Web & Graphic Designer

About SPUN

SPUN is a startup NGO with a mission to map and protect the mycorrhizal fungal networks that regulate Earth's climate and ecosystems. These fungi draw down approximately 13 billion tons of CO2 annually through extensive underground networks. Since our founding in 2021, we've built a global data platform to make these invisible networks measurable. Through our Underground Explorers program and network of over 400 Science Associates across more than 80 countries — with the majority in the Global South — we generate high-resolution biodiversity maps and ML-powered tools that integrate mycorrhizal data into climate, conservation, restoration, and land management decisions.

Our work spans from laboratory research, data science, and robotics to locally-led field applications, informing everything from carbon accounting methodologies to protected area design and restoration protocols. With strong backing from leading foundations and growing momentum in international policy circles, we're at an inflection point where strategic partnerships will be critical to driving the adoption of mycorrhizal data into climate strategies, conservation agendas, and restoration efforts worldwide.

The Opportunity

We’re looking for a creative and motivated Web & Graphic Designer to join SPUN’s communications team on a full-time contractor basis. This role is your chance to help shape and grow SPUN’s visual identity as we scale our brand to the next level. You’ll collaborate closely with our Design Lead on graphic and web design projects that bring SPUN’s mission and science to life. From refining our brand aesthetic to developing design guidelines and systems for use across the organization, your work will help make our global impact both seen and felt.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and produce web and graphic assets across SPUN’s digital and print channels, including websites, presentations, reports, proposals, and social media content.
• Support brand and communications initiatives by applying and extending SPUN’s visual identity across multiple formats and platforms.
• Build and iterate on layouts for presentations, proposals, and documents using Figma, Figma Slides, Google Docs, and Keynote, often on tight timelines.
• Create and maintain print-ready and interactive PDF layouts using Adobe InDesign, including effective use of master pages, styles, and templates.
• Contribute to the development and upkeep of brand guidelines, templates, and design systems to enable consistent use by non-designers.
• Design web assets and support website updates, with opportunities to build or maintain pages in Webflow.
• Produce social media graphics and short-form visual content aligned with campaign goals and brand standards.
• Collaborate closely with communications, product, science, and operations teammates across multiple time zones to translate ideas into clear visual outputs.
• Manage multiple design requests simultaneously, prioritize work effectively, and deliver high-quality work independently within agreed timelines.
• Organize and share design assets, files, and documentation using collaborative tools such as Notion and shared drives.
  
  

Extended Responsibilities

• Create or refine illustrations, scientific diagrams, or data-driven visuals using Adobe Illustrator.
• Apply motion, animation, or basic data visualization to enhance storytelling and digital experiences.
• Support the evolution of SPUN’s web presence through design system improvements or scalable Webflow structures.
  
  

Required Qualifications

• You have 3–8 years of experience in web, brand, and communications design, with a portfolio showing strong execution across digital, print, and presentation-based work.
• You are available to dedicate 35–40 hours per week to SPUN projects and are comfortable working in a fast-moving, collaborative environment.
• You are highly proficient in Figma and have experience working with design systems or shared component libraries to maintain consistency while adapting designs to new use cases.
• You can independently own the design and execution of presentations on tight timelines, including work in Figma Slides, and translate complex ideas into clear visual narratives.
• You have a strong understanding of page layout for print and interactive PDFs and are proficient in Adobe InDesign, including master pages and paragraph and character styles.
• You have contributed to brand guidelines and templates and know how to design systems and assets that enable non-designers to work efficiently and stay on brand.
• You are comfortable producing presentations, proposals, and documents primarily in Google Docs or Keynote, with occasional work in Word or PowerPoint.
• You are familiar with creating social media assets, including still graphics and short-form visual content.
• You bring strong design judgment, can manage your own workflow, and consistently meet deadlines with minimal oversight.
• You collaborate effectively with teammates across multiple time zones (EST, PST, and CET) and communicate clearly and proactively.
  
  

Bonus Points

• Illustration skills, including the ability to create or refine scientific diagrams in Adobe Illustrator
• Experience building or maintaining websites in Webflow; familiarity with Client-First or Relume frameworks is a strong plus
• Comfort using Notion to organize, share, and maintain design assets or templates across a team
• Experience with motion graphics or data visualization, and an interest in using movement and visuals to support storytelling
  
  

What Success Looks Like

In this role, success means consistently delivering clear, high-quality design work that strengthens SPUN’s brand and supports fast-moving communications needs. You are able to translate ideas and rough inputs into polished visual outputs across web, presentations, and documents, while working independently and meeting deadlines. Over time, your work helps create greater consistency across our materials, makes it easier for non-designers to use SPUN templates effectively, and enables the team to move faster with confidence in our visual storytelling.

Team Structure

This role sits within SPUN’s Design Team and collaborates closely with the Communications Team and cross-functional partners across the organization, including scientists and operational teams.

Why Join SPUN

At SPUN, we’re mapping the world beneath our feet — revealing the hidden mycorrhizal networks that regulate Earth’s climate and sustain ecosystems. As a member of the SPUN team, you’ll join a fast-moving, mission-driven, and deeply collaborative organization advancing mycorrhizal research and conservation on a global scale.

We work at the intersection of science, data, and environmental action — connecting researchers, technologists, and local communities to make these underground ecosystems measurable and actionable. Through our global network of scientists and field partners, we’re building high-resolution biodiversity maps and data tools that help integrate fungal networks into climate, conservation, and restoration decisions.

SPUN values curiosity, creativity, and purpose. Whether you’re contributing through research, design, data, or operations, your work will help illuminate the unseen world that sustains forests, grasslands, and food systems — and drive meaningful impact for the planet.

Location & Compensation

This is a remote contractor role (no benefits) averaging 35–40 hours per week. Depending on the arrangement, SPUN may issue a monthly retainer contract based on agreed hours and compensation. This will be a three-month contract to start. At the three-month mark, we will evaluate how the role is working and decide whether to extend based on fit, impact, and funding.

We welcome applicants from around the world. You should be comfortable collaborating across multiple time zones.

The compensation range for this role is USD $60–$100 per hour, depending on experience and location. SPUN applies a global compensation multiplier to ensure equity across regions, adjusting pay according to local market and cost-of-living benchmarks.

Compensation reflects SPUN’s hybrid identity as both an environmental NGO and a data-driven startup, and is commensurate with experience.

To Apply:

Please complete the application form in BambooHR and submit the following materials:

• A resume
• Please submit a cover letter describing what draws you to SPUN’s mission and how your background aligns with this role. We’d love to hear about a project or experience that demonstrates your ability to collaborate across disciplines, adapt to challenges, and contribute to meaningful impact.
• Contact information (including phone numbers) for three professional references

Please note: we will notify you before contacting any references.

At SPUN, we embrace diversity as a fundamental pillar of our mission to protect underground ecosystems. Our commitment to decolonizing science is dependent on the diversity of knowledge and experience on our team and among our partners across the globe. We are committed to creating an inclusive environment where all individuals, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, or background, feel valued, respected, and empowered to bring their authentic selves to work. We highly encourage individuals from traditionally underrepresented or repressed groups, including but not limited to women, LGBTQIA, individuals from the Global South, and individuals with Indigenous heritage, to apply to join our team at SPUN.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. To learn more about our company and culture, please visit our website
www.spun.earth