Senior UX Designer - 16 Month Contract

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior UX Designer - 16 Month Contract

Company: Noibu

Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Product Design / User Experience Operations

Date Posted: 2026-09-14

Experience Level: 5-10 Years

Remote Status: Remote Solely

🚀 Role Summary

• Drive the end-to-end design process for innovative features within an AI-powered e-commerce operations platform, focusing on data-dense product interfaces.

• Collaborate closely with Product Managers, Engineers, and fellow designers to ensure high-quality, rapidly delivered design solutions that enhance user experience and business outcomes.

• Utilize and evolve Noibu's internal design system to maintain consistency and efficiency across product development.

• Conduct user research, including customer interviews, to deeply understand user needs, motivations, and challenges, translating insights into impactful design decisions.

• Design novel interfaces for supervised AI agents, addressing the critical challenge of how users review, trust, and approve autonomous work.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a Senior UX Designer with a contract duration of 16 months. While the primary focus is UX design, the emphasis on "product thinking," "business outcomes," and designing for "autonomous AI agents" suggests a strong overlap with GTM and Revenue Operations by directly impacting conversion, page speed, and return on ad spend through user-centric product enhancements. The "data-dense product" aspect is crucial for operations professionals who rely on clear, actionable data insights.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Lead the design of new features and iterative improvements for Noibu's AI for e-commerce operations platform, ensuring high quality and rapid deployment.

• Apply strong product thinking to define user problems, develop product strategy, map user journeys, and conduct user testing to validate design directions.

• Craft intuitive and well-considered visual and interaction designs, with the judgment to determine when a design is ready for production.

• Integrate and evolve Noibu's internal design system to ensure design consistency, scalability, and efficiency across all product touchpoints.

• Design and build interactive prototypes using various tools, including AI tooling, to explore, validate, and communicate design concepts effectively.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams, including Product Management and Engineering, to foster a culture of high-quality design decision-making and consistent execution.

• Engage directly with customers through interviews and user testing to gather critical feedback and understand their challenges, informing product design and strategy.

• Develop innovative interface solutions for supervised AI agents, focusing on enabling users to effectively review, trust, and approve AI-generated work.

• Translate complex data sets and user workflows into legible, actionable designs that empower users to make informed decisions regarding conversion, page speed, and ad spend optimization.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a "start to finish" ownership approach, typical for senior operations roles that require end-to-end process management. The emphasis on designing for AI agents and data-dense products is particularly relevant for operations professionals looking to leverage technology for efficiency and decision-making.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mentioned, a Bachelor's or Master's degree in HCI, Design, Computer Science, or a related field is typically expected for senior-level UX roles. Equivalent practical experience will also be considered.

Experience: Minimum of 5-10 years of professional experience in UX/Product Design, with a proven track record of designing complex, data-intensive products and end-to-end feature development.

Required Skills:

• Product Thinking: Demonstrated ability to understand user needs and business objectives, translating them into effective product strategies and user journeys.

• UX Research & Testing: Proficient in conducting user research, journey mapping, and user testing to inform design decisions and validate concepts.

• Visual & Interaction Design: Strong skills in creating aesthetically pleasing and highly functional user interfaces, with a keen eye for detail.

• Prototyping: Experience in building interactive prototypes using various tools, including but not limited to Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, or similar, with a focus on exploring and validating design solutions.

• Data-Dense Product Design: Proven ability to design complex interfaces that effectively present and enable action on large amounts of data, crucial for operations and analytics platforms.

• AI Tooling Proficiency: Experience and a proactive approach to using AI tools as an integral part of the design process for exploration, prototyping, and delivery.

• Communication & Collaboration: Excellent verbal and written communication skills, with a demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams (Product, Engineering, other Designers).

• Comfort with Ambiguity: Ability to set clear design direction in complex or uncertain environments and iterate towards optimal solutions.

Preferred Skills:

• Design System Development/Evolution: Experience contributing to or evolving established design systems.

