UI/UX Web Designer

We are seeking an experienced UI/UX Web Designer to support the ongoing design of our websites across two brands. This is a contractor opportunity with immediate work available and strong potential for a long-term ongoing relationship. You will work closely with our development team to produce designs that translate cleanly and consistently into our existing React/Next.js environment. A key part of this role is ensuring designs are build-ready: structured, componentized, and specified in a way that removes ambiguity for the developer implementing them. Primary Responsibilities 1. Design & UX - Design new pages, templates, and user flows for two distinct brands - Maintain and evolve our design systems, style guides, and component libraries - Ensure consistency across similar page templates so a single approved design can be applied across multiple pages without additional design work - Apply strong UX/UI and conversion-focused design principles - Design fully responsive layouts (desktop, tablet, mobile) 2. Design & Developer Handoff - Build using reusable components, auto-layout, and defined design tokens (spacing, typography, color) so implementation is predictable - Provide clear annotations and specs for developers, including responsive behavior and edge cases (empty states, long content, error states) - Work directly with developers during implementation to resolve ambiguity quickly and reduce back-and-forth - Review completed builds against design and flag discrepancies constructively 3. Collaboration - Take design briefs from business requirements and turn them into polished, functional interfaces - Communicate proactively when timelines or scope shift Essential Skills & Experience - Strong portfolio of production UI/UX work, ideally with live websites you personally designed (not just concepts) - Deep experience with tools like Figma: components, variants, auto-layout, design tokens, and developer-handoff practices - Demonstrated understanding of how design decisions affect development effort and feasibility - Experience designing for React/Next.js implementation specifically is highly regarded - Strong grasp of responsive design and cross-device consistency - Understanding of accessibility and conversion-focused design principles - Excellent written communication — you will often be corresponding directly with the business owner Nice to Have - Prior experience working directly alongside developers (not just handing off files and disengaging) - Experience maintaining a design system over time across an evolving product, rather than one-off design projects - Familiarity with basic front-end constraints (what's cheap vs. expensive to build) — even without a coding background What We Will Provide - Existing brand guidelines and prior design assets - Access to the live sites and existing codebase context (for reference, not editing) - Clear project briefs and business context - Direct collaboration with the development team and founders - Ongoing, consistent work across two brands To Apply, Please Provide 1. Portfolio of UI/UX work, ideally including live websites you personally designed (not just Dribbble/Behance concepts) 2. An example of designs in tools like Figma file you built for developer handoff — describe how you structured it for implementation 3. Your estimated availability per week We are looking for someone who takes ownership of outcomes, communicates honestly around scope and time, and wants to build a long-term working relationship rather than take on one-off project work.