Founding Designer

a vinyl bar in shibuya; New York (NY); On-site; USD 95,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Job summary

Vinyl Bar in New York seeks a Founding Designer to own how our products feel, look, and behave. You will work directly with the founder and engineers, in the studio, shipping constantly.

This role focuses on end-to-end product surfaces, evolving visual language, and playful music interfaces. You will prototype quickly, make fast decisions, and collaborate closely with engineering to release features regularly.

Qualifications

• Experience designing consumer products people actually use.
• Fluency in Figma and shipping-focused tools.
• Ability to own a product surface end to end.
• Interest in motion, interaction, or systems.
• Personal aesthetic with scalability.
• Curiosity about music, games, toys, or creative tools.

Responsibilities

• Own the design from first frame to shipped behavior.
• Define and evolve visual and interaction language across product and brand.
• Design music interfaces that feel tactile, playful, and expressive.
• Prototype ideas quickly and test with real users.
• Collaborate with engineering to ship daily or near-daily.
• Invent new formats and tools for musical play.

Skills

Product design

Motion design

Design systems

Visual design

Tools

Figma

Job description

This role owns how our products feel, look, and behave.

Not as a service function. Not as a layer. As an author.

You will drive product design end to end. Interface, interaction, motion, visual language, and the thousand small decisions that make something feel inevitable instead of generic. You will work directly with the founder and engineers, in the studio, shipping constantly.

This is not a role for someone who wants clean tickets, long specs, or a big design org around them. It is for someone who wants the product to feel right and is willing to be responsible for that.

The Work

• Own the design of our products from first frame to shipped behavior
• Define and evolve the visual and interaction language across product and brand
• Design music interfaces that feel tactile, playful, and expressive
• Make fast decisions about flow, hierarchy, motion, and detail
• Prototype ideas quickly and put them in front of real users
• Collaborate tightly with engineering to ship daily or near-daily
• Help invent new formats and tools for musical play, not just polish existing ones

How You Work

• You care deeply about how things feel, not just the look
• You move quickly and revise without drama
• You have taste and can explain it without hiding behind theory
• You notice when something is off and fix it
• You are comfortable being the final design decision maker

Is This You?

• Experience designing consumer products people actually use
• Comfort owning a product surface end to end
• Fluency in Figma and whatever else helps you ship faster
• Interest in motion, interaction, systems, or code, even if you are not an expert
• A personal aesthetic, plus the restraint to build something scalable
• Real curiosity about music, games, toys, or creative tools
• Big-company pedigree alone does not.

Practicalities

• Title: Founding Designer
• Compensation: roughly $95k–$175k plus meaningful equity, depending on scope and experience
• Location: in-person New York strongly preferred. LA or SF possible for the right person after an initial period
• Pace: startup hours. Real ones.