Founding Design Engineer

H

HIKINEX

Founding Design Engineer

San Francisco, CA
Full Time
Paid
  • Responsibilities

    Founding Design Engineer

    Location: San Francisco, CA (On-site, 5 days/week)

    Compensation: $150,000–$250,000 Base + Equity (0.4–0.8%)

    About the Opportunity

    An early-stage, venture-backed AI startup is seeking a Founding Design Engineer to become its first design-focused engineering hire. This is a unique opportunity to own the end-to-end user experience for a highly technical AI platform, defining the product's design language while building production-ready frontend applications.

    Working directly with the founding team, you'll help shape the future of an AI-native enterprise platform by combining exceptional product design with hands-on frontend engineering.

    What You'll Do

    • Own product design and frontend implementation from concept to production.
    • Design and build production-ready interfaces using React and TypeScript.
    • Establish the company's design language, design system, and UX patterns.
    • Collaborate closely with founders to build intuitive experiences for complex technical workflows.
    • Design for enterprise B2B software, platform products, and AI-powered user experiences.

    What We're Looking For

    • 1 -​ 5 years of experience in design,​ recent experience shipping frontend code in React/TypeScript
    • Experience at a venture-​backed early-​stage startup or fast-​paced high-​growth company
    • Has a self-​driven project with real users (portfolio,​ side project,​ or startup)
    • Experience at an early-stage startup or other fast-paced environment.
    • Experience designing technical products such as developer tools, enterprise SaaS, infrastructure, platform software, or AI products.
    • Self-starter who thrives in an ownership-driven environment with minimal direction.
    • Design/Arts/CS degree

    Skills

    Tech stack
    React, TypeScript, Figma, Tailwind CSS

    PLUS

    • Next.js
    • Figma
    • Experience with design systems and component libraries.
    • Familiarity with AI, agentic workflows, or Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) principles.

    Visa Sponsorship

    The company can support:

    • H-1B transfers
    • O-1 visas
    • TN visas
    • J-1 visas

    Please note that new H-1B sponsorship is not available.

    Why Join?

    • Be the first Design Engineer and help define the product from the ground up.
    • Own both design and implementation without traditional design handoffs.
    • Work directly with an experienced founding team in a collaborative, high-impact environment.
    • Receive competitive compensation and meaningful equity while helping build a category-defining AI product.