Chief of Design (Hardware & Software)

• Reports To: CEO • Location: Remote (required on-site visits to the San Francisco office) • Language Requirement: Minimum C1 English proficiency (absolute fluency in professional, technical, and collaborative communication is mandatory) The Role We aren't looking for someone to just "make things look pretty." We need an elite product designer with an obsessive, instinctual understanding of user experience—someone who has shipped products used by millions where the design was so seamless that users never had to think twice about how to use it. You will entirely own the visual and interactive identity of our ecosystem: from the physical device UI and the companion mobile app, to our web presence, branding, and unboxing experience. This is an execution-heavy, hands-on leadership role. You will design alongside the team, set the absolute benchmark for quality, and mentor a lean group of junior designers who look to you as a taste-setter. What You’ll Do • Holistic Design Vision: Lead and execute the end-to-end design strategy spanning hardware interfaces, mobile applications, web, and brand identity. • Frictionless UX: Craft inevitable, natural interaction patterns that define how users discover, set up, and fall in love with a physical AI device. • Team Building: Establish and scale a compact, high-velocity design function (starting with one junior designer). • Engineering Alignment: Partner directly with the engineering team to guarantee pixel-perfect deployment of your designs. • Systems from Scratch: Architect our unified design system, components, and brand guidelines from the ground up. • Physical Experience: Own the packaging, unboxing, and the physical-to-digital handoff experience. Who You Are • Proven Track Record: You have operated as a Design Lead or Head of Design at premier, design-first product companies (e.g., Linear, Figma, Apple, Stripe, Airbnb, Square, DoorDash). • Scale & Impact: You have brought highly successful consumer products to market where effortless usability was the entire competitive advantage. • Rapid Prototyping: You are incredibly fast—you can sketch a complex workflow on a whiteboard and guide a junior designer to build it in Figma by the end of the day. • HW/SW Convergence: You think deeply about the seams between hardware and software (e.g., how a physical attachment triggers an instant, satisfying digital screen response). • Early-Stage Mindset: You want to return to the early-stage trenches because you miss building a category-defining product from absolute zero. This Role is NOT for You If: • You transitioned into a pure management role years ago and no longer work inside the design tools yourself. • You prioritize portfolio aesthetics (Dribbble/Behance likes) over strict user utility, retention, and human psychology. • You need a Product Manager to hand you requirements and tell you exactly what to design. • You are a "design system architect" who has never actually brought a live consumer product to market.