Senior Product Designer - 3 month 1099 contract

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Product Designer - 3 Month 1099 Contract

Company: Remitly

Location: Seattle, Washington, United States

Job Type: Contract

Category: Product Design / UX/UI Design

Date Posted: 2026-05-14

Experience Level: Senior (7+ years)

Remote Status: Hybrid (with potential for remote or travel)

🚀 Role Summary

• Spearhead end-to-end design ownership for Remitly's "Receivers" team, focusing on emerging market customers and leveraging an AI-first workflow.

• Drive rapid prototyping and detailed UI/UX design for both product and product marketing assets, ensuring seamless integration with existing design systems and localization processes.

• Collaborate closely with Product, Engineering, and Marketing to transform ambiguous problems into validated, customer-loved experiences within a fast-paced, low-process startup environment.

• Conduct independent concept testing and customer interviews, synthesizing feedback to inform design decisions and push for better customer outcomes.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is a 3-month, 40-hour/week contract position (1099) focused on a specific "startup within Remitly" team. The emphasis on an "AI-first workflow" and rapid prototyping with specific AI tools (Claude Code, Google Stitch, Gemini, ChatGPT) is a critical differentiator for this role, suggesting a need for candidates comfortable with cutting-edge design methodologies and tools. The expectation for owning outcomes from problem framing through ship indicates a high degree of autonomy and accountability.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Own the complete design lifecycle for the Receivers experience, encompassing user flows, wireframes, rapid prototypes, and final high-fidelity UI designs.

• Develop and execute product marketing assets that align with the overall Receivers product strategy and customer journey.

• Leverage AI tools such as Claude Code, Google Stitch, Claude, Gemini, or ChatGPT for accelerated prototyping, research synthesis, content generation, and data analysis.

• Translate AI-generated prototypes into polished, production-ready designs within Figma, adhering strictly to Remitly's established design system and localization guidelines.

• Proactively identify and frame ambiguous, complex problems, translating them into clear, actionable design directions without requiring a fully defined brief.

• Independently plan and execute concept testing sessions and customer interviews, effectively synthesizing qualitative and quantitative data to drive design decisions.

• Foster strong, collaborative partnerships with Product Managers, Engineers, and Marketing stakeholders, ensuring clear communication of design progress, potential risks, and necessary trade-offs.

• Articulate and defend design decisions with a strong point of view, productively challenging proposals that may not align with customer needs or best practices.

• Create comprehensive documentation for design decisions and handoffs, ensuring a smooth transition for ongoing maintenance and development post-contract.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of "startup within Remitly" and "startup pace: scrappy, fast, minimal red tape, high responsibility per person" indicates a need for a candidate who thrives in ambiguity and can operate with significant autonomy. The dual responsibility for both UX and product marketing assets is a key aspect, requiring a broader skill set than a traditional UX designer. The specific AI tools mentioned are crucial to highlight, as proficiency in them is strongly preferred.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: No specific degree is mandated, but a strong portfolio demonstrating equivalent practical experience and skill mastery is essential.

Experience: 7+ years of dedicated product design experience, with a proven track record in environments characterized by rapid pace and minimal process, where the candidate has demonstrably owned end-to-end outcomes from initial problem framing through successful product shipment.

Required Skills:

• Portfolio Excellence: A robust portfolio showcasing shipped, customer-facing products with clear before-and-after scenarios, explicitly detailing personal contributions, and exhibiting exceptional attention to interaction and visual craft.

• AI Workflow Proficiency: Demonstrated experience and a clear, articulate workflow for leveraging AI tools in the design process, including concrete examples of rapid prototyping with tools like Claude Code/Cowork or Google Stitch, and utilizing AI for research, synthesis, and analysis with tools such as Claude, Gemini, or ChatGPT. This is strongly preferred.

• Expert Figma Skills: Advanced proficiency in Figma for designing and prototyping complex user flows and interfaces.

• Design System & Localization: Proven experience executing designs within an established design system and adhering to localization processes.

• User Research: Experience independently conducting concept testing and customer interviews to validate design directions.

