Design Engineering Intern

Wellspoken is an AI app that helps people communicate more clearly in meetings, interviews, and everyday conversations. Hundreds of thousands of people use it, and we're one of the fastest-growing startups in our space. We're a small team in Richmond, VA, moving fast.

About the role

Wellspoken is a consumer mobile app used by hundreds of thousands of people, and the people who design and build it set the ceiling on how good it can feel. Your work will ship to real users within days. You'll work directly with two technical founders, from Cornell and Berkeley, who care deeply about craft. You'll own real surfaces of the app and watch your taste show up in the product.

Responsibilities

• You live where design and engineering meet. You'll take an idea from a rough sketch to a shipped, polished, animated interface, owning both how it looks and how it moves.
• Design and build real mobile features, from the first mockup to the merged pull request.
• Prototype the hard parts in code instead of Figma: gestures, transitions, and animations are faster to feel than to mock up.
• Bring interfaces to life with motion: micro-interactions and animations that make the app feel alive.
• Own the details most people skip: spacing, timing, and the way a screen feels in the hand.
• Turn founder ideas and user feedback into interfaces that ship fast and feel considered.

Requirements

Please read these before applying. The first three are hard requirements, the last two are strong preferences.

• US-based and authorized to work in the US without sponsorship.
• Available full-time (40 hrs/week), starting within the next 3 months.
• A portfolio showing interfaces you designed, with the motion visible. We review portfolios first, so applications without one won't be considered.
• You've built and shipped real software: an app in a store, a live site, or a product people used at a job or startup. If you're still on your way there, show us what you're building.
• Startup experience is a strong plus. We like people who've felt what it's like when there's no one to hand things off to.

Qualifications

We care about craft and drive over credentials. You'll do well here if you:

• Hold your own work to a higher standard than anyone asks of you.
• Can both design an interface and build it, or are clearly on your way to both.
• Care about motion and interaction, and know that timing is half the feeling.
• Move fast, ship real things, and want to own the outcome.

Nice to have

Bonus points if you bring any of these. You do not need to check every box, strong taste and the drive to build matter more.

• Motion and animation tools like Rive, Lottie, or Reanimated.
• React Native, or strong React and front-end skills.
• Fluency with AI tools to design and ship faster.
• A portfolio that shows interfaces actually moving, beyond static screens.

Pay

Competitive hourly pay, full-time (40 hrs/week), with flexible start dates year-round.

Benefits

• Strong performers continue part-time (10 to 20 hrs/week) for as long as it's a good fit.
• Remote if you're far from Richmond, in person if you're able to commute. The schedule flexes around your commitments.
• Full Wellspoken Premium access and a letter of recommendation on successful completion.