Communications Design Lead

Marketing & Communications – East Africa Region (Remote)

ABOUT YLABS

YLabs is a leading global design and research organization working to improve health and economic opportunity for young people 10–24 years old. Founded in 2016 at the Harvard Innovation Lab, YLabs has worked in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Central America in partnership with young people to design products and services that address key challenges in sexual reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, mental health, financial inclusion, and climate resilience. Find out more about our projects here: https://www.ylabsglobal.org/work

Our team of physicians, designers, economists, developers, researchers, public health professionals, and educators bring a unique mix of human-centered design, adolescent health, economic and health outcome evaluation, behavioral science, and implementation know-how to the global problems facing youth.

We have offices in the US and Rwanda, but are currently supporting our teams to work in a remote and hybrid manner. Candidates must be in the GMT+0 to GMT+4 time zone.

JOB SUMMARY

We are seeking a Communications Design Lead with a strong human-centered design background and visual communication experience. This role focuses on translating complex research, stakeholder systems, and strategies in global development/social impact contexts into high-fidelity frameworks and visual tools. The Communications Design Lead will be responsible for visual language and communication, collaborating across teams, partners, and funders, resulting in contextualized, thoughtful, and actionable design outputs. The role requires strong visual design execution, systems thinking, and front-end UI/UX fluency, with the ability to effectively and clearly communicate complex ideas from the boardroom to community level.

JOB TYPE

This is an independent contractor (Consultancy) position, ideally based in East Africa, though candidates from elsewhere in Africa or the surrounding region may also apply. This role is scoped for 40 hours per week.

This is a 3-month contract position, with the possibility of extension based on performance and project need. The ideal start date for this role is March 1st 2026.

SCOPE OF WORK
The designer will work closely with program teams to translate complex ideas, research insights, and systems into clear, usable, and high-fidelity visual communication tools and toolkits. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

1. Design high-fidelity frameworks, toolkits, and visuals that support strategic decision-making, learning, and alignment across internal teams, partners, and funders.
2. Translate complex research, program models, and frameworks into clear, accessible visual tools and toolkits.
3. Apply strong fluency in fundamental visual design principles (layout, hierarchy, typography, color, accessibility) to guide design processes from concept through execution.
4. Guide processes for understanding user needs, preferences, and behaviors, and organize these insights to inform design decisions that are aligned with organizational goals and contextual realities, ensuring design outputs are usable and adaptable.
5. Maintain consistency with existing brand and visual systems while extending them thoughtfully to support new frameworks and tools.
6. Design intuitive, accessible, and aesthetically coherent interfaces and front-end visual experiences where UI/UX skills are transferable to frameworks, tools, and digital outputs.

Deliverables

Deliverables will vary based on project needs but may include:

1. Detailed toolkits
2. Visual synthesis of research findings, insights, and reports
3. Service design roadmaps
4. Advanced journey maps
5. Design templates or systems that can be reused and adapted by internal teams
6. Data visualization/infographics
7. Systems maps
8. Any task output formally delegated by the key contact person

YOU HAVE
The ideal candidate will demonstrate the following qualifications:

1. Strong background in communication design.
2. Proven experience designing frameworks and tools, with the ability to synthesize complex research, systems, or strategies.
3. Ability to translate abstract or ambiguous concepts into clear, structured and informative visuals.
4. Advanced proficiency in collaborative design tools (e.g., Adobe, Mural, Figma).
5. Experience collaborating and effectively communicating with multidisciplinary teams, including researchers, academics, creatives, and C-suite leadership.
6. Portfolio demonstrating high-fidelity frameworks, sensemaking, strategy, and visual communication (not solely branding or marketing work).
7. Experience working in innovation labs, impact labs, social impact organizations, or global development contexts.
8. Experience designing for diverse, global, or low-resource contexts, with demonstrated experience in African contexts, including work that reflects local realities, constraints, and cultural nuance.
9. Understanding and advocacy of accessibility and inclusive design principles.