Founding Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Founding Product Designer

Company: Listen Labs

Location: San Francisco, California, United States

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Product Design / UX/UI

Date Posted: May 05, 2026

Experience Level: 5+ Years

Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• Lead end-to-end product design for all customer-facing experiences, focusing on AI-powered research platforms.

• Define, evolve, and maintain a comprehensive design system, visual language, and component library.

• Collaborate closely with product management and engineering to deliver high-impact features and product iterations.

• Translate complex, week-long consulting project workflows into elegant, simple, and intuitive user experiences.

• Influence product strategy and direction, shaping both the "what" and the "how" of product development.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is designated as "Founding Product Designer," indicating a critical early hire with significant influence on the product's design direction and the establishment of design processes and systems within a rapidly growing, product-led startup. The focus on AI and customer research workflows suggests a need for designers adept at simplifying complex data analysis and insight generation into user-friendly interfaces.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Spearhead the entire design lifecycle for customer-facing applications, ensuring a cohesive and intuitive user journey from initial engagement to long-term retention.

• Develop and meticulously maintain Listen Labs' design system, ensuring consistency, scalability, and adherence to best practices across all product touchpoints.

• Foster strong, collaborative relationships with product managers and engineering teams to ensure seamless execution of design visions into shippable features.

• Rapidly prototype design concepts and user flows using tools like Figma and emerging AI-driven design technologies to effectively communicate ideas and gather feedback.

• Actively contribute to product strategy discussions, leveraging design expertise to inform roadmap decisions and prioritize user needs.

• Deconstruct intricate research and analysis workflows, transforming them into straightforward, accessible, and delightful user experiences.

• Extend brand identity and visual storytelling to marketing materials, including launch visuals, social media content, and branded merchandise.

• Champion a dual approach of maintaining high design standards while embracing rapid iteration and continuous improvement cycles.

• Serve as a vocal advocate for customer insights, guiding product development to focus on the most impactful user problems and solutions.

• Establish foundational design principles, scalable systems, and efficient processes to support the company's growth and evolving product needs.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities emphasize a hands-on, end-to-end design leadership role within a startup environment. The "Founding" aspect implies a significant responsibility for establishing design foundations, including the design system and core processes, which will scale with the company. The need to translate complex workflows into simple experiences highlights a key challenge and differentiator for this role, especially given the AI and customer research focus.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: A Bachelor's or Master's degree in Design, Human-Computer Interaction, or a related field is typically preferred, though equivalent practical experience will be strongly considered.

Experience: Minimum of 5 years of dedicated product design experience, with a strong preference for roles within fast-paced startup environments or high-velocity product teams.

Required Skills:

• Expert proficiency in Figma, including advanced features for collaboration, component management, and prototyping.

• Proven experience in designing, building, and maintaining robust design systems.

• Exceptional visual design taste and a meticulous attention to detail, with a deep understanding of typography, color theory, and layout principles.

• Strong product sense, demonstrating the ability to think critically about user value, business impact, and strategic tradeoffs.

• Demonstrated ability to translate complex problems and workflows into simple, intuitive, and elegant user interfaces.

• Experience in rapid prototyping and iterative design processes.

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to articulate design decisions clearly and persuasively to cross-functional teams and stakeholders.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience experimenting with and integrating AI-driven design tools into the workflow.

• Background in designing for AI-powered products or platforms.

• Familiarity with user research methodologies and incorporating customer feedback into the design process.

• Experience in brand design and creating visual assets for marketing and communication.

• Understanding of front-end development principles to facilitate better collaboration with engineering.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "Founding Product Designer" and the requirement for 5+ years of experience, particularly in startups, suggests that candidates are expected to be self-starters capable of defining processes and owning significant product areas. Expertise in Figma and design systems is non-negotiable, reflecting the need for scalable and consistent design execution. The preference for AI tooling experimentation points to the company's forward-thinking approach.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase end-to-end product design projects that demonstrate problem definition, user research, ideation, prototyping, and final UI execution.