• E-commerce or SaaS Product Experience: Familiarity with the unique challenges and opportunities within e-commerce operations or SaaS product design.

• Front-end Development Understanding: Basic understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to facilitate better collaboration with engineering teams and build functional prototypes.

• Experience with AI Interface Design: Specific experience designing interfaces for AI-powered features or autonomous systems.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "product thinking," "data-dense products," and "AI tooling" strongly aligns with the skill set required for operations roles that intersect with product development. Candidates should be prepared to showcase how they've translated complex data into actionable insights through design.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Demonstration of End-to-End Design Process: Showcase projects that illustrate your ability to take a problem from initial research and concept development through to high-fidelity design and prototyping.

• Data-Dense Design Case Studies: Include at least one project that highlights your experience designing for complex data-rich applications, emphasizing how you made intricate information legible and actionable.

• Product Strategy & Business Impact: Present projects that demonstrate your understanding of business outcomes and how your design decisions directly contributed to achieving them (e.g., increased conversion, improved efficiency, reduced errors).

• AI Tooling Integration: If possible, include examples or descriptions of how you've leveraged AI tools in your design workflow to enhance efficiency or explore creative solutions.

• Design System Contributions: Showcase examples of your work within or contributions to design systems, demonstrating consistency and scalability.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design & Optimization: Detail your process for analyzing existing user workflows, identifying pain points, and designing optimized solutions.

• Research-to-Design Translation: Explain how you translate user research findings into concrete design artifacts and validated prototypes.

• Iteration & Validation: Describe your approach to iterating on designs based on feedback, user testing, and performance metrics.

• Cross-functional Collaboration Documentation: Provide examples of how you document and communicate design decisions and rationale to engineering and product teams.

📝 Enhancement Note: For operations professionals, a portfolio demonstrating process optimization, data analysis, and system integration is key. This UX role requires a similar focus on structured problem-solving and tangible outcomes, making a portfolio that showcases these aspects crucial.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $140,000 - $160,000 CAD per year.

Benefits:

• Health & Dental Benefits: Comprehensive coverage provided from day one of employment.

• Unlimited Time Off: With a mandatory minimum of 3 weeks annually and a company-wide holiday shutdown.

• Flexible Working Style: Employees can choose hours that best suit their productivity and personal needs.

• Equity: Potential for stock options or other equity grants.

• Company Socials & Happy Hours: Regular opportunities for team building and informal gatherings.

• Annual Holiday Party: A significant company-wide event to celebrate achievements.

Working Hours: While a standard 40-hour work week is implied for full-time roles, Noibu offers a flexible working style, allowing employees to adjust their hours to optimize productivity and work-life balance.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is competitive for a senior UX role in Canada. The emphasis on "benefits from day one" and "unlimited time off" (with a minimum) aligns with modern company cultures that value employee well-being and autonomy, which can also be attractive to operations professionals seeking a supportive work environment. The contract nature (16 months) should be clearly understood in relation to benefits continuity.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Technology, specifically AI for E-commerce Operations. Noibu operates at the intersection of AI, e-commerce, and operational efficiency.

Company Size: The provided data does not specify the exact employee count, but the description implies a growing startup environment aiming to become a "Unicorn." This suggests a dynamic, fast-paced, and potentially flatter organizational structure.

Founded: The founding date is not explicitly stated, but the company's ambition to become a unicorn implies it's in a growth phase, likely established within the last 5-10 years.

Team Structure:

• Cross-functional Squads: The role involves working closely with Product Managers, Engineers, and other designers within "squads," indicating an agile, team-oriented structure.

• Design Team Collaboration: While this role focuses on individual contribution, there's an emphasis on collaboration with other designers to elevate the team's design capabilities.

• Reporting: Likely reports to a Design Lead or Head of Product/Design, within a structure that supports rapid iteration and product development.

Methodology:

• Agile Development: The mention of "shipping quickly" and working in "squads" points towards an agile or lean development methodology.

