Hire Design Leads

Hire the Top 3% of Freelance Design Leads

Hire design leads, on demand. Top companies and startups choose design leads from Toptal for strategic design direction, cross-functional team leadership, design system implementation, user experience optimization, and more.

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No-Risk Trial, Pay Only If Satisfied.

Clients rate Toptal design leads 4.9 / 5.0 on average based on 3,740 reviews.
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Find and hire Top Design Leads worldwide. Simply click on your preferred time zone on the map.

Trusted by leading brands and startups

Hire Freelance Design Leads

Daniel T Wood

Verified Expert in Design
UTC-08:00
United States
Toptal Member Since June 7, 2024

Daniel is a UX design and strategy expert with 25+ years of experience bringing products, apps, eCommerce, and websites to life. By molding ambiguity, asking hard questions, and championing data, he helps teams design more usable, accessible, and delightful products. Daniel has worked with many of the world's top brands (including Adidas, Walmart, Samsung, and Capital One), B2B SaaS (Salesforce, HP, Asana), and early-stage startups, helping them find better ways to meet and exceed expectations.

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Warren Lebovics

Verified Expert in Design
UTC-08:00
United States
Toptal Member Since December 26, 2019

Warren is a product designer with a decade of design leadership and consulting experience. Warren has led design in-person and remote teams and projects at companies large and small, including LinkedIn, Sony, Blackberry, Jumpstart, and more. Warren also has experience co-founding companies and taking companies through funding and acquisitions. He communicates extremely well and can lead and execute with teams of all sizes.

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Adam Rotmil

Verified Expert in Design
UTC-05:00
United States
Toptal Member Since October 6, 2021

With over 15 years of experience, Adam brings a wealth of product design and strategy insights to any challenge. He loves to lead by example and has design expertise in finance, wealth and trading, digital transformation, process and culture change, and digital health. He has led design at biotech AstraZeneca and Fjord Accenture. Adam studied at SCAD, Art Institute Boston, Basel HGK Switzerland, and Harvard University and teaches product design at MICA.

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Antonija Skugor

Verified Expert in Design
UTC+01:00
Croatia
Toptal Member Since July 4, 2016

With 15+ years of experience, Antonija is a seasoned graphic and UX/UI designer known for turning complex ideas into stunning, user-friendly designs. She blends creativity with strategic thinking, excelling in everything from logo design to responsive web interfaces. Her research, prototyping, and operations ensure each project is aesthetically pleasing and aligned with client goals. Passionate about innovation and collaboration, Antonija is dedicated to delivering impactful design solutions.

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Levi Csanyi

Verified Expert in Design
UTC+01:00
Hungary
Toptal Member Since May 20, 2022

Levi has over 27 years of experience in user-centered design, from high-level processes to design delivery. He has a proven track record of driving highly complex projects across many business units and disciplines and solid expertise in implementing cutting-edge technology in fast-moving and highly innovative Agile or Lean environments. Levi's strong leadership and organizational skills span coaching and mentoring designer teams in UX and UI design with excellent business partnering skills.

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Hannu Salonen

Verified Expert in Design
UTC+02:00
Finland
Toptal Member Since August 4, 2022

Hannu is a designer with 15+ years of experience ranging from UI and UX design to design leadership. His strong side is B2B and data-heavy, business-critical web apps. Hannu loves learning new domains, dissolving complex problems, and creating enjoyable experiences for serious use. In addition to his primary design skills, Hannu has a software development background with Adobe Creative Suite studies at the university level. He has pushed web projects into Java, PHP, and even Perl.

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Gertruda Fon Narcco

Verified Expert in Design
UTC+03:00
Qatar
Toptal Member Since November 11, 2021

Gertruda is a highly skilled principal product and UX designer with over 13 years of experience in UI/UX, including eight years in product design and art direction. She has a proven track record of creating successful product strategies, enhancing the user experience, and improving product communication to end audiences. Gertruda mentors early-stage startups and medium-sized businesses to guide them through product development and ensure a highly functional and winning product.

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Sanyam Hazare

Verified Expert in Design
UTC+04:00
United Arab Emirates
Toptal Member Since December 18, 2019

Sanyam Hazare (San) is a senior brand strategist and product designer with 20+ years of experience designing digital products, websites, and brand identities for startups, scale-ups, and Fortune 500 companies. His work spans AI, SaaS, fintech, logistics, healthcare, and eCommerce, including projects for Snapchat, Prudential, ACS, and YC-backed startups. He turns complex ideas into intuitive products, scalable systems, and brands that build trust and drive growth.

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Christopher Barklem

Verified Expert in Design
UTC+08:00
Indonesia
Toptal Member Since March 12, 2022

Christopher is one of the most experienced creative minds in the industry, with over two decades in product design. Over 25 million users utilize his interactions on a day-to-day basis. His award-winning work is integrated into over 700 banks worldwide (100 million users), in small to enterprise companies, as seen in SaaS, B2B, B2C, C2C, government, and education. Christopher is a creative leader with over a decade of experience building and managing creative teams.

