Freelance Product Designer (Fractional)

Posted:
8/21/2026, 9:43:55 AM

Location(s):
California, United States ⋅ San Francisco, California, United States

Experience Level(s):
Mid Level ⋅ Senior

Field(s):
Product ⋅ UI/UX & Design

Workplace Type:
On-site

Pay:
$100k–$120k/yr

About the Role

This is a fractional Product Designer role at an early-stage AI-powered talent marketplace startup, working directly alongside founders and engineering to shape the entire product experience. You'll be the design voice in the room — owning everything from candidate-facing AI conversations to hiring manager dashboards — with real ownership and no design-by-committee.

What You'll Do

  • Own the full design surface: product UI, candidate experiences, company dashboards, and the AI interaction layer.

  • Turn ambiguous, early-stage problems into clean, intuitive user flows while maintaining a high bar for craft.

  • Build and evolve the design system from the ground up.

  • Run lightweight user research — candidate and company interviews, session observation, and friction identification.

  • Produce developer-ready handoffs including specs, redlines, and asset exports, collaborating closely with engineering on implementation fidelity.

  • Shape product direction alongside the founding team, contributing input beyond pixels.

What We're Looking For

  • 5+ years designing digital products, with meaningful time at a startup as the primary or sole designer.

  • Deep fluency in Figma for product design and design system work.

  • A portfolio demonstrating taste, clarity, and thoughtfulness — with shipped work.

  • Experience designing end-to-end flows and interaction models for multi-stakeholder products.

  • Experience building or evolving design systems from an early stage.

  • Comfort conducting lightweight user research including interviews and session observation.

  • Ability to work autonomously, async, and with minimal direction in a distributed team.

  • Prior fractional, contract, or multi-client design experience, including managing availability, capacity, and billing logistics.

  • Strong written and verbal communication skills for presenting and documenting design decisions.

  • Familiarity with accessibility principles (WCAG) and inclusive design is a plus.

  • Experience designing for marketplaces, platforms, or multi-sided networks is a plus.

  • Experience designing AI-powered products or conversational interfaces is a plus.

  • Background in HR tech, recruiting, or talent marketplace products is a plus.

Compensation & Benefits

Competitive compensation in the range of $100,000–$120,000 USD annually. Flexible fractional engagement with remote work. Visa sponsorship is not available.

Location

Fully remote — open to candidates worldwide.

Clera

Website: https://www.getclera.com/

Headquarter Location: San Francisco, California, United States

Employee Count: 1-10

Year Founded: 2025

IPO Status: Private

Last Funding Type: Pre-Seed

Industries: Artificial Intelligence (AI) ⋅ Career Planning ⋅ Information Technology ⋅ Recruiting