• Data-Driven Design: The product's nature (AI for operations, focusing on conversion, speed, ROI) necessitates a data-driven approach to both product development and design.

• Customer-Centricity: Direct customer interaction and research are core to understanding user needs and informing design decisions.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: The startup environment ("aiming for Unicorn," "small team on the ground floor") suggests opportunities for significant impact and growth, similar to early-stage operations teams. The focus on AI and e-commerce operations positions Noibu in a high-growth, data-intensive market.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is for a Senior UX Designer, indicating a mid-to-senior level individual contributor. It requires significant autonomy, strategic input, and the ability to mentor or guide less experienced designers. For operations professionals, this level typically involves owning key processes, driving efficiency improvements, and contributing to strategic planning.

Reporting Structure: The Senior UX Designer will likely report to a Design Manager or Head of Product, working within cross-functional product teams. The role emphasizes collaboration with PMs and engineers, suggesting a matrixed reporting structure within project teams.

Operations Impact: While this is a design role, its impact is deeply tied to operations. By improving the usability and effectiveness of Noibu's AI platform, this designer will directly influence:

• Conversion Rates: Making it easier for e-commerce businesses to identify and act on conversion optimization opportunities.

• Operational Efficiency: Streamlining how users interact with complex data and AI-driven insights, reducing manual effort and decision time.

• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): Enabling users to better understand and optimize their advertising efforts through clearer data visualization and actionable insights.

Growth Opportunities:

• Deepening AI Design Expertise: Working with cutting-edge AI interfaces and autonomous agents offers a unique opportunity to become a specialist in a rapidly evolving field.

• Product Strategy Influence: The "product person" mindset expected means contributing significantly to product strategy and roadmap decisions.

• Leadership Potential: While a contract role, success could lead to opportunities for longer-term engagement or future leadership roles within growing design or product teams.

• Broadening E-commerce Operations Understanding: Gaining in-depth knowledge of the challenges and opportunities within e-commerce operations through direct customer interaction and platform design.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "impact on revenue and business decisions" is directly tied to the core functions of revenue and sales operations. This role offers a unique perspective on how user experience directly drives operational and financial outcomes in the e-commerce sector.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The job is listed as "TELECOMMUTE" with "Remote Solely" and "Canada" as the remote location requirement, indicating a fully remote work environment.

Office Location(s): While the primary derived location is Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, the remote nature means work is performed from a home office within Canada.

Workspace Context:

• Fully Remote: Requires self-discipline and effective remote collaboration tools.

• Collaborative Digital Environment: Reliance on tools like Slack, Zoom, and project management software to maintain team connectivity and productivity.

• Autonomous Work: The role demands significant autonomy, with the flexibility to structure one's own workday.

• Focus on Design Tools & AI: Access to and proficiency with modern design software and AI-powered creative tools will be essential.

Work Schedule: Flexible working hours are a key benefit, allowing individuals to structure their day around peak productivity times, provided they can meet collaboration needs and deadlines. A standard 40-hour work week is generally expected for full-time roles.

📝 Enhancement Note: A fully remote, flexible environment is common in the tech and operations sectors. Candidates should be comfortable with asynchronous communication and proactive engagement to thrive in this setting.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Likely a review of your resume and portfolio to assess qualifications and fit.

• Portfolio Presentation & Discussion: Expect to walk through selected case studies from your portfolio, explaining your process, decisions, and impact. This is where your "product thinking" and ability to articulate complex design challenges will be evaluated.

• Product/Design Challenge: You may be given a design exercise or case study to work on, either pre-interview or during the process, to assess your problem-solving skills and design approach.

• Cross-functional Interviews: Interviews with Product Managers, Engineers, and potentially other designers to evaluate collaboration style, technical understanding, and cultural fit.

• Final Interview: Likely with a senior leader (e.g., Head of Product, CEO) to assess strategic alignment and overall fit.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Strategically: Select 3-4 strong projects that best showcase your skills in product thinking, data-dense design, and AI integration. Tailor your selection to highlight experience relevant to Noibu's e-commerce operations focus.

