UI/UX Designer

About CDS

CDS is the in-house creative studio behind two distinct kitchen appliance brands: Chefman, a mass-market, value-driven brand with deep Amazon and retail presence, and CHEF iQ, a premium, editorial, culture-led brand built around intelligent cooking technology. We handle everything from brand strategy and packaging to UX/UI, front-end prototyping, and campaign creative. This role is based in our Hackney Downs, London studio.

The Role

We're hiring a UI/UX Designer to help shape digital product experiences across both brands — most notably the CHEF iQ app (recipe discovery, guided cooking flows, connected device experiences) and supporting e-commerce, packaging-adjacent, and marketing touchpoints. You'll work at the intersection of interaction design, visual craft, and front-end feasibility, translating brand systems into working product experiences.

This is a hands-on, high-craft role — not a hand-off-and-wait position. You'll be prototyping in code as often as in Figma, and you'll be expected to hold a point of view in review, not just execute tickets. Because our products live in real kitchens, we want someone who brings a cook's instincts to the work — not just a designer’s.

What you'll do

• Design and prototype UI/UX for the CHEF iQ app and related digital products, from flow to pixel

• Build interactive, front-end prototypes (HTML/CSS/JS) to test and present real product behavior — not just static comps

• Translate CHEF iQ and Chefman brand systems (typography, color, tone) into consistent, functional interfaces across both brands' distinct registers

• Collaborate directly with the Design Director and US-based leadership (including the CEO) on product direction

• Contribute to the evolving design system — tokens, components, and documentation

• Partner with external agencies and vendors on campaign and packaging touchpoints where digital and physical intersect

What we're looking for

• Genuinely into cooking — someone who cooks regularly, thinks about kitchens, and understands the real friction points of a home cook's day. This isn't a nice-to-have: our best product decisions come from designers who've actually stood at the stove and felt where an app or interface gets in the way

• Strong portfolio demonstrating UI/UX craft across mobile and web product design

• Comfortable prototyping in front-end code (HTML/CSS/JS) in addition to Figma

• Experience designing for e-commerce, DTC, or connected/IoT products a strong plus

• Ability to work across two brand voices with very different registers — mass-market/value vs. premium/editorial —without losing rigor on either

• Self-directed, comfortable taking a point of view and defending it in review

• Based in or able to work full-time on-site in London

Logistics

• Location: Hackney Downs, London — on-site, full-time

• Engagement type: Independent contractor, engaged through RJ Brands LLC (US-based parent company)

• Reports to: Design Director