Hire the Top 3% of Freelance Design Strategists

Toptal is a marketplace for top Design Strategists. Top companies and startups choose Toptal Strategy freelancers for their mission-critical design projects.

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Clients rate Toptal Design Strategists 4.9 / 5 on average based on 1,404 reviews.
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Find and hire Top Design Strategists worldwide. Simply click on your preferred time zone on the map.

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Hire Freelance Design Strategists

Daniel T Wood

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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Mariano A. Goren

UTC-05:00
Mexico
Toptal Member Since May 30, 2017

As a product strategy consultant, Mariano's been helping both Fortune 500 and startups to unite design and technology efforts around a common vision anchored in user needs. With more than 25 years of experience in digital business, he's able to understand and define the big picture, and then jump into the details to deliver. He's also a Singularity University mentor, serial entrepreneur, and teacher influencing 18 000+ students through his book and courses.

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Louisa Armbrust

UTC-05:00
United States
Toptal Member Since May 29, 2018

Louisa is an experienced UX designer and researcher in product and service design for health, education, business intelligence, and other industries. She is skilled in user research, UX concepts and strategy, information architecture, UX design, UX audits, and usability testing. Louisa cares about why people do things, how they can do those things better, and what we can all do to care for each other, have more fun, and get more out of life.

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Erik Wedeward

UTC+01:00
Germany
Toptal Member Since March 31, 2022

Erik is an experienced digital strategist, design lead, and researcher with years of diversified experience. Focused on user-centered innovation, he solves business problems using a human-centered design approach, from user research and design strategy to defining detailed product and service visions. Erik values collaboration with his clients and defines products or services to satisfy clients' needs and requirements.

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Tom Welters

UTC+01:00
Germany
Toptal Member Since December 9, 2022

Tom has specialized in designing digital products from concept to production, focusing on synthesizing user experience and business strategy. With a diverse design and social science background, he developed a habit of looking for the bigger picture, building a vision of how every aspect of a user experience feeds into a larger user journey and product strategy. He loves solving complex design challenges while maintaining a beautiful, user-centric visual language.

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Gertruda Fon Narcco

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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Akshay Salekar

UTC+05:00
India
Toptal Member Since October 18, 2021

Akshay is a design expert who is passionate about solving critical problems using design thinking, UX strategy, persuasion, gamification, and other best UX practices. He has seven years of experience and has worked with companies like Media.net, Forbes, Mann+Hummel, Lollypop Design, Ecobillz, and many other startups. Akshay is singlehandedly capable of conceptualizing and executing products from ideation to launch.

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Jenny Shen

UTC+08:00
Taiwan
Toptal Member Since December 19, 2016

Jenny is a UX lead with a decade of experience creating world-class digital products that generate revenue and win customers. She specializes in international markets and has designed for users in 30+ countries in APAC, EMEA, and the Americas. She has helped over 40 companies solve business and user problems with UX research and design sprints. Jenny's past clients include Tencent, McKinsey & Company, Babylon Health, LA Lakers, FILA, Neiman Marcus, Crate and Barrel, and Randstad.

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Thiago Emmanuel

UTC+10:00
Australia
Toptal Member Since September 15, 2022

With 19 years of experience, Thiago is a highly skilled designer who has helped brands build strong relationships with their audiences worldwide. He has learned that power brands have to impact the world, inspire communities, and connect passions when crafted on a deeper level and solid foundation. This mindset drives Thiago's cognitive process when working on any branding projects.

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Rod Acevedo

UTC+12:00
New Zealand
Toptal Member Since April 27, 2020

Rod is a passionate and award-winning strategist, product designer, and creative thinker. He has dedicated most of his career to decolonizing design practices which foster inclusion and prioritize empathetic, human-centered thinking. Over the last few years, Rod has worked on a wide range of problems across many industries, including healthcare, finance, and day-to-day services, with a particular emphasis on unpacking complex design challenges.

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Ian Meredith

UTC+12:00
New Zealand
Toptal Member Since January 29, 2019

Ian is a mobile app design specialist with numerous applications designed, having achieved 6+ figure downloads. He has worked for a number of high-profile clients, including Google, eBay, and additional known brands from New Zealand. Ian likes to develop intuitive interfaces through leveraging user-centered design principles.

