Founding Product Designer

About the Role

Join an innovative early-stage AI software startup in Berlin as a Founding Product Designer. This company isn’t merely adding AI features on top of existing platforms but is pioneering an AI-native workspace intended to replace disjointed manual tasks with a seamless intelligent system. Supported by top European venture capital and working alongside initial design partners and customers, the firm is at a critical phase aiming to fine-tune product-market fit.

This position offers a unique chance to shape the product experience from the ground up, moving beyond surface-level design to fundamentally influence how professionals will interact with AI-driven tools in the future.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead customer discovery efforts by engaging in regular user interviews and observing workflows to identify pain points and optimization opportunities.
• Translate research findings into actionable product enhancements, validating concepts prior to development to ensure resource efficiency.
• Design comprehensive AI-enhanced user experiences, focusing on entire workflows such as inbox management, document automation, onboarding, operational procedures, AI assistants, and human-AI collaboration to speed up task completion.
• Manage the end-to-end design cycle from early concept sketches to high-fidelity production-ready interfaces, collaborating closely with engineers throughout implementation and quality assurance.
• Champion product quality aspects including usability, information architecture, onboarding, accessibility, interaction smoothness, and consistency.
• Establish foundational design systems, component libraries, standards, principles, and documentation essential to scalable product growth.

Candidate Profile

• Approximately 5 to 8+ years of experience designing contemporary B2B SaaS applications.
• Proficient in UX and interaction design with excellent visual/UI skills.
• Experienced in user research, discovery, and validating product ideas before engineering development.
• Ability to work closely with cross-functional teams including engineers and product managers.
• Strong systemic thinking and adaptability in fast-changing, ambiguous environments.
• Excellent communication capabilities.
• Prior involvement in startup or scaling companies, with bonus points for AI, workflow automation, or enterprise SaaS experience.

Work Culture and Environment

The team values customer obsession, rapid iteration, high ownership with low ego, continuous delivery, honest feedback, and decisions based on evidence. The environment is flat with direct communication channels between designers, founders, engineers, and customers.

Success Metrics Within Six Months

• Implement a systematic customer discovery program.
• Deliver multiple impactful product improvements.
• Contribute to creating a scalable and coherent design system.
• Enhance user activation, onboarding, and reduce friction in key workflows.
• Become a strategic partner influencing product and company direction grounded in user insights.

AI-First Vision

The product philosophy centers on completely reimagining software through AI rather than automating current interfaces. Designers must focus on human-AI partnerships, AI-assisted processes, agent-based experiences, intelligent automation, interaction and prompt design that streamline workflows rather than burden users with unnecessary features.

Additional Information

Location: Berlin, Germany (Onsite)

Compensation: Competitive salary plus equity participation

This is a foundational design role with a rare opportunity to have a broad and meaningful impact on the company’s product and strategic trajectory.