Hard Problems
Design Internship (Paid)
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About Hard Problems
Good design solves problems. Great design solves problems that matter.
Hard Problems is a UK non-profit that helps designers, researchers, and product people find work on the things that count — public health, climate change, poverty, education, good government. We run a curated job board, publish articles and interviews, and host a coworking space in Shoreditch for teams working on climate and global health.
We’re small, which means you’ll do real work from week one and see it ship.
The Design Intern Role
You’ll be our design intern for nine months, working across everything we make: the website, the job board, our content, and a new podcast we’re launching. This is a broad role. If you like being handed a problem and figuring it out (with regular feedback from two senior designers), you’ll enjoy it.
What You’ll Do
- Curate the job board. Find and add jobs at organisations working on hard problems. You’ll use and improve some AI tools as well as using ingenuity and your judgement — knowing which jobs are genuinely worth surfacing.
- Write and edit. Draft content for the Hard Problems website: articles, interviews, newsletters.
- Design new features for the website, starting with our new podcast section. You’ll get to use design tools as well as designing in code, if you can.
- Help produce the podcast. We’re launching a show interviewing designers around the world who work on high-impact problems like healthcare and climate change. You’ll help make it happen.
- User research and prototyping. We are considering a new service offering and need your help to shape the strategy and offering.
- Graphic design for the podcast, the site, and whatever else we’re building.
- Learn AI coding tools. Not required, but we use them and we’d like you to.
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What We’re Looking For
- A strong writer. This matters more than anything else on this list.
- Good UI and UX skills. We’re tool-agnostic, though Figma experience is handy.
- Front-end coding is a bonus — you can learn on the job.
- Passion for improving design as a profession.
- You don’t need a design degree or previous internships. Show us things you’ve made. If you don’t tick every box, apply anyway. We’d rather see your work than your checklist.
Who You’ll Work With
You’ll work directly with Hard Problems’ small founding team: Elyce Cole (org psychologist), Mahima Chandak (designer), and Daniel Burka (designer). There’s no layer of management between you and the people making decisions. It is currently just the three of us and you.
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
You’ll report directly to one of the co-founders, Daniel Burka, who has a long history in design at organisations like Google Ventures, Mozilla, and Resolve to Save Lives. Expect regular one-to-ones and frequent feedback on your work.
Details
- Term: 9 months, part-time (4 hours per day, 5 days per week)
- Start date: 1 October 2026
- Location: London. Hybrid, with at least some days each week in our Shoreditch office (1 Rivington Place).
- Compensation:
- Pay: £12,750 for the 9-month internship (This is equivalent to £34,000 full-time salary for a year, but for half time work over 9 months)
- Holiday: 14 days plus bank holidays
- Pension: Workplace pension with employer contributions
- Equipment: We’ll provide a Mac laptop and a large monitor if you don’t already have them.
- Right to work: You must have the right to work in the UK. We cannot sponsor visas for this role.
How to Apply
Apply on our website: https://www.hardproblems.com
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