UI/UX SaaS app / product designer needed for start-up

We're a complete startup building a SaaS app (non-PWA mobile native version to follow shortly) in a space that does not technically exist but is adjacent to crowded spaces. Most people are frustrated with networking apps under any name - whether they use them to find a job or a date. Most networking and social apps want to download the 5,000 contacts from your phone to become another "flea market" that fights for your attention and engagement undifferentiated. A large percentage of people strongly dislike the performative and fake nature of all these apps, where you are pressured to curate a persona, whether personal or professional, and then "sell it" to others, having to maintain it to perpetuity. AI is making authentic human relationships even more difficult to build and maintain. We're building an "anti-networking app" for adults who wish to build and nurture genuine, intentional relationships towards specific life goals. Contacts start with zero and need to be manually entered and associated with goals. No imports. The app encourages cold reach-outs to strangers and people at two degrees of separation and teaches users how to do so to facilitate serendipity. The app is AI-native but uses AI to promote the formation and nurturing of deeper human connection rather than a replacement or forgery of it. The AI will get to know the user over time with persistent context and encourages and helps you be more authentic and improve your skills in forming real connections, instead of impersonating you. The app aspires to be a protected workspace where people who are sick of the nature of networking and social form and grow authentic connection with other like-minded people. We are two founders. You will be working with the technical co-founder who is also the only developer. A lot of the v1 app - beyond MVP - is already built with most of the v1 functionality implemented so we need to forklift the UI/UX on top of it. I would love to work with someone who: - Is fast yet has great attention to detail, and is 100% reliable and conscientious - Has the schedule to devote time to this project in August (and possibly September) - Is available for an intermittent longer-term relationship if we start succeeding - Is a real, schooled UI/UX app designer, not a web, landing page or visual designer just checking a box - Is fluent in digital product design, user journeys, conversion flows, attraction vs. retention and engagement - Understands HCI, human-centered design, interface theory, and usability well and can demonstrate it with design choices made in portfolio (I have a background in this area myself and have run a usability lab in the past) - Is an illustrator and is trained in color theory, typography and info design - Understands deep interfaces. This app has deep interfaces where in some cases, there may be a couple of dozen functions / user actions in one page view. Knowledge of underlying software paradigms involving fewer classes with more methods creating narrow, deep interfaces very helpful - Knows how to work with developers at every stage of the process. Since we already have a functioning app we're forklifting a new UI onto, we can skip the wireframe stage and go directly to assets - Has a real track record as a serious app designer on Upwork or elsewhere, not just a couple of mobile apps or dashboards - Ideally has built networking and social apps. Although we are distinctly neither, experience in those spaces is helpful to succeed. - Has the creativity, curiosity and track record to have built apps that look and feel non-generic and "good different". Because this app is in a way "picking a fight" with the market to create a category that does not quite exist, and because we're asking users to volunteer personal info and have a protected workspace in which they pursue deeper human relationships, the UI cannot look like a CRM or a "safe" boring corporate dashboard or yet another SaaS app for insurance claims adjusters or HR and the like. - Has some of the same convictions about networking and social and might end up caring about this app over time and become a team member as opposed to a gig worker Please show me in your reply that you've read this post in its entirety and understood it fully. Provide examples of your work that fit this project, and explain what differentiates you given the job description. Please show a modicum of effort. You must be an individual and not an agency, front, or job shop. Any AI responses, or AI-generated copy will be detected and discarded. Thank you.