Senior/Lead Product UX Designer

We are building operational software for a major international sporting event. You'll join our design lead and own features end to end. You'll take a requirement, understand the operational problem behind it, define how users move through it, and deliver production-ready designs in our design system. Our development teams (3 now, 5 from January) depend on design staying ahead of them, so ownership and judgment matter more than speed alone.

What you'll do
- Own features from requirement to dev handoff: problem framing, user flows, wireframes and high-fidelity UI.
- Work with product leads to understand the operational context and close gaps in requirements.
- Learn complex domain rules (eligibility, quotas, approvals, logistics) and turn them into clear workflows.
- Design within our shared Figma design system and help extend it.
- Write clear specs and annotations for developers.
- Take part in design reviews with the design lead and in reviews alongside development.
- Keep defined work one to two sprints ahead of the dev teams.
- Verify built features match design intent.

Requirements
- 5+ years in product or UX design, with a portfolio showing your process (problem, flows, iterations), not just final screens.
- Experience with complex, data-heavy enterprise or operational applications: multi-step workflows, role-based access, admin tools.
- Strong Figma skills, including components, variables and working within an established design system.
- Able to own an ambiguous problem without step-by-step direction.
- Uses AI tools (e.g. Claude, Figma MCP) to speed up exploration while staying accountable for UX quality.
- Strong written and spoken English: you'll work through complex requirements with a US team.
- Full-time availability as a fully dedicated individual contributor (no agencies or subcontractors), with good overlap with CET working hours, plus some overlap with US time zones.

Nice to have
- Experience building or maintaining a design system.
- Event operations, logistics, travel or large-program experience.

How we hire
1. Portfolio + a short note on how you approach a complex workflow
2. Short call with the design lead
3. Paid trial, 2–4 weeks at your rate, on a real-scope task
4. Long-term full-time contract

Practical
- Contract role. You invoice the US company directly.
- This is a role for one dedicated individual contributor, not for agencies, studios or subcontracting. You do the work yourself, full-time, and don't run other client work in parallel.
- Payment via ACH, so you'll need US bank details (a US account or USD receiving details, e.g. Wise or Payoneer).
- W-8BEN form (W-8BEN-E if you invoice through a company).
- Start: as soon as possible.
- A reliable setup for power and internet outages (backup power, mobile or satellite internet), so you can keep working through blackouts.
- Rate: $4000+ per month.