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Design Lead
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

  • Location: Waterloo, Ontario
  • Type: Temporary - Employee
  • Job #17935

Job Title: Design Lead (Startup & Product Design Background)

Location: Remote
Contract: 12-month contract

About the Role

We’re looking for a versatile and creative Design Lead who brings the scrappy, agile mindset of the startup world, paired with the maturity and systems-thinking of modern product design. You’ll lead design initiatives that span brand expression and digital product experiences—all for one of the most playful, beloved tech brands.

If you started your journey in graphic design, sharpened your craft in fast-paced startup environments, and evolved into product design leadership, this role is for you.

What You’ll Be Doing

  • Lead cross-functional design projects that blend brand storytelling with product utility.
  • Shape and elevate the visual and interaction design across digital experiences—from concept to delivery.
  • Collaborate closely with product managers, engineers, brand teams, and marketing to bring ideas to life.
  • Provide strategic design direction, while still getting hands-on daily.
  • Translate business and user goals into clear, delightful, on-brand design solutions.
  • Champion consistency across experiences, ensuring alignment with the brand’s bold, fun, and human voice.
  • Contribute to design systems and advocate for scalable, user-centered design practices.

Who You Are

  • A design generalist with a deep appreciation for craft and storytelling, and the ability to zoom from high-level vision to fine detail.
  • Someone who started in graphic/visual design, and has since led product design work in fast-paced tech or startup environments.
  • Experienced in designing across web, mobile, and brand surfaces, and comfortable bridging the two.
  • A confident communicator who thrives in cross-functional teams and can align diverse stakeholders around a shared design vision.
  • Proficient in tools like Figma, but not defined by tools—you bring design thinking first.
  • Curious, playful, and eager to build things that people love and remember.

Nice to Have

  • Experience contributing to or evolving design systems
  • Familiarity with motion design, illustration, or other expressive visual disciplines
  • A strong point of view on how design can bring brand and product closer together
  • Previous experience working with large-scale tech companies or iconic consumer brands

We look forward to hearing from you! 

Contact Us.

Whether you have an immediate need today or are preparing for a strategic hire down the road and want to determine if there is a fit, get in touch with us, and we’ll have the right member of our team follow up with you shortly.
Looking For Work?

Creative Niche was founded on land that is the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples, and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples from across Turtle Island. We acknowledge that we are all treaty people and accept our responsibility to honour all our relations.

Read more

Creative Niche was founded on land that is the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples, and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples from across Turtle Island. We acknowledge that we are all treaty people and accept our responsibility to honour all our relations.

To recognize the land is an expression of gratitude and appreciation to those whose territory we reside on, and a way of honouring the Indigenous people who have been living and working on the land from time immemorial. Land acknowledgements do not exist in a past tense, or historical context: colonialism is current and ongoing, and we need to centre reconciliation in our actions and in our work. We encourage our team, partners, and clients to learn about the lands in which they live and to work towards reconciliation.

Read Less

Creative Niche was founded on land that is the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples, and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples from across Turtle Island. We acknowledge that we are all treaty people and accept our responsibility to honour all our relations.

Read more

Creative Niche was founded on land that is the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples, and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples from across Turtle Island. We acknowledge that we are all treaty people and accept our responsibility to honour all our relations.

To recognize the land is an expression of gratitude and appreciation to those whose territory we reside on, and a way of honouring the Indigenous people who have been living and working on the land from time immemorial. Land acknowledgements do not exist in a past tense, or historical context: colonialism is current and ongoing, and we need to centre reconciliation in our actions and in our work. We encourage our team, partners, and clients to learn about the lands in which they live and to work towards reconciliation.

Read Less

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