Position:Â
Senior Designer, freelance contract
Location:Â
Remote within Europe, with optional time on site in Amsterdam or Naples
Engagement:Â
Project based. An initial assignment of up to 6 months attached to a specific project, with further projects agreed separately. The first assignment is expected to start between Q4 2026 and Q1 2027
Availability:Â
Indicative availability of around four days per week while an assignment is active. The contractor sets their own schedule and working method
Compensation:Â
EUR 2,500 per month, net of VAT. VAT is added on top of the fee where applicable. Invoiced monthly against the active assignment
Status:Â
Independent contractor invoicing under their own VAT, KVK, or partita IVA number. Free to work for other clients, not exclusive to Moods, and no employment relationship is created by the assignment. Income tax and social contributions are the contractor's own responsibility
Growth:Â
Assignments grow in scope and complexity with track record, and the fee is reviewed per project
How to apply:Â
A portfolio is required. See Hiring process and what happens next
Moods Studio is a product studio and development agency based in Amsterdam, working across AI, blockchain, and Web3. We build a broad range of software, from DeFi infrastructure and tokenization platforms to AI-driven applications, SaaS products, and mobile apps. We work in a small, senior-led team. Work is owned end to end, from the first conversation about a problem through to the release that puts it in front of users. Everything we build ships to real clients on real deadlines.
We are looking for a senior designer to take ownership of product and brand design across our client projects. The work spans three surfaces: product interfaces for web and mobile, the brand systems that hold those interfaces together, and the pitch material that wins the project in the first place. On most assignments you are the only designer on the project, working directly with the founders and the frontend team. Design decisions are yours to make and yours to defend, and the standard of the work is largely yours to set. We work in Figma, and design systems are expected rather than optional: components, variants, tokens, and documented states, built so that the frontend team can implement them without guessing. Your files are read by engineers every day, and how well they are structured has a direct effect on how quickly and how accurately the work ships.
Our frontend is built on Next.js with the App Router, React, and TypeScript, styled with Tailwind CSS over shadcn/ui and Radix primitives in a shared component library. Mobile work is React Native with Expo. That matters for design because the component library is the unit of work. A new screen is usually composed from existing components, and where a screen genuinely needs something new, it is added to the system rather than drawn as a one-off. Spacing, type scale, radii, and colour come from shared tokens that map to the Tailwind configuration, so a design that respects the scale implements cleanly and a design that fights it does not. You do not need to write code. You do need to understand how a component library composes, what a new variant costs to build, and where a design decision creates disproportionate engineering work.
Own product design: Design end-to-end product interfaces for web and mobile, from the first structural pass through to interaction detail, empty states, loading states, and error states.
Build and maintain design systems: Work in Figma with components, variants, and tokens. Keep the system coherent as a product grows, and document the rules and states that a file alone does not communicate.
Design brand surfaces: Extend the visual language across brand and marketing surfaces so that the product, the site, and the pitch material read as one thing.
Produce pitch material: Design the decks and concept work used to win new projects, often to a short deadline and while the strategic argument is still being formed.
Hand off to the frontend team: Prepare specifications the frontend team can build against without ambiguity, then review the implementation against the design and work through the gaps directly with the engineer who built it.
Run the review cadence: Each project has a fixed rhythm: a scoping session at the start of the assignment, a working review each week with the founders and the engineer, and a milestone review at each deliverable in the agreed scope. You present your own work at these reviews.
You have several years of professional product design experience and a portfolio of interfaces that shipped, not concepts that did not.
You are fluent in Figma and you build with components, variants, and tokens rather than static frames.
You can design for both product and brand, and you understand how each constrains the other.
You can specify your work for engineers and hold a review when the implementation does not match the design.
You work independently, scope your own time against an agreed deliverable, and raise a problem early rather than at the deadline.
You have professional working proficiency in English.
Experience designing against an existing component library such as shadcn/ui, Radix, or Material.
Experience designing mobile interfaces that shipped to the App Store and Google Play.
Motion design, whether in Figma, After Effects, or Rive.
Experience designing for AI, blockchain, or other technically dense products where the interface has to explain the system.
Experience presenting design work directly to clients.
Professional working proficiency in Dutch or Italian in addition to English.
This is an assignment for an independent contractor and it does not create an employment relationship. Each engagement is attached to a specific client project with an agreed scope, deliverables, and end date, and the monthly fee applies for the duration of that assignment. You invoice Moods monthly under your own VAT, KVK, or partita IVA number, and you are responsible for your own income tax and social contributions. You work with your own tools and set your own working method. The engagement is not exclusive and you are free to take on other clients throughout. Further projects are offered and agreed separately, and neither side is under any obligation to continue once an assignment ends.
Fee: EUR 2,500 per month, net of VAT. VAT is added on top of the fee where applicable. You invoice monthly against the active assignment.
Engagement: Project based. The initial assignment runs for up to 6 months and is attached to a specific project with an agreed scope, deliverables, and end date. The first assignment is expected to start between Q4 2026 and Q1 2027.
Availability: Indicative availability of around four days per week while an assignment is active. There are no fixed hours and no required office days. You organise your own schedule and working method around the agreed deliverables.
Status and tax: You work as an independent contractor under your own VAT, KVK, or partita IVA number, and you are responsible for your own income tax and social contributions.
Scope growth: Assignments grow in scope and complexity with track record, and the fee is reviewed per project. There is no obligation on either side to agree a further assignment.
Location: Remote within Europe. Time on site in Amsterdam or Naples is available if you want it and is never required.
Moods Studio is an equal opportunity organisation. We assess every application on the skills and experience that are relevant to the role, and we do not discriminate on the basis of age, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, religion or belief, disability, or any other protected characteristic. If you need an adjustment at any stage of the process, for example a different interview format, extra time, materials in an accessible format, or a scheduled break, write to info@moodglobalservices.com and we will arrange it. You do not need to explain why, and asking has no bearing on the outcome of your application.
Controller. Mood Global Services B.V., KVK 85502081, Spinozastraat 47-C, 1018 HJ Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is the controller for the personal data you submit through this application. Purpose. We use your data only to assess your application for this role and to communicate with you about it. We do not use it for anything else and we do not share it with third parties for their own purposes. Legal basis. Taking steps at your request before entering into a contract, together with our legitimate interest in assessing candidates for an open role. Where we ask to keep your details on file for future openings, the basis is your consent, which you can withdraw at any time. Retention. We keep application data for 6 months after the process closes, and then delete it, unless you agree to a longer retention period so that we can consider you for future roles. Your rights. You can ask us for a copy of your data, ask us to correct or delete it, object to or restrict how we use it, and request it in a portable format. You can also lodge a complaint with the Dutch data protection authority, the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens. Contact. Write to info@moodglobalservices.com for anything relating to your data or to exercise any of these rights.
Read our privacy policyA portfolio is required. Include a link to your portfolio or to selected case studies, and for two or three pieces tell us what the problem was, what you decided, and which parts of the work were yours. We aim to respond to every applicant within 5 business days of receiving the application. The process has three stages. First, a 30-minute introductory call covering the role, the way assignments are scoped, and your questions. Second, a 60-minute portfolio review where we go through two or three projects in depth and discuss the decisions behind them. Third, a practical exercise: a short design problem drawn from the kind of work the first assignment involves. The exercise is time-boxed to two hours, it is unpaid, and we send the brief and the assessment criteria in advance. We give a decision within 5 business days of the final stage, and we give feedback whether or not we make an offer. We never ask for salary history. Please do not include your date of birth, marital status, nationality, or a photograph in your application. We do not use them in any assessment and we would only have to delete them.
