Product Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Product Designer
Company: Netic
Location: San Francisco, California, United States
Job Type: Full-time
Category: Product Design / AI Product Development
Date Posted: February 16, 2026
Experience Level: Mid-Level (2-5 years)
Remote Status: On-site

🚀 Role Summary

• Spearhead the design of innovative human-AI interactions for Netic's AI revenue engine, targeting essential services industries.
• Take end-to-end ownership of the product design lifecycle, from problem understanding and solution exploration to execution, shipping, and iteration.
• Drive product innovation by embracing and integrating AI tools into the design process for enhanced thinking, edge case stress-testing, and rapid validation.
• Contribute to building and scaling the design team by establishing foundational processes, setting design standards, and developing a robust design system.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is explicitly seeking the second design hire, indicating a significant opportunity for the individual to shape the design function and product strategy from an early stage. The emphasis on AI fluency and integrating AI tools into the design workflow is a critical differentiator for this position.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• End-to-End Product Ownership: Collaborate closely with engineers and agent Product Managers (PMs) to deeply comprehend user needs and business challenges, ideate creative solutions, execute designs, launch features, and continuously iterate based on user feedback and performance metrics.
• AI-Augmented Design Process: Actively leverage AI tools (e.g., Cursor, Claude) to clarify design thinking, stress-test potential edge cases, validate ideas rapidly, and build high-leverage systems for personal design workflow optimization.
• Customer-Centric Problem Solving: Proactively engage with customers through interviews and direct outreach, identify key stakeholders, and conduct personal experiments to gather essential information with speed and precision for informed design decisions.
• Rapid Prototyping and Iteration: Utilize AI tools for initial design concept validation and interaction pattern testing, followed by refinement in Figma. The workflow emphasizes a think-prototype in code-validate-polish cycle.
• Design System Development: Architect, develop, and maintain a flexible and scalable design system to ensure visual cohesion, functional consistency, and efficient integration with engineering workflows, aiming to accelerate the team's speed and output quality.
• Strategic Design Leadership: Develop strong, evidence-based opinions on design tools, prompting strategies, methodologies, product direction, and team operational processes. Actively challenge assumptions and foster a culture of experimentation and learning.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibility to "Build the design system" is particularly crucial for a second design hire. This implies not just contributing to existing components but potentially defining the architecture, guidelines, and governance for the system, which requires a strategic and forward-thinking approach to design operations.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: While no specific degree is mandated, a strong portfolio demonstrating design thinking and execution is paramount. A background in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Graphic Design, Interaction Design, or a related field is beneficial.
Experience: Proven experience in designing and shipping complex digital products, with a demonstrated history of making critical decisions involving significant tradeoffs. Experience in a startup environment or with early-stage product development is highly valued.

Required Skills:

• Product Design Expertise: Comprehensive understanding of user-centered design principles and methodologies for complex applications.
• AI Interaction Design: Fluency in designing intuitive and effective interactions between humans and artificial intelligence systems.
• Prototyping Proficiency: Skilled in rapid prototyping, utilizing tools like Cursor and Claude for initial validation and advanced tools like Figma for polished designs.
• Design System Development: Experience in building, maintaining, and evolving design systems for consistency and efficiency.
• Customer Research & Validation: Demonstrated ability to conduct customer interviews, user research, and execute experiments to validate design hypotheses.
• AI Tool Integration: Active and intentional application of AI tools within the design workflow to enhance productivity and problem-solving.
• Ownership & Initiative: A proactive mindset with the ability to define direction, form opinions, and drive projects to completion with minimal supervision.
• Clear Communication: Excellent written and verbal communication skills, capable of presenting ideas concisely and effectively to diverse stakeholders.
• Collaboration & Mediation: Ability to work effectively with cross-functional teams (engineers, PMs, ops) and mediate stakeholder needs.

Preferred Skills:

• Front-end Code Proficiency: Familiarity with front-end development languages (e.g., HTML, CSS, JavaScript) to better inform design and collaborate with engineers.
• Design System Architecture: Experience designing the foundational structure and governance for design systems.
• User Research Methodologies: Advanced knowledge of qualitative and quantitative user research techniques.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "AI fluent" requirement goes beyond simply knowing about AI tools; it emphasizes active, intentional application. Candidates should be prepared to discuss specific instances where they've used AI to accelerate their design process, improve problem-solving, or create novel interactions.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• End-to-End Case Studies: Showcase 2-3 detailed case studies demonstrating ownership from problem identification through to shipped product, highlighting your role in making critical tradeoff decisions.
• AI Integration Examples: Include examples of how you've leveraged AI tools (e.g., Cursor, Claude, or others) to enhance your design process, validate concepts, or solve complex design challenges.
• Design System Contribution: Present examples of your work on design systems, whether it's contributing to an existing one or building components from scratch, emphasizing efficiency and consistency benefits.
• Problem-Solving & Iteration: Document processes where you identified complex problems, explored multiple solutions, and iterated based on feedback to achieve optimal outcomes.

