Senior Product Designer: UX Redesign + Variables-Based Design System for a Live Product

Title: Senior Product Designer: UX Redesign + Variables-Based Design System for a Live Product About the project: I have a live product that grew feature by feature without design direction. The result: too many features competing for attention, cluttered screens, inconsistent sizing and spacing, and a Figma file with no structure (no Variables, no Styles, duplicated components, hardcoded values everywhere). Users find the product overwhelming. I need one designer to fix this end to end: rethink the experience first, then build a token-based design system on top of the improved design. Not the other way around. Important context: after handoff, the design system will be consumed by AI coding tools (Claude Code via Figma MCP / Dev Mode) to build every future feature. Structure and semantic naming matter as much as visuals. Everything must be Figma Variables and proper components, no manual values. Scope of work (sequential milestones, each approved before the next): Milestone 1 - UX Audit & Strategy: [within 3days] - Heuristic evaluation of the full product: core flows, information architecture, feature hierarchy - Review of usage analytics. - Deliverable: findings report + a prioritized recommendation on how to reduce cognitive load: what to surface, group, demote, or hide. Final feature decisions are mine; I need clear reasoning for each recommendation. Milestone 2 - Redesign of Core Flows: [within 10days] - Redesign the key screens and flows based on the approved strategy - Establish visual hierarchy, consistent sizing, and layout patterns - Deliverable: redesigned screens for core flows with annotated before/after rationale Milestone 3 - Token Architecture & Component Library: [within 5days] - Define all tokens as Figma Variables with semantic naming (color primitives + semantic layer, typography, spacing scale, radius, shadows) - Build the component library with Auto Layout and variants: Button, Input, Select, Card, Modal, Badge, Table, navigation, and every recurring pattern from the redesign - Every component property bound to Variables. No detached instances, no hardcoded values. Milestone 4 - Migration, Documentation & Handoff: [within 3days] - Rebuild remaining screens using the new system so the file has one source of truth - Documentation page inside Figma: token structure, how to compose new screens, rules for extending the system - Tokens exportable as JSON (Tokens Studio or native export) - 60 min handoff call Requirements: - Proven experience in BOTH UX (flows, IA, simplification) and design systems (Variables-based). This role is not for visual-only designers. - Your proposal must include: (1) a case study showing a redesign with before/after and the reasoning behind decisions, (2) a link to a Variables-based system you built where the structure is visible - Experience with developer handoff via Dev Mode - Tokens Studio is a plus How to apply: Start your proposal with the word "Simplify" so I know you read this. Include the two links above, your process for auditing an overloaded product, and a timeline estimate per milestone. Generic proposals will be declined. Process and budget: Fixed price per milestone. We start with Milestone 1 only; continuation depends on the quality of the audit. Assets and explanation will be provided in DM