Original job description
Product: Agentic AI tutoring platform
Company: Elumai
Stage: Pre-launch, preparing for general availability
Engagement: Fixed-price project. Budget to be proposed.
Duration: Approximately 10-12 weeks.
Location: Remote. Americas time zones preferred.
Stack: Next.js, React, TypeScript, Tailwind, Framer Motion
About Elumai
Elumai is an agentic AI tutoring platform. The system pairs specialized expert models with per-learner adaptation that captures how each learner actually thinks, not just what they get right. The backend is mature and already in production; we are now investing in the user-facing surface and the design system that will carry it through general availability.
This is a hands-on, high-autonomy role suited to someone who prefers a small, experienced team to a large organization, and who is comfortable working in an actively evolving codebase as we approach general availability. We are a small team working without intermediary management so you would work directly with the founder and backend engineer.
This role suits candidates who are comfortable working without a pre-defined design system, detailed product requirements, or an intermediary product manager.
Project overview
This is a finite engagement to deliver a defined set of frontend, design, and user-experience improvements across the Elumai product surface. The project spans five workstreams: API contract and streaming integration, mobile feature parity, design system consolidation, perceived performance and interaction polish, and session and tutoring interface refinement. Each workstream has named deliverables and acceptance criteria. The engagement is for incremental improvement to harden the user-facing surface and refine the design system progressively, not a single large rewrite. The engagement ends when those deliverables are met.
Scope
API contract and streaming integration
Partner with the backend engineer to define response shapes, streaming envelopes, and error semantics.
Implement consumption patterns for streaming responses with graceful error states.
Document the contracts so they can be extended after the engagement ends.
Mobile feature parity
Bring mobile parity for activity launch, search, notifications, and dashboard interactions.
Establish responsive patterns that scale to additional surfaces post-engagement.
Document responsive primitives and breakpoints.
Design system consolidation
Complete design token migration across the application.
Resolve component duplication and establish reusable primitives.
Document the system so additional contributors can extend it without contractor involvement.
Perceived performance and interaction polish
Implement predictive pre-fetching, optimistic UI, and progressive disclosure on the highest-traffic flows.
Add loading states, streaming token reveals, skeletons, and transition choreography that keep users engaged with content rather than loading indicators.
Measure perceived latency improvements alongside actual latency.
Session and tutoring interface refinement
Refine conversational chat, document rendering, inline citations, and activity playback.
Maintain accessibility and dark-mode parity as part of ongoing work, not as a separate initiative.
Establish patterns the team can extend without contractor involvement.
Deliverables
API contract specifications documented and agreed with the backend engineer, with streaming consumption patterns implemented across the highest-impact flows.
Mobile feature parity shipped to production for activity launch, search, notifications, and dashboard interactions.
Design token migration complete, component duplication resolved, reusable primitives documented.
Perceived performance improvements shipped to production with before/after measurement on the three highest-impact flows.
Refined session and tutoring interfaces (chat, document rendering, citations, activity playback) shipped to production.
Accessibility and dark-mode parity maintained across all new and refactored work.
Design documents and component documentation for all delivered work.
Production-ready code meeting the standard of the existing frontend (typed, tested, reviewed).
Acceptance criteria
Mobile feature parity achieved on activity launch, search, notifications, and dashboard. No feature gap between desktop and mobile on these flows.
Design token migration complete. No hardcoded color, spacing, or typography values outside the token system on new or refactored work.
Measurable perceived latency reduction on identified flows, achieved through pre-fetching, optimistic updates, or progressive disclosure. Target: improvement on three or more high-traffic flows.
API contracts documented, implemented, and consumed across the user-facing product surface.
Component primitives documented and reused across at least three surfaces.
Accessibility and dark-mode parity maintained on all delivered work, verified by audit.
All design documents and component documentation merged to the main branch.
What to send us
A short proposal covering:
Approach. How you would sequence the five workstreams, and which dependencies you see between them.
Timeline. Weeks to completion, with milestones and a proposed order of delivery.
Price. Fixed price for the project.
Acceptance criteria. Any you would adjust, add, or remove.
Risks and dependencies. What could go wrong, and what you will need from us.
Also, briefly answer in your cover note:
What is the most meaningful frontend or design improvement you have shipped, and how did you measure its impact?
Describe a project you scoped down mid-engagement. What did you cut, and why?
How do you approach inherited code and design you disagree with?
A portfolio link or attached samples.
Required
Demonstrated experience shipping production frontend products at early-stage companies.
Strong command of React, Next.js (App Router), TypeScript, and Tailwind. Comfortable navigating a substantial existing component library.
A portfolio of design work that reflects considered craft and a distinctive visual sensibility.
Fluency with streaming UI patterns (SSE, React Suspense, server components) and the user experience patterns that surround them.
Experience defining API contracts collaboratively with backend engineers, including reading * OpenAPI specifications and reasoning about error semantics.
Self-directed prioritization. The role does not include a product manager maintaining a ticket backlog.
Professional maturity regarding inherited code paired with a high standard for the quality of new work.
Preferred
AI or chat interface design (conversational UI, citation patterns, voice input).
Figma proficiency sufficient to design at production fidelity.
Framer Motion or equivalent animation libraries.
Accessibility audit experience and WCAG fluency.
Real-time media interface experience.
Engagement details
Fixed-price project. Milestone-based payment (typical split: deposit on signing, milestone payments per workstream, final payment on delivery).
Code and design produced under this engagement are assigned to Elumai. Standard IP clauses apply.
Remote. Americas time zones preferred for alignment. Contractors handle their own tax and invoicing in their home jurisdiction.
The codebase is actively evolving as we approach general availability.
Successful engagement may lead to follow-on work. We are not committing to follow-on at this stage.
How to apply
Send your proposal, portfolio, and answers to [email protected] by May 26, 2026. CV or equivalent welcome. Keep submissions under three pages plus portfolio link.
