Asking for a free redesign of your product as the assignment is the first thing to go wrong in most UI/UX design intern job descriptions — and the second is that they list requirements without ever describing the work. A student reading one cannot picture a Tuesday, so they either do not apply or apply to forty postings indiscriminately, and you get volume without fit.
The template below is the opposite shape. It opens with what this UI/UX design intern would actually do — turn requirements into wireframes and high-fidelity screens in Figma, among other things — states what success looks like by the end, prices the role as a number, and sets out a selection process built around a two-hour exercise on a neutral problem — not our product — including the empty, loading and error states. Everything in square brackets is yours to fill in; everything else is ready to post.
The template — copy this
UI/UX Design Intern — [City] =============================== ABOUT THE INTERNSHIP [Company name] is hiring a UI/UX Design intern for a 3-month internship based in [City]. This is a working internship on live projects — not a training programme and not shadowing. In your first week you will get the design system, ship one screen through handoff, and defend a decision to an engineer. You will have a named mentor, a scoped project, and a review at the midpoint and at the end. WHAT YOU WILL DO • Turn requirements into wireframes and high-fidelity screens in Figma • Build and use components from the existing design system • Run lightweight usability checks on prototypes • Hand off with specs, states and edge cases documented WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE A shipped screen or flow the intern designed and defended. We will tell you at the start exactly what we will be assessing, and you will get written feedback at the midpoint so nothing at the end is a surprise. WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR • B.Des, M.Des, any degree with a genuine portfolio, or self-taught with shipped work. Final-year students and recent graduates are both welcome. • Working familiarity with figma • Working familiarity with wireframing and prototyping • Working familiarity with design systems and components • Working familiarity with basic user research • Working familiarity with presenting and defending design decisions • The ability to ask a clear question when you are stuck, rather than staying stuck WHAT WE OFFER • A stipend of [stipend] per month, paid monthly • A 3-month internship starting [start date] • A named mentor and a weekly one-to-one, not an unassigned desk • A certificate and a written reference reflecting your actual work • Permission to show an agreed version of your work in your portfolio afterwards • A pre-placement offer for interns who meet the bar — this is a real path, not a maybe SELECTION PROCESS • Application review — we read every application and reply either way • A 20-minute screening call about your background and what you want from the internship • A practical task: a two-hour exercise on a neutral problem — not our product — including the empty, loading and error states. It is timeboxed, we will tell you what we are looking for, and someone will read it and give you feedback either way. • A final conversation with the team you would be joining • Decision and offer within a week of the final round HOW TO APPLY Apply through this listing by [application deadline]. Attach your CV and a portfolio link. Three screens with the reasoning behind them tell us more than thirty without it. [Company name] is an equal-opportunity employer; we assess every application against the same criteria, and we reply to everyone who reaches a screening call.
What this UI/UX design intern will actually do
These are the responsibilities the template uses. They are deliberately concrete: an intern can picture the work, and you can assess against them at the end.
- Turn requirements into wireframes and high-fidelity screens in Figma
- Build and use components from the existing design system
- Run lightweight usability checks on prototypes
- Hand off with specs, states and edge cases documented
What to screen for in a UI/UX design intern
Can they explain a design decision without saying "it looks better"? That one question separates candidates for this role far more reliably than the CV does, because almost nobody applying has directly relevant work history. The practical way to ask it is a two-hour exercise on a neutral problem — not our product — including the empty, loading and error states — timeboxed, reviewed, and with a line of feedback back either way.
- Figma
- The one to insist on. Depth here beats a passing acquaintance with everything else on this list.
- Wireframing and prototyping
- Working familiarity is enough at intern level — this is learnable on the job if the first item is genuinely there.
- Design systems and components
- Working familiarity is enough at intern level — this is learnable on the job if the first item is genuinely there.
- Basic user research
- Working familiarity is enough at intern level — this is learnable on the job if the first item is genuinely there.
- Presenting and defending design decisions
- Working familiarity is enough at intern level — this is learnable on the job if the first item is genuinely there.
Why this JD converts
- It requires working within an existing design system rather than producing free-standing concept screens, which is the actual job and a genuine skill.
- It names states — empty, loading, error — as design work. Interns who have thought about these are immediately more useful than those who have only made happy-path mockups.
- It asks them to defend decisions, which sets the expectation that design is argued rather than admired.
What employers get wrong hiring UI/UX design interns
- Asking for a free redesign of your product as the assignment
- It is unpaid work on your actual roadmap, candidates recognise it, and the good ones decline. Use a neutral problem.
- Bundling graphic design and product design
- Different skills, different portfolios, different people. Pick one or hire two interns.
- No engineering contact
- A design intern who never hands off to a developer learns Figma, not design. Put the handoff in the JD.
What to pay a UI/UX design intern
For a three-month, in-office internship at a mid-sized company, the benchmark band for this role in a tier-1 metro is ₹14,500–₹36,000 a month, and roles priced in the upper-middle of that band fill fastest. Adjust down for tier-2 cities and remote work, up for large enterprises and GCCs. State the number in the JD — "as per company norms" reads as "low", and the strongest applicants filter it out before you ever see them. For this role specifically, the thing candidates weigh against the stipend is a shipped screen or flow the intern designed and defended — a credible answer there is worth several thousand rupees a month in how fast the role fills.
Who to open this UI/UX design intern role to
The template uses a deliberately wide eligibility line: B.Des, M.Des, any degree with a genuine portfolio, or self-taught with shipped work. Widen it rather than narrowing it. Long undifferentiated requirement lists measurably suppress applications from candidates who would have succeeded, and the effect is strongest among exactly the candidates most internship programmes say they want to reach. B.Des and M.Des, plus a substantial self-taught pool. For design, the portfolio is the qualification — ask for three screens and the reasoning behind them, not a degree.
Frequently asked
Can we ask candidates to redesign our product as the assignment?+
It is unpaid work on your actual roadmap, candidates recognise it immediately, and the strongest ones decline. Use a neutral problem instead. If you genuinely want to see how they would approach your product, ask them to critique one screen for twenty minutes in the interview — that costs them nothing and tells you more.
Should a design internship require a degree?+
Rarely. In design the portfolio is the qualification, and a substantial share of capable designers in India are self-taught or came from another discipline. Ask for three screens and the reasoning behind them; that assesses the thing you are hiring for, and a degree requirement mostly removes people who would have been fine.
Should the JD distinguish product design from graphic design?+
Always — they are different skills, different portfolios and usually different people. Bundling them into one internship produces applications from both pools and a good fit from neither, and the intern spends the internship doing the half they are weaker at.
Can we use this UI/UX design intern template commercially?+
Yes — copy it, edit it and post it anywhere, with no attribution required. On JD length and structure generally, the master internship job description template covers what applies to every role; this page covers what is specific to hiring a UI/UX design intern.