Designer Build the Design Function, Not Just Ship Screens - ColoredCow

Designer Build the Design Function, Not Just Ship Screens Design ColoredCow has had one designer for years. Were hiring the second person to build the design function from here to set the frame for design judgment in an AI-era custom software company, not ship screens inside a system someone else built. 3 7 years UX or product experience; AI-native workflow expected; Gurgaon, in-office. If you ve spent your career inside a design system someone else built designing within a frame that someone else set and you re now ready to be the person who sets the frame, this is the role. ColoredCow is a 12-year-old custom software company in the middle of an AI-era transition. Our design function has been one person for years; we re hiring the second person to build it from here. What Youre Walking Into We are 25 people across three offices (Gurgaon, Tehri, Dwarahat). Twelve years old. Bootstrapped. We build custom software for long-term clients in healthcare technology, the social sector, ad-agency operations, government think tanks, and education. Never as a product company; always as a delivery partner who takes the relationship seriously. The honest part the part that decides whether this role is right for you: The design function has been one person (Hitesh) for years. The company website was built in 2016 and has been updated periodically since but each update has tended to break the flow of the original design, leaving blots that don t fully connect. We have a portfolio page and a case study page; both represent 2016 ColoredCow, not who we are in 2026. We have a recently shipped services page that does represent the current shape of the business. We have a design system that one designer uses it works for him, and it needs to be built further before a second designer can plug into it. The design workflow lives in that one designer s head; it isn t documented yet. None of this is bad. It just means the next designer walks into real material to evolve, not a blank slate, and not a polished system either. You ll find blots and bright spots side by side. We are mid-transition on AI. Production design layouts, variations, mockups, copy iterations has compressed dramatically with tools like v0, Claude, Figma AI, Stitch, and UX Pilot. What stays scarce, and what we hire for, is design judgment : which design to produce, why this direction, and whether it moves the business outcome our clients actually care about. What Youd Actually Do (From Week One) From Week 1: Meet the team in 5 10 minute conversations (Hitesh, Vaibhav, Pokhi, Deepak Tripathi, the founder, the hill office leads on video) Audit the live website services page (current), case study page (stale), portfolio page (stale), and the gaps between them Read the Design Function Map and the Design First Principles operating frame Sit in on a live client engagement scoping call with the founder Start a working note on what you d change in the existing design system, with reasoning In the first 90 days: Ship one case study page rebuild end-to-end using AI-augmented design (v0, Claude, Figma AI alongside Figma) so we have a current proof point of what 2026 ColoredCow design looks like Audit the design system; document the design workflow currently held in one designer s head Contribute to one live client engagement on UX or product design work Begin running design intake and triage for new client requests By six months: Own the design function as a builder, not a maintainer Hire and onboard a junior designer or intern Co-shape the productized design service offering a thesis we are testing this year (the founder is running a 90-day build to test whether what ColoredCow has done as bundled work for years can be sold as a priced service line; you co-shape it as the first operator) This Role Is Not For You If You re rooted in SaaS, Fintech, or D2C product design and looking for that kind of work. ColoredCow does custom software for long-term client engagements in different segments. The shape of the work is genuinely different. You re a graphic designer (visual / branding / illustration / fashion communication) without UX or product depth. Graphic design at ColoredCow is supporting work done by existing team members; this role is UX and product-led. You can t walk through a specific AI use case in your application which tool, what was the prompt, what was the output, what you did with it, what you iterated. If you can t write that in concrete detail, this isn t the role yet. Generic I use ChatGPT and Figma AI answers tell us you haven t yet built the AI-native muscle this role needs. You expect a senior designer above you who frames the brief and you operate inside it. This role is the senior designer. You frame the brief. You want a structured corporate environment with defined career ladders and large teams. We re 25 people, founder-led, mid-transition not that. You expect polished collateral to start with. The portfolio page is stale. The case study page is stale. The first proof point of new design is the one you ship. What You Need (And What You Dont) What you need: 3 7 years of UX or product design experience, with at least one project where you owned design end-to-end and shipped under real constraints (not a portfolio piece for a class brief) Demonstrated AI-native workflow not I ve tried v0 once but specific projects where AI changed your process and you can walk through it tool-by-tool, prompt-by-prompt, output-by-output A working point of view about how design and product decisions should land. Craft alone isn t enough; we hire for judgment about what should ship and why Comfort with ambiguity. The first 90 days have a known shape; what comes after, we co-shape with you Direct client communication ability you ll work with US-based and India-based clients on Slack and on calls from Day 1 What you don t need: A specific degree (NID, NIFT, IDC, IIIT none required, none disqualifying) A specific tool stack Figma is our default, but we hire for thinking and adapt the toolchain to what works Years inside a brand-name design studio small-team experience tends to translate better than agency-name prestige Visual perfectionism we ship-honest, iterate publicly, treat first drafts as drafts The Details Experience: 3 7 years Location: Gurgaon (in-office) is the default. Hillside office option in Tehri or Dwarahat available as desired periodically or for extended stretches; figured out together. Compensation: 10 15 Lak Disclaimer : This job posting has been aggregated from external source. Role details, content, and availability are subject to change. Applicants are advised to confirm the latest information directly on the company website before applying.