Design Director (Freelance)

Instrument is a digital product and brand experience agency of more than 400 talented people on a dozen different teams, each focused on particular clients and dedicated to producing best-in-class work. Our shift to a remote-first model has only strengthened and diversified our company culture, and we’re committed to career advancement, personal support, and a healthy work/life balance for everyone we hire.
Instrument is looking for a freelance Design Director with product concepting and UX/UI design experience to join us in helping our client envision a standalone home for their new shopping site. Instrument will kick off this project by working to extend and deepen concepts while starting to define the overall product strategy, user journeys, and creative look & feel. The output of this sprint will be vetted concepts and prototypes to help support internal conversations and planning.
As freelance Design Director at Instrument you build best-in class digital platforms and experiences. You believe the best work is ahead of you and thrive on leading a multidisciplinary team in the meticulous art of solving hard problems through the design process.
For this freelance position, we need someone who is available 40 hours/week from 10/10 - 12/10. The candidate should be available to travel 10/12 & 10/13 to attend an in-person client meeting. The candidate must be able to work 9-5pm ET, as this project requires an East Coast team.

What You'll Do

• Inspire by making: lead designers through every aspect of the design process 
• Cultivate, guide, and lead your team with a strong point of view and creative vision
• Fearlessly concept, iterate, prototype and test in an effort to deliver strategic, elegant and simple design solutions
• Build and manage client partnerships from project kickoff to timely delivery
• Create smart and strategic thinking illustrated through concise and articulate presentations
• Lead a project and team autonomously with limited process and hierarchy in place
• Influence the design team with brave and inspired design solutions
• In the work with team and clients 60%, Working on their own 40%

What You'll Bring

• 8+ years experience leading a design team in the pursuit of exceptional digital experiences, bonus for tours in startup cultures as a product design lead
• A portfolio demonstrating high proficiency in delivering strategically grounded design thinking across various digital platforms
• A curious student of emerging technologies that in turn applies and drives innovation in the work you lead and create
• A knack for collaborating with designers, producers, developers, and business owners to understand what a project needs at any given moment in an effort to move the project forward
• Comfortable in being uncomfortable and thoughtful about taking risks

Pay Range

• The expected pay range for this role is $103-122 per hour , but will depends on the level in which you are engaged
• Our company has three regional pay bands that it adheres to depending on your location, we reference them as US 1, US 2, and US 3.
• US 3 is our base pay. Examples of cities in US 3 are Portland, Houston and Miami.
• US 2 pay is 7.5% higher than US 3 to meet the market rates. Examples of cities in US 2 are Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle.
• US 1 pay is 15% higher than US 3 to meet market rates. Examples of cities in US 1 are Brooklyn and San Francisco.
• If you are curious which region you are in, please apply and get connected with our recruiting team!