job-search-strategy
Summary: foogy hunts remote, part-time/fractional/contract, DIRECT (no agencies) product-design or PM roles — US-timezone welcome — leaning on the design→code edge; best-converting source is Go Fractional’s design page.
Who / positioning
Mihael “foogy” Fugaj — full-scope product designer (10+ yrs, lead/owner on small teams) moving into product management. Web2 + Web3, e-commerce, marketplaces, fintech, SaaS. Zagreb (CET). Portfolio foogy-dev (foogy.xyz + /pm for the PM angle).
The edge (rank roles wanting these higher)
- Full-scope product design — design systems, UX, UI end-to-end.
- Design→code / frontend implementation — strong CSS + ships the build with AI tooling, not just handoff. Roles wanting “design engineer” / “designer who also implements” are the sweet spot; it’s the wedge most applicants can’t match (e.g. the OIO/Korrus pitch was won on exactly this).
- Product management — discovery, prioritization, roadmap, integrations, shipping.
Hard filters (drop anything that fails)
- Role: Product Designer / UX-UI OR Product Manager (incl. fractional PM).
- Remote only.
- Part-time / fractional / contract / project-based — NOT full-time permanent.
- Direct with a company/product/startup — NOT agencies, NOT staffing/recruiters.
- English-speaking. US-based / US-timezone roles are welcome and preferred (works US hours from CET afternoon/evening); worldwide/EU remote also fine.
Not a fit (down-rank/skip)
- Motion / animation-heavy design — foogy doesn’t do motion (learning it). Skip “motion designer” titles and motion-centric roles.
Best sources (in rough order of what converts)
- Go Fractional (gofractional.com) — the design page is the best hit rate for fresh part-time/contract product-design roles at direct companies; the product page repeats a lot.
- fractionaljobs.io — fractional roles, but design/product listings churn slowly (often repeats).
- Lenny’s Job Board (jobs.lennysnewsletter.com) — PM + product, some fractional.
- UX Jobs Board (uxjobsboard.com) — watch for mislabeled “Contract” that’s actually full-time.
- Web3 boards (cryptojobslist.com, web3.career, Braintrust) — match the crypto edge, but mostly eng/finance; design/PM contract roles are rare there.
- Also: Pangea, Contra, Wellfound (filter Remote + Contract/Part-time), YC Work at a Startup.
Notes / lessons
- Recurring gate from top employers: case studies that show diagnosis + decisions, not just final screens. foogy’s site is intentionally signal-first / one-screen-per-project — prep 2–3 deeper walkthroughs (Zevo; a live-product redesign like Samsung eShop/Haas; one design-and-shipped-with-AI example) before applying to process-heavy roles.
- Address timezone head-on as a solved problem, not a caveat.
Sources
~/Documents/localhost/control-center/job-sources.mdcontrol-center/desk/job-search/*.md(daily leads),desk/job-search/pitch-korrus.md,pitch-solana-foundation.md- Related: foogy-dev