• Highlight projects where you translated complex user workflows or data-intensive processes into simplified, intuitive experiences.

• Include examples of your contribution to or creation of design systems, detailing their structure, components, and impact on consistency and efficiency.

• Present case studies that clearly articulate the problem, your design process, the trade-offs considered, and the measurable impact of your solutions.

Process Documentation:

• Detail your approach to user research and how you integrate customer insights into the design process.

• Explain your methodology for collaborating with product managers and engineers, including feedback loops and decision-making processes.

• Illustrate your system for creating and maintaining design systems, including version control, documentation, and adoption strategies.

• Showcase how you approach rapid prototyping and iteration to validate design concepts quickly.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a "Founding Product Designer" role, the portfolio is paramount. It needs to demonstrate not just execution but also the ability to establish design foundations. The emphasis should be on showing how the candidate can take a complex problem (like AI-driven research analysis) and craft a simple, elegant solution, backed by a robust design system. Demonstrating collaboration and process-building skills will be key.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Given the "Founding" title, 5+ years of experience, and location in San Francisco, a competitive salary range is expected. Based on industry benchmarks for Senior/Lead Product Designers in San Francisco's tech scene, the estimated range is $160,000 - $220,000 annually. This range accounts for the high cost of living in the Bay Area and the critical nature of this early-stage hire.

Benefits:

• Competitive Compensation: Includes a competitive salary and meaningful equity ownership, reflecting the significant impact and risk associated with a founding team member.

• Comprehensive Healthcare: Full medical, dental, and vision insurance coverage to support employee well-being.

• Flexible Time Off: A generous and flexible paid time off (PTO) policy designed to promote work-life balance and prevent burnout.

• Professional Development: Opportunities for growth, learning, and stretching beyond the core role, including potential for leadership development.

• Seed Funding & Investor Backing: Being part of a well-funded startup with backing from top-tier investors like Sequoia Capital provides stability and growth potential.

Working Hours: Standard full-time work hours are expected, typically around 40 hours per week. However, the startup environment often necessitates flexibility and a commitment to achieving ambitious goals, with an emphasis on results over strict adherence to hours.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary estimate is based on current market data for senior-level product design roles in San Francisco, factoring in the "founding" aspect which typically commands higher compensation and equity. The benefits listed are standard for well-funded tech startups and are tailored to attract and retain top talent in a competitive market. The mention of significant equity is a key differentiator for early hires.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Software as a Service (SaaS), Customer Research Insights Platform. Listen Labs operates at the intersection of AI and market research, providing a product-led growth (PLG) solution that helps businesses derive insights from customer conversations faster.

Company Size: Approximately 30 employees. This "small but mighty" size indicates a highly collaborative, fast-paced environment where individual contributions have a significant impact.

Founded: Listen Labs was founded by experienced entrepreneurs with a strong track record, including a previous AI exit, and talent from leading tech companies and quantitative finance backgrounds. This suggests a culture that values deep technical expertise, strategic thinking, and rapid execution.

Team Structure:

• The design team is likely very small, potentially consisting of this "Founding Product Designer" as the primary or sole design lead initially.

• Close collaboration with a lean, high-caliber product and engineering team.

• Reporting structure will likely be directly to a founder or Head of Product, given the early stage.

Methodology:

• Product-Led Growth (PLG): The company's strategy is heavily product-driven, meaning design plays a crucial role in user acquisition, activation, and retention.

• Data-Driven Decisions: While design-focused, decisions are expected to be informed by customer insights, user behavior data, and market analysis.

• Agile Iteration: The culture likely embraces rapid iteration and continuous improvement, characteristic of high-growth startups.

• AI Integration: A core aspect of the product, requiring designers to understand and leverage AI capabilities within the user experience.

