Recruitment, specifically in Design, has been long-debated. Whether it's the world’s top organisations keeping processes cloaked in mystery, or the plethora of conflicting advice about portfolios, navigating recruitment processes can be tough and confusing for candidates.
At Remote, one of our values is Transparency, so we strive for our recruitment to be exactly that — transparent, with no surprises. And with an award-winning user experience and a global design organisation, we’d like to think we know a thing or two about recruiting the world’s best design talent 😉
In this guide, Gregor Matheson (Interim Director of Product Design) and Clara Vallejo (Senior Recruiter) help to demystify design recruitment and pull back the curtain on how to land a design role at Remote.
A bit about design at Remote
We are 45+ talented individuals across Product Design, Design System, Content Design, Brand, and Design Leadership spanning five continents, over 20 countries, and 13 time zones. And together, we craft the experiences and touch-points that enable employers to manage their workforce, employees to manage their employment and Remote to scale globally.
At
Remote
, our mission is to make it simple to find, hire, manage, and pay anyone, anywhere! This means there's no shortage of exciting challenges for our designers to dive into. Plus, design has been at the heart of our platform since day one, and we're so proud of that!
And while Remote has come a long way, there is even more to look forward to. Design is on a mission in to create a world-class, operationally-excellent design organisation and we’d love for you to be part of it, with us!
Finding exceptional design talent
The blessing (and sometimes curse 😅) of Remote is that we can hire anyone, anywhere — and with the world as our talent-pool, the bar for designers is very high and very competitive. Being a globally-async organisation, we also place a lot of value on ensuring we not only find the right designer, but the right person. As such, we lean on what we refer to as the 5 C’s: Character, Creativity, Capability, Communication, Collaboration.
Spoiler alert: there is subjectivity, but by design, we don’t want our hiring to be algorithmic to ensure we welcome a variety of perspectives and personalities. These characteristics aren’t prioritised, they are not exhaustive, and there are no right or wrong answers — it is just a simple framework to help us form a fair, well-rounded evaluation as we assess the person.
Character
Do they demonstrate authenticity, self-awareness and/or emotional intelligence?
How do they respond to feedback? Are they open, or defensive? Do they ask questions?
How do they approach interactions? Do they demonstrate thoughtfulness and consistency in their communication? Are they adaptable?
Creativity
Do they demonstrate curiosity? Are they leaning-in, or asking questions?
How do they approach problem-solving? Are they visionary thinkers, or detail thinkers?
Has anything surprised or impressed us? Are their solutions innovative/playful, or formulaic?
Capability
Do they demonstrate a breadth and depth knowledge? Are they proven?
Do they demonstrate a knowledge of tools? Do they possess broad, versatile skills or deep specialisation?
What’s their approach to work? Do they demonstrate agency/ownership, or let others lead?
Communication
What is their communication style like? Are their answers clear and well-organised, or do they lack structure? Can they adapt their communication for different audiences?
How thoughtful are they with their answers? Are they a communicative team member?
What is the quality of communication like? Do they tell a story, or simply present information?
Collaboration
What’s their collaboration like? Rapid and scrappy, or thoughtful and considered?
Do they work in the open, or stick to swim-lanes? Welcome input, or wait until time is right?
Are they comfortable in a cross-functional team? Are they a team-player, or a lone-wolf?
... followed by reflection
Has this person left an impression on us? Do we want to continue to conversation?
Will this person bring something to our team? Will they help propel Remote forward?
Do we have confidence putting this person in a team tomorrow? Are there concerns?
The fiery debate… portfolios
It’s important to open this topic with the following disclaimer: every organisation, and their philosophies regarding portfolios, will differ.
But this is what works for us. At Remote, we don’t look for candidates and their portfolios to tick every box, just enough to spark intrigue and pique our interest. The following is our shared philosophy at Remote and will provide you with everything you should need to know.
What we’re looking for
These are the primary themes we use to assess design portfolios and case studies. However, we understand that no project or process is perfect, so tell us everything, warts and all:
End-to-end process: How do you work through projects from identifying problem and exploring solutions, to final execution and measuring impact?
User-centred design: How do you understand your users and their pain points?
Creative thinking: How do you approach innovation? What creative leaps do you make?
Design craft: How does your work look, feel and delight its users? Where’s the polish?
