UI/UX Design Consultant
UI/UX Design Consultant
Hats & Ladders, Inc. | New York, NY
Start date: February - May 2024
Position Type: Contract (4 month, FT)
Location: Based in NYC or US-based remote candidates
ABOUT US
Hats & Ladders, Inc. is a mission-driven start-up focused on helping all youth become more confident and better informed about their future choices. We’re supported by the National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Education, and youth development organizations in New York City and beyond. Our platform features a self-guided web-based app for young adults that works in tandem with a web-based dashboard of resources for educators.
ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY
We are looking for a UI/UX Design Consultant for a remote role reporting to the Director of Product & Design. The ideal candidate is an experienced UI/UX designer who will work closely with our product and instruction teams to define compelling and engaging user experiences for our online career launching platform. This role is a 4-month contract focused on a specific project with high potential for continued work and/or transition to full time employee role.
WHAT YOU WILL DO
User experience design and research - Understand who our users are and design to engage, delight and teach them critical career skills. Develop wireframes, mockups, user flows, and product design prototypes to communicate your ideas and approach. Run through the user experience in guerilla user testing sessions to get feedback to inform your designs.
Interface design - Create high fidelity mockups, prototypes and user interfaces design specifications that are development ready. Design interface elements with clear intention and purpose and define how it behaves alone and within the whole responsive web product ecosystem.
Visual identity and visual design - Create stunning elements for web and mobile apps (icons, illustrations, color) that capture the user’s attention and serve to enable understanding and elevate the user experience. Utilize graphic design fundamentals to develop and evolve the design language for consistency, understandability and strengthening brand messaging.
Data-driven design - Understand how data is passed around, manipulated and utilized to inform and elevate the design of user experiences.
Collaborate and Present designs - Work closely with key stakeholders (designers, engineers, educators, instructional and game designers) to research, explore and gather data to ensure design requirements are clearly defined, designs meet the overall business objectives and development hand-off is clear. Execute on projects from design definition to fully developed products that are go-to-market ready and align with business needs.
WHAT YOU BRING
“Musts”
At least 5+ years of experience designing for responsive web user experiences that optimizes the user experience on all browser sizes - our app is web based, not native
User centered approach to design - you advocate and design for the user and are comfortable running user testing sessions to validate your designs
Proficiency in Figma - Figma is your primary design tool and you use auto layout and component variations to keep designs organized and ready for easy hand-off to engineers
Design System Thinking - You are able to work within a design system and collaborate with designers and developers to evolve and strengthen it, paying high attention to detail, ensuring consistency and clarity in how the individual parts work within a design language
Graphic Design Skills - you have a strong foundation in graphic design principles and pay attention to the intricacies of spacing, intentional color usage and typography within your interactive designs
Experience in a small fast-paced team where you take ownership of design and work collaboratively with stakeholders, from concept to engineering development and QA
Strong verbal, written and interpersonal skills
“Pluses”
Experience designing go-to-market products for education
Experience in user research, planning and moderating user testing, conducting market research and developing personas and analyzing data
Familiar with Universal Design for Learning principles to design for differently-abled users
Digital illustration skills to illustrate a concept or feeling or person to engage and delight users
Experience with information architecture and web development
Not for you if
You prefer that a project manager organizes and tracks your tasks
You are not comfortable leading a design and making decisions with key stakeholders
You’re camera shy and/or prefer not to collaborate over video
You’re a graphic designer or illustrator without UI/UX or product design experience
You’ve designed for native apps only and not yet mobile or web app design
WHAT WE OFFER
A fun, creative start-up that is growing fast and deeply collaborative team
Mission-driven work with opportunity to directly impact product and organization
A competitive rate with a sane work life
INCLUSION MATTERS
As an equal opportunity employer, Hats & Ladders, Inc., is committed to creating an inclusive, connected and diverse workplace where employee contributions are valued and rewarded.
SALARY $60/hr
TO APPLYEmail with the subject line “UX/UI Design Consultant” stating your interest, along with your resume and an online portfolio of relevant work to careers@hatsandladders.com.
