Top Companies Hiring for Design Jobs in Montreal (Oct 2026)

You want a design job in Montreal and you keep hearing the same vague advice about networking. Nobody tells you who is actually hiring this month, so you waste evenings on applications that go nowhere.

The snapshot: 31 open design roles in Montreal#

There are 31 open Design jobs in Montreal right now, and that is out of 72 Design listings across all of Canada, so this city holds a big slice of the country's postings in this feed. Check the live Design jobs in Montreal page before you plan anything, because counts move as postings close.

Two more numbers matter. 15 of the 31 were posted in the last 30 days, and only 3 in the last 7 days. The rest are older listings still sitting open.

Older is not dead. But it does mean more people have already applied.

One blunt reality check before you plan. No listing in this slice shows a salary, and 0 of 31 look entry-level. If you just graduated, this snapshot alone will not get you hired.

The ranked list of companies hiring#

Counts are open listings on 14 October 2026, straight from the JobRise live jobs feed (jobrise.io). Some of these names are recruiters or staffing firms, so read the titles before you assume where you would actually end up.

1. Ubisoft, 27 listings. Titles include "2D-3D Illustrator (Rainbow Six Siege)", "Senior Gameplay Animator - [March of Giants]", "Concepteur·trice de jeu (Véhicules)", "Game Designer (Vehicles)", "Senior Level Designer - Mission", and "Concepteur·trice de niveaux senior - Mission".
2. Aviso Wealth, 1 listing. Title: "Superviseure ou superviseur bilingue, Nouveaux comptes, Temporaire".
3. Export Development Canada | Exportation et développement Canada, 1 listing. Title: "Gestionnaire principal(e)/premièr(e) conseillèr(e), Minéraux critiques".
4. Lyft, 1 listing.
5. Atecna Montréal, 1 listing.

Read what those titles actually say. Ubisoft's 27 listings cluster in game craft: illustration, animation, level design, vehicle and system design, and several come in both French and English versions. The other four listings are single roles and two of them read as business or advisory work rather than pure design.

A listing in a design feed is not always a design job in the sense you mean. Read the full title. Then decide.

How Montreal compares with the rest of Canada#

Montreal has 266 open listings across all categories, and 31 of those are Design. For the national picture alongside these local counts, the JobRise Hiring Report: Canada tracks how hiring is moving countrywide.

The concentration is the whole story here. When one employer holds 27 of 31 listings, your plan should not be "apply to everything in the city", because that burns your time on four long shots while ignoring the one real pipeline.

Get into that pipeline properly. Treat the rest as side bets.

How to target each type of employer#

A large game studio with many parallel roles

Ubisoft is hiring across several crafts and both languages at once, so pick the single role that matches your craft exactly and leave the adjacent ones alone. Studios notice when the same portfolio shows up in six inboxes, and it reads as noise instead of enthusiasm.

Mirror the posting's own words in your first line. If the title says "Concepteur·trice de niveaux senior - Mission", say level design and mission design in that same language. Bilingual titles usually mean bilingual evaluation, so if your French holds up in a meeting, say so.

A recruiter or staffing firm

Atecna Montréal, and sometimes others on this list, may be placing you with a client rather than hiring you directly. Ask early which client it is, whether the contract is fixed term or ongoing, and who cuts your paycheque.

Recruiters move fast on live mandates. A short reply beats a long cover letter.

A corporate or financial employer

Aviso Wealth and Export Development Canada | Exportation et développement Canada read as institutional employers, and their titles mention accounts, bilingual supervision, and critical minerals advisory. Write in plain formal language, use the exact French and English terms from the posting, and show you can work inside a process.

A flashy portfolio helps less here than careful, clear writing.

A US tech company with a Montreal presence

Lyft has 1 listing in this slice. For a company like that, lead with product thinking and measurable outcomes in your case studies, because final visuals alone will not carry the conversation.

Keep the application short. Let the work do the talking.

Referral and outreach scripts#

Cold messages work when they are short and specific. Here are two you can copy and adjust today.

Reaching out to someone doing the job you want:

"Hi [name], I saw the [exact title] opening at [company] and your work on [specific project]. I'm a [your craft] designer in Montreal with [X years or one specific strength]. Could I get 15 minutes to hear how the team is set up? I'm not asking you to forward anything, just for your read on fit."

Asking for a referral after a real conversation:

"Thanks again for the chat about the [team name] work. The [exact title] role looks close to what I did on [your project]. If my background fits, would you be comfortable referring me internally? Happy to send a two-line summary you can paste."

Notice what these skip. No "I hope this finds you well", and no request that a stranger spend an hour on you, because a small clear ask is far easier to say yes to.

A 7-step plan for the next two weeks#

1. Pick one primary target and two backups. With 27 of 31 listings, Ubisoft is the obvious primary if your craft fits, and the four single-listing employers sit behind it.
2. Rewrite your portfolio for the exact craft in the title. Level design wants layout and pacing, illustration wants range and finish, animation wants motion reels.
3. Build a company list with posting date, exact title, and posting language, then use the free company insights tool to see what each employer looks like before you write to anyone.
4. Find two people at each target, ideally someone doing the job and one hiring-adjacent person, and send the short script above instead of a job request.
5. Apply within 48 hours of a posting going up. Only 3 listings appeared in the last 7 days, and early applications get read first.
6. Follow up once after a week, then move on. Silence is normal and it is rarely personal.
7. Keep a weekly log of what you sent, what came back, and what you changed, and adjust the portfolio and script rather than just sending more.

Entry-level and worried about that 0 of 31 count? Invert the plan. Build proof through conversations and freelance or contract work first, and treat open full postings as the second door.

Free tools#

• Design jobs in Montreal
• JobRise Hiring Report: Canada
• free company insights tool

FAQ#

How current are these numbers?

They are a snapshot from the JobRise live jobs feed taken on 14 October 2026, counting open listings at that moment. Postings close and new ones appear daily, so recheck the feed before planning your week.

Why does one company have almost all the design listings?

Ubisoft holds 27 of the 31 open design listings in this slice. That concentration is normal in a city where a large game studio runs several projects at once, and it means your odds improve a lot if you target that pipeline properly.

Are these all design jobs in the usual sense?

Not necessarily. Titles like the Aviso Wealth supervision role and the Export Development Canada advisory role suggest work outside pure design craft, so read the full posting before assuming it matches your portfolio.

Do any of these listings show salary information?

No listing in this slice shows a salary. Ranges vary widely by craft and seniority in Canada, so check the official posting or ask the recruiter directly and never trust a number from a third-party site.

I'm a new graduate and see no junior roles. What should I do?

With 0 of 31 looking entry-level, don't wait for a junior posting to appear. Start conversations with people in the studios you want, take contract or freelance work to build proof, and apply to senior-adjacent roles only when your work genuinely matches.