Founding UX/UI Design Engineer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Founding UX/UI Design Engineer

Company: Clearly AI

Location: United States (Remote OK)

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Product Design & Engineering (GTM Operations Interface)

Date Posted: 2026-05-23

Experience Level: Mid-Senior (5+ years)

Remote Status: Fully Remote (US-based)

🚀 Role Summary

• Spearhead product front-end development, from information architecture to final implementation, ensuring a cohesive and intuitive user experience.

• Design and refine user journeys for technical and non-technical users, focusing on clarity, usability, and efficiency within the Clearly AI platform.

• Establish and enforce UX requirements and design standards, setting the visual and interactive benchmark for the product.

• Drive continuous improvement in product usability, friction reduction, and performance optimization through data-informed insights and direct customer feedback.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the title is "Founding UX/UI Design Engineer," the core responsibilities and required skills strongly indicate a role focused on product development with a significant emphasis on user experience and interface design, bridging the gap between design and engineering. For operations professionals, this role is crucial for understanding how the user interfaces of GTM tools are built and refined, impacting the adoption and efficiency of sales, marketing, and customer success operations.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Take full ownership of the product's front-end, encompassing high-level information architecture to granular component implementation.

• Design and iterate on user journeys across the Clearly AI platform, ensuring seamless and intuitive workflows for both technical users (engineers, security professionals) and less technical stakeholders.

• Develop and maintain comprehensive UX requirements and design standards to ensure consistency, scalability, and a high-quality user experience across all product features.

• Proactively identify and implement improvements to enhance usability, minimize user friction, and push the boundaries of product performance.

• Leverage user behavior data (implicit signals) and direct customer feedback (explicit signals) to inform design decisions and product iterations.

• Collaborate closely with the founding team to translate business objectives and user needs into compelling product designs and functional interfaces.

• Contribute to the development and maintenance of design systems or component libraries to ensure consistency and facilitate rapid development.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities emphasize a "0 to 1" product development approach, requiring a blend of strategic design thinking and hands-on engineering. For operations roles, understanding how these foundational product elements are built is key to appreciating the user-centricity and potential for customization or integration of GTM tools.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong portfolio demonstrating equivalent practical experience and expertise in UI/UX design and frontend engineering is essential.

Experience: 5+ years of experience in UI/UX design for web applications, with a preference for B2B SaaS environments. Proven experience in designing entirely new products from concept to launch is highly valued.

Required Skills:

• UI/UX Design: Extensive experience in user interface and user experience design principles, with a focus on B2B SaaS applications.

• Frontend Engineering: Strong proficiency in modern frontend technologies, specifically TypeScript and Next.js.

• CSS Frameworks: Expertise in modern CSS frameworks, with a stated requirement for Tailwind CSS.

• Product Lifecycle: Proven ability to guide products from low-fidelity concepts to polished, production-ready interfaces.

• Design Systems: Experience in building and maintaining design systems or component libraries for consistency and scalability.

• Data-Informed Design: A data-informed mindset and demonstrated comfort in analyzing user behavior and actively soliciting customer feedback.

• Startup Agility: Proven ability to thrive in ambiguous environments, move at a rapid pace, and excel in "0 to 1" product creation.

• Prototyping: Proficiency in Figma-to-code workflows or similar rapid prototyping methods (e.g., v0, Lovable).

• Technical Acumen: Interest in and understanding of security, privacy, or developer tools.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience with user journey mapping and information architecture for complex B2B applications.

• Familiarity with user research methodologies and the ability to translate research findings into actionable design improvements.

• Experience in optimizing web application performance and reducing user friction.

📝 Enhancement Note: The combination of design and engineering skills is critical. Candidates should highlight projects where they not only designed but also implemented interfaces, demonstrating a full-stack approach to product development. This is relevant to operations by showcasing an understanding of how user-facing elements of tools are built, impacting adoption and workflow efficiency.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• End-to-End Product Design & Implementation: Showcase a minimum of one significant project where you owned the entire front-end development lifecycle, from initial information architecture and wireframing to final implementation and iteration. This should demonstrate your ability to translate complex requirements into functional and user-friendly interfaces.

• B2B SaaS Focus: Highlight projects specifically within the B2B SaaS space, illustrating your understanding of enterprise user needs, workflows, and expectations. Projects involving security, privacy, or developer tools are particularly relevant.

• Technical Proficiency Showcase: Include examples demonstrating your proficiency in TypeScript, Next.js, and Tailwind CSS. This could be through live links to deployed applications, well-documented code repositories (if permissible), or detailed case studies explaining technical implementation choices.

• Design System Contribution: Present examples of design systems or component libraries you have developed or significantly contributed to, emphasizing how they ensured consistency, scalability, and efficiency in product development.

