Founding Designer

San Francisco, CA | On-site | Full-time Compensation: $140,000–$230,000 About Phonely At some point in the future, every business will answer their phone with voice AI. We are building the platform that makes it possible. Phonely builds conversational voice AI agents for high-volume phone workflows. Our customers use us to qualify leads, book appointments, route calls, and resolve real customer conversations in production. We are growing fast and just getting started. About The Role We’re hiring a Founding Designer to own how Phonely looks, feels, and works across our brand and product. As our first design hire, you’ll audit our existing design, define our visual identity, and build the systems that bring consistency to everything we create. From our website and branding to the frontend platform our customers use every day, you’ll establish the design standards that shape Phonely as we scale. This isn’t a role where you hand off Figma files and call it a day. You’ll work directly with our founders and engineers to bring designs into production, using AI tools like Claude to help implement design standards and contributing to frontend code when needed. We’re looking for someone with exceptional design taste who can think strategically, execute independently, and build something that lasts. You’ll have real ownership over our design direction and the freedom to define what great design looks like at Phonely. What You’ll Do Audit our existing brand and product design, find the inconsistencies, and establish a cohesive visual identityOwn and evolve our branding: typography, color, layout, visual guidelines, and overall directionBuild and maintain a scalable design system with reusable components and standardsBring consistency to our frontend platform so every customer-facing screen follows the same principlesDesign intuitive, polished interfaces that make complex voice AI workflows easy to understandWork directly with frontend engineers to implement designs and improve the product experienceUse AI development tools like Claude to translate design guidelines into code and standardize implementationContribute to the codebase when needed, including frontend improvements and pull requestsMaintain brand consistency across our website, product, marketing materials, and customer-facing assetsSet the foundation for how design operates at Phonely as we grow What You’ll Bring 3+ years of professional design experience, ideally in B2B SaaS, technology, or a design-forward companyExceptional visual design skills and a portfolio showing high-quality work across brand and digital productExperience building or maintaining design systems and establishing consistent standardsStrong command of UI/UX, typography, layout, color, and visual hierarchyExperience designing web applications and working closely with frontend engineering teamsAbility to own design projects from initial concept through implementationComfort with AI tools and learning new technologies to move fasterStrong attention to detail and the ability to explain and defend design decisionsHigh ownership and comfort in a fast-moving startup where the playbook doesn’t exist yet Nice to Have Previous experience as a Founding Designer or early design hire at a startupExperience at a company recognized for exceptional design qualityBackground designing B2B SaaS platforms or complex web applicationsHands-on frontend experience with HTML, CSS, React, or similarExperience working with GitHub, contributing code, and submitting pull requestsFamiliarity with AI-assisted development tools such as ClaudeExperience defining or evolving a company’s brand identity from the ground up Why Join Phonely We are a team of ex-athletes, founders, and builders who are deeply passionate about the problem we’re solving. We’re a curious, driven, low-ego group that finds joy in hard challenges. As we grow the team, we are being extremely intentional about the culture we’re building. We care far less about a person’s pedigree than we do about finding smart people with grit and genuine kindness. If this resonates with you, please reach out! Benefits Full health and dental coverage401(k) with 4% matchUnlimited PTOMeaningful equityWellness stipendRace/tournament stipend (so you can go compete in cool stuff!)Breakfast, lunch, and dinner providedAnnual offsites in fun spots (Costa Rica, the Rockies)