Head of Design

Cardinal; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 100,000 - 140,000; Full time

Job summary

A growing tech startup in San Francisco is seeking a hands-on UX Designer to own the product experience and transform complex workflows into intuitive interfaces. The ideal candidate has strong product taste, the ability to simplify challenges, and a track record of shipping successful products. This role is crucial for growth and requires collaboration with founders and engineers to rapidly implement feedback and improvements.

Qualifications

• Experience designing and shipping products end-to-end.
• Strong product taste and high standards.
• Hands-on approach to product design and iteration.

Responsibilities

• Own product UX across the entire platform.
• Design and ship updates and pages in Framer.
• Improve onboarding and time-to-value.
• Work closely with founders and engineers to ship fast.

Skills

User experience design

Prototyping in Framer

Visual design talent

Ability to simplify complex workflows

Job description

About Cardinal

Cardinal is building the AI platform for precision outbound. We help the best companies run world‑class sales – combining data, AI and execution into one system that actually drives revenue.

• $1M ARR run rate in ~2 months
• $~$80k MRR and growing fast
• Backed by Y Combinator
• Built by 2x YC founders (Harvard + MIT + Prod)

We’re moving fast, closing top customers, and becoming the default outbound stack for the best teams.

The Role

This is not a normal design role.

You’re Not Just Designing – You're

• Defining how the product feels end-to-end
• Owning the entire user experience (from first impression → daily usage)
• Turning complex workflows into simple, intuitive interfaces
• Acting as a bridge between product, engineering, and growth

This role is core to the company. Design directly impacts how fast we grow.

What You’ll Do

• Own product UX across the entire platform (0 → 1 and beyond)
• Design and ship in Framer (site updates, landing pages, growth pages)
• Turn messy workflows into clean, intuitive UX
• Create one-pagers, sales collateral, and marketing assets
• Produce videos and visual content for product + growth
• Improve onboarding and time-to-value (first response is everything)
• Work closely with founders + engineers to ship fast
• Continuously iterate based on real user feedback

Who You Are

We’re looking for scrappy, high‑agency builders who care deeply about product.

You Might Be

• A former founder
• An early designer at a startup
• Someone who has built and shipped products end-to-end

You

• Have strong product taste and high standards
• Are extremely hands‑on (you design and think in systems)
• Move fast and don’t wait for perfect specs
• Care about how things work, not just how they look
• Can simplify complex problems into clear UX
• Want to win — and are willing to hustle for it