• Figma-to-Code Workflow: Demonstrate your experience with Figma-to-code workflows or similar rapid prototyping tools, showcasing how you efficiently moved from design concepts to functional code.

Process Documentation:

• User Journey Mapping: Provide examples of detailed user journey maps that illustrate your understanding of user flows within a complex application, and how you used these to identify pain points and design solutions.

• Information Architecture: Include documentation or case studies that explain your approach to organizing information and structuring navigation within a web application for optimal user comprehension and task completion.

• Usability Testing & Feedback Integration: Showcase how you have incorporated user feedback and usability testing results into design iterations, demonstrating a data-informed and user-centric approach to product refinement.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio should act as a testament to the candidate's ability to not only design but also build. For operations roles, this means looking for evidence of how design choices impact usability and efficiency, which directly translates to adoption rates and workflow effectiveness for your team.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $150,000 - $200,000 USD per year.

Benefits:

• Equity: Significant stock options package, as is typical for a founding engineer at a YC startup.

• Health Insurance: Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance plans.

• Remote Work Stipend: Potential for a stipend to support home office setup and connectivity.

• Professional Development: Opportunities for learning and growth, including conferences and training relevant to cutting-edge design and engineering practices.

• Quarterly In-Person Meetups: Opportunities to connect with the team in person 1-2 times per quarter (location unspecified, but likely in Seattle/SF or a central hub).

Working Hours: Standard full-time hours (approximately 40 hours per week), with flexibility inherent in a remote, startup environment. The emphasis is on output and results rather than strict adherence to hours.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range provided is a guideline. The actual compensation will be determined by factors such as the candidate's specific qualifications, interview performance, and market conditions. The inclusion of equity is a key component for a "founding" role, reflecting the high-impact and high-ownership nature of the position. For operations professionals, understanding the total compensation package, including equity potential, is crucial for evaluating the overall value proposition of a role.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: AI-powered Security and Privacy Reviews. Clearly AI operates at the intersection of Artificial Intelligence, Cybersecurity, and Compliance Software, a rapidly growing and critical sector.

Company Size: Small, fast-growing Y Combinator (YC) startup. This implies a dynamic, agile environment with a high degree of autonomy and direct impact.

Founded: Clearly AI was founded by individuals with deep experience from Amazon and Moveworks, bringing a strong understanding of enterprise needs and product development challenges in security and compliance.

Team Structure:

• Founding Team: Close-knit team with founders directly involved in product development and strategy.

• Early Engineering Team: This role is foundational, meaning you will be one of the very first engineering hires, working directly alongside the founders.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Extremely high degree of collaboration, especially between product, design, and engineering, as the team is small and focused on building the core product.

Methodology:

• AI-Driven Automation: Core focus on leveraging AI to automate complex and time-consuming security and privacy reviews.

• User-Centric Design: Strong emphasis on understanding and serving the needs of subject matter experts at global enterprises, ensuring the product is not just functional but also highly appreciated by demanding users.

• Agile Development: Fast-paced, iterative development cycles common in startups, driven by customer feedback and market opportunities.

Company Website: https://clearly-ai.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: The "founding" nature of this role means the culture is still being shaped. Candidates should expect a high-energy, hands-on environment where initiative and a "get-it-done" attitude are paramount. For operations professionals looking at companies like Clearly AI, understanding the early-stage culture is key to assessing potential for growth and impact.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is a "Founding" level position, equivalent to a Senior Engineer or Lead Designer with full product ownership. It offers a unique opportunity to define the product's user experience and technical direction from its inception.

Reporting Structure: Direct reporting to the founders. This implies a high level of visibility and direct influence on product strategy and execution.

Operations Impact: As the Founding UX/UI Design Engineer, your impact will be direct and profound. You will shape the usability and adoption of a product designed to automate critical business processes (security and privacy reviews), directly influencing how enterprise clients achieve compliance and ship products faster. This role is pivotal in ensuring the GTM interface of the product is intuitive and effective, indirectly supporting sales enablement and customer success.

Growth Opportunities:

• Technical Leadership: Evolve into a technical lead or principal engineer role as the engineering team grows, mentoring new hires and defining technical architecture.

• Product Strategy Influence: Gain significant influence over product roadmap, feature prioritization, and overall product vision.

• Specialization: Deepen expertise in AI, security, privacy tools, and B2B SaaS product development.

• Leadership Development: Potential to transition into engineering management or product management roles as the company scales.

• Equity Growth: Significant potential for equity value appreciation as the company grows and achieves milestones.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "founding" designation is crucial. It signifies an opportunity to build something significant from the ground up, with commensurate responsibility and potential upside. For operations professionals, this role represents a chance to influence the core product that GTM teams will eventually leverage.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Fully remote with optional in-person meetups 1-2 times per quarter. This offers maximum flexibility for US-based employees.

