UI/UX Designer

We at Datawrapper want to help everyone create better charts, maps, and tables. To achieve this, we offer a data visualization tool that individuals and organizations all over the world rely on to quickly and easily create beautiful visualizations for their online and print publications.

Creating data visualizations can be challenging, and creating beautiful ones, even more so. In order to support our users and make their task as easy as possible, we continuously work on the user interface of our tool, which is why:

We’re looking for a UI/UX Designer to join our team 4–5 days a week on a one-year contract.

This role is available for candidates working from Berlin or nearby. You can choose to do most of your work remotely, but you’ll have a desk in our Prenzlauer Berg office, where we’ll spend at least some days per month together in person.

The role

You’ll join me, David, on the design team. We work together with the developers to answer questions like: How do users encounter the product and the brand? Which features will be implemented? How should they work, look, and feel? You can expect your role to include:

  • User interface design. You’ll improve our application’s UI and extend it to new features. This can include figuring out requirements; creating wireframes, prototypes, and high fidelity visual designs; presenting your ideas; incorporating feedback; and creating specifications for our developers.
  • Design system. We aim for a design system with reusable components and helpful guides on how to use them. Whatever problem is in front of you, you’ll look for solutions that can do double duty.
  • User experience research. You’ll help to elaborate UX research to learn more about our users and their needs. This might include helping with user tests, analyzing the data, and making a plan to act on what we learn.
  • Branding. How does Datawrapper look and feel? How is the brand visually represented on different channels, like our website and social media? You’ve got that covered.
  • All things design. There’s a lot going on in the company, and we’re just one design team. From icons for the website to merchandise T-shirts, you’ll take part in it all.

At Datawrapper, everyone shapes the final product and there are no strict boundaries between teams. That means you’ll also be thinking about:

  • Data visualization. We deeply care about data visualization and want to help our users create the best possible work. Your role doesn’t include data visualization per se, but a lot of design problems involve thinking within this domain.
  • Interdisciplinary teamwork. You’ll be working directly with our development teams and other stakeholders. You’ll follow your projects through their stages and take part at every one.
  • Web development. We’re a web-based software company and you’ll be in touch with code, git, and lots of other things related to web development. It’s not required that you write code, but it’s important that you understand it as the medium for your designs.

Who are we looking for?

Your exact education or degree is less important to us, and you don’t need years of experience if you learn quickly and are a good match for the role. Regardless of background, you’ll be a great fit if you’re comfortable with:

  • Designing interfaces for complex applications. You care about designing easy-to-use applications and like to break down tricky problems. You look for ways to foreground the user’s task and let the interface fade away.
  • Documentation and communication. Not all design work happens on the artboard. A big part is documenting your work and communicating in person, over chat, or in our project management system. This should be something you look forward to.
  • Standards. It’s rarely necessary to reinvent the wheel. There’s a value in using existing solutions, whether technical web standards or UI patterns already familiar to users. You should be ready to make use of them in your work.
  • Multitasking. We work on many projects at the same time. You should be able to handle switching between tasks and quickly familiarizing yourself with a given topic.
  • Bonus: What else do you do that could helpful for the role?
    • Designer by day, developer by night?
    • Creating artworks, illustrations, animations, or movies?
    • Speaking English and German? Datawrapper’s working language is English, but knowing German would be a plus.

What is Datawrapper?

We build a web-based tool that enables people worldwide to create great charts, maps, and tables. Our users include:

  • News publications like The New York Times, The Washington Post, SPIEGEL, and The Times of London
  • News agencies like Reuters and The Associated Press
  • Government institutions and NGOs like the United Nations, the European Commission, and the World Economic Forum
  • Think tanks like KFF, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the European Council on Foreign Relations
  • Financial institutions like Fitch Ratings and Moody’s
  • Cities and municipalities like London, Madrid, and New York
  • And many more, including national statistical offices, market research firms, universities, and design agencies.
A few of the visualization types you can create with Datawrapper. Among others: multiple donut charts, scatter plots, choropleth and symbol maps.

We’re a team of 21 people. Many of us are developers, some have a background in journalism, some in design — and all of us are excited about visualizing data.

What to expect from working at Datawrapper

A happy work life! We enjoy a shared feeling of doing meaningful work, a high degree of freedom, helpful coworkers, and a pleasant working environment.

In our office we have large library of data vis classics and books about design.

What we believe in

  • Growth, development, and personal initiative. We’re a small company with big plans, which means there are lots of opportunities to grow and learn. If you’ve got an idea and the drive to make it happen, we welcome that.
  • People do a great job when they’re excited about something. Our support team lead grew into contributing to product development; another member of the support team took over our social media presence (e.g. Twitter); our CTO writes blog posts. We let people work on things they’re motivated to work on.
  • Flexibility. Some of us start at 7 AM, others won’t be seen until 11, and some might disappear for an hour’s stroll in the mid-afternoon. We’re happy for you to organize your day however suits you best.
  • A kind and collaborative work environment. You’ll be in touch with everyone on the team and get a chance to make your voice heard.

What you’ll get from us and this role

  • A competitive salary and 30 days of vacation (24 days for a four-day week).
  • A 2000 euro yearly education budget to visit conferences, get training, or buy books and online seminars that make you smarter (1600 euros for a four-day week).
  • A laptop of your choice and a big external monitor.
  • Unlimited coffee, tea, and any snacks you like at the office. Plus, a big data vis library.
  • Super-nice, talented coworkers.

In addition, you’ll learn to work with data and how to create good visualizations. You’ll also get many insights into the world of product development and explore the life at, and culture of, a friendly young software company.

How to apply

Does all of this sound like something you’d like to do? Great! We’re looking forward to hearing from you. Send along your CV and tell us about your previous experience, with some examples of your work and how you think it makes you a good fit for this role.

→ Send it all to hiring@datawrapper.de, and use the subject line “UI/UX Designer”

We hope you apply, especially if you’re from a group that’s underrepresented in our office.

We’re excited to hear from you!

David and the Datawrapper Team