Senior UI/UX Designer

About Upstep Academy

Upstep Academy is building one of India’s most interactive and engaging online learning platforms — starting with a structured chess learning ecosystem for kids and learners around the world. Our platform blends professional coaching, interactive gameplay, lesson modules, and progress tracking into a seamless experience.

We are looking for a Senior UI/UX Designer who can translate ideas into smooth user flows, beautiful interfaces, and intuitive interactions. You’ll collaborate with product, tech, and coaching teams to shape the learning and gameplay experience of thousands of students.

Role Overview

As a Senior UI/UX Designer, you will work on end-to-end product design — from research and wireframing to high-fidelity UI and prototypes. You will be responsible for designing experiences across:

● Learning modules (videos, lessons, exercises)

● Chess gameplay and practice screens

● Onboarding & enrollment

● Student/parent dashboards

● Assignments, analysis & progress reports

● Coach interaction flows

You may also mentor junior designers and contribute to the design system as the platform grows.

Key Responsibilities

1. User Research & UX Design

● Conduct user research, interviews, and usability tests with students and parents.

● Create user journeys, personas, and information architecture for learning and gameplay experiences.

● Design wireframes, user flows, and functional prototypes for web and mobile.

● Identify UX issues and recommend improvements, focusing on clarity, accessibility, and retention.

2. UI Design & Visual Craft

● Translate concepts into clean, modern, responsive UI for web and mobile.

● Work on screens for lessons, practice modules, chessboard interactions, dashboards, and certificates.

● Develop high-fidelity mockups, UI kits, and micro-interaction prototypes.

● Maintain visual consistency across the product using a shared design system.

3. Collaboration & Delivery

● Work closely with curriculum teams, developers, and marketing.

● Communicate design rationale clearly to both technical and non-tech stakeholders.

● Participate in design reviews, sprint planning, and QA to ensure accurate implementation.

● Hand off specs, assets, and guidelines effectively for development.

4. Contribution to Design Culture

● Help improve internal design processes, tools, and documentation.

● Share feedback and mentor junior designers when required.

● Ensure a user-focused, data-backed decision-making approach.

Required Skills & Qualifications

● 4–7 years of hands-on UI/UX design experience — preferably with product or edtech/gaming platforms.

● Strong portfolio demonstrating web and mobile product design, user flows, interactions, and problem-solving.

● Advanced proficiency in Figma (mandatory), Adobe XD, Sketch, or similar tools.

● Good understanding of UX principles, design patterns, responsive design, and interaction design.

● Ability to work independently, take ownership, and manage multiple modules/features.

● Strong communication, collaboration, and stakeholder-handling skills.

● Basic familiarity with front-end development (HTML/CSS/JS) is a plus.

Nice to Have

● Experience designing gameplay interfaces (chess, puzzles, strategy games).

● Knowledge of child-centric UX or learning-platform design.

● Experience with animations, micro-interactions, or motion graphics.

● Familiarity with analytics tools (GA, Mixpanel, Hotjar) for UX optimization.

● Understanding of gamification and motivational design.

Why You’ll Love Working With Us

● Opportunity to shape a unique product at the intersection of learning + interactive gaming.

● High ownership, creative freedom, and a collaborative team.

● Impact-driven work — your designs will directly improve how thousands of students learn chess.

● Competitive compensation with growth potential.