Company Website: https://www.listenlabs.ai/

📝 Enhancement Note: The company culture is defined by its hypergrowth, product-led approach, and the caliber of its team. As a "Founding Product Designer," the candidate will be instrumental in shaping the design culture and processes from the ground up, working within a lean, highly functional team. The emphasis on AI and customer research necessitates a design approach that simplifies complexity and drives tangible business value.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a senior-level, foundational role. As the Founding Product Designer, you are not just executing design but are responsible for establishing the design vision, systems, and processes for the company. This position is critical for shaping the product's future and the growth of the design function.

Reporting Structure: You will likely report directly to one of the company's founders or the Head of Product. This close proximity to leadership offers significant visibility and influence.

Operations Impact: The design of the Listen Labs platform directly impacts user adoption, customer satisfaction, and ultimately, revenue. By translating complex AI-driven research into intuitive experiences, this role directly contributes to the company's product-led growth strategy, customer acquisition, and expansion revenue. Your work will be instrumental in defining the user experience that drives enterprise adoption and expansion.

Growth Opportunities:

• Design Leadership: As the company scales, there is a clear path to building and leading a design team, establishing design hiring processes, and mentoring junior designers.

• Product Strategy Influence: Deep involvement in product roadmap discussions and strategic planning, allowing for significant influence beyond pure design execution.

• System Building: Opportunity to define and evolve the company’s entire design system and design processes, creating a lasting impact on the organization.

• Skill Expansion: Exposure to AI technologies, advanced analytics, and high-growth startup operations provides ample opportunities to broaden your skill set.

• Leadership Development: Direct interaction with founders and investors provides invaluable learning in entrepreneurship, business strategy, and scaling a tech company.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "Founding" title signifies a unique growth opportunity. Beyond typical design progression, this role offers the chance to build a design function from scratch and exert significant influence on product strategy in a hypergrowth environment. The impact on revenue and business decisions is direct, tied to the success of the product-led growth model.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The job is listed as "On-site," indicating a physical office presence is required. This suggests a collaborative environment where in-person interaction, spontaneous brainstorming, and team cohesion are valued.

Office Location(s): San Francisco, California. This location places Listen Labs within a major tech hub, offering access to talent, networking opportunities, and a vibrant ecosystem.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Hub: The on-site requirement points to a workspace designed for collaboration, likely featuring open areas, meeting rooms, and spaces conducive to team interaction and design critiques.

• Tooling & Technology: Access to industry-standard design software (Figma), prototyping tools, and potentially AI-specific design aids. The company's focus on AI suggests a modern tech stack.

• Team Interaction: Opportunities for daily interaction with founders, engineers, and product managers, fostering a dynamic and integrated work environment.

Work Schedule: While a standard 40-hour work week is typical, the startup environment at Listen Labs implies a dynamic schedule where dedication to achieving ambitious goals is key. Flexibility may be offered, but a strong commitment to shipping product and driving growth is expected.

📝 Enhancement Note: The on-site requirement in San Francisco reinforces the idea of a hands-on, collaborative role within a fast-paced tech startup. The workspace will likely support close-knit team dynamics essential for rapid product development and innovation.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A review of your resume and portfolio to assess experience and alignment with the "Founding Product Designer" role.

• Portfolio Presentation & Discussion: A deep dive into your portfolio, where you'll present 1-2 key projects, discuss your design process, rationale, and impact. Expect questions about how you'd approach specific challenges at Listen Labs.

• Design Challenge/Case Study: You may be given a design problem to solve, either as a take-home assignment or an in-person exercise, to evaluate your problem-solving skills, design thinking, and ability to translate complexity into elegant solutions.

• Cross-Functional Interviews: Meetings with engineering and product leads to assess collaboration style, technical understanding, and cultural fit.

• Founder/Leadership Interview: A final conversation with the founding team to discuss vision, alignment with company values, and your long-term impact potential.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Strategically: Select projects that best showcase your ability to handle complex problems, build design systems, and drive product impact. Emphasize projects that involve simplification of intricate workflows or data.