Office Location(s): While "Seattle/SF preferred," the role is explicitly remote OK for candidates based in the United States. The quarterly meetups will likely be in major tech hubs like Seattle or the San Francisco Bay Area.

Workspace Context:

• Remote-First Culture: Expect a work environment that is optimized for remote collaboration, likely relying heavily on digital communication and project management tools.

• Collaborative Tools: The workspace will be digital, emphasizing tools for real-time communication, asynchronous collaboration, and visual design/prototyping.

• Autonomy and Trust: A high degree of autonomy is expected, with trust placed in engineers to manage their time and deliver results effectively from their chosen remote locations.

Work Schedule: While full-time (approximately 40 hours/week), the emphasis is on flexibility and output. This means candidates can often structure their working hours to best suit their productivity, provided they are available for core collaboration and meetings.

📝 Enhancement Note: The remote-first nature is a significant aspect. Candidates should be self-motivated, disciplined, and comfortable working independently while actively participating in virtual team activities. For operations roles, a remote-friendly environment often means better integration with distributed sales and customer success teams.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A brief call to assess general fit, experience, and alignment with the role's core requirements.

• Portfolio Review & Technical Deep Dive: A session dedicated to walking through your portfolio. Expect in-depth questions about your design process, technical implementation choices, problem-solving approaches, and contributions to past projects. This is where you'll demonstrate your Figma-to-code workflow and design system experience.

• Founders' Interview: A discussion with the founders focusing on your vision for the product's UX/UI, your understanding of the company's mission, your ability to thrive in a startup environment, and your strategic thinking.

• Take-Home Challenge (Potential): While not explicitly stated, a small design or coding challenge might be introduced to assess practical skills and problem-solving abilities under time constraints, focusing on core technologies like Next.js and Tailwind.

• Final Evaluation: Assessment of overall fit, technical capability, design sensibility, and cultural alignment.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Highlight "0 to 1" Experience: Emphasize projects where you built something new from scratch, demonstrating your ability to create foundational user experiences.

• Showcase Technical Implementation: For each design project, be prepared to discuss the technical stack used, your specific contributions to the frontend code, and how design decisions influenced implementation.

• Quantify Impact: Where possible, use metrics to demonstrate the impact of your designs and engineering efforts (e.g., improved conversion rates, reduced user error, faster task completion times).

• Explain Your Process: Clearly articulate your design thinking process, from understanding user needs and business goals to iterating on solutions and implementing them.

• STAR Method for Behavioral Questions: Prepare to answer behavioral questions using the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result), particularly focusing on your experience in ambiguous startup environments and collaboration with founders.

Challenge Preparation:

• Figma & Code Proficiency: Brush up on Figma, Next.js, TypeScript, and Tailwind CSS. Be ready to quickly translate design concepts into functional code.

• Problem Decomposition: Practice breaking down complex design and engineering problems into smaller, manageable components.

• Communication: Be prepared to clearly articulate your thought process, design rationale, and technical approach during any challenge or interview discussion.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is designed to assess both creative design talent and robust engineering capability. For operations professionals, this means understanding the critical importance of user experience in the tools they rely on. A well-designed product leads to better adoption and efficiency.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Frontend Framework: Next.js (required)

• Language: TypeScript (required)

• CSS Framework: Tailwind CSS (required)

• Design & Prototyping: Figma (required), v0, Lovable (preferred)

• Version Control: Git (standard for engineering roles)

Analytics & Reporting:

• Product Analytics: Expect to integrate or utilize tools for monitoring user behavior and product usage (e.g., Amplitude, Mixpanel, or custom solutions).

• Performance Monitoring: Tools for tracking application performance and identifying bottlenecks.

CRM & Automation:

• While not directly the focus of this role, understanding how the product integrates with or complements existing CRM and automation systems used by GTM teams (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot) will be beneficial.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency with the specified stack (TypeScript, Next.js, Tailwind CSS, Figma) is non-negotiable. Candidates should be prepared to demonstrate their mastery of these tools, particularly in rapid prototyping and production-ready implementation. For operations professionals, familiarity with the underlying technology of their tools helps in understanding potential customization, integration, and troubleshooting capabilities.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Speed & Agility: The company values rapid iteration and the ability to move quickly in a startup environment. This translates to efficiency in design and development processes.

• User Obsession: A deep commitment to understanding and delighting users, especially demanding enterprise customers, is paramount. This means designs must be highly functional, intuitive, and polished.

• Craftsmanship: A high standard for quality in both design and code. The expectation is for well-engineered, aesthetically pleasing, and robust product interfaces.