• Tell a Story: For each project, clearly articulate the problem, your role, your process, the challenges faced, the solutions you designed, and the measurable impact (quantify where possible).

• Highlight Process Over Polish: While polished visuals are important, emphasize your thought process, research methods, and iterative approach.

• Demonstrate AI Tool Usage: If you have relevant examples, clearly explain how AI tools were integrated into your workflow and the benefits they provided.

• Address the "Autonomous Agent" Challenge: Be prepared to discuss your thoughts or approaches to designing interfaces for user trust and approval of AI-generated work.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand Noibu's Product: Research Noibu's platform, its target users (e-commerce businesses), and the problems it solves. Understand the AI aspect and the data-driven nature of the product.

• Practice Data Visualization: Be ready to discuss how you approach making complex data understandable and actionable.

• Think Like a Product Person: Prepare to answer questions about business goals, user needs, and how design contributes to both.

• Articulate Trade-offs: Be ready to discuss design decisions, including why certain approaches were chosen over others and the trade-offs involved.

📝 Enhancement Note: For operations candidates, showcasing a structured, data-informed approach to problem-solving is paramount. Your portfolio should demonstrate how you've improved processes, driven efficiency, or created measurable business impact through your work.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping Software: Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD, or similar industry-standard tools for wireframing, high-fidelity mockups, and interactive prototyping.

• AI Tooling: This is a core requirement. Expect to use AI tools for design exploration, ideation, content generation, or even code generation/assistance. Specific tools are not listed, implying a need for adaptability and willingness to learn new AI applications.

• User Research Platforms: Tools for conducting user interviews, surveys, and usability testing (e.g., UserTesting.com, Maze, Lookback).

Analytics & Reporting:

• While not a direct responsibility, understanding how design impacts product analytics will be key. Familiarity with tools like Google Analytics, Amplitude, Mixpanel, or similar for tracking user behavior and feature adoption would be beneficial. CRM & Automation:

• Not directly applicable to the UX role's core responsibilities, but understanding the e-commerce context means awareness of CRM and marketing automation principles might be helpful in understanding the user's broader business environment.

📝 Enhancement Note: For operations roles, proficiency in CRM, marketing automation, and analytics platforms is critical. While this UX role focuses on design tools, understanding the data and operational context of the product is vital for effective design. Candidates should be prepared to discuss their experience with data analysis and how it informs their design choices.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Customer-Centricity: A strong focus on understanding and serving the needs of e-commerce businesses, translating into impactful product design.

• Data-Driven Decisions: Leveraging data and insights to inform design choices and measure success, aligning with operational efficiency and ROI focus.

• Innovation & AI Integration: Embracing new technologies, particularly AI, to drive product advancement and solve complex problems.

• Collaboration & Communication: Valuing open communication and teamwork across disciplines to achieve shared goals.

• Ownership & Accountability: Empowering individuals to own problems from start to finish and be accountable for outcomes.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: Working seamlessly with Product Managers and Engineers to ensure designs are feasible, impactful, and aligned with business objectives.

• Design Critiques & Feedback: Participating in and providing constructive feedback during design reviews to elevate the quality of work across the team.

• Knowledge Sharing: Actively sharing insights, best practices, and learnings within the design and product teams.

• Agile Teamwork: Contributing to a fast-paced, iterative development cycle where collaboration is key to rapid progress.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "data-driven decisions," "innovation," and "ownership" strongly resonates with the core values of successful operations teams. Understanding how these values translate into daily work and decision-making will be crucial for cultural fit.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Designing for AI Trust: A significant challenge will be designing interfaces that foster trust and clarity around AI-generated outputs, particularly for autonomous agents. This involves balancing automation with user control and understanding.

• Data Complexity: Effectively visualizing and simplifying complex, multi-faceted data for e-commerce operations professionals who need to make critical decisions quickly.

