UI/UX Specialist

Sunblink; Boulder (CO); On-site; USD 55,000 - 96,000; Part time

Job summary

Sunblink is seeking a UX/UI Specialist for a ~30 hour/week contract based in Boulder. You will translate high-level art direction into polished UI in Unity, balancing usability, juice, and gamefeel.

You will own end-to-end UI systems—from HUDs and menus to onboarding—prototype rapidly from rough brief to shippable result, and collaborate closely with a 3-5 person team to maintain visual consistency and accessibility.

Qualifications

• Shipped at least one commercial game with owner over UX/UI.
• Portfolio showing in-engine UI work, not just mockups.
• Strong understanding of animation, timing, and feedback in UI.
• Proficient in high-fidelity mockups in Figma/ XD and translation to engine.
• Solid typography, color theory, layout, and visual hierarchy.
• Experience coordinating visuals with audio and haptic feedback.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end UX/UI vision, from art direction to polish in Unity.
• Design and implement UI systems: HUD, menus, onboarding, settings.
• Craft game feel: micro-interactions, transitions, screen shake, particle timing.
• Build and maintain a cohesive visual design system across iterations.
• Prototype rapidly and independently; turn rough sketches into shippable results.
• Collaborate with engineering and design on a small team of 3-5.

Skills

UX ownership

Portfolio development

Animation principles

Figma/Adobe XD

Typography & color theory

Accessibility

Self-direction

UI polish coordination

Unity

UGUI / UI Toolkit

C#

Shader Graph

Tools

Unity

UGUI / UI Toolkit

C#

Shader Graph

Job description

UX/UI Specialist

This is a ~30 hour/week contract position.

Generate beautiful, soulful art direction via mockups and moodboards, then implement UI with exceptional usability, juice, and gamefeel.

Core Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end UX/UI vision, from high-level art direction, mood, and tone down to final polish in Unity
• Design and implement UI systems: HUD, menus, onboarding, settings, with equal weight on usability and feel and a judiciousness of design
• Craft "game feel": micro-interactions, transitions, easing curves, screen shake, particle timing, and sound/haptic sync that make interactions feel alive
• Build and maintain a cohesive visual design system (typography, color, iconography, spacing, motion language) and keep it consistent across iterations
• Prototype and iterate rapidly and independently; take a one-line brief or a rough sketch and turn it into a shippable, polished result with minimal oversight
• Collaborate tightly with engineering and design on a small team of 3-5 folks
• Balance accessibility (colorblind modes, readability, input-method parity across controller/KBM/touch) against aesthetic ambition
• Build reusable UI components/prototyping tools so other team members can extend the system without breaking its integrity

Required Experience

• Shipped at least one commercial game with visible, personal ownership over UX/UI
• A portfolio showing both design thinking and actual in-engine implementation - not just Figma comps (we are looking for people who can create beautiful, intentional works of art, not just functional interfaces)
• Solid grasp of animation/motion principles (easing, timing, anticipation, follow-through) applied to interface and feedback design
• Comfortable in Figma/Adobe XD (or similar) for high-fidelity mockups, and able to translate those faithfully into engine without losing intent
• Real understanding of "juice" and feedback-loop design: why small delays, overshoots, and particle bursts make actions feel satisfying
• Demonstrated self-direction: has taken ambiguous creative direction and driven it to a finished, polished state without heavy supervision
• Strong fundamentals in typography, color theory, layout, and visual hierarchy
• Experience coordinating visual polish with audio and haptic feedback

Bonus Experience

• Strong hands-on Unity skills: UGUI and/or UI Toolkit, Animator/Timeline, basic Shader Graph, and enough C# to implement and iterate on UI logic themselves
• Shader/VFX authoring for UI (glows, distortions, dissolve/transition effects, Shader Graph node work)
• Tools programming (has built custom Unity editor tools to speed up UI iteration for a team)
• Accessibility specialization (colorblind-safe palettes, subtitle/caption systems, adaptive UI scaling)
• UX research chops — user testing, session recordings, analytics-informed iteration
• Motion graphics background (After Effects) used to prototype transitions before engine implementation
• A shipped title specifically praised for its UI/UX polish

Hours & Expectations

This is a 3 - 6 month initial contract with opportunities for extension depending on project status and work compatibility. We expect 30-40 hours a week most weeks.

Help Enrich Our World

We encourage underrepresented applicants to apply even if you do not meet 100% of the qualifications.

Transparency in AI Usage

If you’re using ChatGPT or other AI to write your cover letter, please disclose it with a brief initial sentence (and whether you are or aren’t, please let us know your favorite pop culture creature then, too). We consider transparency in AI usage important. (We used it to help with this req, for instance!)