Lead User Experience Designer, Contract
About the role
As a Lead User Experience (UX) Designer, you lead the design and delivery of large features with experience, innovation and forward-thinking from conception to delivery in collaboration with multi-disciplinary team. Combining stellar UX and analytical skills, you take ideas from conception to execution—collaborating with your team, navigating ambiguity, and balancing priorities as you push toward the goal and deliver on time.
You’ve got the grit to lead the execution of UX deliverables—wireframes, interactive prototypes, user flows, site maps, and usability test plans. You drive the design of large projects through mastery level with little oversight.
This is a contract role until May 1, 2026. You Will
- Design holistic systems, flows, and interfaces that are simple, elegant, and beautiful through detailed wireframes, visual compositions, and prototypes that communicate design intent, and client and user feedback.
- Provide guidance and support to other UX designers and the project team.
- Present solutions to stakeholders using an organized and methodical approach.
- Balance creative requirements with client business requirements.
- Manage time effectively and execute according to commitments.
- Apply a critical lens to your work and the work of others in service of the solution.
- Demonstrate team orientation and build rapport with creative teammates, strategists, content strategists, marketing science, and producers.
- Clearly articulate complex ideas to both the internal team and client.
- Anticipate upcoming client and team needs, identify risks, and mitigate appropriately.
- Initiate and manage your daily activities with limited input from the UX Director
- Continuously seek to be well-informed regarding new software and design concepts.
- Understand the process of business development and lead aspects of pitch creation in alignment with the overall sales story.
- Contribute to team culture by acting as a coach and mentor to junior team members, modelling the behaviours and characteristics of a CM leader.
- Be actively engaged with colleagues both within and outside of teams, promoting collaboration and inclusion.
You Have
- Bachelor's degree preferred, with multidisciplinary background such as psychology, computer science, information sciences, human/computer interface design or commerce/business.
- 4+ years of related industry experience in UX, product design, new media, information technology, communications, or library/information science.
- 4+ years of experience in the role of senior UX designer or equivalent role.
- Effective communication skills, both orally and in a variety of written and diagrammatic forms.
- Proven interpersonal skills, client relation skills, and ability to work in a team environment.
- Experienced, innovative and forward-thinking mindset with demonstrated leadership of projects from concept to completion.
- Proven experience designing with AI in mind: both leveraging AI and machine learning as design tools and creating next-generation user experiences powered by AI.
- Thorough, detail-oriented, and highly organized working style with the ability to multi-task and meet tight deadlines.
- Flexibility and adaptability to fast-paced and changing environments.
- A deep appreciation and understanding of user experience including research, information architecture, usability testing, and applying it to create compelling digital experiences.
- High proficiency in the Figma, with an organized approach to working collaboratively within the application
- Portfolio of work demonstrating creative thinking, problem solving, process, and quality spanning various digital platforms.
- Demonstrated expertise and experience with process and business analysis, software development and project processes large scale projects, documentation for development teams, application of content management, personalization, targeting and search systems, and modular design systems.
- Familiarity/experience working with WCAG 2.0 A/AA standards.
We continually review ranges to address skills, experience and markets. Base salaries are determined during our interview process, by assessing a number of factors that include, but aren’t limited to, a candidate’s experience and skills relative to the scope and responsibilities of the position. For current CM employees, tenure will also be a consideration.
Salary Range
$70—$75 CAD
Critical Mass is an equal opportunity employer. The Critical Mass Talent Acquisition team will only communicate from email addresses that use the URLs criticalmass.com, omc.com and us.greenhouse-mail.io. We will not use apps such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or Google Hangouts for communicating with you. We will never ask you to send us money, technology, or anything else to work for our company. If you believe you are the victim of a scam, please review your local government consumer protections guidance and reach out to them directly. *If U.S. based: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/job-scams#avoid
If Canada based: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/finance/consumer-affairs.html
If U.K. based: https://www.gov.uk/consumer-protection-rights
If Costa Rica based: https://www.consumo.go.cr/educacion\_consumidor/consejos\_practicos.aspx*
About Critical Mass
Critical Mass is a team of 1,800 inspired folks based in 12 offices around the world, providing full-service digital capabilities for the greatest brands on Earth. Our secret sauce is our uncompromising design standards, our relentless focus on customers, and an ability to put powerful new technologies to work for our clients.
We work with the best—Apple, Nike, Mars Wrigley, Nissan, Diageo, Airbnb, BMW, BNY Mellon, Johnson & Johnson, and many more—brands who strive for connected digital ecosystems and unparalleled experiences. We help them get there by gaining deep insight into their consumers and orchestrating data, AI, design, media, and tech stacks around human stories.
We’re a global agency founded in Canada, but digital is our home. If you know us, then you know we’re a special, quirky place that attracts big talent and tiny egos. (We actually give out a “so f-n nice” award—lots of them). But just because we’re friendly doesn’t mean we’re not a force to be reckoned with. We’re driven. Relentless. And we live our values. We’re Critical Mass, but our friends call us CM. Please call us CM!
