AI Product and Design Lead

We are looking for the product counterpart to a 10x engineer: someone who can independently identify customer problems, rapidly validate solutions with AI-native tools, translate them into crisp engineering work, and keep the team focused on shipping intuitive products that drive customer and business outcomes.

This is our first dedicated product hire. It is a hands‑on product leadership role for someone who thrives in early‑stage startups and is comfortable moving from customer conversation to prototype to roadmap to shipped product. You will report to the Chief Product & Technology Officer, operate as a senior individual contributor initially, and have the opportunity to shape and build the product and design function as the company grows.

This role spans three disciplines that are usually split across three people: customer discovery, UX design, and product management. We are looking for someone genuinely strong at all three who is energized by moving between them — not a specialist in one who tolerates the other two.

• Run customer interviews and site visits with mechanical and manufacturing engineers to uncover real workflows, pain points, and opportunities — then turn those insights into product priorities.

• Build a continuous discovery habit so the team is never guessing about what customers actually need.

• Own the end‑to‑end user experience: information architecture, user flows, wireframes, and high‑fidelity screens. There is no separate design partner — this surface is yours to shape.

• Design agentic, AI‑first experiences that make complex manufacturing decisions feel simple and require minimal training or support.

• Set and hold the quality bar for usability and visual craft as the product and team grow.

• Prototype and validate solutions quickly using AI‑native tools before committing meaningful engineering time.

• Translate validated concepts into a clear roadmap, product requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria, and engineering tickets.

• Partner closely with engineering from definition through QA and launch, making tradeoffs quickly and keeping delivery on track.

• Own product outcomes across activation, engagement, retention, customer value, and revenue impact.

• Own the product roadmap: decide what we build and in what order, and make the case for why — including what we give up by not doing it. Help build agreement and excitement across customers, business, and engineering on the plan.

• 7+ years across product management, product design, or a hybrid of both, including meaningful experience at early‑stage startups.

• A track record of taking products from ambiguous customer problem to shipped solution — not just planning or handing off requirements.

• Real design skill: you can take a product from blank canvas to information architecture, user flows, and high‑fidelity screens, working in whatever tool gets you there fastest — and you can explain the judgment behind the choices, not just show the output.

• Strong customer discovery skills: you run interviews yourself, listen well, and can separate what customers say from what they actually need.

• Sound product judgment: you can reconcile customer needs, technical constraints, and business goals — and say no to good ideas that are not the priority.

• Fluency with AI‑native prototyping and development tools (for example Cursor, Claude, Lovable, Replit, v0) and a habit of adopting better tools quickly.

• Enough technical fluency to work shoulder‑to‑shoulder with engineers, understand tradeoffs, and create engineering‑ready requirements.

• A self‑directed, low‑ego operating style: you can move fast with incomplete information, communicate clearly, and close loops.

• Comfort going deep…