Product Designer
Northwind Labs · Remote — United Kingdom
- Salary
- £400 – £500/hr
- Job type
- Contract
- Level
- Senior
- Location type
- Remote
What this role actually involves
CareerHub analysis
Northwind Labs is hiring a Product Designer on a contract basis in remote (United Kingdom). The role is remote and pitched at senior, so the hiring team will expect working familiarity with Figma, Communication and Data analysis rather than classroom exposure. There are 5 core responsibilities attached to the position; the first two are usually what the interview actually focuses on. Northwind Labs operates in software, which shapes both the pace of the work and the kind of examples that land well in an interview.
About the job
A six-month contract to redesign the core reporting experience, working directly with engineering and with access to real customers.
Responsibilities
- Redesign the core reporting flows in collaboration with two engineers
- Run research sessions with retail customers
- Extend the existing design system rather than replacing it
- Produce handover that engineers can build from without a meeting
- Document the rationale for decisions so the work outlives the contract
Requirements
- Six or more years designing complex, data-dense software
- A portfolio showing systems work, not only finished screens
- Experience running your own research
- Comfortable working with engineers day to day
- Available for a six-month engagement, UK-based
The skills that will be tested, explained
Written by our editorial team, not taken from the listing.
Figma
On the job: Designing in a shared file: components, variants, and handover that developers can build from without a meeting.
How it is assessed: Portfolio review with a walkthrough of your file structure.
On your CV: Show the design system, not only the finished screens.
Communication
On the job: Explaining a decision to someone who does not share your context, writing updates people actually read, and asking questions early instead of guessing.
How it is assessed: The whole interview is the assessment. Structure matters more than polish.
On your CV: Point to artefacts: documentation you own, a proposal you wrote that changed a decision.
Data analysis
On the job: Framing a question, finding the data that answers it, and being clear about how confident the answer is.
How it is assessed: A case study with a dataset. Interviewers look at the questions you ask before you start.
On your CV: Describe a decision your analysis changed.
Also listed: Accessibility.
Salary insight
This role advertises £400 – £500/hr. For a senior position in remote (United Kingdom), treat the top of the band as achievable only if you match nearly every requirement listed. If you are asked for expectations first, give a range whose bottom you would genuinely accept, and confirm what sits alongside base pay — bonus, pension, leave, and any allowance for home office equipment.
Where this role leads
- 1Lead Product Designer — technical direction across several teams
- 2Product Designer Manager — if you would rather grow people than systems
- 3Principal or Head of function
How to apply for this role well
Tailoring your CV
- Put Figma, Communication, Data analysis in the top third of page one. Most screens for a Product Designer take under a minute, and recruiters read top-down.
- Mirror the language of the listing where it is honest to do so. If the advert says "Figma", write "Figma" — not a synonym an applicant tracking system will miss.
- Lead each bullet with a verb and close it with a number. "Managed reporting" is invisible; "Rebuilt weekly reporting for 12 branches, cutting prep time from 6 hours to 40 minutes" is not.
- The listing puts "Redesign the core reporting flows in collaboration with two engineers" first, which usually signals the day-one priority. Make sure one bullet on your CV maps directly to it.
- For a remote role, state your time zone and any prior remote experience explicitly. Hiring managers filter on it and will not guess.
- Keep it to two pages and export as PDF so your layout survives.
Your cover letter
- Open with the specific role and where you saw it: "I am applying for the Product Designer role at Northwind Labs." No suspense, no throat-clearing.
- Paragraph two is the one that matters. Take a single requirement from the listing and give a concrete example of doing it, with the outcome.
- Show that you know something about Northwind Labs beyond its homepage — a product decision, a market they operate in, a recent change in software.
- Close with availability and a clear next step. Three to four short paragraphs, under 300 words, in the body of the email if you are applying by email.
- Never send the same letter twice. Reviewers can tell, and a generic letter is worse than none.
Before you hit send
- A CV tailored to this listing, saved as PDF with your name in the filename.
- A short cover note that names the role and one relevant result.
- Two referees who have agreed in advance to be contacted.
- Ten minutes to complete the application form on this page.
Interview preparation
- Prepare a two-minute answer to "why this role at Northwind Labs?" that references the company's work in software.
- Have three STAR stories ready — situation, task, action, result — that cover Figma and Communication.
- On Figma: Portfolio review with a walkthrough of your file structure.
- Expect at least one question about working remote, especially how you keep work visible to people who cannot see your screen.
- Prepare two questions of your own. Good ones: what does success look like in the first 90 days, and what does the team find hardest right now?
- At this level, expect a scope question: a decision you made with incomplete information, and how you would make it differently now.
Industry context
Northwind Labs works in Software. As a 120 employees organisation, that affects how the Product Designer role is scoped: smaller teams tend to want breadth and a bias to action, larger ones want depth and evidence that you can work across functions. Candidates who research the sector — its customers, its regulation, its current pressures — interview noticeably better than those who research only the company.
Northwind Labs builds reporting and forecasting software used by regional retail chains to plan stock and staffing. The engineering team is small relative to the customer base, which means engineers here talk to customers directly and own features from design through to support. Hiring is deliberately slow and the interview process is unusually transparent about scope and pay.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Product Designer role at Northwind Labs remote?
Yes. This position is advertised as remote. Confirm the accepted time zones and whether the company can employ in your country before you apply.
What salary does this role pay?
The advertised range is £400 – £500/hr. Total package may also include bonus, pension and leave, so ask for the full breakdown at screening stage.
How do I apply?
Use the application form on this page. You will need your CV and about ten minutes.
How long does a response usually take?
Two to three weeks is typical. If you have heard nothing after ten working days, a short, polite follow-up to the recruiter is appropriate and will not count against you.
What experience level is required?
Senior. If you meet roughly 70% of the requirements it is still worth applying — very few candidates match every line of a job advert.
Apply for this job
Your CV and details go to Northwind Labs. It takes a couple of minutes.
Know someone right for this role?
Share the listing — they land on this page with the full description and can apply from here.
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Related reading
Listing last updated August 15, 2026. The analysis, skills breakdown, salary insight and interview guidance on this page were written by the CareerHub editorial team and are independent of the employer. Always verify pay and conditions with the employer before accepting an offer.