Open role
Senior Designer
Seattle, WA
Design Division
Onsite, hybrid collaboration
$119,000–$145,000
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About us
Science is the source; the brand is the backbone.
Most agencies make science look simple. We make it legible, credible, and impossible to poke a hole in, in the room where the decision gets made.
We partner with ambitious leaders to turn bold ideas into clear, beautiful, and scalable brands, spanning identity systems, digital interfaces, and communications that move audiences to action.
The role
A craft-first seat at the center of the Design Division.
You work across a wide aperture of design, and across the studio itself, moving between project teams and pods as the strong practitioner the work is built around. This is a seat for someone still growing toward leading the biggest work.
You can drop into a project midstream and add value fast, pick up the small things without friction, and carry the heavy lift alone when the work calls for a soloist. You are as comfortable supporting as you are leading a build. What stays constant is the standard of the craft.
The aperture is wide by design: brand identity systems, websites, environmental design, kiosks, and print and media campaigns, across print, digital, and interactive. You will work alongside every practice at Cognition, and couple tightly with the Strategy and Communications teams whose thinking and words the design has to carry.
Cognition works at the front edge of life sciences, for biotech founders, global health teams, and science-led companies. Design here is systems strategy built from the science. Client-facing experience is a plus, not a requirement.
What you do
Work across a wide aperture
Design across brand identity systems, websites, environmental design, kiosks, and print and media campaigns. Move fluidly between print, digital, and interactive, and hold the craft standard in each. Bring range without losing depth.
Carry the work at any scale
Be the soloist on heavy-lift work and own a demanding build from concept to final craft. Drop into a project midstream without needing the full backstory to start. Pick up the small things with the same care you bring to the large ones.
Collaborate across the studio
Couple tightly with Strategy and Communications: the strongest work comes from design, strategy, and words moving together. Work alongside writers, strategists, medical illustrators, and animators, and move between their project teams and pods.
Grow toward leading bigger work
Hold a high personal craft standard and begin to influence the quality of others' work. Contribute to how briefs are shaped and begin to scope your own. Take on more of the arc as you go.
What you bring
A portfolio that proves craft across the aperture.
Brand systems, websites, environmental or experiential work, and print and media campaigns.
Craft mastery deep enough to be the soloist on heavy-lift work, and agile enough to support a team midstream.
A real appetite for collaboration. You like working with strategists and writers, and you make the team better.
A BDes from a strong design program is required. Our work is too complex to bring anyone in below that bar.
A growing leadership instinct. You are ready to own bigger work and to raise the standard beyond your own hands.
Curiosity about science, health, and innovation, and the appetite to learn a client's field well enough to serve it.
Client-facing experience is a welcome bonus for this role.
Tools and workflow
Figma
Expert. This is your primary design environment.
Adobe Creative Suite
Proficient across the tools the work demands.
AI-assisted workflow
Claude-savvy as a baseline, with a working habit of using AI to move from brief to output.
Team-based tooling
Comfortable with the workflows that keep a studio's work flowing across a team.
Compensation and benefits
$119,000–$145,000
FY25/26 Senior band. Midpoint $132,000.
Medical, dental, and vision; retirement plan; paid time off, sick and safe leave, and holidays; annual professional-development support; performance recognition.
How we work
Onsite several days a week, with hybrid collaboration from Seattle and routine client sessions. Strategy-first, quality-obsessed, and delivery-minded, balancing creativity with real-world execution.
How to apply
Email us a portfolio URL, a resume, and a brief note.
Please make the subject line clear for Senior Designer.
Cognition Studio, Inc. is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to a workplace free of discrimination and harassment. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds and experiences.