• Communication & Autonomy: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, coupled with a high degree of comfort operating with significant autonomy and responsibility.

• Cross-Functional Design: A demonstrated ability to design both product UX and product marketing assets, or a clear aptitude to effectively flex across both domains.

Preferred Skills:

• Multilingual Capability: Fluency in Spanish or other languages to facilitate customer interviews in international markets.

• Emerging Markets Experience: Prior experience designing for emerging markets, global audiences, or users with limited digital literacy.

• Fintech/Payments Background: Experience within the fintech, payments, or broader consumer financial products industry.

• Contract/Agency Experience: Previous experience in contract or agency roles, specifically designing for consumer mobile and web applications.

• Accessibility & Compliance: Familiarity with designing accessible-conscious and compliance-aware consumer experiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "7+ years" experience, combined with the need for "fast-moving, low-process environments" and owning "outcomes from problem framing through ship," points to a senior-level candidate with a strong bias for action and a history of delivering results independently. The "strongly preferred" AI workflow requirement suggests it's a critical factor if not an outright necessity for consideration.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Shipped Work Showcase: Provide clear examples of launched products, illustrating the problem addressed, your specific design contributions, and the resulting customer impact.

• AI Integration Examples: Include case studies or specific project examples demonstrating how AI tools were used for rapid prototyping, research, or content generation, detailing the prompts and outcomes.

• Figma Proficiency Proof: Showcase complex user flows, interactive prototypes, and high-fidelity UI designs created in Figma, highlighting adherence to design systems.

• UX & Marketing Blend: Present examples that demonstrate your ability to design cohesive experiences across both core product UX and supporting product marketing collateral.

• Process & Collaboration: Detail your approach to concept testing, customer interviews, and cross-functional collaboration, showing how you synthesize feedback and communicate trade-offs.

Process Documentation:

• Problem Framing & Solutioning: Illustrate your methodology for taking ambiguous problems and defining clear design directions, including any documentation or frameworks used.

• AI Prototyping Workflow: Be prepared to walk through your AI-driven prototyping process, including tool choices, prompt engineering strategies, and how AI outputs were iterated upon.

• Design System Adherence: Demonstrate your understanding and application of design system principles and localization considerations in your design deliverables.

• Outcome Measurement: Explain how you track and present the impact of your designs, focusing on customer feedback, usage metrics, and business outcomes.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "How to stand out" section directly informs portfolio expectations. Candidates are encouraged to proactively demonstrate their AI prototyping skills with existing money apps. This suggests the portfolio review will heavily weigh the candidate's ability to think critically about user problems, leverage AI tools rapidly, and articulate their design rationale, rather than just polished final deliverables.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $100 - $120 per hour.

Benefits: As a 1099 contractor, standard employee benefits such as health insurance, paid time off, and retirement plans are typically not provided by the hiring company. Contractors are responsible for their own benefits and tax withholdings.

Working Hours: 40 hours per week.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is explicitly stated as $100-$120 per hour. For a 3-month contract, this indicates a competitive rate for a senior-level designer with specialized AI and rapid prototyping skills. As a 1099 contractor, the candidate will be responsible for managing their own taxes and benefits, which should be factored into their overall compensation expectations. The 40-hour work week is standard, but the "startup pace" may imply occasional periods of intense focus.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Fintech/Financial Services, focusing on international money transfers and financial services for emerging markets.

Company Size: Over 2,800 employees globally.

Founded: 2011.

Company Slogan: "Transforming lives with trusted financial services that transcend borders."

Team Structure: This role is within the "Receivers team," described as a "startup within Remitly." This implies a lean, agile, and potentially less hierarchical structure compared to the broader organization. The team focuses on building experiences for new customers in emerging markets who first encounter Remitly as recipients.

Methodology: The Receivers team operates at "startup pace: scrappy, fast, minimal red tape, high responsibility per person." This suggests a culture that values rapid iteration, direct problem-solving, and individual ownership. Design work is expected to be integrated closely with AI tools for speed and efficiency.

