Principal Product Designer

Job Title: Principal Designer (Founding Designer)

Company: Pre-seed Start-Up with $12M in initial funding

Full-Time Hire

Location: 100% Remote (Prefers Seattle and West Coast, USA)

Reports To: CEO

Salary: $170K–$190K DOE

Who We Are

We are Design Citizen, a human-centered talent management firm working with organizations to create innovative, inclusive, and sustainable business solutions through design.

The Opportunity

Our Start-Up client is backed by one of the biggest venture firms in North America and are on a mission to build the next generation of AI-powered IT help desks. Say farewell to the outdated, clunky systems of the past. Their product seamlessly integrates into modern team workflows, transforming the chaos of internal requests into a beautifully streamlined experience.

As their first internal design hire, you will be the creative force shaping how the world experiences their brand and product. Your mission? Make it exceptional—intuitive, visually striking, and unforgettable.

We’re looking for someone who lives and breathes design excellence, UI craft, and interaction design at the highest level. You will define everything people see and touch—from the product’s interface to the brand identity—and set the foundation for a design-driven company.

Why You?

You’re not just a talented designer—you’re obsessed with the details, the craft, and the power of design to elevate an experience. You have the ability to create elegant, highly refined interfaces and interactions that set a new standard in the industry.

• You make complex tools feel effortless. You bring elegance to enterprise software.
• You set the standard for visual and interaction design. Others look to your work for inspiration.
• You’re excited to build from the ground up. You define the design language for a product and company at the same time.
• You see brand and product as one unified experience. Your work extends across every touchpoint.
• You create work that is not just functional, but inspiring. People engage with it, talk about it, and remember it.

What You’ll Do

• Own product design by crafting a stunning, intuitive, and highly functional product experience.
• Define the brand by setting the visual foundation for how the company shows up—from the product to the website to marketing assets.
• Act as the creative backbone, ensuring a consistent, premium design language across all touchpoints.
• Elevate the interaction layer, designing fluid, dynamic, and engaging experiences that push UI beyond static screens.
• Work directly with founders and engineers to shape the product alongside a team that deeply values great design.
• Scale your impact by starting as a team of one, with the ability to hire freelance help and lay the groundwork for a future design team.

Who You Are

• A visual powerhouse with exceptional taste and meticulous attention to detail.
• A hands-on craftsperson who loves doing the work, not just directing it.
• A product thinker who goes beyond visuals and cares deeply about how things work.
• A brand storyteller who understands that design is about emotion, perception, and experience.
• An early-stage operator who thrives in fast-paced, zero-to-one environments, shaping a vision without a playbook.

What You Bring

• A world-class portfolio that sets a high bar for visual and interaction design.
• Expertise in UI, interaction design, and brand systems, with mastery in Figma.
• A strong point of view on visual style, typography, and prototyping.
• Experience designing for SaaS, AI-driven products, or complex interfaces.

Why Join?

• Be the founding designer, shaping everything from the ground up.
• Set a new standard in an industry ripe for innovation.
• Build for impact, helping teams work better, faster, and smarter.
• Work with brilliant people, backed by top-tier investors and ex-FAANG/YC founders.
• Own real equity—you’re not just an employee, but a founding creative leader.

Join Us

At Design Citizen, we believe that great design starts with diverse perspectives. We are proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) employer, providing equal opportunities regardless of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, veteran status, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, or disability.

If you work at the intersection of Product and Brand Design, and want to be on the ground floor of bringing an innovative new product to market, we’d love to hear from you.

Apply today and learn more about us here: designcitizen.com