• Tell a Story: For each project, clearly articulate the problem, your role, your process, the trade-offs you made, and the quantifiable outcomes or learnings. Use visuals effectively.

• Highlight System Thinking: If you've built or significantly contributed to a design system, dedicate space to explaining its structure, components, and how it enabled efficient scaling and consistency.

• Showcase AI/Complexity Translation: Explicitly demonstrate how you've tackled and simplified complex user journeys or data-heavy applications, especially if AI was involved.

• Prepare for "How would you...?" Questions: Be ready to discuss how you would approach building the design function, evolving the current product's UX, or tackling specific design challenges at Listen Labs.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Problem: Thoroughly analyze the prompt, focusing on the core user need and business objective.

• Define Scope: Clarify constraints, target users, and key functionalities.

• Sketch & Wireframe: Quickly iterate on low-fidelity concepts to explore different solutions.

• Justify Decisions: Be prepared to articulate the reasoning behind your design choices, considering user experience, technical feasibility, and business goals.

• Focus on Process: Demonstrate a clear, logical design process, even if the output is a high-level concept.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process for a "Founding" role is rigorous, focusing heavily on strategic thinking, process establishment, and demonstrable impact. The portfolio review is critical for assessing not just design skill but also the ability to build and lead. Case studies that show the translation of complex AI-driven workflows into user-friendly experiences will be highly valued.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: The core tool for UI design, prototyping, and design system management. Expect advanced usage and potential contribution to best practices.

• Prototyping Tools: Figma's built-in prototyping, potentially supplemented by tools like Protopie for more advanced interactions, depending on project needs.

• AI Design Tools: While not explicitly stated, the company's AI focus suggests an openness to exploring and integrating AI-powered design assistance tools (e.g., for content generation, mock-up assistance, or analysis).

Analytics & Reporting:

• Product Analytics Platforms: Tools like Amplitude, Mixpanel, or similar, used to track user behavior, feature adoption, and conversion funnels within the product.

• User Feedback Tools: Platforms for collecting and analyzing qualitative user feedback (e.g., Hotjar, UserVoice, survey tools).

CRM & Automation:

• CRM: Likely a standard CRM like Salesforce, HubSpot, or similar, though the product-led nature might mean less direct interaction for a designer unless involved in marketing/onboarding flows.

• Project Management Tools: Jira, Asana, Trello, or similar, for managing design tasks and collaborating with engineering and product.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in Figma and design system implementation is paramount. The emphasis on AI suggests a forward-thinking approach to tooling, and designers should be adaptable and open to exploring new AI-driven design aids. Understanding how product analytics inform design decisions will also be crucial.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Craft & Detail: A strong emphasis on high-quality design execution, attention to detail, and a commitment to aesthetic excellence.

• Ownership & Bias for Action: Taking initiative, driving projects forward independently, and a proactive approach to problem-solving and shipping.

• Collaboration & Transparency: Working closely with cross-functional teams, sharing ideas openly, and valuing constructive feedback.

• Customer Centricity: Placing the user at the heart of all design decisions, rigorously validating concepts with customer insights.

• Innovation & Experimentation: Embracing new technologies like AI and being willing to experiment with novel design approaches to create unique user experiences.

Collaboration Style:

• Integrated Teams: Designers work hand-in-hand with Product Managers and Engineers, participating in all stages of the product development lifecycle.

• Feedback-Rich Environment: Openness to receiving and giving constructive feedback to continuously improve designs and processes.

• Knowledge Sharing: Encouraging the sharing of best practices, learnings, and design resources across the team.

• Agile and Iterative: A workflow that supports rapid cycles of design, development, testing, and refinement.

📝 Enhancement Note: The culture at Listen Labs is characterized by a blend of entrepreneurial drive, technical excellence, and a deep focus on product craft. As a founding designer, embodying these values and helping to instill them within the growing team will be essential.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Simplifying Complexity: The primary challenge will be translating the intricate, multi-day consulting workflows into a seamless, AI-powered user experience that is intuitive for a broad range of users.