Company Website: https://www.remitly.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The "startup within Remitly" framing is crucial. It suggests a culture that is more experimental, faster-moving, and potentially less structured than a large, established corporation. This environment requires designers who are comfortable with ambiguity, can self-direct, and are adept at rapid iteration. The company's mission to transform lives through financial services for emerging markets provides a strong purpose-driven context.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Senior Product Designer (Contract). This role is senior in its focus on end-to-end ownership, complex problem-solving, and mentorship potential (implied by "Senior" title), but it's a fixed-term contract.

Reporting Structure: The designer will partner day-to-day with Product, Engineering, Marketing, and other Designers. The specific reporting line for a contractor might vary but will likely be to a Design Lead or Product Lead within the Receivers team.

Operations Impact: This role has a direct impact on acquiring and retaining new customers in emerging markets, a key growth area for Remitly. Success will be measured by the engagement and satisfaction of these "recipient" customers, contributing to Remitly's overall global expansion and mission.

Growth Opportunities:

• AI Tool Mastery: Deepen expertise in cutting-edge AI design tools and workflows, becoming a go-to person for efficient prototyping and research.

• Emerging Market Design: Gain significant experience designing for diverse user needs and contexts within emerging economies, a valuable specialization.

• Startup Environment Acclimation: Develop resilience and adaptability by working in a fast-paced, low-process "startup within a startup" setting.

• Cross-Functional Leadership: Enhance collaboration and influence skills by working closely with Product, Engineering, and Marketing leaders on critical growth initiatives.

• Portfolio Enhancement: Deliver impactful, shipped work on a high-visibility project that significantly strengthens the candidate's portfolio for future senior roles.

📝 Enhancement Note: While a contract role, the "Senior" designation and the focus on a critical growth area (Receivers team) suggest this is a high-impact assignment. Growth here is less about traditional career ladder progression within Remitly and more about skill acquisition, portfolio building, and gaining experience in a niche, high-demand area (AI-driven design for emerging markets).

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid work model is preferred, with an expectation of being in the Seattle office 2-3 days per week. The broader Remitly culture emphasizes "Connected Work Culture" with intentional in-office collaboration.

Office Location(s): Seattle, Washington, United States.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Hub: The Seattle office likely serves as a central hub for collaboration, idea generation, and team building, especially for hybrid roles.

• AI-Enabled Design: Expect access to or the expectation to utilize relevant AI design tools and platforms.

• Cross-Functional Interaction: Frequent interaction with Product Managers, Engineers, and Marketing teams, fostering a highly collaborative and integrated design process.

Work Schedule: The standard work schedule is 40 hours per week. While the "startup pace" may necessitate focused periods, the contract duration and nature suggest a need for efficient time management rather than consistently long hours. Flexibility may exist, especially if the candidate is remote, but the hybrid expectation points to structured overlap time.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid model for the Seattle-based role (2-3 days in office) is a key detail. For remote candidates, "some travel expected" suggests potential for periodic office visits or team gatherings. The emphasis on "Connected Work Culture" implies that even for contract roles, contributing to team cohesion and collaborative moments is valued.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process: Typically, a process for a senior contract role like this would involve:

• Initial Screening: A brief call with a recruiter or hiring manager to assess basic qualifications, experience, and alignment with the contract scope.

• Portfolio & AI Demo Review: A dedicated session where the candidate presents their portfolio, focusing on shipped work and critically, demonstrating their AI-leveraging workflow. This may include a live demo or a pre-prepared walkthrough of their "How to stand out" challenge submission.

• Design Challenge/Case Study: Potential for a focused design challenge or a deep dive into a past project, simulating the "problem framing through ship" aspect and assessing problem-solving, AI tool application, and communication skills.

• Stakeholder Interviews: Conversations with key collaborators (Product, Engineering Lead, potentially Marketing) to assess cultural fit, communication style, and ability to integrate into the team.

• Final Decision: Based on overall assessment of skills, experience, portfolio, and cultural alignment.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Highlight AI Workflow: Dedicate a significant portion of your presentation to showcasing your AI tool usage. Be specific about prompts, tools, and how AI accelerated your design process or led to unique insights.

