Product Design Engineer

outset; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Outset is looking for a Product Designer to shape intuitive, AI-native experiences from idea to prototype. You will work with our Founding Designer, product, and engineering to craft generative product experiences that are both beautiful and functional.

You’ll own end-to-end problems in a fast, AI-enabled team, designing wireframes, high-fidelity visuals, and front-to-back prototypes as needed. Craft and coding fluency are essential.

Qualifications

• Portfolio demonstrating real UX and visual design judgment.
• Experience owning significant product surfaces in startups or SaaS.
• Proficiency with design tools (Figma, Claude Design).
• Excellent storytelling and communication skills.
• Willingness to experiment, iterate, and learn quickly.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Design, Product and Engineering to craft experiences that drive business impact.
• Create wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity visuals; build functional front-to-back prototypes in code when needed.
• Use AI coding tools as a core part of the design process to move from idea to working software.
• Push full-stack code (HTML/CSS/JS, Python or similar) to prototype and sometimes production.
• Collaborate in a real dev environment with git workflows and PR reviews.
• Conduct user research and usability testing to ensure user-centered, data-informed designs.
• Contribute to a consistent, accessible design system.
• Work from our San Francisco office at least 4 days per week, in person with the team.

Skills

UX design

UI design

Prototyping

Full-stack

AI coding

Figma

Communication

Tools

Claude Code

Cursor

Git

HTML/CSS/JS

Python

Job description

Outset invented a better way to do research: AI-powered user interviews.

Global brands like Hubspot, Microsoft, Uber and Nestle use Outset to achieve deeper, qualitative insights about their users at unprecedented speed and scale.

The research industry is massive (>$140B and growing) and ripe for disruption. Incumbents are outdated, slow, and burdened by high-cost services. That's our opportunity.

Outset is backed by top Silicon Valley investors and raised a $30M Series B in December 2025—less than six months after our Series A—led by Radical Ventures with participation from M12 (Microsoft’s venture arm), 8VC, Y Combinator, and Adverb Ventures.

The raise follows a breakout year, with our business growing 8x as enterprise customers across industries adopt our category, AI‑moderated research, as the new standard for understanding people.

We’re a tight-knit team serving some of the world’s largest enterprises.

We're looking for a Product Designer with excellent craft and strong technical range, someone who can shape intuitive, elegant experiences that feel like magic while also being fluent in the AI-assisted coding and prototyping workflows that are becoming core to modern design practice.

You’re excited to own problems end-to-end in a fast, AI-native product team, working closely with our Founding Designer and the rest of product and engineering to design generative product experiences that are as functional as they are beautiful - often owning the full arc from the kernel of an idea to a working, coded prototype.

Responsibilities

• Partner with Design, Product and Engineering to craft experiences that drive business impact.

• Create wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity visuals for new and existing features — and build functional, front-to-back prototypes in code when that's the fastest path to a real answer.

• Use AI coding tools (Claude Code, Cursor, or similar) as a core part of your design process — not an occasional accelerant, but the way you move from idea to working software.

• Push full-stack code (HTML/CSS/JS, Python or similar) confidently enough to prototype, iterate, and occasionally ship to production.

• Operate comfortably in a real dev environment: git workflows, local setup, reading PRs, and collaborating closely with engineers.

• Conduct user research and usability testing to ensure designs are user-centered and data-informed.

• Contribute to a consistent, accessible design system.

• Work from our San Francisco office at least 4 days per week, collaborating in person with design, product, and engineering.

Qualifications

• Experience designing digital products (or equivalent depth of experience), ideally in startup or SaaS environments where you've owned significant product surfaces.

• Exceptional design taste and strong point of view on craft — a portfolio that demonstrates real UX and visual design judgment, not just polish.

• Proficiency with design tools (Figma, Claude Design, etc.)

• Excellent communication and storytelling skills — able to present design decisions clearly and succinctly.

• A growth mindset and willingness to experiment, iterate, and learn quickly.

• Demonstrated ability to write and ship full-stack code - some combination of HTML/CSS/JS and Python - even if design is your primary craft.

• Real, hands-on fluency with AI coding assistants (Claude Code, Cursor, etc.) as day-to-day tools, not novelty - you reach for them naturally to explore ideas, prototype interactions, and move faster than a traditional design-then-handoff process allows.

• Comfort operating in a dev environment (git, terminal, local builds) and reviewing/discussing code with engineers.

• Experience collaborating in agile, cross-functional teams.