Founding Product Designer

About the Role

This is a first-ever design hire at a seed-stage neurotechnology startup building a cognitive fitness tracker - think of it as Strava for the brain. The product surfaces trends and insights on mental clarity, cognitive load, stress, and more, with a mission to make brain health accessible, measurable, and actionable.

There is no design system to inherit, no style guide to reference, and no established design language for this ambient product category - because nothing quite like it exists yet. You'll build everything from the ground up, working directly with the Founder to own the full design surface from early concept through shipped product.

We're looking for a bit of a mad artist: someone who takes risks, challenges conventions, brings a multidisciplinary perspective, stays deeply curious, and pushes back when something feels wrong.

What You'll Do

Rapidly generate and iterate on design directions, testing ideas with early users to drive engagement

Build and maintain the company's design system entirely from scratch

Lead user research to surface unmet needs and validate product hypotheses

Collaborate closely with engineers to ship implementable, high-quality interfaces

Define the visual and interaction language for a voice-first, ambient product category

Partner with the Founder on product strategy - shaping what gets built, not just how it looks

What We're Looking For

Requirements (dealbreakers):

2+ years of design experience at an early-stage consumer startup

Proven track record shipping full-scale consumer apps end-to-end - from concept to production, not just components or marketing sites

Experience building and maintaining a design system (not just handing off Figma files)

Authorized to work in the United States without visa sponsorship

Required skills & mindset:

Proficiency with Figma and strong design systems tooling

Hands-on experience with user research and rapid prototyping to validate hypotheses

Product thinker first - you shape what gets built, not just how it looks

Comfortable working directly with a founder and influencing product direction

Core contributor to a team that built something people genuinely love from the ground up

Nice to haves:

Experience with voice-first, ambient, or AI-assisted product design

Background in consumer health, fitness, wearables, or related domains

Compensation & Benefits

Salary: $150,000 – $200,000 USD annually

Meaningful equity package

Health benefits

Flexible PTO

Location

This role is on-site in San Francisco, CA. Visa sponsorship is not available - candidates must be authorized to work in the United States.