• Quantify Impact: For shipped work, clearly articulate the problem, your solution, and the quantifiable results (e.g., increased conversion, improved satisfaction scores, reduced friction).

• Showcase "Scrappy" Work: Be prepared to present unpolished, rapid prototypes or early-stage concepts, especially those generated with AI, to demonstrate your speed and ability to iterate quickly. The prompt explicitly asks for this.

• Detail Your Contribution: Clearly delineate your role and contributions, especially if you worked in a team. For this role, emphasize end-to-end ownership.

• Tell a Story: Frame your case studies as narratives – problem, approach, solution, impact. Make it engaging and easy to follow.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the "Receiver": Research Remitly's target audience in emerging markets. Understand their financial behaviors, digital literacy, and potential pain points with money transfer services.

• AI Tool Familiarization: If you don't have extensive experience with the specified AI tools (Claude Code/Cowork, Google Stitch, Gemini, ChatGPT), familiarize yourself with their capabilities for prototyping, research, and content generation.

• Rapid Ideation: Practice quickly identifying a problem in a money app and ideating a solution using AI tools within a tight timeframe (e.g., 30 minutes, as suggested).

• Concise Communication: Prepare to articulate your reasoning, prompts, and design choices clearly and concisely, both verbally and visually.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "How to stand out" section is a direct instruction for the application and interview process. It strongly suggests that candidates who submit a proactive AI design challenge will be prioritized. The interview will likely focus heavily on assessing the candidate's practical application of AI in design and their ability to execute rapidly.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: Expert-level proficiency required for UI design, prototyping, and collaboration.

• AI Prototyping Tools: Fluency with tools like Claude Code, Google Stitch, or similar for rapid, AI-assisted prototyping.

• AI Research & Content Tools: Experience using Claude, Gemini, or ChatGPT for research synthesis, content ideation, and analysis.

Analytics & Reporting: While not explicitly stated as a primary tool requirement, designers are expected to "conduct concept testing and customer interviews" and "synthesize qualitative and quantitative signal to inform decisions." This implies familiarity with user feedback platforms and basic data analysis to inform design.

CRM & Automation: No specific CRM or automation tools are listed as primary requirements for the designer role, but understanding how design integrates with these systems within a fintech context is beneficial.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of specific AI tools (Claude Code, Google Stitch, Gemini, ChatGPT) is paramount. Proficiency in these, alongside expert-level Figma skills, forms the core technical requirement for this role. The emphasis is on using AI to compress the path from problem to validated direction, highlighting efficiency and speed.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Customer-Centricity: A deep commitment to understanding and serving customers, especially those in emerging markets, advocating for their needs and designing experiences that provide "peace of mind."

• Innovation & Speed: A culture that embraces new technologies (like AI) and operates at a fast pace, valuing rapid iteration and quick decision-making.

• Ownership & Accountability: High individual responsibility, where team members own outcomes from problem framing through shipment.

• Collaboration & Transparency: Working closely with cross-functional partners, communicating openly about progress, risks, and trade-offs.

• Impact & Transformation: A drive to make a meaningful difference in the lives of global customers through trusted financial services.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Integration: Designers work hand-in-hand with Product, Engineering, and Marketing, participating in all stages of the product development lifecycle.

• Direct Communication: Expect direct, productive disagreements when customer needs are at stake, fostering an environment where challenging decisions is encouraged for the benefit of the product.

• Agile & Iterative: The "startup within Remitly" environment implies a highly agile and iterative collaboration style, with frequent feedback loops.

📝 Enhancement Note: The values emphasize a blend of customer empathy (especially for emerging markets), a forward-thinking approach to technology (AI), and a high-performance mindset (speed, ownership). The collaboration style is direct and integrated, requiring designers to be comfortable with proactive communication and constructive debate.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Ambiguity & Speed: Navigating complex, poorly defined problems and delivering high-quality solutions rapidly within a fast-paced, low-process environment.

