Product Designer

• This is a 6-month contract position. US - Remote Only **

Who We Are

Magpie Literacy is an early stage, funded edtech nonprofit on a mission to eradicate illiteracy in America. Our team is composed of former educators, literacy curriculum experts, and product developers who believe it is possible to teach every child to read, and to do so at scale via research-based instruction, personalization, and technology. We center students in all decisions.

We're building an integrated, comprehensive, tech-enabled pre-kindergarten through 8th grade reading product that students love and that rapidly moves them to foundational literacy and reading fluency.

Magpie is seeking a Product Designer Consultant to support our team on a 6-month contract. In this role, you'll help shape and refine the user experience across our learning and assessment products. This includes blending user research, design strategy, and UI/UX execution in close collaboration with our Engineering, Product, and Academics teams.

You'll contribute to creating a cohesive design system, deepen our understanding of user needs, and support product refinement efforts with clear, thoughtful design solutions.

Scope of Services & Deliverables

Strategy & Planning

• Support our Product leaders in creating an experience flow; scope and size the work
• Identify and analyze how we approach product refinements; provide consistent updates based on observations

UX Research & Planning

• Conduct background research and auditing. Identify and analyze existing experience within both Learning and Assessment products
• Define user research needs; create timelines and calendars used by the team
• Compile and analyze existing internal and external research

Design Development

• Create and uphold a design system, its components and ensure documentation is in place to guide future design and engineering work

User Research

• Conduct 1:1 teacher interviews; potential opportunities to visit schools and observe in-classroom experiences
• Facilitate/participate in EAC (Educator Advisory Council) meetings
• Identify areas for user research and create research plans, scripts, clickable prototypes, and additional testing materials as needed

Collaboration, Coordination & Handoff

• Provide Engineering Team partners throughout the build process; offer clear and comprehensive design specifications to enhance outcomes
• Offer guidance to key stakeholders and help trouble shoot issues as needed
• Create detailed review of build work to ensure design accuracy and usability
• Illustration coordination: Proactively coordinate with, and take the lead on, engaging with Magpie's illustration contractors
• Partner with our Product Leaders in helping source and hire illustration contractors
• Stakeholder coordination: Coordinate copy and design decisions cross functionally between Academics, instructional design, Operations, and Engineering

Script Writing

• Draft script updates; review and coordinate changes and iterations in partnership with instructional design stakeholders

Audio production

• Create audio files using AI tools
• Manage audio production + QA process

Requirements

• Strong experience with UI/UX design tools (especially Figma)
• Deep understanding of learning-centered product design and user research
• Experience collaborating with cross-functional teams (Engineering, Academics, Product)
• Strong communication and documentation skills
• Bonus: Experience working with illustration contractors, scriptwriting, or audio production tools

Benefits

What You'll Receive:

• Hourly Rate $65-$100/hr
• Remote first team
• Opportunity to work with a mission-driven company full of change-makers