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THE TOPTAL ADVANTAGE

98% of Toptal clients choose to hire our talent after a risk-free trial.

Toptal's screening and matching process ensures exceptional talent are matched to your precise needs.

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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
Michael is an incredible designer, and has been a great fit for our project. He just gets it in a way that can’t be taught. My goal was to pay Toptal to find me a high quality designer for my project, and that is exactly what happened. It was easy. Being able to see the portfolio work on Toptal’s platform is what gave me the infomation I needed to choose Michael. I have nothing but good things to say about Toptal and am looking forward to using Toptal for other projects in the future.

Edward Daniel

Co-Founder

I've worked very closely with Martina for over a year and have to say she is one of the best people I have ever worked with. Instead of simply following instructions blindly, she thinks through the task at hand, becoming a thought partner to help with whatever the project may be. Besides being super talented at design, she possesses specific qualities that make her exceptional to work with given the fast paced nature of being a startup. I would definitely recommend her to anyone looking for a talented, professional designer who doesn't need much direction to hit the ground running.

Sahil Khanna

Sr. Manager, Marketing

Darko did a great job figuring out the user architecture for our concept, which led him to produce terrific wireframes. His knowledge of usability and design was a perfect match for the outside voice we needed to help jumpstart our project. We would certainly recommend him and work with him again in the future.

Rich Danker

Founder

Carlos has the unique talent of blending both quantitative and qualitative research to keenly identify UX challenges and opportunities. He thinks methodically, emphatically, and holistically to produce data-driven strategies and well-executed designs. Over the past 8 years of working with fully or partially distributed teams, Carlos manages working remotely far better than anyone I've encountered because of his strong communication and presentation skills. He is the first on my list the next time I need a UX designer.

Michelle Krogmeier

Project Manager

Rafael is an amazing designer. His aesthetic sense is spot on, and he seems to be able to anticipate our needs before we even know what they are. He's taken the time to understand both our company and our clientele, and his solutions are consistently in-line with our values, interests, and our customers' needs. He delivers on time (if not earlier), works quickly, is well organized, and very effective. He's a pleasure to work with, and we're very happy to have found him through Toptal.

Ethan Brooks

CTO

How to Hire Design Strategists 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 Strategist for your project. Average time to match is under 24 hours.
3

The Right Fit, Guaranteed

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

Find Experts With Related Skills

Access a vast pool of skilled designers in our talent network and hire the top 3% within just 48 hours.

FAQs

  • How quickly can you hire with Toptal?

    Typically, you can hire a Design Strategist with Toptal in about 48 hours. For larger teams of talent or Managed 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 Strategist, 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 Strategist, 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 Strategists for your project.

  • At Toptal, we thoroughly screen our Design Strategists 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 with Toptal, you’ll always work with world-class, custom-matched Design Strategists ready to help you achieve your goals.

  • You can hire Design Strategists on an hourly, part-time, or full-time basis. Toptal can also manage the entire project from end-to-end with our Managed Delivery offering. Whether you hire an expert 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 Strategists can fully integrate into your existing team for a seamless working experience.

  • We make sure that each engagement between you and your Design Strategist 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 expert who may be a better fit and with whom we will begin a second, no-risk trial.

Tap Into World-Class Talent

  • Trusted Experts Only

    Trusted Experts Only

    All of our talent are seasoned experts who ramp up quickly, readily contribute as core team members, and work with you to minimize onboarding time.

  • The Right Fit

    The Right Fit

    We have a knack for matching you with the right fit. Start working with your new hire on a no-risk trial period, paying only if satisfied.

  • Scale as Needed

    Scale as Needed

    Hire talent within 48 hours and scale your team up or down as needed, no strings attached.

  • Seamless Hiring

    Seamless Hiring

    We handle all aspects of billing, payments, and NDA’s. Let us take care of the overhead while you focus on building great products.

  • Flexible Engagements

    Flexible Engagements

    Choose the engagement type that suits your needs — hourly, part-time, or full-time — with the ability to change anytime.

  • Expert Talent Matching

    Expert Talent Matching

    Focus on your project and enjoy support from your dedicated account executive and expert talent matcher.

Top Design Strategists Are in High Demand.

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