Associate Experience Designer

Craft; New York (NY); On-site; USD 60,000 - 75,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

401(k) with match

HSA contributions

Life insurance

Job summary

Craft is partnering with AREA 17 to launch a 2026 Cohort, a structured entry point designed to grow junior talent into leaders of tomorrow. You’ll join small, autonomous teams, learning by doing under seasoned strategists and designers, with a coach guiding your development.

You’re early-career, design-leaning, with experience in UX, product, or interaction design, and a portfolio that shows your thinking, not just screens.

Qualifications

• Entry-level to junior designer with a portfolio demonstrating UX/design work.
• Experience in UX, product, or interaction design is valued.
• Proficiency with Figma and a user-centered design approach.

Responsibilities

• Turn strategy into designed experiences, shaping user flows, patterns, and prototypes.
• Work in a small, autonomous team with coaching and regular check-ins.
• Contribute to research sessions, sketches, and validation of concepts.

Skills

Figma

Usability

Accessibility

Portfolio

Job description

Craft is delighted to partner with AREA 17 on the launch of their 2026 Cohort, a structured entry point designed to grow and nurture junior talent into the leaders of tomorrow. You’ll work in small, autonomous teams alongside senior strategists and designers, learning by doing rather than sitting on the sidelines with colleagues at the same stage of their careers.

AREA 17 is a global brand, experience, and technology agency working at the intersection of strategy and craft. It helps ambitious companies and cultural institutions transform how they show up in the world, from early-stage AI startups to some of the world's most recognized Institutions.

The Role

You’ll turn strategy into designed experiences, taking user research and product direction and shaping them into interaction patterns, flows, and prototypes across the user journey. You’ll design new patterns that balance usability with strategic intent, contribute to consistent and accessible behaviours, and support research sessions under direction: recruiting, note-taking, validating concepts through sketches and prototypes.

You’ll work under strategists, UX architects, and designers, but in a small, autonomous team where you’re expected to spot what needs to be done and move it forward. The studio has just restructured around strategy-led thinking, and this role sits in the middle ground between disciplines - the person who brings strategic perspective to a designer’s work, and visual thinking to a strategist’s.

You’ll ship real work within twelve weeks, after an intensive training and shadowing period. A dedicated coach one or two levels above you runs point on your development, with monthly check-ins from a Group Strategy Director.

The Package

$60,000 - $75,000

Early October start date

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

The Person

You’re early-career but past the basics, design-leaning by background, working in UX, product, or interaction design, or building a portfolio through internships and self-directed work.

You know Figma, understand usability and accessibility, and can show the thinking behind your work, not just the screens. Makers do well here - people who’ve built or shipped something independently.

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A more diverse team is a more creative team.

It’s our job to build teams of people, and we’re proud to bring together a global network of diverse talent.

All applicants will be considered without regard to race, nationality, religious persuasion, sexual orientation, sex, marital or parental status, physical ability, gender, or age.