Associate Experience Designer

Craft is delighted to partner with AREA 17 on the launch of their 2026 Cohort, a structured entry point designed to grow and nurture junior talent into the leaders of tomorrow. You’ll work in small, autonomous teams alongside senior strategists and designers, learning by doing rather than sitting on the sidelines with colleagues at the same stage of their careers.

AREA 17 is a global brand, experience, and technology agency working at the intersection of strategy and craft. It helps ambitious companies and cultural institutions transform how they show up in the world, from early-stage AI startups to some of the world’s most recognized Institutions.

The Role
You’ll turn strategy into designed experiences, taking user research and product direction and shaping them into interaction patterns, flows, and prototypes across the user journey. You’ll design new patterns that balance usability with strategic intent, contribute to consistent and accessible behaviours, and support research sessions under direction: recruiting, note-taking, validating concepts through sketches and prototypes.

You’ll work under strategists, UX architects, and designers, but in a small, autonomous team where you’re expected to spot what needs to be done and move it forward. The studio has just restructured around strategy-led thinking, and this role sits in the middle ground between disciplines – the person who brings strategic perspective to a designer’s work, and visual thinking to a strategist’s. 

You’ll ship real work within twelve weeks, after an intensive training and shadowing period. A dedicated coach one or two levels above you runs point on your development, with monthly check-ins from a Group Strategy Director.

The Package
$60,000 – $75,000
Hybrid working
Early October start date
Fully paid medical, dental, and vision for employees and families
401(k) with company match 
HSA with annual employer contribution
Employer-paid life insurance

The Person
You’re early-career but past the basics, design-leaning by background, working in UX, product, or interaction design, or building a portfolio through internships and self-directed work. 

You know Figma, understand usability and accessibility, and can show the thinking behind your work, not just the screens. Makers do well here – people who’ve built or shipped something independently.