Product Designer (1-Year Contract)

About MaRS

MaRS Discovery District (@MaRSDD) is a charitable organization and North America’s largest urban innovation hub, dedicated to helping high-growth technology companies succeed. With a focus on climate, health sciences and other emerging technologies, MaRS supports startups tackling some of the world’s most pressing issues. Through its world-class facilities, strategic programs and partnerships, MaRS accelerates the adoption of groundbreaking Canadian technology and bolsters a globally competitive innovation ecosystem. MaRS is the place where you can play a meaningful role in the innovation economy.

We understand qualifications on a job posting can be daunting. If you're passionate about the role and believe you can make a meaningful impact, we want to hear from you, even if you don't meet every listed qualification. We’re always looking for great talent to join our team on planet MaRS.

We actively encourage all candidates to apply, including equity-deserving communities, including those who identify as BIPOC, racialized, women, people with disabilities, and people with diverse gender identities, expressions and sexual orientations.

We want you to be comfortable being your most authentic self throughout our recruitment process. Please reach out to [email protected] if there’s anything we can do to make your experience more accessible and inclusive, including accommodations. Include 'Accessibility Request' in your subject line.

About The Position

Design at MaRS shapes how Canada’s most promising startups connect to the people, capital, customers, and insights that help them grow. You’ll primarily work on MaRS Connect, our core platform, with the ability to contribute to adjacent MaRS products as needed.

You’ll help define how founders, investors, and partners experience the MaRS platform - making innovation more accessible, intuitive, and trusted.

This is a 1-year contract role, based in Toronto.

Key Responsibilities

Product Design (~50%)

• Design and ship high-quality digital product experiences and improvements, from early concepts to high-fidelity prototypes and visuals
• Partner closely with engineering, product management, and collaborators to define long-term direction and short-term tactics
  
  

Design Strategy (~20%)

• Contribute to the strategic design direction of the MaRS platform
• Engage in research to better understand our users and refine our platform
• Evolve the MaRS design system and strengthen alignment with brand guidelines
• Represent design in product reviews and community events
  
  

Collaboration (~15%)

• Partner with cross-functional partners to deliver cohesive product experiences
• Contribute to a culture where design is a strategic partner
  
  

Research (~15%)

• Gather and analyze user feedback to continuously refine and improve shipped features
• Document design decisions and maintain clarity between design intent and implementation
• Define and track success metrics for design quality and user satisfaction to guide product decisions
  
  

Qualifications

• 3+ years of experience shipping larger scale software products
• Portfolio demonstrating strong UX, UI, and interaction design craft
• Possess impactful communication and storytelling skills
• Strong user empathy and ability to simplify complexity into clear, usable experiences
• Thrives in ambiguity, iterates quickly, and embraces collaboration across disciplines
• Comfortable working in Figma or similar tools, with a strong emphasis on quality and craft
• Get excited about how AI-first products should look and behave
  
  

This is an individual contributor role with opportunity for significant impact. You’ll help evolve the MaRS platform into a trusted, intuitive, and scalable product that powers Canada’s innovation community.

Applications will close at 5pm EDT on January 20, 2026.

Applicants must be legally eligible to work in Canada, reside in Ontario and be willing to work out of our Toronto office (101 College Street) a minimum of 3 days per week.

This is a 1-year contract position.

Salary Range: CAD$75,000 - $90,000, extended healthcare benefits, lifestyle spending account, and paid time-off.