• Rapid Iteration in a Startup: Adapting to a fast-paced startup environment where priorities can shift and designs need to be developed and tested quickly.

• Balancing Design Craft with Speed: Ensuring high-quality design standards are maintained while meeting aggressive development timelines.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Specialization in AI UX: Becoming a leader in designing user experiences for AI-driven products, a rapidly growing and in-demand field.

• Deep E-commerce Operations Insight: Gaining profound knowledge of the operational challenges and opportunities faced by e-commerce businesses.

• Product Strategy Contribution: Opportunities to significantly influence product direction and strategy at a growing company.

• Mentorship (Formal/Informal): Potential to learn from and mentor other designers, depending on team structure and individual initiative.

📝 Enhancement Note: Operations professionals often face similar challenges related to data complexity, process automation, and rapid change. The growth opportunities here mirror those in operations: specializing in high-demand tech areas, gaining deep business domain knowledge, and influencing strategic direction.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you had to design for a complex, data-dense product. How did you make the data legible and actionable for users?"

  • Preparation: Prepare a case study from your portfolio that specifically addresses this. Focus on your process for understanding the data, identifying key user needs, and the design solutions you implemented to simplify complexity. Quantify impact if possible.

• "How do you approach designing for AI, especially concerning user trust and the review of autonomous work?"

  • Preparation: Discuss your conceptual approach. Think about transparency, explainability (XAI), clear affordances for review/approval, and how to manage user expectations. Reference any relevant experience, even if theoretical.

• "Tell me about a time you took an ambiguous problem and committed to a direction. What was your process?"

  • Preparation: Select an example where you had to define the problem space and scope before having all the answers. Highlight your research, hypothesis generation, and how you used iterative design to converge on a solution. Company & Culture Questions:

• "Why Noibu? What interests you about our mission and product?"

  • Preparation: Research Noibu thoroughly. Understand their AI for e-commerce operations angle, their target market, and their growth aspirations. Connect your skills and interests to their specific challenges and goals.

• "How do you collaborate with Product Managers and Engineers? Describe a challenging collaboration and how you navigated it."

  • Preparation: Emphasize your communication skills, ability to understand technical constraints, and your approach to resolving disagreements constructively.

• "How do you think about the business outcomes of your design work?"

  • Preparation: Be ready to discuss how design contributes to metrics like conversion rates, user engagement, efficiency, or revenue. Connect your portfolio examples to business impact. Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure Your Narrative: For each project, clearly define the problem, your role, your process (research, ideation, design, testing), the solution, and the outcome.

• Focus on "Why": Explain the rationale behind your design decisions. Don't just show what you designed; explain why you designed it that way.

• Showcase Process, Not Just Pixels: Include sketches, wireframes, user flows, and research findings to demonstrate your thinking.

• Quantify Impact: Wherever possible, present metrics that show the success of your designs (e.g., % increase in conversion, % reduction in task completion time).

• Address AI and Data: Highlight projects that demonstrate your comfort with complex data and your approach to integrating AI into user experiences.

📝 Enhancement Note: For operations candidates, prepare to discuss your experience with process optimization, data analysis, system implementation, and quantifiable business results. Frame your UX experience through an operational lens: how design drives efficiency, reduces errors, and improves business outcomes.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this operations-aligned design position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on Ashby.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 3-4 of your strongest projects that best demonstrate your product thinking, experience with data-dense products, and any relevant AI design work. Tailor your selection to align with Noibu's focus on e-commerce operations.

• Optimize Your Resume: Highlight keywords related to UX design, product thinking, AI, data visualization, e-commerce, and cross-functional collaboration. Quantify achievements where possible, focusing on impact.

• Prepare Your Presentation: Practice walking through your portfolio case studies, focusing on your process, decision-making, and the measurable outcomes of your work. Be ready to discuss your approach to designing for AI and complex data.

• Research Noibu: Understand their product, target market, and company mission. Prepare thoughtful questions about their design challenges, AI strategy, and company culture.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.