UI and UX Designer job description
A UI and UX designer shapes how a web or mobile product looks and works. They turn user problems into flows, screens and components that engineers can build and customers can use without help.
Why the role exists
Products lose users when screens confuse them. The designer researches how customers behave, maps journeys, and produces clear interfaces. In most Indian startups this person sits with the product manager and engineers, often as the first or only designer, and owns both research and visual polish.
What the person does
- Talk to users and customer support staff to find where people get stuck, and write up the findings for the product team.
- Map user journeys and draw wireframes for new features before any visual design begins.
- Build high-fidelity screens in Figma that follow the product design system and brand colours.
- Create and maintain reusable components, spacing rules and type styles so screens stay consistent.
- Prepare clickable prototypes and test them with a handful of real users before engineering starts.
- Hand over designs to developers with clear specs, states and assets, and answer questions during the build.
- Review the built product against the design and log gaps that affect usability on small Android phones.
- Check designs for readable text, tap size and colour contrast, and for slow networks and local languages.
Skills and tools
- Figma for wireframes, prototypes, components and auto layout
- User research methods such as interviews, usability tests and surveys
- Information architecture and interaction design for web and mobile
- Design systems, tokens and component libraries
- Visual design: typography, layout, colour and iconography
- Accessibility basics and responsive design for varied screen sizes
- Reading analytics and session recordings to find usability issues
- Clear communication with engineers and product managers
Education and experience
Preferred, never a bar: equivalent experience counts.
- Degree or diploma in design, HCI, computer applications or a related field preferred, or equivalent practical experience.
- A portfolio showing at least two shipped products with the problem, process and outcome explained is preferred.
- Experience designing for mobile apps and responsive web, including Android devices common in India, is preferred.
- Exposure to working in agile product teams with engineers and a product manager, or equivalent experience.
How the work is judged
- Quality and clarity of design handover, judged by how few questions and rework cycles engineers need.
- Usability test results on key flows before and after a release.
- Consistency of the shipped product with the design system.
- Speed from agreed problem to a tested prototype, judged against the team plan.
- Product team feedback on research insight and how often it changes a decision.
Where the role can lead
- Senior product designer, owning a product area end to end including research.
- Design lead or head of design, managing designers and setting design standards.
- Product manager or design strategist for those who move toward product decisions.
Interview questions to ask
Ask every candidate the same questions in the same order and score them against written anchors, so the decision rests on the work and not the impression.
- Walk us through one product you designed from problem to launch. What did you get wrong first?
- How would you redesign a checkout or onboarding flow where many users drop off on a low-end phone?
- A developer says your design is too costly to build in this sprint. How do you respond?
- How do you decide when to run user research and when to rely on existing data?
- Describe how you have built or extended a design system. What rules did you set?
- The founder wants a screen changed against what testing showed. What do you do?
Hiring tips for this role
- Ask for a case study walkthrough, not just screens. Strong candidates explain trade-offs, constraints and what they would change.
- Set a short paid or time-boxed task on a real problem of yours. Judge the thinking and questions asked more than the polish.
- Do not confuse a graphic designer with a UX designer. If research and flows matter, test for them directly.
- Check the portfolio shows individual contribution when work was done in a team, and ask what the candidate personally decided.
Questions about hiring a ui and ux designer
A UX designer works on how a product behaves: research, flows and structure. A UI designer works on how it looks: layout, type, colour and components. Small companies usually hire one person to do both.
If the product is your main sales channel, yes, early on. Without one, engineers guess at layouts and users leave. A contract designer for a first version can work, but plan for someone who owns the product long term.
Figma is the common standard now. Useful extras are a prototyping tool, a whiteboard tool for journey maps, and basic analytics tools. Tool names change, so test the thinking behind the screens.
GullyHR agrees the job description with you, finds and screens designers for permanent roles, reviews portfolios against your product needs, and supports you through the offer. We do not supply contract staff.
Hiring a ui and ux designer?
GullyHR runs talent acquisition for permanent roles. We agree the job description with you, find and screen candidates against it, and support the offer through to joining. We recruit permanent employees. We do not supply contract or temporary staff.