Job Application for Designer at Upstatement Recruiting

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About Upstatement

Upstatement is a strategic design studio that builds brands through digital. We use the tools of design, engineering, and journalism to enrich lives and create a more just society. Our 40-person team works with established leaders (MIT, Nike, Vogue, PBS, Mozilla) and emerging companies who are about to change the world. We are members of the kyu Collective and combine the energy of a boutique studio with the business maturity of an established global innovation leader.

The Role

Upstatement is looking for a thoughtful and driven Designer who is at home in the digital space and cares deeply about craft, clarity, and the role design can play in shaping meaningful experiences.

As a Designer, you’ll contribute across the full arc of a project - from early ideation through final production - working closely with creative leaders to deliver work that is not only beautiful, but purposeful, and brand-right. You're a strong graphic designer with real range, but your foundation is digital: you think in systems, you understand how design behaves on screens, and you care about getting it right.

This role is for someone who balances independence and collaboration. You’ll generate strong ideas, clearly articulate your thinking, and bring others along with you. You’re comfortable navigating complexity across user, business, and team needs, while holding your work to a high creative bar.

What You’ll Do

Contribute end-to-end. Support and sometimes lead work from early concepting through final production, helping ensure ideas translate into thoughtful, well-executed outcomes.
Develop and refine directions. Create work that is informed by research, connected to business outcomes, and aligned with brand systems.
Work through complexity. Navigate ambiguity with an open mind, generate multiple solutions, rapidly iterate, and make strategic design decisions in partnership with the team.
Collaborate closely. Work in a high-trust environment that encourages creative ownership, building on others’ ideas, contributing your own, and sharing in collective wins.
Sweat the details. Bring deep care and impeccable execution to every aspect of design: strategy, messaging, brand, colors, typography, imagery — big, small, and everything in between.
Communicate and influence. Keep teams aligned through regular updates. Present work to teammates and sometimes clients. Articulate where a project is going and why, connect long-term thinking to the work happening right now, and help shape creative strategy with a clear point of view.
Think in systems. Design with the full picture in mind using past patterns, current conventions, and future reuse. Document what you build, and leave every project in better shape than you found it.
Champion the user. Stay connected to the people you're designing for. Gather and hold user insights, advocate for user needs, and push for work that reflects a genuine understanding of who you're designing for and why it matters.
Show Up for the Team. Support a strong team environment where people feel productive, creative, and safe. Be unafraid to name problems and move toward solutions with optimism, clarity, and calm.

About You

You have:

3-5 years of hands-on design experience at a digital agency
A portfolio demonstrating strong visual and interaction design across digital work (websites, products, etc)
Bonus: experience working with complex systems, interaction-heavy products, and/or content-rich experiences

You’re someone who is:

Curious and comfortable in ambiguity
Proactive and adaptable
Obsessed with quality of craft
Eager to experiment with new ways of working
An active listener and confident communicator
A can-do problem solver with a big-picture mindset
Open to receiving and giving feedback

Last but not least: People who succeed here are empathetic teammates who are candid, kind, caring, and embody our core values. We believe that diverse, inclusive teams make the most impactful work. Upstatement is deeply invested in ensuring that we have a supportive, growth-oriented environment that works for everyone.

Compensation

Upstatement is committed to helping our people grow and providing transparent salary benchmarks. This job fits two possible levels in our skill progression framework (something we’d love to share during the interview process). The level depends the candidate’s unique qualifications, to be determined during the interview process.

Level: D2
Official Title: Designer
Department: Design
Salary Range: $85,000 - $100,000

Level: D3
Official Title: Senior Designer
Department: Design
Salary Range: $100,000 - $120,000

Benefits

Competitive salary
Health, Dental, & Vision Insurance
Flexible Spending & Health Savings Accounts
Online Mental Health Therapy with Talkspace & First Stop Health
Short & Long Term Disability Insurance
One Medical membership
Health Advocacy Support
Gynecology and Family-building Care with Kindbody
Non-elective 401k company contribution
$1,000 home office setup stipend
$1,500 annual professional development budget
3 weeks vacation to start, plus company-wide closure between Christmas & New Year’s Day (fully paid)
12 weeks paid parental leave, plus 12 additional weeks available as unpaid
Co-working spaces in Boston and Chicago as well as a fully distributed workforce

Interview Process

Our goal is to get to know you in a low-pressure, friendly environment — and to give you ample opportunity to learn more about us, too.

Our typical process includes these types of experiences:

A resume screen and introductory video chat
An exercise where you’ll have the opportunity to showcase your skills
Additional conversations with potential future team members, the hiring manager, and leadership

Our goal is to create an environment where you can interview at your best. Our interview process is fully remote, conducted via Zoom calls. If we can provide any assistance or accommodations during your time with us, please let us know at hr@upstatement.com. All requests are treated as privately as possible and have no impact on candidate eligibility.

Interested in applying?

Send us a resume, cover letter, and anything else that helps us understand what makes you awesome.

Women, people of color, LGBTQIA2S+ individuals, and members of other underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply. Upstatement is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against candidates on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status, or veteran status. Upstatement is committed to providing a welcoming and inclusive workplace for everyone — you are welcome here.

FWIW: Worries of “what if I’m not the perfect fit” can sometimes hold us back from applying to jobs. We want to let you in on a secret: there is no perfect candidate. Sure, we’re interested in resumes, but also the narrative beyond that resume—unique backgrounds, experiences, points of views, etc. As such—there is no set of boxes to tick in order to be a good candidate. If this is a job that excites you, we hope you’ll apply.

Designer