Founding Designer

Location

San Francisco - Hybrid

Pathos is an early-stage startup building the world’s first truly intelligent emotional-health companion. Pathos is a science-driven, AI‑powered experience designed to make high‑quality emotional support more accessible. Co‑founded by leaders across neuroscience, mental‑health innovation, and consumer tech, Pathos is in active development and preparing for its first product launch. We’re creating a secure, private, multilingual platform grounded in evidence‑based therapeutic approaches, and we’re looking for builders who want to shape the product from the ground up.

We’re seeking a Founding Designer with a proven ability to own the end‑to‑end design process, create polished and intuitive user experiences, and solve user and business problems using design thinking. You thrive in a fast‑paced startup environment and can move quickly without compromising the quality of your outputs.

Some things you will be responsible for:

• Lead the design of a new mobile app from scratch, creating beautiful visuals, intuitive interactions, and innovative UX for our flagship product.
• Build a comprehensive, future‑proof design system, with accessibility, internationalization, and modularity in mind.
• Collaborate with engineers and product leadership to prioritize the roadmap and scope new features.
• Apply a strong user‑centered approach to research and design, translating real user needs into clear, actionable product direction.
• Leverage AI tools to accelerate ideation while producing human‑centered, polished designs that align with the Pathos brand.

• Proven experience as a product designer, preferably in consumer mobile products.
• Expert proficiency in Figma, with strong skills across UX, visual design, typography, iconography, and animation. Nice to have: marketing design experience.
• Strong visual communication and design thinking.
• Good at understanding users and using research to guide decisions.
• Comfortable working in a small, fast‑moving startup team, managing multiple projects, and meeting deadlines.
• Understands current and emerging AI trends and can use them to create practical, user‑centered designs.

• Health and dental benefits
• On‑site parking
• Public transportation reimbursement

Compensation Range: $140K - $240K