Problem solving: How do you navigate challenges? What went wrong that you had to fix?
Strategic and business thinking: How do you decide and articulate what should be done?
Impact: How do you know your work was successful? What was the business impact?
Reflection: How do you reflect on imperfect projects? What would you do differently?
Communication: How have you communicated the story behind your work?
What we’re not looking for
Sometimes, knowing what not to share is often more valuable than know what to share, so here’s some advice on what to avoid throughout our design recruitment process:
Dwelling on process. Don’t waste time telling us about process, instead, demonstrate your understanding of design thinking through your case studies.
Small, iterative work. If you can demonstrate complex problem-solving and end-to-end design process successfully, we can assume you can take care of the business-as-usual.
Fictional work. We need to see evidence that you’re experienced delivering real work in a high-growth, fast-paced environment, not just side-projects or work that hasn’t left Figma.
Lack of storytelling. We are a fully-remote async organisation, so compelling, persuasive communication and storytelling is paramount to succeeding at Remote. And in terms of length, think Animal Farm, not War & Peace.
AI avatars. As mentioned, we’re not only looking for the right designer, but the right person. While we embrace AI as a valuable tool for creativity, we need to see and hear your authentic voice and storytelling ability in your presentation. Please refrain from using AI to create a virtual version of yourself as the presenter, and check out our AI guidelines here.
Unpolished craft. We have a very high-bar for craft, so if you’re not proud of showing the final solution to another designer with zero context, then it’s probably best not to share it to us either — put your best foot forward (however, sharing early stages of your design process is perfectly acceptable).
TLDR version
For Remote, here’s a portfolio recipe that won’t steer you wrong:
Make it accessible. Impenetrable portfolios or poor navigation is not a great first impression.
Keep your portfolio to a maximum 3 to 5 case studies.
Ensure case studies follow a consistent, concise structure. We recommend:
Overview: 1-2 sentence summary of the project.
Context to the problem you are solving.
Solution: how you solved the problem and steps taken.
Impact: what happened as a result of this work.
Role: what part did you play.
Supported with an About section that is authentically you.
All of which is presented with consideration, craft and polish.
And password protection is fine — just be sure to tell us it!
What you can expect from our process
While all designers work in cross-functional trios, your peers may be on the other side of the world, so we need to understand how you will adapt to our environment. After all, working remotely doesn’t suit everybody. As such, our recruitment process may appear longer-than-usual, but it’s only to ensure you’re the right person for the team, and that Remote is right environment for you!
Your guide to our process
Recruiter interview — an initial conversation to discuss your background, experience, what you're looking for, and alignment with Remote's culture and values.
Future manager interview — a more in-depth discussion with your future manager to explore your end-to-end design experience, your approach, and how you work.
Case study and review(async) — you'll record a presentation walking through a portfolio case study you're most proud of, demonstrating your process and impact.
Interview with team members — a meeting with designers and cross-functional partners to discuss collaboration, ways of working, and team dynamics.
Bar-raiser interview — a discussion with someone outside of Design to understand how you align with our values and async ways of working.
Executive interview — a final interview with our VP Product and Design to assess strategic thinking and ask questions.
Offer + prior employment verification check — you'll receive an offer alongside an invite to complete our previous employment history check.
Ask us anything: Design recruitment at Remote
Gregor Matheson and Clara Vallejo recently hosted Ask us anything: Design recruitment at Remote, an informal AMA(Ask me Anything)-style event answering questions about design and design hiring at Remote. Missed it? No problem, check out the recording of the event below.
Frequently asked questions
I can’t see any ‘years experience’ requirement on your job descriptions?
Correct, that’s not a typo. At Remote, we value ability and impact over years of experience so we don’t state a minimum requirement.
Do I need to have experience working in HR or a similar domain?
We don’t discount applications if they haven’t worked within HR, but preference is given to those who have designed complex B2B SaaS environments.
What are the career paths like in Design?
We have both Individual Contributor and Management tracks in our career framework. And within Design, we have two assessment vectors: Impact and Influence(based on breadth and depth of contribution, observability and ability to shape culture) and Competency and Ability (based on breadth and depth of knowledge, habits and behaviour and coaching and direction required). These are monitored every month in alignment with Remote’s real-time performance cycle, and have formal reviews bi-annually.
