UI/UX Designer

Photon offers medical, vision, and dental benefits, a 401k retirement plan, variable pay incentives, paid time off, and paid holidays. This onsite Chicago contract UI/UX Designer role centers on leading end-to-end design, user research, and the development of design systems across product teams to deliver accessible, responsive interfaces.

Responsibilities

• Lead the end-to-end design process, from user research and ideation to wireframing, prototyping, visual design, testing, and implementation.
• Gather and evaluate user requirements in collaboration with product managers, business stakeholders, and development teams.
• Create user flows, information architecture, journey maps, wireframes, mockups, and interactive prototypes for web and mobile applications.
• Design intuitive, accessible, and visually appealing user interfaces aligned with business goals and user expectations.
• Develop and maintain design systems, style guides, component libraries, and UI standards to ensure consistency across products.
• Conduct user research, usability testing, customer interviews, and heuristic evaluations to identify usability improvements.
• Translate complex business and technical requirements into simple, user-friendly experiences.
• Collaborate closely with UI developers, product owners, business analysts, and QA teams throughout the product lifecycle.
• Create high-fidelity designs using tools such as Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, or similar design platforms.
• Ensure designs adhere to accessibility standards, responsive design principles, and platform-specific guidelines.
• Review implemented designs and work with development teams to ensure pixel-perfect execution.
• Analyze user feedback, analytics, and behavioral data to continuously improve user experience and engagement.
• Present and communicate design concepts, rationale, and recommendations to stakeholders and leadership teams.
• Stay current with emerging UX trends, design methodologies, technologies, and industry best practices.
• Support branding initiatives and ensure visual consistency across all digital touchpoints.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Graphic Design, Computer Science, or a related field.
• 4+ years of experience in UI/UX design for web and mobile applications.
• Strong portfolio demonstrating expertise in user-centered design and visual design principles.
• Proficiency in Figma, Adobe XD, Sketch, Photoshop, Illustrator, or similar tools.
• Strong understanding of UX methodologies including user research, journey mapping, wireframing, prototyping, and usability testing.
• Experience designing responsive and mobile-first applications.
• Knowledge of accessibility standards and usability best practices.
• Strong communication, collaboration, and presentation skills.
• Ability to work effectively in Agile/Scrum environments.

Technologies

• Figma
• Sketch
• Adobe XD
• Photoshop
• Illustrator
• HTML
• CSS
• JavaScript
• Google Analytics
• Hotjar
• Mixpanel

Benefits

• Medical, vision, and dental benefits
• 401k retirement plan
• Variable pay/incentives
• Paid time off
• Paid holidays

Key Skills

• User Experience (UX) Design
• User Interface (UI) Design
• Wireframing & Prototyping
• Design Systems
• User Research & Usability Testing
• Information Architecture
• Interaction Design
• Responsive & Mobile Design
• Figma / Adobe XD / Sketch
• Visual Design & Branding
• Accessibility & Inclusive Design
• Agile Methodologies

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing enterprise applications, eCommerce platforms, or customer-facing digital products.
• Familiarity with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and front-end development concepts.
• Experience with design systems and component-based design approaches.
• Knowledge of analytics tools such as Google Analytics, Hotjar, Mixpanel, or similar platforms.
• Experience working closely with cross-functional and distributed teams.

Compensation, benefits and duration

Minimum Compensation: USD 33,000

Maximum Compensation: USD 117,000

Compensation is based on actual experience and qualifications of the candidate. The above is a reasonable and good faith estimate for the role.

Medical, vision, and dental benefits, 401k retirement plan, variable pay/incentives, paid time off, and paid holidays are available for full-time employees.

This position is available for independent contractors.

No applications will be considered if received more than 120 days after the date of this post.