Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Product Designer

Company: Basis AI

Location: New York, NY, United States

Job Type: Full-time

Category: Product Design / UX/UI / AI Tooling

Date Posted: December 24, 2025

Experience Level: Mid-Senior Level (4-8 years)

Remote Status: On-site (New York City)

🚀 Role Summary

• Focus on designing innovative user-agent interactions for AI-powered accounting workflows, bridging the gap between human users and intelligent agents.

• Lead the design of novel UI primitives and systems that AI agents can dynamically assemble, edit, and explain in real-time to accountants.

• Drive product vision by translating ambitious future-state concepts (e.g., Basis 2027) into actionable quarterly product bets and design strategies.

• Cultivate deep user empathy by actively engaging in accounting workflows within the Basis platform, becoming a power user to inform design decisions.

📝 Enhancement Note: Given the emphasis on "user-agent interactions," "AI agents," and "LLMs," this role is at the forefront of designing for emergent AI capabilities, requiring a blend of traditional UX/UI skills with a forward-thinking approach to human-AI collaboration. The "0→1 launch" experience requirement suggests a focus on building new product areas from the ground up.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Design and iterate on user-agent interactions across multiple product surfaces, from initial concept sketches and user flows to polished, production-ready designs.

• Invent and define "agent-ready" UI primitives that enable seamless assembly, modification, and real-time explanation by AI agents within the user interface.

• Collaborate closely with Product Management and Engineering teams to integrate AI-driven agent functionalities seamlessly into new and existing product features.

• Act as a design visionary, partnering with founders to conceptualize long-term product roadmaps and distill them into achievable design objectives for quarterly cycles.

• Conduct in-depth user research, including hands-on engagement with accounting tasks within Basis, to uncover user pain points and opportunities for AI-driven solutions.

• Stay abreast of advancements in AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), and UX paradigms for generally intelligent software, translating insights into product design decisions.

• Develop a deep understanding of accounting principles and workflows to inform empathetic and effective design solutions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a dual focus on both the direct user interface (screens accountants see) and the underlying "invisible UI toolbox" that agents utilize. This suggests a need for designers who can think systemically about how AI agents operate and interact within a user-centric framework.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: No specific degree mentioned, but a strong portfolio demonstrating relevant design skills and experience is paramount.

Experience: 4–8 years of experience designing complex SaaS products or AI tooling, with a proven track record of at least one 0→1 product launch. Exceptional candidates with fewer years of experience may be considered based on demonstrated talent and impact.

Required Skills:

• Product Design Expertise: Proven ability to design complex SaaS or AI tooling from concept to launch.

• User-Agent Interaction Design: Experience or a strong conceptual understanding of designing interfaces where humans and AI agents collaborate.

• First-Principles Reasoning: Ability to break down complex problems to their fundamental components and build solutions without legacy biases.

• Prototyping & Iteration: Proficiency in using design tools (e.g., Figma) and prototyping, with a range from user research to iterating on released products.

• User Research & Empathy: Experience conducting user research sessions and a deep capacity for user empathy, particularly in understanding complex professional workflows.

• AI Tooling Familiarity: Demonstrated experience or strong aptitude for prototyping with LLMs and understanding how they influence UX.

• Agile Collaboration: Ability to plan and execute features in close partnership with Product Managers and Engineers.

• High Learning Velocity: Ability to quickly grasp new domains (like accounting) and emerging technologies.

Preferred Skills:

• Practical Accounting Knowledge: Hands-on experience or a solid understanding of accounting principles and practices.

• Product Ownership: Experience managing and owning a product lifecycle end-to-end.

• Visual & Interaction Design: Strong aesthetic sense and ability to craft intuitive and engaging user experiences.

• Design Systems: Experience building or working within design systems for scalable product development.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "agent-native builder" and "using AI a lot" suggests a strong preference for candidates who are already experimenting with and integrating AI tools into their personal and professional workflows, indicating a proactive and forward-thinking approach to design.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase a minimum of one significant 0→1 product launch, detailing the problem, your design process, and the resulting impact.

• Present case studies demonstrating the design of complex SaaS or AI tooling, highlighting problem-solving methodologies and user-centric solutions.

• Include examples of user research, wireframing, prototyping, and high-fidelity design, illustrating the progression from concept to final product.

Process Documentation:

• Detail your approach to user research, including methodologies for understanding user needs and pain points in professional contexts.

• Illustrate your workflow for collaborating with product managers and engineers, emphasizing iterative design and feedback loops.

• Demonstrate how you translate abstract concepts or new technologies (like LLMs) into tangible design solutions and product features.

• Showcase your ability to define and design reusable UI components or primitives that can be leveraged across a product.

📝 Enhancement Note: For this role, a portfolio that explicitly demonstrates an understanding of how AI agents can be integrated into user workflows, or how complex systems can be designed to accommodate AI capabilities, will be highly valued. Case studies that show how you've tackled novel UX challenges with emerging technologies are crucial.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $100,000 - $250,000 USD per year.

Benefits:

• High-upside equity package, reflecting the early-stage, high-growth nature of the company.

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance.

