Embedded Design Partner

$2,900–8,000/mo · 3-month minimum

One senior designer in your Slack. Not a vendor you chase. Not an agency that disappears after handoff.

What “embedded” means

You’re shipping fast. Weekly releases. Growing backlog. No design lead — or a team stretched so thin that design is reactive, not proactive.

A full-time senior designer costs $120k–180k plus recruiting, onboarding, and benefits. That’s a 3–6 month commitment before they’re productive.

An agency costs $15k–50k per project and disappears between sprints. Every new engagement starts from zero context.

This is neither. One senior designer embedded in your team. Slack access. Weekly strategy. Monthly retros on what moved. 24–48h response time. The same person, every week, building context that compounds.

Plans

• Starter — $2,900/mo (~20 hrs)
  One key initiative per month. Good for a single product team shipping steadily with occasional design needs.
• Growth — $4,500/mo (~35 hrs)
  Active roadmap with multiple flows in progress. Good for a team shipping weekly with a growing backlog and no design function.
• Scale — $8,000+/mo (40+ hrs)
  Fractional design leadership. Good for larger teams that need someone owning the design function end-to-end — strategy, execution, hiring support, process design.

How the first month works

• Week 0: Kickoff call. We map your product, your team, your roadmap, and your biggest design risks.
• Week 1: Quick-wins audit. We surface the 3–5 fastest fixes that will move a metric in the first 30 days.
• Week 2–4: First initiative ships. We pick the highest-impact item from the audit and deliver it.
• Monthly retro: What moved. What didn’t. What we’re doing next month.

What it’s not

• Not a vendor you brief and wait on. We’re in Slack. We’re in your standups if you want us there. We own outcomes, not tickets.
• Not a junior designer you have to manage. One senior person. Full accountability. No handoffs.
• Not an hourly bucket you burn through. Fixed scope per month. If something takes longer than expected, we eat the cost — not you.
• Not a permanent hire you’re stuck with. 3-month minimum to prove value. Month-to-month after. 30-day cancellation.

When this makes sense

• You’re shipping weekly and design can’t keep up
• You have no design lead — or one person drowning in backlog
• You’ve run FlowAudit or a Human Audit and know the leaks are real but need ongoing capacity to fix them
• You’re Series A–C and not ready for a full-time design hire, but can’t afford to let design slip any longer

When it doesn’t

• You need a one-off project — start with a Fix Sprint
• You’re not shipping regularly — wait until your roadmap is active
• You want a quote to compare against three other agencies — this is a partnership, not a bid

FAQ

Can I pause the retainer?
Once per year, up to one month. Your slot is held.

What if I need more hours in a given month?
We’ll scope it. If it’s a one-time spike, we handle it within reason. If it’s recurring, we move you up a plan.

What if I need less?
We move you down a plan. No penalty. 30-day notice.

Can I cancel?
After the 3-month minimum, yes. 30-day notice. No exit fees.

Who’s the designer?
Dorian. 15+ years in product design. Mimecast, Italiaonline, Maistro, and B2B SaaS teams across Europe. One person. Full accountability.