• Ownership: Taking full responsibility for the product experience from concept to implementation, demonstrating initiative and a proactive approach.

• Data-Informed Decision Making: Using user behavior data and direct feedback to guide design choices and product improvements.

Collaboration Style:

• Close-Knit & Direct: Given the small team size, collaboration will be highly direct and frequent, involving constant communication with the founders.

• Cross-Functional Synergy: Seamless integration between design, engineering, and product strategy is essential. The role bridges these functions.

• Feedback-Oriented: An environment where constructive feedback is expected and valued to drive continuous improvement in both the product and individual performance.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "grumpy, picky users" highlights a culture that prioritizes deep user understanding and delivering exceptional value, which is a strong indicator of a product-led growth approach. For operations professionals, this means the tools they use are likely to be well-researched and user-tested.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Building from Scratch: Establishing the initial product architecture, design system, and user experience for a new AI platform in a competitive market.

• Balancing Speed and Quality: Maintaining a rapid development pace while ensuring high standards of design and code quality in a startup setting.

• User Adoption with Technical Users: Designing for sophisticated enterprise users who have high expectations and are often resistant to change.

• Ambiguity and Evolving Requirements: Navigating the inherent uncertainties of a startup environment where priorities and product direction can shift.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Foundational Product Building: Gain hands-on experience building a core product for an AI-driven SaaS company from its earliest stages.

• Deep Dive into AI/Security/Privacy Tech: Develop expertise in a highly relevant and in-demand technology sector.

• Leadership and Mentorship: Opportunity to shape the future engineering and design culture of the company.

• Direct Exposure to Founders: Learn directly from experienced entrepreneurs with backgrounds from leading tech companies.

• Equity Growth Potential: Significant opportunity for financial upside through company growth and successful equity vesting.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are typical for a founding role in a startup. The growth opportunities are substantial, offering a chance to significantly impact a company's trajectory and develop highly sought-after skills. For operations professionals, understanding these challenges and growth paths can inform their own career development or highlight potential collaborations.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you took a product from zero to one. What were the biggest challenges, and how did you overcome them?" (Focus on your process, decision-making, and ability to handle ambiguity).

• "How would you approach designing and implementing a new feature for a B2B SaaS product like ours, considering both technical constraints and user needs?" (Demonstrate your end-to-end workflow, from concept to code).

• "What is your philosophy on building design systems for scalability and maintainability in a fast-paced startup environment?" (Highlight your understanding of efficiency and consistency). Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you about Clearly AI's mission in automating security and privacy reviews?" (Show your understanding of the market and the company's value proposition).

• "How do you handle constructive criticism or differing opinions on design and technical approaches, especially when working closely with founders?" (Assess your collaborative and adaptable nature).

• "What are your expectations for working in a remote-first startup environment, and how do you ensure productivity and collaboration?" (Demonstrate your self-discipline and communication skills). Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Start with the "Why": Begin each case study by explaining the problem you were solving and the user needs you addressed.

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Utilize visuals (screenshots, prototypes, code snippets) to illustrate your design and engineering work effectively.

• Explain Your Technical Choices: Be ready to discuss why you chose specific technologies (TypeScript, Next.js, Tailwind) and how they facilitated your design and development process.

• Quantify Your Impact: If possible, present metrics that demonstrate the success of your work (e.g., user engagement, task completion rates, performance improvements).

• Be Concise and Focused: Given the time constraints of an interview, focus on the most impactful aspects of your projects and be ready to elaborate on specific details if asked.

📝 Enhancement Note: Preparation should focus on demonstrating a strong blend of design intuition, technical execution, and an understanding of the startup environment. For operations professionals, this means appreciating how the foundation of their tools is built and how design impacts their daily work.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Founding UX/UI Design Engineer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on Ashby.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 of your most relevant projects that best showcase your end-to-end design and engineering capabilities, especially within B2B SaaS and ideally with security/developer tools. Ensure your portfolio clearly demonstrates your work with TypeScript, Next.js, Tailwind CSS, and Figma, highlighting your "0 to 1" product experience.

• Tailor Your Resume: Optimize your resume to highlight your 5+ years of experience in UI/UX design and frontend engineering, using keywords from the job description (e.g., TypeScript, Next.js, Tailwind CSS, Design Systems, B2B SaaS, Figma-to-code). Quantify achievements where possible.

• Prepare Your Narrative: Rehearse your ability to articulate your design process, technical decisions, and the impact of your work. Be ready to discuss your experience in startup environments and your vision for Clearly AI's product experience.

• Research Clearly AI: Understand their mission, product, and target market. Be prepared to discuss how your skills align with their goals and how you can contribute to their growth.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.