Upwork ($UPWK) is the world’s work marketplace. We serve everyone from one-person startups to over 30% of the Fortune 100 with a powerful, trust-driven platform that enables companies and talent to work together in new ways that unlock their potential.  

Last year, more than $3.3 billion of work was done through Upwork by skilled professionals who are gaining more control by finding work they are passionate about and innovating their careers.  

As Principal Designer for our Talent Marketplace, you will play a critical role in the strategy and execution of building and iterating on best-in-class experiences that bring our brand promise and value to life for our customers around the world.  Through engaging experiences that you design in partnership with your team, customers will start their journey with Upwork through discovery, onboarding to starting with us. Our goal is to create experiences that our customers love and trust—welcoming, easy, and gets smarter as they keep using it.

We are a collaborative, close-knit group of UX, product, engineering, research, content design, and analytics partners across multiple geographies. We start with why, sweat the details and support each other to reach our goals. You will report to the Sr Director of Product Design and be empowered by our company and UX team culture to create well-crafted design solutions that help millions of users on the world’s work marketplace.

Your Responsibilities:

  • Develop an understanding of Upwork’s customers, product, business, and competitive landscape.

  • Partner closely with product, engineering, and partners to uncover customer needs and solve them through engaging digital experiences that meet our business goals.

  • Lead the design process end-to-end for your work from discovery to delivery, including: strategy, research, exploration, planning, concepts to high fidelity to design specs, design QA and iterative testing.

  • Support multiple work streams and different projects while connecting dots across all product experiences. 

  • Design within our flexible design system and evolve it for new needs.

  • Build relationships and two way influence with partners across the organization to ensure that search and browse experiences connect with teams both up and down the funnel and align with the broader company strategy.

  • Participate in translating complex ideas into understandable concepts that evolve and enhance the product experience

  • Present experiences and concepts in clear narratives to partners and leaders and ably communicate at all levels, keeping close partners and your manager informed.

  • Further strengthen our design team through mentorship, design critiques and knowledge sharing.

What it takes to catch our eye:

  • You have experience as a Lead+ level designer owning multiple, large-scale design projects from start to finish.

  • You are curious and proactive about new ways of designing as it pertains to AI and beyond.  

  • You have a toolkit of numerous design methods and solutions that you can and can quickly see a variety of solutions to a problem. 

  • You have a portfolio of work that shows excellent visual design skills, UX thinking, craft, and design leadership.  

  • You are a storyteller and can weave and share compelling narratives around research findings, quant data and design concepts.

  • You thrive in a collaborative environment, you gather and integrate feedback, influence stakeholders and create energy for ideas or initiative.

  • You excel in a fluid environment and have a process and are ready to change it up when needed. 

The annual base salary for this position in California and Washington ranges from $195,250 - $344,500. The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum salary for this position in California and Washington, and individual base pay will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Additionally, this position is eligible for the annual bonus plan or sales incentive plan and eligibility to participate in our long term equity incentive program.

Change the world around you.

At Upwork, you'll shape talent solutions for how the world works today. We are a remote-first organization working together to create exciting remote work opportunities for a global community of professionals. While we have physical offices in San Francisco and Chicago, we also hire full-time employees in 19 states in the United States.

Our vibrant culture is built on shared values and our mission to create economic opportunities so that people have better lives. We foster amazing teams, put our community first, and have a bias toward action. We encourage everyone to bring their whole selves to work and grow together through development opportunities, mentorship, and employee resource groups. And oh yeah, we've also got amazing benefits - including medical insurance for you and your family, unlimited PTO, 401(k) with matching, 12 weeks of paid parental leave, and a generous Employee Stock Purchase Plan. Check out our Life at Upwork page to learn more about our benefits and the employee experience.

Check out our Careers page to learn more about the employee experience.

Upwork is proudly committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse and inclusive workforce. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we never discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.

#LI-Remote

The annual base salary range for this position in California and Washington is displayed below. The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum salary for this position in California and Washington, and individual base pay will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Additionally, this position is eligible for the annual bonus plan or sales incentive plan and eligibility to participate in our long term equity incentive program.

Total Annual Compensation
$229,500—$344,500 USD

To learn more about how Upwork processes and protects your personal information as part of the application process, please review our Global Job Applicant Privacy Notice

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