Process Documentation:

• Workflow Design: Clearly articulate your design workflow, emphasizing how you integrate AI tools and customer feedback into each stage.
• AI Tool Utilization: Provide specific examples of prompts, methodologies, and systems you've built or utilized with AI to improve design speed, quality, or insight generation.
• Design System Governance: If applicable, outline your approach to designing and maintaining design systems, including component structure, documentation standards, and contribution guidelines.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "prototype in code" suggests that candidates with some understanding of front-end development or the ability to create interactive prototypes that mimic code functionality will be highly regarded. The portfolio should reflect this blend of design craft and technical feasibility.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for a Product Designer with 2-5 years of experience in San Francisco, California, the estimated annual salary range is $120,000 - $170,000. This range can vary based on the candidate's specific experience, skills, and the company's compensation philosophy.

Benefits:

• Comprehensive Health Insurance: Medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and dependents.
• Equity/Stock Options: Opportunity to own a part of Netic's growth, reflecting the early-stage nature of the company.
• 401(k) Plan: Retirement savings plan to support long-term financial well-being.
• Generous Paid Time Off (PTO): Includes vacation days, sick leave, and company holidays.
• Professional Development: Budget for conferences, training, and continuous learning to foster skill advancement.
• In-Office Perks: Likely includes catered meals, snacks, and a dynamic workspace designed for collaboration.

Working Hours: The standard working hours are 40 hours per week. However, the company culture emphasizes ownership and outcomes, suggesting flexibility may be available for high-performing individuals who consistently deliver results, provided it aligns with team collaboration needs and on-site presence requirements.

📝 Enhancement Note: As Netic is a well-funded Series B company ($43M), it's reasonable to expect a competitive benefits package that includes equity. The salary range is estimated based on San Francisco tech industry standards for a mid-level designer at a growth-stage startup.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: AI / Software / Essential Services Technology. Netic is building an AI revenue engine for businesses that form the backbone of the American economy, bridging frontier AI with tangible, real-world applications.
Company Size: While not explicitly stated, the description of Netic as having received Series B funding and seeking its second design hire suggests a company in a rapid growth phase, likely between 50-150 employees. This size offers a balance of startup agility with developing structure.
Founded: The founding date is not provided, but the company's funding history (Series B) indicates it has been operational for several years, sufficient to build a core product and customer base.

Team Structure:

• The design team is currently very small, with this role being the second designer. This implies a high degree of autonomy and direct influence for the individual.
• Collaboration will be close with engineering and agent Product Managers, likely forming small, cross-functional product pods.
• The company culture draws talent from prominent tech companies and academic institutions (Scale, Databricks, Meta, MIT, Stanford, Harvard), indicating a high-caliber, intellectually driven team.

Methodology:

• AI-First Approach: Netic operates with a strong emphasis on leveraging AI across its operations, including product development, design, and customer engagement.
• Data-Driven Iteration: The culture values data analysis and feedback loops to inform product decisions and drive continuous improvement.
• Outcome-Oriented: The focus is on achieving tangible results and impact, rather than just completing tasks. "Accountable for outcomes" is a key phrase.
• Experimental Mindset: Encourages experimentation with new tools, methods, and ideas to push boundaries and find optimal solutions.

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

📝 Enhancement Note: The description highlights a team built from top talent at leading tech companies and universities. This implies a culture of high performance, intellectual curiosity, and a drive for innovation. Candidates should be prepared for a fast-paced environment where challenging the status quo is encouraged.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned as a mid-level Product Designer, often referred to as a Designer II or Senior Designer in other organizations. It demands significant autonomy and end-to-end responsibility, making it a critical individual contributor role with the potential to influence team direction.
Reporting Structure: The designer will likely report to a Head of Product, a Founder, or potentially an early design lead if one exists. Given it's the second design hire, there's a clear path to becoming a lead or principal designer as the team scales.
Operations Impact: The product designer's work directly impacts Netic's "AI revenue engine," influencing how essential services businesses operate and generate revenue. Success means creating intuitive interfaces that drive adoption, efficiency, and ultimately, customer bookings and revenue for Netic's clients.