How do the designers work in Remote?
Our organisation is called PDE (Product, Design, Engineering) for good reason! All designers work in cross-functional trios with their Product Managers and Engineers, and cross-functional trios are also represented in leadership too. Each team are the collective owners of their domain, and as such, there is no fixed way of working. Each team is empowered to operate the way that works best for them. Due to our async culture, we rely on Notion, Slack, Loom and Linear for documentation and communication and do not work in a traditional agile model. Meaning, there are no daily stand-ups or two-week sprint cycles. Instead, we encourage continuous delivery and impact, empowering teams to think big, ship small.
How do you maintain quality if everyone is async?
At Remote, the responsibility of quality is assigned to everyone, so we try to democratise quality wherever possible. Our crits, experience reviews and dogfooding are not only cross-functional, but can be attended and contributed to, by anyone in the company. Equally, all design leadership is intimately involved in their teams’ work, collaborating closely with teams to drive progress to impactful outcomes - there’s no helicopter parenting here.
How do you connect and collaborate as a team?
Connection and collaboration isn’t impossible without an office, it just requires more intentionality. In Design, we all share 1 x global design board to track all work and conduct an async planning and reflection ritual each week to set objectives, identifying opportunities for collaboration and share our learnings. For socialising, we have a rotating Design Unwind every two weeks, and every two months, we host a Design All Hands. That said, with designers being designers, there is never any shortage of chatter on Slack too! 😉
Are there take-home exercises for designers?
No. We don’t believe in asking anyone to work for free. Instead, all we ask is for you to record a Loom (or similar) of you presenting a case study from your portfolio that best demonstrates your end-to-end design process and impact. You can read more about the guidance we provide in our public handbook.
How do you determine salaries if you can work from anywhere?
You can find everything you need to know about our Total Rewards package, from market benchmarking to calculating geo-pay ranges in our public handbook.
Can I reach out to the team to find out more about Remote?
Our team receive many requests from prospective candidates for ‘quick chats’, typically to ask questions about Remote that are answered in the Remote Handbook. Therefore, to keep our hiring equitable and free-from-bias, we do not have conversations outside of our recruitment process. Therefore, all we can recommend is submitting your application through Remote Careers as each application is reviewed by our talent partners and hiring managers. If we feel there is a good match, we'll be in touch.
I applied and didn’t get an interview, can I get any feedback on my application?
Due to the sheer volume of applications we receive, we can only provide feedback to those candidates who reach the Hiring Manager interview.
Why are your job descriptions not specific to a team?
This is part design, part necessity. As mentioned, we are not only looking for the right designer, but the right person — so we prefer to pair your skills, experience and chemistry to the best team, in alignment with organisational needs and business priorities. Additionally, we can hire anywhere, so managing multiple vacancies for every country in the world would be an administrative and logistical challenge for our team. Ask about our available positions during your interviews, and if you have a desire for a specific domain, we’ll can take that into consideration.
Could you tell us a bit more about DIEB in Design?
Of course! As of November 17, 2025, Design has a gender distribution of 57% women (54% across Remote), 40% men (44% across Remote) and 3% other/non binary (2% across Remote). Additionally, 50% of our design leadership team are women and we welcome 21 different nationalities (88 across Remote). Not only do we encourage folks from all ethnic groups, genders, sexuality, age, abilities, disability status and any other underrepresented group to apply, but we prioritize a sense of belonging. We have 4 ERGs (Women, Disability, Queer, Minorities in Tech) who meet regularly with the People team.
Is there any advice you can give for interviewing at Remote?
Sure. This is a common question, so you can find everything you need to know in our public handbook. You’ll also receive interview preparation from your recruiter as they guide you through the process
If I’m not successful first-time, can I re-apply?
Yes, we've had candidates who have been successful after re-applying upon gaining more experience, or updating their portfolios. However, we recommend leaving a gap of 6 to 8 months before doing so (as we typically don't see the required improvement within shorter timeframe).
Ready to apply? Bring your talent to our attention!
Visit Remote Careers today and apply for one of our open roles.
We’re looking to continually improve and optimize our design and recruitment practices, and as our ways of working evolve, so should this guide. We’d love your feedback, ideas and improvements to help shape it, so if there’s something you’d love to see, then please let us know!