• AI Integration Complexity: Effectively integrating novel AI tools into a mature design process, ensuring they enhance rather than hinder design quality and user experience.

• Emerging Markets Nuances: Designing for diverse user needs, varying levels of digital literacy, and potentially different cultural contexts within emerging markets.

• Contract Duration: Delivering significant, end-to-end impact within a fixed 3-month timeframe, requiring efficient prioritization and execution.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Advanced AI Design Skills: Becoming a leader in applying AI tools for design, prototyping, and research, gaining highly marketable skills.

• Fintech & Emerging Markets Expertise: Deepening knowledge in the fintech sector and developing specialized expertise in designing for underserved global populations.

• Agile Project Management: Enhancing ability to manage projects effectively in a lean, dynamic, and resource-constrained environment.

• Portfolio Building: Creating tangible, shipped work on a critical growth initiative that can significantly enhance future career prospects.

📝 Enhancement Note: The primary challenge is balancing speed and ambiguity with quality, particularly through the innovative use of AI. The growth opportunities are directly tied to acquiring specialized skills in AI-driven design and emerging markets, making this a strategic contract for career development.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• AI Design Application: "Describe a time you used AI tools to accelerate a design process. What were your prompts, what was the outcome, and what were the limitations?" (Prepare to demo or discuss your "How to stand out" challenge).

• Problem Framing: "Walk us through how you would approach a vague problem like 'improving the onboarding experience for new users in Southeast Asia.' What are your first steps, and how would you use AI in this process?"

• Trade-off Decisions: "Imagine you have a tight deadline and need to choose between perfecting the UI polish for 10 screens or ensuring robust functionality for 2 core flows. How would you decide, and how would you communicate that decision to stakeholders?"

Company & Culture Questions:

• "Startup within a Startup": "How do you thrive in a fast-paced, low-process environment? What are your strategies for managing ambiguity and driving outcomes independently?"

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: "Describe a situation where you had a strong disagreement with a Product Manager or Engineer about a design direction. How did you handle it, and what was the resolution?"

• Customer Advocacy: "Tell us about a time you pushed back on a product decision because you felt it would negatively impact the customer. What was the situation, and what was the result?"

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• AI Demo First: Lead with or prominently feature your AI-driven prototyping example. This immediately addresses a key requirement.

• Concise Case Studies: For each project, clearly state the problem, your specific role and contributions (especially end-to-end ownership), your design process (highlighting AI use), and the measurable impact.

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Use interactive Figma prototypes or Loom videos to demonstrate flows and UI. For AI work, show the raw outputs and how you iterated.

• Be Ready for "Scrappy": Embrace presenting unpolished work if it demonstrates speed and thinking. The prompt explicitly values this over slickness for the initial challenge.

• Focus on Impact: Connect your design decisions directly to customer value and business outcomes.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview preparation should heavily emphasize the AI component. Candidates must be ready to demonstrate practical application, not just theoretical knowledge. The "How to stand out" prompt is a direct directive for how candidates should present themselves and their capabilities.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Product Designer contract position:

• Submit your resume and portfolio through the Remitly Careers portal.

• Proactively complete the "How to stand out" challenge: Pick a money app, identify a customer problem/opportunity, use AI to design a prototype in under 30 minutes, and showcase your reasoning and prompts (e.g., via Loom video, slides, or short doc). This is your best opportunity to jump to the top of the applicant stack.

• Tailor your portfolio: Ensure it highlights shipped work, your end-to-end ownership experience, strong Figma skills, and critically, your AI-leveraging workflow with concrete examples.

• Prepare for an AI-centric interview: Be ready to discuss your AI tool usage, demonstrate your rapid prototyping capabilities, and articulate your design thinking process under pressure.

• Research Remitly's mission: Understand their focus on expanding financial services to emerging markets and how the Receivers team contributes to this goal.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and industry-standard assumptions based on the provided raw data and typical hiring practices for senior contract roles. Specific details regarding the interview process, exact team composition, and project scope should be confirmed directly with Remitly during the application process. The emphasis on AI tools and the proactive challenge is a critical differentiator for this role.