Associate Experience Designer

About the role

AREA 17’s 2026 Cohort is a structured entry point designed to grow and nurture junior talent into future leaders. You’ll work in small, autonomous teams alongside senior strategists and designers, learning by doing rather than sitting on the sidelines with peers at the same career stage. The agency is a global brand, experience, and technology studio at the intersection of strategy and craft, partnering with ambitious companies and cultural institutions—from early-stage AI startups to some of the world’s most recognized institutions.

As a member of the cohort, you’ll turn strategy into designed experiences: translating user research and product direction into interaction patterns, flows, and prototypes across the full user journey. You’ll design new patterns that balance usability with strategic intent, contribute to consistent and accessible behaviors, and support research sessions by recruiting participants, taking notes, and validating concepts through sketches and prototypes. While you’ll work under strategists, UX architects, and designers, the small-team structure means you’re expected to spot what needs to be done and move it forward.

The studio has recently restructured around strategy-led thinking, and this role sits at the intersection of disciplines—bringing strategic perspective to design work and visual thinking to strategy. You’ll ship real work within twelve weeks, following an intensive training and shadowing period. A dedicated coach one or two levels above you will oversee your development, with monthly check-ins from a Group Strategy Director.

Requirements

• Early-career but past the basics, with a design-leaning background in UX, product, or interaction design, or through internships and self-directed work
• Proficiency in Figma
• Understanding of usability and accessibility principles
• Ability to articulate the thinking behind your work, not just the final screens
• Experience building or shipping something independently (e.g., makers, tinkerers, or self-starters)

Benefits

• Fully paid medical, dental, and vision insurance for employees and families
• 401(k) with company match
• HSA with annual employer contribution
• Employer-paid life insurance
• Hybrid working arrangement

Pay

$60,000 – $75,000

Schedule

Early October start date