit. I designed a streak and rewards system in 4 days to give students a reason to open the app every morning.

Role

Product Designer (sole designer, 4-day sprint)

Company

Knowt

Screenshot of the Our Ability Assistant showing the Self-Disclosure tab, with topic filters and an AI-powered question interface for disability workplace questions.

What others have to say

  • Manoj performed a wonderful task in bringing our vision into reality. What I saw in my head with our system, Manoj was able to create the template for our coders to build. Manoj performed exemplary work!

    John Robinson

    CEO @ Our Ability

  • He demonstrated exceptional skills in translating the client's vision into an intuitive and visually appealing website. His attention to detail and user-centric approach aligned perfectly with the client's brand and objectives, leading to our team exceeding the client's expectations.

    Anjuman Alam

    Project Manager @ Syracuse University

About

Just don't ask him to design before his first caffeine fix - that's a whole different user experience!

I grew up in Palani, a small town in Tamil Nadu. The plan was to become a doctor. That didn’t work out, and I ended up in computer science, which honestly wasn’t my first choice. For a long time, coding felt like something I was stuck with.

I did my master’s at Syracuse University and found UI/UX there. First time something in tech actually made sense to me. I volunteered, took unpaid work, did a co-op, built up experience the slow way.

Startups pulled me back into engineering. When there are only three people on the team, you do what needs doing. I kept picking up technical work until I got good at it. Now I can take something from idea to working product without handing it off, and that part I genuinely enjoy.

Outside work I’ve been getting into Formula 1. Lewis Hamilton is my driver. What I like about him isn’t the titles, it’s what he does when things aren’t going his way. Last year at Ferrari was rough. He just kept showing up. This year he’s back to his best. That kind of thing stays with me.

If you want to talk design, engineering, or F1, I’m probably free.

Work Experience

Technical Product Designer

Our Ability

Jan 2026

-

Present

Product Designer

PlatePost

Apr 2024

-

Jan 2026

User Experience Designer

iConsult Collaborative, Syracuse University

Mar 2023

-

Mar 2024

UI/UX Designer

Case at Syracuse University

May 2022

-

Jan 2023

Skills

The tools and languages I actually use day to day, across design and engineering.

HTML5

CSS3

JavaScript

React

Figma

Python

User Research

Framer

Figma Make

FastAPI

PostgreSQL

OpenAI API

RAG Pipelines

Accessibility (WCAG 2.1)

Create a free website with Framer, the website builder loved by startups, designers and agencies.