• Potential for professional development and learning opportunities in cutting-edge AI and design fields.

• Opportunity to work in a high-intensity, fast-paced startup environment with significant impact potential.

• Direct collaboration with founders and a driven team in a collaborative NYC office.

Working Hours: Standard full-time hours (approximately 40 hours per week), with an expectation of high engagement and intensity in a startup environment.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range provided is broad, typical for a senior role with significant impact potential in a high-cost-of-living area like New York City. The equity component is a key part of the compensation package, indicating a desire to align employee success with company growth.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Software / Fintech (specifically serving accountants)

Company Size: Basis AI is a rapidly growing startup, having recently raised $34 million. While specific employee count isn't given, the context suggests a team that has achieved product-market fit and is now scaling, likely in the range of 50-200 employees.

Founded: Basis AI is a relatively young company, focused on leveraging modern AI for accounting workflows.

Team Structure:

• The design team is likely small and highly integrated with product and engineering.

• Close collaboration with founders is a key aspect of the culture, especially for this lead design role.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Design: Decisions are informed by user research, product analytics, and a deep understanding of accounting workflows.

• Agile Development: Iterative design and development cycles are implied, allowing for rapid experimentation and adaptation.

• First-Principles Approach: Emphasis on fundamental problem-solving rather than relying on existing paradigms, especially in the context of AI.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's mission to equip accountants with AI agents suggests a focus on B2B SaaS with a strong emphasis on efficiency, accuracy, and workflow automation within a traditionally complex industry. The "product-market fit" and significant funding indicate a company with strong traction and ambitious growth plans.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned as a senior, potentially lead, Product Designer. It offers a unique opportunity to shape the design direction of a company at the forefront of AI application in a professional services sector. The scope extends beyond typical UI/UX to encompass the fundamental interaction models between humans and AI agents.

Reporting Structure: The designer will likely report directly to a Head of Product, CTO, or one of the founders, given the "lead Basis into that design unknown" phrasing. Close collaboration with founders is explicitly mentioned.

Operations Impact: The Product Designer will have a direct and profound impact on Basis AI's ability to scale and meet market demand. By defining intuitive and effective user-agent interactions, they will influence product adoption, user satisfaction, and ultimately, the company's revenue generation potential by making complex accounting tasks more accessible and efficient.

Growth Opportunities:

• Design Leadership: Potential to grow into a Design Lead or Head of Design role as the company scales.

• Specialization: Deep expertise in designing for AI-human collaboration and complex professional workflows.

• Product Strategy: Influence on product vision and roadmap, moving beyond pure design execution to strategic product development.

• Industry Expertise: Gaining deep knowledge in both AI/LLM UX and the accounting domain.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers a rare opportunity for a designer to be a foundational voice in a new wave of software design – one where AI agents are not just tools but active collaborators within user workflows. The "visionary" aspect suggests significant autonomy and influence over the product's future.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The role is based in an in-person office in NYC's Flatiron district, emphasizing a collaborative, team-based approach.

Office Location(s): Flatiron, New York City, NY. This is an on-site role, requiring 5 days a week in the office.

Workspace Context:

• A highly collaborative environment where designers work directly with engineers, accountants, and founders.

• Access to modern design tools and potentially cutting-edge AI development environments.

• An energetic startup atmosphere conducive to rapid iteration and team synergy.

Work Schedule: Full-time, with an expectation of high intensity and dedication to achieving ambitious goals. The focus is on impact and collaboration rather than strict adherence to traditional working hours.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit requirement for five days a week in the office underscores the company's belief in the power of in-person collaboration, spontaneous ideation, and rapid feedback loops, which are critical for a fast-moving startup, especially one operating at the cutting edge of AI and UX.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Review of resume and portfolio, focusing on relevant experience in SaaS, AI tooling, and 0→1 launches.

• Portfolio Presentation: A deep dive into selected case studies, demonstrating design process, problem-solving, and impact. Expect to discuss user research, iteration, and collaboration.

• Design Challenge/Exercise: Potentially a take-home assignment or a live design exercise focused on a specific problem related to user-agent interaction or accounting workflows.

• Founder/Leadership Interviews: Discussions on product vision, first-principles thinking, AI UX philosophy, and cultural fit.

• Team Fit: Meetings with engineering and product team members to assess collaboration style and communication.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Highlight 0→1 Experience: Clearly articulate your role in launching a product or significant feature from inception.

• Showcase AI/LLM Prototypes: If you have experience experimenting with AI for design or prototyping, showcase it. Explain your insights into how LLMs change UX.

• Demonstrate First-Principles Thinking: Use case studies to explain how you broke down complex problems to their core and built innovative solutions.

• Emphasize User Empathy & Research: Detail your user research process, especially how you gain deep understanding of professional users and their workflows.

• Illustrate Collaboration: Show how you worked with PMs and engineers, and how you received and incorporated feedback.

• Quantify Impact: Where possible, use metrics to demonstrate the success of your designs (e.g., adoption rates, efficiency gains, user satisfaction).

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Domain: Research accounting workflows and common pain points.

• Think Agent-Native: Consider how AI agents can fundamentally change how users interact with software, not just automate existing tasks.

