We are looking for a part-time contract product designer to help us design and ship user-facing tools that connect students and workers to positively life-changing career and training opportunities. This role may be filled by an individual contributor or through a qualified agency or consultancy. The expected duration of this project is ~3 months.

This role spans user experience, user interface, and developer handoff, with a strong emphasis on clear design systems and collaboration. You’ll work closely with our product and engineering teams to move from rapid prototyping and early thinking to delivering developer-ready components.

Equitable hiring note

We are committed to equitable hiring and to building a team that reflects a wide range of backgrounds, identities, and lived experiences. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, or veteran status.

We also recognize that studies consistently show that candidates from underrepresented groups are less likely to apply for roles unless they meet every listed qualification. If this role feels like a fit but you don’t check every box, we still encourage you to apply. We care about thoughtfulness, potential, and alignment with the work as much as we care about exact matches. As a worker-first organization, we are committed to responding to 100% of people who apply (as long as you’re not spam). 

What you’ll do

• Partner with product managers and stakeholders to understand user needs, constraints, and goals.
• Engage in collaborative, early-stage UX thinking and lightweight prototyping to explore flows, structure, and intent. 
• Design clear, accessible, and motivating user interfaces that translate UX decisions into usable, durable components.
• Build modular, reusable UI components that are easy to adapt (colors, spacing, states, themes) without redesign.
• Prepare developer-ready designs and documentation that support efficient implementation.
• Facilitate clean handoff to engineers, reducing ambiguity and unnecessary back-and-forth. Pop into huddles/chats during the workday as needed. 
• Incorporate certain behavioral design principles (which we’ll highlight) into layout, flow, and interaction decisions.

How we work and think about AI

We’re looking for a product designer who is comfortable operating in an AI-assisted design-to-build workflow. You don’t need to be an engineer, but you should understand how design decisions translate directly into code and where AI can meaningfully support that process, as we learn more ourselves. AI helps us move faster through iterations so human judgment can focus on beauty and impact. 

You should have comfort with most of the following:

1. Figma-to-code workflows. Understanding how design systems, components, variables, and auto layout map cleanly into production code, and designing with that translation in mind.
2. MCP-style or equivalent design-to-build pipelines. Familiarity with how structured design data (components, tokens, schemas) can be exposed to engineers or AI tools to reduce manual interpretation.
3. AI-supported prototyping tools. Experience using tools to generate, explore, or iterate on layouts and flows during collaborative working sessions (rather than as final deliverables).
4. Design tokens and theming systems. Comfort defining and working with tokens for color, spacing, typography, and states so interfaces are easily adjustable without redesign.
5. AI-assisted documentation and iteration. Using tools to support variant generation, edge-case exploration, and design documentation that helps engineers.

You don’t need to be an expert in every tool, but you should be fluent enough to help our teammates.

What we’re looking for

• Experience designing elegant, helpful, user-facing digital products from UX concept through UI execution.
• Strong systems thinking and comfort creating reusable components and patterns.
• Ability to design with developers in mind, including clear organization, variables, states, and documentation.
• Collaborative working style and comfort designing alongside product managers and engineers.
• Clear communication and an instinct for reducing downstream complexity.

Nice to have

• Experience working on mission-driven or social impact tools.
• Familiarity with behavioral design, human-centered design, or choice architecture.
• Experience designing tools used by students, workers, or the general public.

Hourly rate and compensation philosophy

This is a part-time contract role. We align compensation to market rates and consider geographic location when determining pay, with Louisiana-based rates as a reference point.

Typical hourly ranges:

• $70–$90/hour for strong mid-level designers.
• $100–$125/hour for senior designers with deep systems and handoff experience.

Final rates depend on experience and demonstrated fit for the role.

Why work with us

• We respect focus and boundaries and aim to keep work within the workday.
• You’ll collaborate with a thoughtful, supportive team that values excellence, clarity, and shared problem-solving.
• You’ll work on real, production tools used by people making meaningful life decisions. For example, we designed and built the new WorkNOLA.com.

How to apply

Please email hiring@wherewego.org and include the following: 

• your LinkedIn profile URL*
• a website portfolio, case study, or work sample
• your resume

*This helps us avoid spam and maintain an excellent rate of responding to applications. 

We know the job hunt can be exhausting and discouraging, especially when it involves sending out many applications without hearing back. If this role resonates with you, we appreciate you taking the time to apply and we’re genuinely glad you found your way here.

This role is for a part-time contractor, which does not qualify for full time employee benefits.

We cannot predict if we will be hiring for a full-time product designer later in in 2026. We do understand that as you explore contracting positions, you may be evaluating the benefits for full-time positions.

Each of our full-time employees receive the following benefits:

• Compensation: Salaries ased on location and market rates, employee profit sharing, $2,000/yr for professional development.
• Retirement: 401k with 4% employer matching
• Healthcare: 100% coverage for Platinum-level healthcare, 50% for dependents, and reimbursements up to $2,500/yr for HRA-eligible expenses
• Flexible Schedule: No/low comms on Fridays, Unlimited PTO, Company breaks for Thanksgiving, Winter, Mardi Gras, and July 4th, as well as all Federal holidays, 16 weeks of Parental Leave