• Establishing Design Foundation: As the first dedicated designer, you'll face the challenge of building the design system, processes, and culture from scratch, requiring strategic planning and execution.

• Balancing Craft and Speed: Navigating the startup imperative for rapid iteration while maintaining a high standard of design quality and a robust, scalable design system.

• Cross-Functional Alignment: Ensuring consistent understanding and buy-in for design decisions across product, engineering, and leadership in a fast-paced environment.

• Defining the AI Interaction: Designing effective and trustworthy interactions with AI capabilities that enhance, rather than complicate, the user's workflow.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deep AI Integration: Gaining hands-on experience designing for cutting-edge AI applications and understanding their user experience implications.

• Scaling Design Functions: Learning how to build and manage a design team and processes in a hypergrowth startup environment.

• Product Strategy Impact: Direct involvement in shaping the strategic direction of a rapidly scaling SaaS product.

• Entrepreneurial Acumen: Direct exposure to startup operations, fundraising, and founder-level decision-making.

• Industry Connections: Networking with investors and other high-caliber professionals within the tech ecosystem.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are inherent to a founding role in a high-growth AI startup. The growth opportunities are substantial, offering a unique chance to shape a product and a design function from its earliest stages, with significant learning potential in AI and entrepreneurship.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach designing an AI-powered research analysis tool for the first time, considering the complexity of user workflows?" (Focus on process, user research, simplification strategies).

• "Describe how you would build a design system from scratch for a rapidly scaling startup like Listen Labs, and what your initial priorities would be." (Emphasize system architecture, component strategy, adoption plan).

• "How do you balance the need for rapid iteration in a startup with maintaining high design standards and a cohesive brand experience?" (Discuss iterative processes, feedback loops, quality gates).

Company & Culture Questions:

• "What excites you most about Listen Labs' mission and the problem we're solving?" (Research the company, product, and market).

• "How do you see yourself contributing to and shaping the design culture here as the founding designer?" (Articulate your vision for design, collaboration, and process).

• "Describe a time you had to advocate for a design decision that was met with resistance. How did you handle it?" (Demonstrate communication, persuasion, and data-driven advocacy).

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Start with Impact: Begin each case study by clearly stating the problem, your solution's core value proposition, and the key outcomes.

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Use clear visuals, interactive prototypes (if applicable), and well-annotated mockups to illustrate your design decisions.

• Narrate Your Process: Walk through your steps logically, explaining why you made certain choices at each stage, including user research, ideation, and iteration.

• Quantify Results: Whenever possible, present metrics that demonstrate the impact of your design work (e.g., conversion rate improvements, user satisfaction scores, task completion times).

• Address Complexity: Explicitly discuss how you tackled complex workflows or data-heavy features, highlighting your ability to simplify.

📝 Enhancement Note: Preparation should focus on demonstrating strategic thinking, process establishment capabilities, and a deep understanding of how design drives business outcomes in a product-led, AI-focused startup. Be ready to discuss how you would build the design function and tackle the unique challenges of simplifying complex AI research workflows.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this founding product designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on Ashby.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to highlight 1-2 key projects demonstrating end-to-end product design, design system creation, and the simplification of complex workflows, ideally with AI or data-intensive applications.

• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly articulates your 5+ years of experience, emphasizing achievements in fast-paced startup environments and your expertise in Figma and design systems. Use keywords relevant to product design, UX/UI, AI, and SaaS.

• Prepare Your Narrative: Practice presenting your portfolio case studies, focusing on your process, rationale, and quantifiable impact. Be ready to discuss how you would approach building the design function at Listen Labs and translate complex AI research into user-friendly experiences.

• Company Research: Thoroughly research Listen Labs, its product, market position, and the backgrounds of its founders. Understand their product-led growth strategy and how design plays a crucial role.

⚠️ 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.