Growth Opportunities:

• Design Leadership: As the team grows, there's a clear opportunity to step into a design leadership role, manage other designers, and define the future of Netic's design practice.
• Specialization in AI Design: Deepen expertise in the rapidly evolving field of human-AI interaction design, becoming a subject matter expert.
• Product Strategy Influence: Contribute significantly to product strategy and roadmap decisions, leveraging design insights to shape the company's direction.
• Building Foundational Systems: Gain invaluable experience in creating and scaling design systems and design operations from the ground up.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "setting the foundation to scale the entire design team" suggests that this role is not just about individual contribution but also about building the infrastructure (processes, systems, culture) for future design hires. This is a significant growth opportunity for someone looking to impact organizational design.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Netic operates as an in-person company, with its office located in Jackson Square, San Francisco. This suggests a collaborative, co-located environment designed to foster spontaneous interaction and rapid problem-solving.
Office Location(s): Jackson Square, San Francisco, California. This is a well-established business district in San Francisco, known for its accessibility and professional atmosphere.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Hub: The physical office space is designed to facilitate close collaboration between product, engineering, and design teams, encouraging a dynamic and interactive work environment.
• Technology-Rich: Expect access to modern design tools and potentially cutting-edge hardware and software to support AI-driven design workflows.
• Team Integration: Opportunities for direct interaction with founders, engineers, PMs, and potentially early customers, fostering a deep understanding of the business and its users.

Work Schedule: The role is full-time, with an on-site requirement in San Francisco. While core hours likely exist for collaboration, the emphasis on "ownership" and "figuring it out" suggests that the company values results and may offer some flexibility for individuals who demonstrate high productivity and effective time management, as long as it doesn't compromise team synergy or on-site presence.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit statement "All roles are in person, in SF" is a critical detail. Candidates must be willing and able to work from the San Francisco office consistently. This environment is chosen to "foster fulfillment... producing your best work with the smartest people together in one room."

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Review of resume and portfolio to assess core qualifications and alignment with Netic's mission.
• Design Challenge/Portfolio Deep Dive: A session where candidates present their portfolio, discuss their design process, and potentially tackle a design problem relevant to Netic's domain. This is where AI integration and tradeoff decisions will be scrutinized.
• Cross-Functional Interviews: Meetings with engineers, PMs, and potentially founders to evaluate collaboration skills, communication style, and cultural fit. Expect questions about how you work with different stakeholders and handle disagreements.
• Final Round: Potential discussion with leadership to assess strategic thinking, vision for the design function, and overall fit with Netic's values.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Showcase End-to-End Ownership: Clearly articulate your role and impact in each project, emphasizing how you drove the process and made critical decisions.
• Highlight AI Integration: Dedicate specific sections or projects to demonstrate how you've effectively used AI tools to solve design challenges or improve your workflow. Quantify benefits where possible (e.g., "reduced iteration time by X%").
• Detail Tradeoff Decisions: Be prepared to discuss the difficult choices you made in design, the rationale behind them, and the trade-offs accepted. This demonstrates maturity and strategic thinking.
• Design System Craftsmanship: If you have design system experience, present it clearly, showing its structure, components, and the impact it had on efficiency and consistency.
• Tell a Story: Structure your case studies as narratives that highlight the problem, your process, the solutions, and the outcomes. Focus on the "why" behind your decisions.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand Netic's Business: Research Netic's AI revenue engine, its target industries (essential services), and the challenges these businesses face.
• AI Design Principles: Familiarize yourself with emerging best practices for human-AI interaction design.
• Process Optimization: Be ready to discuss how you would approach building or improving a design system or a specific design process within a fast-paced startup.
• Communication & Collaboration: Practice articulating your design rationale clearly and concisely, and prepare examples of how you've collaborated effectively with technical teams.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company's values like "Lose sleep over the 'almost perfect'" and "Prioritize finesse" suggest that a deep dive into the details and a commitment to craftsmanship will be highly valued. Be prepared to discuss the nuances of your design decisions.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: The core tool for UI design, prototyping, and design system development. Proficiency is essential.
• Cursor / Claude (or similar AI Design Assistants): Integral to the design process for ideation, rapid prototyping, and workflow enhancement. Candidates are expected to be fluent in their application.
• Prototyping Tools: Beyond Figma, any experience with advanced prototyping tools that can simulate code behavior or complex interactions would be beneficial.

Analytics & Reporting:

• While not directly a designer's primary tool, familiarity with how product analytics (e.g., Amplitude, Mixpanel) are used to inform design decisions is advantageous. Understanding how to design for trackability is key.

