Ergon is in stealth, so this posting describes the shape of the work rather than the thing being built. That is not coyness for its own sake: on the first call we tell you exactly what it is, including the surfaces you would be designing, before you spend any real time on us.
The hardest unsolved problem here is not visual. A person has to reach a confident decision about work they did not do and did not watch being done, with enough detail to be right and little enough that they will actually look. Nobody has a good answer for this yet. That is the job. You would be the second designer here, working alongside the one who set the language, and owning surfaces end to end rather than assisting on them.
What you will do
- Design the core surfaces, and find the level of detail that informs without burying
- Defend that level with real users rather than with taste
- Prototype in code, or close enough that engineers can build from what you hand over
- Extend the design language rather than restart it, and keep it coherent as the surface grows
- Sit in on real usage rather than designing from a brief
What we are looking for
- Strong information design instincts, demonstrable in work you can walk us through
- Experience designing tools for experts, not dashboards for executives
- You prototype in code, or have a workflow that gets you to the same place
- Comfort in a two-person design team, which means owning whole surfaces alone
Useful, not required
- You have designed review, diff, annotation, or audit interfaces before
- A background in editorial, legal, or clinical tooling, where being wrong has consequences
How we hire
- 01A 45-minute call with the CEO and CTO.
- 02A portfolio conversation. Two pieces, in depth, including what went wrong.
- 03A paid design exercise on a real problem, roughly a day of work.
- 04A conversation with the team, including the designer you would be working next to.
- 05References, then an offer.
Ergon is an equal opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to any characteristic protected by law.
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