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Carrie Webster

Verified Expert in Design
UTC+10:00
Australia
Toptal Member Since August 31, 2020

UX design leader with 20+ years of experience across UX, UI, and product design, and a Master of Information Architecture. Skilled in delivering end-to-end design for startups, enterprise, and consulting environments. Hands-on with research, prototyping, and design, while mentoring teams and collaborating with cross-functional stakeholders. Industry experience spans fintech, fraud prevention, education, real estate, and telecoms, with roles at Deloitte Digital, NBN, GBG, Equifax, and Optus.

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Adrien Castelain

Verified Expert in Design
UTC+12:00
New Zealand
Toptal Member Since October 1, 2019

Adrien is an award-winning product designer and digital art director with 17 years of experience crafting beautiful, meaningful digital experiences. He specialises in UX/UI design, design systems, and prototyping—turning complex workflows into interfaces that solve real problems and feel delightful to use. His clients hire him for his ability to go deep on the problem, deliver polished, dev-ready output, and stay embedded with teams through to implementation.

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Toptal in the press

... allows corporations to quickly assemble teams that have the right skills for specific projects.

Despite accelerating demand for coders, Toptal prides itself on almost Ivy League-level vetting.

Our clients
Creating an app for the game
Conor Kenney
Creating an app for the game
Leading a digital transformation
Elmar Platzer
Leading a digital transformation
Building a cross-platform app to be used worldwide
Building a cross-platform app to be used worldwide
Drilling into real-time data creates an industry game changer
Drilling into real-time data creates an industry game changer
Testimonials

How to Hire Design Leads Through Toptal

1

Talk to One of Our Client Advisors

A Toptal client advisor will work with you to understand your goals, technical needs, and team dynamics.
2

Work With Hand-selected Talent

Within days, we’ll introduce you to the right design lead for your project. Average time to match is under 24 hours.
3

The Right Fit, Guaranteed

Work with your new design lead for a trial period (pay only if satisfied), ensuring they’re the right fit before starting the engagement.

EXCEPTIONAL TALENT

How We Source the Top 3% of Design Leads

Our name “Toptal” comes from Top Talent—meaning we constantly strive to find and work with the best from around the world. Our rigorous screening process identifies experts in their domains who have passion and drive.

Of the thousands of applications Toptal sees each month, typically fewer than 3% are accepted.

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FAQs

  • Typically, you can hire design leads with Toptal in about 48 hours. For larger teams of talent or full end-to-end project delivery, timelines may vary. Our talent matchers are highly skilled in the same fields they’re matching in—they’re not recruiters or HR reps. They’ll work with you to understand your goals, technical needs, and team dynamics, and match you with ideal candidates from our vetted global talent network.

    Once you select your design lead, you’ll have a no-risk trial period to ensure they’re the perfect fit. Our matching process has a 98% trial-to-hire rate, so you can rest assured that you’re getting the best fit every time.

  • To hire the right design lead, it’s important to evaluate a candidate’s experience, technical skills, and communication skills. You’ll also want to consider the fit with your particular industry, company, and project. Toptal’s rigorous screening process ensures that every member of our network has excellent experience and skills, and our team will match you with the perfect design leads for your project.

  • At Toptal, we thoroughly screen our design leads to ensure we only match you with the highest caliber of talent. Of the more than 200,000 people who apply to join the Toptal network each year, fewer than 3% make the cut.

    In addition to screening for industry-leading expertise, we also assess candidates’ language and interpersonal skills to ensure that you have a smooth working relationship.

    When you hire design leads with Toptal, you’ll always work with world-class, custom-matched design leads ready to help you achieve your goals.

  • You can hire design leads on an hourly, part-time, or full-time basis. Toptal can also manage the project end-to-end based on your specific requirements as part of our Consulting and Services offerings. Whether you hire a design lead for a full- or part-time position, you’ll have the control and flexibility to scale your team up or down as your needs evolve. Our design leads can fully integrate into your existing team for a seamless working experience.

  • We make sure that each engagement between you and your design lead begins with a trial period of up to two weeks. This means that you have time to confirm the engagement will be successful. If you’re completely satisfied with the results, we’ll bill you for the time and continue the engagement for as long as you’d like. If you’re not completely satisfied, you won’t be billed. From there, we can either part ways, or we can provide you with another design lead who may be a better fit and with whom we will begin a second, no-risk trial.

Toptal Lets You Hire Fast,
With Unparalleled Success

  • Trusted Talent Only

    Trusted Talent Only

    Our talent network is composed of thoroughly vetted professionals who ramp up quickly, function as essential team members, and deliver results.

  • Precise Matching

    Precise Matching

    Our experienced talent matchers specialize in identifying talent that fits your needs. They work to understand your exact requirements and hand-select the best professionals for your project.

  • Seamless Hiring

    Seamless Hiring

    We handle all aspects of billing, payments, and NDAs, streamlining the hiring process so you can focus on innovation, not overhead.

  • No-risk Trial Period

    No-risk Trial Period

    We want to be sure your engagement is a total success, so we offer a no-risk trial period. Work with your new hire for up to two weeks and pay only if you’re satisfied.

  • Effortless Scaling

    Effortless Scaling

    We help you scale your team up or down as needed, with quick and efficient hiring in under 48 hours.

  • Flexible Engagements

    Flexible Engagements

    Our flexible engagement models allow you to choose the engagement type that suits your needs and adjust it anytime: hourly, part time, or full time.

Top Design Leads Are in High Demand.

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