CRM & Automation:

• Not directly applicable to the designer role but understanding how the product integrates with CRM systems or automation workflows used by clients can provide valuable context.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of "Cursor / Claude" for prototyping signifies a strong leaning towards AI-assisted design workflows. Candidates should be ready to discuss their experience with these specific tools or comparable AI-powered design assistants and how they integrate them into their process.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Live to Build: A deep passion for creating and shipping products that have a real-world impact.
• Run Through Walls and Win: A tenacious, can-do attitude, driven to overcome obstacles and achieve ambitious goals.
• Obsess Over Customers in Each Line of Code: A profound commitment to understanding and serving customer needs, reflected in every aspect of product development.
• Lose Sleep Over the "Almost Perfect": A dedication to craftsmanship and a relentless pursuit of excellence, pushing for high-quality execution.
• Show Internal Locus of Control: Taking responsibility for outcomes and proactively driving solutions rather than waiting for external direction.
• Prioritize Finesse: A focus on the refinement of first principles thinking, execution, and overall craftsmanship in all work.

Collaboration Style:

• In-Person Synergy: Emphasis on co-located collaboration to foster deep understanding, rapid iteration, and strong team cohesion.
• Direct & Honest Communication: Valuing crisp, direct, and honest communication to ensure clarity and efficiency.
• Cross-Functional Integration: Working seamlessly with engineers and PMs, acting as a unified product team driving towards common goals.
• Experimental & Learning-Oriented: A culture that encourages experimentation, sharing learnings, and continuous improvement through feedback and iteration.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company values are clearly articulated and lean towards a high-performance, driven, and customer-obsessed culture. Candidates should be able to demonstrate how their personal work ethic and collaborative style align with these core tenets.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Defining Novel AI Interactions: Designing intuitive and effective user experiences for interactions with AI systems, which are still an evolving field.
• Balancing Innovation and Execution: The need to explore cutting-edge AI capabilities while also delivering robust, reliable product features on a tight timeline.
• Building Scale from Scratch: Establishing foundational design processes and a comprehensive design system for a growing team and product.
• Navigating Complex Business Needs: Translating the intricate requirements of essential services industries into user-friendly and efficient AI-powered solutions.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• AI Design Specialization: Becoming a leader in the niche of designing for AI-driven products and revenue engines.
• Design System Architecture: Gaining hands-on experience in architecting and scaling design systems for a rapidly growing company.
• Product Strategy Contribution: Directly influencing the product roadmap and strategic direction of a venture-backed AI company.
• Mentorship & Team Building: Opportunity to mentor future design hires and help shape the design culture and processes at Netic.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenge of "Defining Novel AI Interactions" is a significant one that will require creative problem-solving and a willingness to experiment with new paradigms in user interface and user experience design.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach designing the core interaction model for a new AI agent that needs to manage complex scheduling and resource allocation for a field service team?" (Focus on process, AI integration, tradeoff decisions)
• "Describe a time you had to make a significant tradeoff in a product design. What was the situation, what did you decide, and what was the outcome?" (Focus on decision-making, reasoning, and impact)
• "Imagine you're given a vague AI output. How would you design an interface that helps a user understand, trust, and act upon that output effectively?" (Focus on AI fluency, user trust, and interaction design)

Company & Culture Questions:

• "How do you see AI changing the role of a product designer, and how have you adapted your own process?" (Focus on AI fluency and adaptability)
• "Netic values 'Run through walls and win.' Can you share an example of a time you demonstrated this tenacity in a professional setting?" (Focus on values alignment and proactivity)
• "How would you contribute to building and scaling a design system for a growing team, and what are your thoughts on design system governance?" (Focus on systems thinking and team growth)

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure is Key: Present 2-3 comprehensive case studies. For each, clearly outline the problem statement, your role, the constraints, your process (including AI usage), key design decisions and tradeoffs, and the final outcome/impact.
• Show, Don't Just Tell: Use visuals, prototypes, and mockups effectively. For AI integration, consider showing how AI assisted in generating options or validating concepts.
• Quantify Impact: Wherever possible, use metrics to demonstrate the success of your designs (e.g., conversion rates, user satisfaction scores, efficiency gains).
• Be Ready for Deep Dives: Anticipate detailed questions about your design choices, your collaboration with engineers, and your approach to problem-solving. Be articulate and confident in your rationale.

📝 Enhancement Note: Candidates should prepare to explicitly discuss their experience with AI tools and how they've integrated them into their workflow. This is a non-negotiable aspect of the role and will be a primary focus during interviews.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided Ashby link.
• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your portfolio to highlight 2-3 strong case studies that demonstrate end-to-end ownership, significant tradeoff decisions, and your specific contributions to AI-driven design or design systems.
• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly articulates your experience with product design, AI tools, Figma, and design systems, using keywords from the job description. Quantify achievements where possible.
• Interview Preparation: Practice articulating your design process, especially your use of AI tools, and prepare specific examples that align with Netic's company values. Be ready to discuss your approach to building design systems and collaborating with technical teams.
• Company Research: Thoroughly research Netic's mission, their AI revenue engine, and the essential services industries they serve. Understand their funding and growth stage to better contextualize your application and interview responses.

⚠️ 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.