Remote Web Designer for DTC Pet Brand - Freelance — Columbus
Traveler-Friendly Insight
This role is fully remote and freelance, making it one of the more nomad-friendly opportunities in the DTC design space. The initial engagement is 40–80 hours over 4–8 weeks, with ongoing work beyond that — perfect for a designer who travels and needs project-based income rather than a fixed schedule.
Async compatibility is high. The job description emphasizes same-day feedback turnarounds and a two-week first-direction deadline, but no fixed daily hours or timezone are specified. That said, the expectation of fast feedback cycles implies you should overlap meaningfully with US business hours at least a few times per week — ideally EST or PST windows.
Visa considerations: The location hint points to Poland, Ukraine, Serbia, Romania, Portugal, and Brazil — all popular bases for remote workers. Portugal's D8 Digital Nomad Visa is an excellent fit here. Serbia requires no visa for many nationalities and has zero income tax on foreign-sourced earnings. Brazil offers a digital nomad visa valid up to 1 year.
At $35–$70/hour, earning potential in context:
- Lisbon, Portugal: $3,000–$4,000/month covers comfortable living; even at the low end, 80–100 hrs/month covers it easily.
- Bangkok, Thailand: $1,500–$2,000/month. High-end hours here generate strong savings.
- Medellín, Colombia: ~$1,500–$2,200/month. Very favorable purchasing power at this rate.
No equipment stipend or coworking budget is mentioned — factor that into your rate negotiation.
A profitable DTC pet brand doing $50M+ a year, scaling to $100M+, fully remote is looking for a really experienced Web Designer with great taste to help our brands be more unique and stand out. Our first major project is a full revamp and upgrade of our websites. This isn't a rebrand: you build on our current branding and make the look and feel more unique, more elevated and better at standing out from everyone else in pet, while every page is still designed to convert.
You'll work with our Head of Brand & Community and our CRO Lead, and you must be very experienced designing with AI so you move fast. The revamp is about 40–80 hours over 4–8 weeks, with more design work after it as we keep raising the bar. You'll leave us a Figma design system that our team then extends with AI to build new sections. We're looking for someone with 5+ years designing websites and a portfolio of ecommerce sites (ideally Shopify) that shows real taste, including work elevating existing brands.
The Mission of This Role
Elevate our websites so both brands look as good as our products and stand out from everyone else in pet, while every page is still designed to convert. This isn't a rebrand: we keep our current branding and build on it, so it feels more unique and more premium. The first project — a full revamp and upgrade — involves: elevating the web look, creating a Figma design system for both brands, and designing a set of signature sections for each brand, all built on conversion principles. After handover, our web team and CRO Lead build new sections with AI from this system. Success is a more unique, more elevated website that converts better than today, documented well enough that every new section still looks like us.
Who Are We?
We're a profitable, premium DTC pet brand. We sell across Shopify, Amazon and Chewy, and we're one of the fastest-growing brands in the pet space — $50M+ in annual revenue and scaling to $100M+. We recently launched a second brand, expanding into an entirely new vertical and customer base. We're a 100% remote, lean, senior team that moves fast, and every person here has a massive impact on the business.
Culture & Who Is a Good Fit
Culture-fit is our #1 factor when hiring! We have a genuine will-to-win. No work is beneath us if it moves us towards our goals. We use creativity to do more with less — and quickly. We use data to make decisions and live by four core values:
- Better Everyday: Use split-test results from the new sections to refine the system before handover.
- Speed Is King: Present first directions within two weeks and turn feedback around the same day.
- Work Smart: Use AI to explore directions and produce assets faster, and design the system so AI can extend it after handover.
- Overdeliver: Leave the team a system it can keep building on for years, not just a set of good-looking pages.
If you want a stress-free corporate 9–5 job, this isn't it.
If you want to challenge yourself and shape a fast-growing company, work directly with the founder, and play a big role in scaling it to $100M+... If you want to drive results with a group of passionate, smart, hardworking people, in an environment without politics or corporate chicanery, being hands-on and active — then you've come to the right place.
Outcomes (What Success Looks Like)
Targets for each outcome are agreed with you before the first project starts.
- Both brands look premium and distinctive: Final look signed off by the CEO and the Head of Brand & Community.
- The new sections convert better than what they replace: Conversion rate and revenue per visitor vs. the old version (split tests with the CRO Lead).
- The revamp lands on time and on budget: Delivery date and hours vs. the agreed project plan.
- New sections built with AI still look like us: Review of the first new sections built from the system after handover.
Key Objectives
- Review both sites, our brand guidelines and the competitors we want to stand apart from, then present 2–3 web directions per brand in the first two weeks.
- Build the web design system in Figma for both brands, mobile first, keeping each brand clearly distinct.
- Design 8–10 signature sections per brand for mobile and desktop.
- Design every section to convert, and launch major new sections as split tests with the CRO Lead.
- Hand over clean Figma files, simple usage rules and a short walkthrough so our team can extend the system with AI.
Requirements
- Fully remote, freelance, ongoing (the first project, a full website revamp, is about 40–80 hours over 4–8 weeks).
- Fluent in English.
- Experience: 5+ years designing websites is a must.
- Portfolio: Live ecommerce sites (ideally Shopify) that show real taste and creativity, and look better than most of what is on Shopify today.
- Elevating Existing Brands: You've taken established ecommerce brands and made their sites more premium and distinctive without losing what already works.
- AI-First Design: Very experienced designing with AI. You use AI image, layout and site-building tools every day to explore directions and deliver far faster than a traditional designer.
- Design Systems: You build systems in Figma so clear that developers and AI tools can extend them without guessing.
- Conversion-Led Design: You know what makes a page sell (hierarchy, proof, clear calls to action, speed) and design with CRO principles from the start.
- Tools: Strong in Figma and mobile-first design.
- Collaboration: You take direction from brand and CRO, and push back with better ideas when you have them.
- Available to start within the next few weeks and turn feedback around fast. You are passionate about your work.
- Excellent cultural fit as per the values above.
- Bonus points: DTC or pet brand experience.
Accountabilities
What you own, starting with the website revamp.
- Brand direction: Review both sites, our brand guidelines and competitors, and present 2–3 directions per brand that build on our current branding. One is chosen by the CEO and the Head of Brand & Community within the first two weeks.
- Design system: Build the web design system in Figma (type, colour, spacing, components and section templates for both brands, mobile first), built and approved by the midpoint of the project.
- Signature sections: Design 8–10 signature sections per brand (e.g., hero, product benefits, social proof, comparison, bundles and brand story) for mobile and desktop, and check the built pages against the design before launch.
- Conversion-led design: Every section has a clear visual hierarchy, one main action, benefits and proof high on the page, and fast, thumb-friendly mobile layouts. Major sections launch as split tests with the CRO Lead.
- Handover so AI can extend it: Simple usage rules (do's, don'ts and examples), clean Figma files, assets and a short walkthrough, plus a review of the first new sections the team builds from the system with AI.
How Our Hiring Works
- Application + Screening & Portfolio Review
- Paid Test (one real section for one of our brands, paid at your hourly rate)
- Final Interview
- Project Kickoff
Rate Expectation
USD $35 – $70 per hour (based on experience and portfolio), ongoing. The first project (a full website revamp) is about 40–80 hours over 4–8 weeks.
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