Lead User Experience Designer, Contract
About the role
As a Lead User Experience (UX) Designer, you lead the design and delivery of large features with experience, innovation and forward-thinking from conception to delivery in collaboration with multi-disciplinary team. Combining stellar UX and analytical skills, you take ideas from conception to execution—collaborating with your team, navigating ambiguity, and balancing priorities as you push toward the goal and deliver on time.
You’ve got the grit to lead the execution of UX deliverables—wireframes, interactive prototypes, user flows, site maps, and usability test plans. You drive the design of large projects through mastery level with little oversight.
This is a contract role until May 1, 2026. You Will
- Design holistic systems, flows, and interfaces that are simple, elegant, and beautiful through detailed wireframes, visual compositions, and prototypes that communicate design intent, and client and user feedback.
- Provide guidance and support to other UX designers and the project team.
- Present solutions to stakeholders using an organized and methodical approach.
- Balance creative requirements with client business requirements.
- Manage time effectively and execute according to commitments.
- Apply a critical lens to your work and the work of others in service of the solution.
- Demonstrate team orientation and build rapport with creative teammates, strategists, content strategists, marketing science, and producers.
- Clearly articulate complex ideas to both the internal team and client.
- Anticipate upcoming client and team needs, identify risks, and mitigate appropriately.
- Initiate and manage your daily activities with limited input from the UX Director
- Continuously seek to be well-informed regarding new software and design concepts.
- Understand the process of business development and lead aspects of pitch creation in alignment with the overall sales story.
- Contribute to team culture by acting as a coach and mentor to junior team members, modelling the behaviours and characteristics of a CM leader.
- Be actively engaged with colleagues both within and outside of teams, promoting collaboration and inclusion.
You Have
- Bachelor's degree preferred, with multidisciplinary background such as psychology, computer science, information sciences, human/computer interface design or commerce/business.
- 4+ years of related industry experience in UX, product design, new media, information technology, communications, or library/information science.
- 4+ years of experience in the role of senior UX designer or equivalent role.
- Effective communication skills, both orally and in a variety of written and diagrammatic forms.
- Proven interpersonal skills, client relation skills, and ability to work in a team environment.
- Experienced, innovative and forward-thinking mindset with demonstrated leadership of projects from concept to completion.
- Proven experience designing with AI in mind: both leveraging AI and machine learning as design tools and creating next-generation user experiences powered by AI.
- Thorough, detail-oriented, and highly organized working style with the ability to multi-task and meet tight deadlines.
- Flexibility and adaptability to fast-paced and changing environments.
- A deep appreciation and understanding of user experience including research, information architecture, usability testing, and applying it to create compelling digital experiences.
- High proficiency in the Figma, with an organized approach to working collaboratively within the application
- Portfolio of work demonstrating creative thinking, problem solving, process, and quality spanning various digital platforms.
- Demonstrated expertise and experience with process and business analysis, software development and project processes large scale projects, documentation for development teams, application of content management, personalization, targeting and search systems, and modular design systems.
- Familiarity/experience working with WCAG 2.0 A/AA standards.
We continually review ranges to address skills, experience and markets. Base salaries are determined during our interview process, by assessing a number of factors that include, but aren’t limited to, a candidate’s experience and skills relative to the scope and responsibilities of the position. For current CM employees, tenure will also be a consideration.
Salary Range
$70—$75 CAD
Critical Mass is an equal opportunity employer. The Critical Mass Talent Acquisition team will only communicate from email addresses that use the URLs criticalmass.com, omc.com and us.greenhouse-mail.io. We will not use apps such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or Google Hangouts for communicating with you. We will never ask you to send us money, technology, or anything else to work for our company. If you believe you are the victim of a scam, please review your local government consumer protections guidance and reach out to them directly. *If U.S. based: https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/job-scams#avoid
If Canada based: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/finance/consumer-affairs.html
If U.K. based: https://www.gov.uk/consumer-protection-rights
If Costa Rica based: https://www.consumo.go.cr/educacion\_consumidor/consejos\_practicos.aspx*
About Critical Mass
Critical Mass is a team of 1,800 inspired folks based in 12 offices around the world, providing full-service digital capabilities for the greatest brands on Earth. Our secret sauce is our uncompromising design standards, our relentless focus on customers, and an ability to put powerful new technologies to work for our clients.
We work with the best—Apple, Nike, Mars Wrigley, Nissan, Diageo, Airbnb, BMW, BNY Mellon, Johnson & Johnson, and many more—brands who strive for connected digital ecosystems and unparalleled experiences. We help them get there by gaining deep insight into their consumers and orchestrating data, AI, design, media, and tech stacks around human stories.
We’re a global agency founded in Canada, but digital is our home. If you know us, then you know we’re a special, quirky place that attracts big talent and tiny egos. (We actually give out a “so f-n nice” award—lots of them). But just because we’re friendly doesn’t mean we’re not a force to be reckoned with. We’re driven. Relentless. And we live our values. We’re Critical Mass, but our friends call us CM. Please call us CM!