Founding Designer

Founding Designer

Role

You will define the product and brand experience end-to-end hardware feel, app flows, motion language, and narrative. As the first designer, you set the design system, codify quality, and partner tightly with engineering to ensure what we ship matches what we imagine.

Compensation: $120,000 – $185,000 + meaningful equity.

Location: San Francisco preferred; remote possible with regular time-on-site.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end product design for mobile (and companion web where needed).
• Develop a design system that scales across features, platforms, and marketing.
• Specify motion and micro-interactions that communicate state and delight.
• Drive visual identity across app, website, packaging, and launch assets.
• Partner with engineering for spec fidelity; measure design quality in production.
• Run lightweight research (usability tests, intercepts); synthesize insights into decisions.
• Establish documentation: usage rules, accessibility, content and voice guidelines.

What We're Looking For

Core Requirements

• 4+ years in product/brand design with shipped consumer work.
• Portfolio shows functional UX and world-class visual craft.
• Expert in Figma (auto-layout, variants, tokens) and prototyping.
• Motion proficiency (Principle/After Effects/Rive/Lottie) for interaction specs.
• Experience with design systems, accessibility, and design-to-dev workflows.

Nice to Have

• Hardware/CMF sensibilities; packaging and unboxing experience.
• Content design/copywriting for onboarding and in-product education.
• Analytics-informed iteration; experimentation with clear success metrics.

Collaboration Interfaces

• Weekly design crit; definition-of-done checklists shared with engineering.
• Source of truth in Figma; versioned artifacts; "redlines"/tokens auto-export.
• Design QA embedded in CI (golden screenshots, visual diff where applicable).

What We Offer

• Competitive salary and equity
• Health, dental, vision; flexible PTO; remote/hybrid options
• Best-in-class tools (Figma, motion, testing devices, prototyping kits)
• Creative budget for references, fonts, and materials
• We take care of you so you can build the future

How to Apply

We're not looking for "designers who can make things look nice." We're looking for taste-driven builders who can show proof of greatness.

The bar is simple:

• You've shipped something exceptional: your design work is in the hands of 100k+ people, or it's become part of a product that mattered.
• Or, you've been on a legendary team: you've seen how the best in the world design, ship, and obsess over details.

If that's you, apply directly:

• Email: akshay@openvision.engineering
• DM on X/Twitter: @AkshayNarisetti

Skip the resume. Don't send us a PDF portfolio that starts with "About Me." Send us the real thing:

• What you've designed (link it).
• Why Pocket excites you.
• Why you think you can set the design bar for a founding team.

If you don't have proof of exceptional work, this role isn't for you.