Contract to start, with opportunity for full-time

New York or Remote (EST preferred)

Contract rate: $85–$125/hr | Full-time base salary: $85,000–$125,000 (base)

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We are hiring a digital designer to work on UI/UX, website and product design for early-stage companies.

At Little Plains, digital design spans both the product and the interface: the logic of the flows, the quality of the interactions, and the visual precision of the UI. The best digital designers move between them naturally.

You work across research, early prototypes, and production-ready UI, contributing directly across websites and products.

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Why This Role Exists

The digital products early-stage companies are building are more complex than they used to be. AI-native products especially require new thinking about flows, states, and how to communicate what a system is doing in real time.

At the scale we work, from pre-launch through Series A, this role moves fluidly between research, product thinking, and interface craft – shaping both the flow and the UI as one cohesive system.

Good digital design still requires the same things it always did: empathy for users, judgment about what to cut, and the ability to turn ambiguous problems into clear, usable experiences. New tools have made exploration faster. They have not done that part.

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About Little Plains

Little Plains is a modern brand and product studio. We work primarily with early-stage companies, often from pre-launch through Series A, at moments where clarity, speed, and conviction matter most. Our partners are founders and small senior teams building new products, categories, and narratives under real constraints.

We operate as an embedded creative partner rather than a traditional digital agency, building brand, product, and go-to-market work into cohesive systems that can scale as companies grow. Our work spans healthcare, biotech, SaaS, and consumer products.

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What You Will Do

Day to day, you will:

• Lead digital design on your projects end to end, from research and early prototyping through production-ready UI
• Design user flows, interaction patterns, and interfaces that are intuitive, functional, and visually strong, across both web and mobile
• Translate brand systems into consistent, scalable UI
• Build and maintain design systems and reusable components that hold up across a product
• Think in systems: design patterns that scale across a product
• Work closely with product leads and engineers to keep designs grounded in what can actually ship
• Move quickly, iterate based on feedback, and hold a clear point of view on what works
• Use tools like Claude and Figma Make to prototype ideas and directions early, before committing to high-fidelity design

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How We Work

Work is developed alongside strategy, brand, and engineering decisions, not handed off at the end. We work in sprint cycles. Artifacts evolve in real time.

We care about the quality of the decisions, not just the speed of the output.

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The Bar for Craft

Strong product design lives in the details most users never consciously notice: the state that loads cleanly, the flow that does not require explanation, the component that works at every size.

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What We're Looking For

• 3–5 years of experience in digital, UI/UX, or product design, ideally with consumer tech, SaaS, or AI-driven products
• Proficiency in Figma with strong skills in user research, user flows, and interaction design
• Experience designing interfaces across web and mobile with a focus on both function and craft
• Experience building design systems and reusable components
• Ability to translate brand systems into functional, scalable product UI
• Comfort working with product managers and engineers in fast-paced cycles
• Active use of AI tools (e.g. Flora, Weavy, MidJourney, Claude, Paper) to accelerate ideation and workflows
• High attention to detail and a commitment to quality at every scale

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Benefits (Full-Time)

• Quarterly profit share tied to studio performance
• Equity participation for long-term team members
• Medical, dental, and vision insurance (50% employer-covered)
• 15 days PTO (Year 1, increases by 2 days/year)
• Parental leave: 12 weeks (birth parent), 6 weeks (non-birth parent) at full pay
• Prenatal leave: 20 hours paid per year
• $1,000/year craft and tools stipend
• $200/month coworking stipend

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What to Submit

• Resume or LinkedIn profile
• Portfolio showing digital design work across products and interfaces
• A short note on your design process and the kinds of problems you want to work on next

If you want to design digital products that are clear, usable, and built to hold up, let's talk.

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Equal Opportunity & Fair Chance

Little Plains is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law, including the New York State and New York City Human Rights Laws.

In accordance with the NYC Fair Chance Act, we consider applicants with criminal histories. Any background check will occur only after a conditional offer of employment has been made.

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Apply Now

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Thank You.

‍We appreciate your consideration. We will do our best to view every submission carefully, and in a timely manner. Please allow a few business days for us to get back to your submission, and we look forward to hopefully talking more.‍

Cheers,
Little Plains