Fractional Founding Designer

ABOUT THE ROLE This is a founding design position at an early-stage AI-powered recruiting platform, working 10–20 hours per week in a fractional capacity. You won't be executing tickets — you'll be setting the visual and interaction standards that the entire product is built against, owning the look, feel, and design language from the ground up. WHAT YOU'LL DO - Define and own the product's design direction, establishing the visual identity and UX standards everyone else builds against. - Create high-fidelity mockups and interactive prototypes using tools like Figma, Sketch, or Adobe XD. - Build and document a design system that scales with the team. - Work directly with engineering and product to implement designs and navigate technical constraints. - Conduct or facilitate user research, usability testing, and qualitative feedback sessions to continuously refine the product. - Manage design-to-code handoff, with an understanding of how designs translate to frontend implementation. WHAT WE'RE LOOKING FOR - 3+ years of product design experience shipping consumer or B2B products end-to-end. - Demonstrated experience establishing design systems, standards, and documentation for engineering teams. - Proficiency in Figma, Sketch, or Adobe XD for prototyping and high-fidelity design work. - Comfort making design and product strategy decisions with incomplete information, iterating based on real user feedback. - A portfolio showcasing shipped products with a clear problem-solving or before/after narrative. - Experience at early-stage startups or in fractional/part-time design roles is a strong plus. - Familiarity with HTML/CSS and frontend implementation concepts is a bonus. LOCATION Fully remote. Open to candidates based in the DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland).