Senior Designer

Cognition; Seattle (WA); On-site; USD 119,000 - 145,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical benefits

Dental benefits

Vision benefits

Retirement plan

Paid time off

Professional development support

Job summary

Cognition Studio in Seattle is seeking a Senior Designer to be a craft-first contributor within the Design Division. You will work across brand identity systems, websites, environmental design, kiosks, and print/media campaigns, partnering with strategy and communications to ensure cohesive storytelling.

You will lead or support projects with a strong craft standard, grow toward leading bigger work, and contribute to how briefs are shaped while collaborating with researchers and clients.

Qualifications

• Portfolio demonstrates craft across brand systems, websites, print and digital work.
• Experience in science, medical, global health or related field is a plus.
• Ability to lead or support design efforts with equal rigor.
• Experience collaborating with strategists and writers.

Responsibilities

• Design across brand identity systems, websites, environmental design, kiosks, and print and media campaigns.
• Carry heavy-lift work solo or contribute midstream with strong craft.
• Collaborate with Strategy and Communications to align design with words.
• Grow toward leading bigger projects and shaping briefs.

Skills

Strong portfolio

Collaboration

Leadership instinct

Client-facing experience

Ambiguity mastery

Context switching

Education

BDes degree

Tools

Figma

Claude AI

Adobe Creative Suite

Microsoft Office

Job description

Cognition Studio is where science becomes conviction. We're a life sciences creative strategy studio that turns complex science - mechanism, data, pipeline - into narrative and brand systems that move the people who decide: investors, partners, regulators, and clinicians.

Location:Seattle, WALevel:Senior (7+ years professional design experience) Compensation:$119,000-$145,000.

Benefits & other compensation: Medical, dental, vision and disability; retirement plan; paid time off, sick and safe leave, and holidays; annual professional-development support.

Role Overview

The Senior Designer is a high-craft contributor at the center of Cognition's Design Division. You work across a wide aperture of design, and across the studio itself, moving between project teams and pods as the strong practitioner the work is built around. This is a craft-first seat for someone who is still growing toward leading the biggest work. You can drop into a project midstream and add value fast, pick up the small things without friction, and carry the heavy lift alone when the work calls for a soloist. You are as comfortable supporting as you are leading a build. What stays constant is the standard of the craft. The aperture is wide by design: brand identity systems, websites, environmental design, kiosks, and print and media campaigns, across print, digital, and interactive. You will work alongside every practice at Cognition, and couple tightly with the Strategy and Communications teams whose thinking and words the design has to carry. Collaboration is where the work gets sharper. Cognition works at the front edge of life sciences, for biotech founders, global health teams, and science-led companies. Design here is systems strategy built from the science. Client-facing experience is a plus, not a requirement. What matters most is a strong team member and a growing expert in design. This role is Seattle-based and sits within the Design Division.

Work across a wide aperture

• Design across brand identity systems, websites, environmental design, kiosks, and print and media campaigns.
• Move fluidly between print, digital, and interactive, and hold the craft standard in each.
• Bring range without losing depth. The breadth is what lets you serve very different projects well.

Carry the work at any scale

• Be the soloist on heavy-lift work. Own a demanding build from concept to final craft.
• Drop into a project midstream and add value fast, without needing the full backstory to start.
• Pick up the small things with the same care you bring to the large ones.

Collaborate across the studio

• Couple tightly with the Strategy and Communications teams. The strongest work comes from design, strategy, and words moving together.
• Work alongside every practice at Cognition, from writers and strategists to medical illustrators and animators, and move between their project teams and pods.
• Be the steady, strong team member others want on the engagement.

Grow toward leading bigger work

• Hold a high personal craft standard and begin to influence the quality of others’ work.
• Contribute to how briefs are shaped, and begin to scope your own work.
• Take on more of the arc as you go: bigger builds, harder problems, more of the lead-designer role.

What you bring

• A portfolio that proves craft across the aperture: brand systems, websites, environmental or experiential work, and print and media campaigns.
• Prior work at a science, medical, global health or related design/communications firm.
• Craft mastery deep enough to be the soloist on heavy-lift work, and agile enough to support a team midstream.
• A real appetite for collaboration. You like working with strategists and writers, and you make the team better.
• Mastery or deep skills in ambiguity, self-paced, context switching consultancy style environment.
• A BDes from a strong design program is required. Our work is too complex to bring anyone in below that bar.
• A growing leadership instinct. You are ready to own bigger work and to raise the standard beyond your own hands.
• Curiosity about science, health, and innovation, and the appetite to learn a client's field well enough to serve it.
• Client-facing experience is a welcome bonus for this role.

Tools & Workflow

• Figma: expert. This is your primary design environment.
• AI-assisted workflow: Claude-savvy as a baseline, with a working habit of using AI to move from brief to output.
• Modern team-based tooling: comfortable with the workflows that keep a studio’s work flowing across a team.
• Adobe Creative Suite + Microsoft Office: proficient across the tools the work demands.