Lead Designer

## About Wefunder We've raised over a billion dollars for thousands of founders in all 50 states, from ostrich farms to unicorns like Substack, Replit, & Mercury. We're a [**Public Benefit Corporation**](https://wefunder.com/pbc) with a mission to keep the American dream alive. We're fighting to keep America defined by optimism, innovation, and opportunity—the best place for the ambitious to turn ideas into reality. We believe America is full of untapped talent, and that helping more founders get off the ground leads to a better future. Our goal is to help 20,000 more founders get off the ground. We're just getting started. We're a team of founder types: enjoy autonomy, responsibility, the opportunity to learn, and no red tape. Just make it happen. ## The Role You'll report directly to the CEO and lead design across the entire company. Good design is _incredibly_ important to us. We believe beautiful software is the sum of thousands of small details, done just right, guided by good _taste_. We're looking for someone obsessed with nailing those details. Someone that will not only "[**make it pretty**](https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/beautiful-unicorn-on-clouds-stars-600nw-1184613688.jpg)", but who is excited to figure out what our users — both founders and investors — actually want. You will help guard the "soul" of our product. It's an important job. We're very good at figuring out visa sponsorship when required. ## Location & Culture We're strong believers in an in-person culture. Our HQ is in San Francisco — we have two offices, one in the Mission and one in Seacliff with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge. We're a small team of \~30 that hires carefully. In this new AI world, one star can outcompete 10 average people. We'd rather stay lean, move fast, and spend our time building — not navigating big-company bureaucracy. We're tight-knit enough to spend 10 days on a train together without killing each other. Four times over the years, we've all taken the Amtrak coast to coast, stopping in 12 cities. We're a team of doers and thinkers who are insatiably curious — not just about work, but about kickboxing, mountaineering, chess, and everything in between. [**Read our Favorite Books →**](https://wefunder.com/updates/126788)[**Culture →**](https://wefunder.com/updates/126608) ## What We're Looking For * **AI-excited** The days of a designer silo'd off in Figma are numbered — all roles are merging. You live-prototype your designs with AI tools like Cursor, Claude, Codex, or Replit, and you can train AI models to execute your design system so every engineer ships on-brand by default. * **Simplifies complexity** The law is complicated — often, a web page might have a dozen variations for legal reasons. You'll need an engineering-like brain to keep track of these details, while still being an empath to understand our users. * **Thrives in chaos** You love working in a small team in a fast-moving startup. You love ambiguity. You love taking initiative and not being told what to do. You want to work hard because that's how to maximize learning and impact. * **Pixel-perfect eye** Your portfolio is beautiful. You bleed minimalism, simplicity, and micro-animations. If it's not pixel-perfect, it drives you crazy. * **Can ship code** You can code up some CSS and HTML in a pinch and submit to a git repository. We don't expect full-fledged engineering skills, but believe that designers who understand the medium are better at their jobs. * **User-obsessed** You are excited to talk to and learn from our users: both founders raising money and investors backing them. * **Taste, not just data** You have good judgement on when to A/B test and use data... and when to lead with taste. ## Example Projects * **New Design System** Redesign Wefunder with a new, more modern design system. We have a lot of design debt. While you're onboarding, you'll help modernize Wefunder incrementally — one of the best ways to get context. * **Social Investing** Help us reach the next level of product-market fit. Can investors feel more "behind the scenes" and emotionally invested? Can investing in ideas they support be part of their identity? Can we build the community layer that makes Wefunder more than just a payment pipe? * **Design Resource for Engineers** Be the go-to resource when engineers need design help with whatever they're working on. Every engineer also has the autonomy to contribute to product — your job is to raise the bar for everyone. * **AI Design Ops** Build the playbook for AI-assisted design at Wefunder. Train models on our design system so any engineer — or agent — can ship pixel-perfect UI without a designer in the loop. Define the prompts, guardrails, and review workflows that make this actually work at scale. ## Benefits * $160k – $250k plus equity depending on experience * Unlimited vacation days (mandatory 3 weeks off) * Medical, dental, & vision insurance * 401K * Unlimited AI tokens & tool budget — Cursor, Claude, Codex, you name it * Apple equipment — whatever you want * Lots of free food and drinks * Reimbursement for classes and conferences ## Brownie Points * You've worked at a company where design was a competitive advantage — not an afterthought. * You've designed for fintech, marketplaces, or products where trust and clarity are everything. * You are a former founder or a future one — the problem we're working to solve feels personal to you. * You've shipped products where the design made users feel something — not just function, but delight. Visa sponsorship is offered for this role.