• Focus on User-Agent Co-creation: Think about interfaces that support back-and-forth task delegation, trust-building, and real-time explanation.

• Be Ready to Sketch: Practice articulating design ideas verbally and visually, potentially on a whiteboard or collaborative tool.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "visionary" and "design unknown" suggests interviewers will be looking for more than just execution skills; they'll want to see strategic thinking, a strong design philosophy, and a genuine passion for pioneering new interaction paradigms.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma is implied as the standard tool for "research-to-Figma range."

• User Research Tools: Platforms for conducting user interviews, usability testing, and surveys.

• Collaboration Tools: Slack, Jira, Confluence or similar for team communication and project management.

Analytics & Reporting:

CRM & Automation:

• Not directly relevant for this design role, but awareness of how design impacts CRM and automation workflows for sales/customer success teams might be a plus.

📝 Enhancement Note: The core requirement is proficiency in industry-standard design tools like Figma. The ability to leverage AI tools for personal productivity (writing, research, brainstorming) is also a key expectation, indicating a forward-thinking approach to the design toolkit.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Innovation & Vision: Pushing boundaries in AI-human interaction design and shaping the future of software.

• First-Principles Thinking: Deeply analyzing problems to their core and building elegant, fundamental solutions.

• User Empathy: A commitment to understanding and serving the needs of accounting professionals through deep immersion.

• Learning Velocity: A culture that celebrates rapid learning and adaptation to new technologies and domains.

• High Intensity & Ownership: A drive to achieve ambitious goals with a high degree of autonomy and accountability.

Collaboration Style:

• In-Person Synergy: Strong emphasis on face-to-face collaboration, brainstorming, and rapid feedback loops.

• Cross-Functional Partnership: Tight integration with product management and engineering teams.

• Founder-Led Vision: Direct access and collaboration with company founders on strategic direction.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company values align with a fast-paced, innovative startup environment. The emphasis on "all-in mindset" and "high-intensity culture" suggests a team that is passionate, driven, and dedicated to ambitious goals.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Designing for Emergent AI: Creating intuitive interfaces for capabilities that are still evolving and not fully understood.

• Balancing Human & Agent Needs: Designing workflows where humans and AI agents seamlessly co-create, delegate, and trust each other.

• Domain Complexity: Mastering the intricacies of accounting workflows to design effective solutions.

• Establishing New UX Paradigms: Moving beyond traditional UI/UX patterns to design for a new era of "generally-intelligent software."

• Rapid Iteration in a High-Growth Environment: Adapting quickly to changing priorities and market demands in a fast-scaling startup.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• AI UX Specialization: Becoming a leader in the emerging field of human-AI interaction design.

• Accounting Domain Expertise: Developing deep knowledge of financial workflows and software.

• Product Strategy Influence: Contributing significantly to the product roadmap and strategic direction.

• Leadership Development: Opportunities to mentor junior designers and potentially build out a design team as the company grows.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are significant but also represent the core of the opportunity: to be at the forefront of a major shift in how software is designed and used, powered by AI.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you design an interface where an AI agent can assemble, edit, and explain accounting reports in real-time?"

• "Describe a time you had to design a complex system or interaction from scratch (0→1). What was your process, and what were the key challenges?"

• "How do you approach understanding a complex professional domain like accounting to inform your design decisions?"

Company & Culture Questions:

• "Why are you drawn to Basis AI's mission and our approach to AI in accounting?"

• "How do you thrive in a high-intensity, fast-paced startup environment?"

• "Describe your ideal level of collaboration with founders and engineers."

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Narrative Arc: Structure each case study with a clear beginning (problem), middle (process, iterations, decisions), and end (solution, impact, learnings).

• Focus on "Why": Explain the rationale behind your design decisions, especially how they addressed user needs or business objectives.

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Use visuals (sketches, wireframes, prototypes, final designs) effectively.

• Quantify Impact: If possible, present metrics that demonstrate the success of your designs.

• Discuss Collaboration: Be prepared to talk about how you worked with cross-functional teams.

• Highlight AI/LLM Experience: If applicable, dedicate a portion to showcasing any work or insights related to AI-driven design or LLM interaction.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interviewers will be looking for candidates who can demonstrate not only strong design craft but also strategic thinking, a deep understanding of AI's potential to reshape UX, and the ability to thrive in an ambitious startup environment.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on Ashby.

• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight experience in SaaS, AI tooling, 0→1 launches, and any relevant AI/LLM experimentation. Use keywords like "Product Design," "UX/UI," "AI," "SaaS," "User Research," and "Prototyping."

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 of your strongest case studies that best showcase your ability to design complex systems, conduct deep user research, and ideally, demonstrate experience with novel technologies or product launches. Ensure it explicitly addresses the requirements for user-agent interaction design and first-principles reasoning.

• Prepare Your Portfolio Presentation: Practice walking through your case studies, focusing on your process, decision-making, and the impact of your work. Be ready to discuss your vision for AI-driven UX.

• Research Basis AI: Understand their mission, product, and the accounting industry they serve. Prepare thoughtful questions about their design challenges and product vision.

⚠️ 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.

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