About Valerian

Valerian is a web studio and long-term tech partner for small to mid-sized businesses. We build websites, systems, and automations that help our clients grow. Our brand is built on a belief that we should all be good humans, and that includes the context of business! We prioritize the well-being of our team and our clients.

What we're looking for

We're looking for a Lead Designer for ongoing project-based, hourly, or retainer work. There's no full-time commitment, just ongoing opportunities based on your availability, expertise, and fit with our clients and projects.

The ideal person for this role thinks in systems, starting from strategy and user experience. They understand that you can’t jump straight to aesthetics; you need a well-structured page and a thoughtful user flow to make great design aesthetics possible. They know how to develop a discovery brief and turn it into a sitemap and wireframes before a single visual decision is made, and they know why doing things in that order matters.

It’s also crucial for the person in this role to be a strong visual designer who builds from scratch and builds to last. When they take on a project, they develop the full creative system: typography, color, photography direction, iconography, motion principles, and the visual language that ties it all together. That system becomes the source of truth: it’s clear and specific enough that a production designer can take the first page they built and faithfully replicate it across ten more without needing to ask questions. They stay current on digital design trends, knowing what's genuinely modern, what's a gimmick, and what will look dated in two years. They bring a clear point of view to every project and can translate that point of view into a design direction the rest of the team can execute against. Accessibility isn't a checklist for them; it's part of how they think about structure, hierarchy, and experience from the start.

Equally important is how they work with a team. This isn't a management role, but it is a creative leadership role. The right person knows how to brief a production designer, give feedback that moves work forward, collaborate with a copywriter so visual and written directions develop in sync, and QA deliverables before they reach the client. They own the creative process, and know how to guide other involved team members along the way.

Finally, this person needs a balanced relationship with AI. Valerian is built on human expertise, so we lead with human know-how and leverage AI when it helps our work move faster and smarter. The right candidate uses AI as a thinking partner and production accelerant, not as a replacement for judgment, taste, or creative strategy.

What you'll work on

• Discovery + strategy: Joining client discovery alongside our Founder, then independently developing the creative brief and sitemap. You'll hand the sitemap to our Founder for scoping and pricing, then lead the project creatively from there.
• Wireframing: Building page-by-page wireframes that reflect user flow, information hierarchy, conversion thinking, and accessibility best practices, and mapping those wireframes to how WordPress actually works. You're designing structures that make sense in production, not just on a canvas. Wireframe approval is the strategic gate before any visual work begins.
• Visual design + design systems: Developing the full creative direction in Figma: mood boards, typography, color systems, photography direction, iconography, and high-fidelity concepts. You're building a complete visual language from scratch, not assembling borrowed pieces. The design system you produce is specific and documented enough that our production team can take your first design and replicate the pattern across an entire project without losing consistency.
• Email campaign design: Designing email campaigns across platforms: HubSpot, Square, Klaviyo, Kit, and others. You think about email as a designed experience with its own constraints and conventions, not just a formatted document.
• Creative process coordination: Making sure the right work gets to the right person with the context they need. That means clear hand-offs to our production designers, working in parallel with our copywriter so messaging and visual direction develop from the same approved blueprint, and doing a copy integration pass before anything goes to a client.
• Quality control: Reviewing deliverables before they reach the client. You catch what's technically correct but creatively flat, structurally sound but experientially broken, and you give feedback that moves work forward rather than sending it back to square one.
• Client-facing presentations: Presenting wireframes, creative direction, and design concepts directly to clients. You can explain structure and visual decisions in plain terms: why a page is organized the way it is, what the user is being guided toward, and how the design supports that.
• Occasional print + collateral: Brand guides, one-pagers, and other print or static collateral as needed. Digital is the primary medium; print is occasional.

What we'd love to see

• A portfolio that includes website design, email, and brand work, with evidence of strategic thinking, not just visual execution. Bonus points if the portfolio shows a design system or component library you built and handed off to a production team.
• Demonstrated ability to wireframe for user experience: structure that reflects hierarchy, flow, and conversion intent, not just layout sketches.
• A UX-informed approach with working knowledge of WCAG accessibility standards and how they apply to structure, hierarchy, and design decisions.
• Experience running creative process in an agency environment: briefing designers, giving directional feedback, and QA-ing against a brief.
• Strong visual design sensibility with a current, digital-first aesthetic. You know what's modern and why, and your work shows it.
• Proficiency in Figma for both wireframing and high-fidelity design. Familiarity with the Relume Figma Kit or similar component libraries for wireframing is a plus.
• Experience designing email campaigns across platforms (HubSpot, Klaviyo, Kit, Square, or similar).
• Deep WordPress fluency as a designer, not as a builder but as someone who understands the platform well enough to design for it intelligently. You know the difference between a page, a post template, and an archive template. You understand when a filterable directory needs a tool like FacetWP, when a form has structural implications for a layout, and when a design decision will create unnecessary complexity in development. You don't need to be told how WordPress works; you design with that knowledge already built in.
• Experience presenting creative direction to clients and navigating feedback from people who may not have a design background.
• Comfort using AI tools (especially Claude) as a collaborator: concepting, generating starting points, and editing output rather than just accepting it.
• Familiarity with Canva for brand collateral and non-web design work is a plus.
• Day-to-day familiarity with Figma, Asana, Notion, and Google Workspace.

How we work

We respect our contractors as a crucial part of our business and do everything we can to support their best work: clear project management in Asana, access to necessary tools, brand documentation and creative briefs, and a team that actually enjoys working together. We never hand off a project and disappear; we're collaborative but aim for asynchronous work when possible.

We're looking for a creative partner who wants to grow with us and our clients, not just fill a slot. The right designer will become a trusted part in how we work, contributing to client relationships over time and getting more involved as the trust builds. Responsiveness and clear communication matter, but we don't engage in unnecessary back-and-forth.

Details

• Compensation: We pay based on experience and location. We're open to project, hourly, and retainer engagements with the right candidate.
• Getting started: Once we've completed interviews and decided to move forward, we'll kick things off with a paid test engagement to make sure it's a good fit before making an ongoing commitment.
• Location: This is a fully remote position. Our team works across US time zones, from Eastern to Pacific and everything in between. Candidates may be located anywhere, but must be able to accept payment in USD.

We welcome applicants of all backgrounds, identities, and experiences. Valerian is committed to building an inclusive team and does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, national original, disability, or any other protected status.

Interested?

Please submit our application form to be considered for this position. Do not email us, DM us, or contact us through any other channel. Submissions sent outside our form will be immediately disqualified.