Design Director
Reports to: Studio Co-Founders
Manages: 1 staff Sr. Designer, and 2-3 design contractors
Location: Remote (Los Angeles or SF Bay Area preferred)
Work Capacity: Full time (40 hours)
Term: 3 month contract to hire, with intention to increase commitment if there is a mutual fit
Compensation: base rate of $110 - 120/hour with a salary equivalent of $165,000 - $175,000 annually
Priority review date: January 30th
Ideal start date: February 16th
About Spherical
Spherical is a strategic design and integrative research studio working to regenerate the health and integrity of Earth's living systems. Our work spans multiple spheres of inquiry, engaging projects at scales from the local to the planetary. We work with people who willingly engage complexity and who bring care and attention to collaboration.
Our anchor project is the Living Infrastructure Field Kit, a philanthropically funded mapping and co-design platform reimagining how infrastructure is conceived in Los Angeles County, starting with communities. We also explore living systems through coding experiments, ecological data visualizations, immersive productions, and site-specific performances
Learn more about working at Spherical →
About this role
The Design Director leads design work across Spherical's projects, with primary focus on the Living Infrastructure Field Kit. You work at the intersection of strategic design and regenerative principles, guiding participatory design processes that center community knowledge and create space for collaborative intelligence.
You are a hands-on leader who partners with cross-functional teams and specialist contractors to create intuitive, community-centered experiences. You balance strategic vision with present needs, innovation with accessibility, and team development with project delivery. You see things through from conception to delivery.
We are invested in hiring candidates from diverse backgrounds and understand that not all candidates will meet every qualification listed. If you feel that you meet many of the qualifications, we encourage you to apply.
What you'll do
Experience & Interaction Design
Design experiences that are intuitive, meaningful, and honor diverse perspectives and cultural contexts
Translate complex environmental and systems data into interfaces that make information visible and actionable for community advocacy
Maintain and evolve the UI kit and design system with engineering, balancing consistency with flexibility for new platform needs
Monitor and address design quality issues and visual inconsistencies across the platform
Lead collaborative design processes that build collective intelligence and ownership
Coordinate with specialist contractors across information design, data science, game design, and other disciplines
Pursue craft with intention, attending to both functional and evocative details
Design Research
Lead the organization and synthesis insights from community workshops and stakeholder sessions
Support participatory design processes that center community knowledge and lived experience
Document and synthesize user insights, experience opportunities, and interface needs
Test solutions to improve usability for different stakeholders
Engage stakeholders as collaborators, embedding community knowledge and lived experience
Design Strategy & Planning
Present design strategy and progress to partners and community stakeholders
Guide project planning within real-world constraints and resource realities
Measure design impact to ensure solutions support human and ecological wellbeing
Define and track design success metrics
Anticipate potential direct and indirect effects of collective design decisions to steer the work toward desired outcomes
Team Development & Culture
Provide functional direction, management, and expertise for your team
Build a collaborative team culture aligned with studio values and regenerative design principles
Support team members' growth in strategic thinking and leadership capacity
Help shape and tend to studio culture through honest communication, engaged caring, and accountability
Balance workload and coordinate across functions
Manage hiring, staffing, and budgets for internal team and external contractors
Define project scopes and manage consultant partnerships
Cross-Project Engagement
Lead design for the Living Infrastructure Field Kit as primary focus
Contribute to Spherical Lab initiatives, including coding experiments, data visualizations, and immersive productions, as opportunities arise
Bridge disciplinary perspectives across projects, integrating design with research, development, and production work
Key outcomes
User experiences that empower users through clarity, consistency, and progressive disclosure
Community-centered approaches that reflect diverse stakeholder input and address real needs
Measurable improvements in participation, retention, and meaningful interaction
Consistent yet adaptable design across multiple touchpoints
Interfaces and experiences that meet accessibility standards while pushing creative boundaries
Strong working relationships with collaborators and stakeholders built on trust and transparent communication
Skills & qualifications
7+ years leading UX, product, and/or experience design work in complex systems
3+ years leading with demonstrated organization-level strategic thinking and team development capacity
Experience with participatory design methods and cross-functional collaboration
Experience designing interfaces for environmental or spatial data products used in advocacy, civic engagement, or community decision-making
Experience creating accessible interfaces that serve diverse human abilities and contexts
Experience with client and partner relationships, including presenting design work to funders, community organizations, and non-design stakeholders
Experience managing external contractors and translating specialized content into interface design
Strong project management skills with ability to define scopes, timelines, budgets, and maintain stakeholder alignment
Healthy balance of curiosity and discernment in the use of new AI-connected tools, and a demonstrated capacity to experiment, explore, and provide recommendations on new workflows
Nice to have:
Track record of navigating ambiguity and designing for long-term change in complex environments
Experience in game design, speculative futures, or narrative world-building
Experience bridging multiple disciplines and ways of knowing
Familiarity with living systems thinking or regenerative design principles
How to apply
Please include a portfolio link highlighting complex interface work, your role on multi‑disciplinary collaborations, and artifacts that demonstrate process and outcomes.
