Founding Product Designer

Slash Financial

$120K — $140K *
Consumer Technology
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Strong fundamentals in product design, including interaction design and systems thinking.
  • Demonstrated creative range in graphic design, illustration, and art direction.
  • Proven track record of owning projects from concept to successful launch.
  • Ability to thrive in an environment without predefined processes.
  • Familiarity with AI tools such as Claude and ChatGPT in design workflows.
  • Experience in a fast-paced startup environment, preferably in an early design role.
  • Residing in San Francisco due to the company's strong in-person culture.

Responsibilities

  • Own product design from initial sketches to final shipped product.
  • Establish and document a comprehensive design system for scalability.
  • Direct Slash's visual identity across multiple channels and mediums.
  • Collaborate directly with engineers for quick prototyping and testing.
  • Incorporate AI tools to clarify design challenges and streamline workflows.
  • Engage with customers to validate design decisions based on real use cases.
  • Build the design function, setting standards and processes for future team growth.

Benefits

  • Equity stake, providing the opportunity to shape the company's design direction.
  • Autonomous work environment promoting ownership.
  • Comprehensive health and benefits package.
  • Access to modern office space in downtown San Francisco.
  • Unlimited paid time off (PTO).
Full Job Description
About the role

Slash is hiring its Founding Product Designer. This is the first dedicated design hire at the company, and you'll set the visual and product language for everything we build, from the core banking product to the marketing site to how we show up on socials.

This role is broader than product design. We need someone who can take a complex financial workflow and make it simple in Figma, and who also has the creative range to art direct a launch, illustrate an idea, or design something with enough craft that it makes Slash look and feel like a company operating at a different level than other fintechs.

You'll work directly with our founders and engineering team, with no layers between you and the decisions that matter. What you design ships.

What you'll do
  • Own product design end to end. Take problems from our founders, PMs, and engineers and carry them from the first sketch through the shipped product.
  • Set the design system. Establish the visual and interaction language for the core product now, while building the system and documentation that will let a future design team scale it consistently.
  • Direct Slash's visual identity. Take ownership of brand, marketing site design, decks, event graphics, and social content. This is hands-on work: illustration, layout, and original creative, not just applying an existing brand kit.
  • Work in-line with engineering. Pair directly with engineers to prototype ideas quickly, test them, and get real product in front of customers rather than polishing specs that sit in Figma.
  • Use AI as part of your process. Use tools like Claude and Cursor to clarify problems, explore directions, and prototype flows before they reach high-fidelity design.
  • Talk to customers directly. Validate design decisions against how customers actually use Slash, not assumptions about how they should.
  • Build the function you're joining. Set the tools, process, and quality bar that will define how design operates at Slash as the team grows, including a hand in hiring the designers who join after you.

What you need
  • Strong product design fundamentals. Interaction design, systems thinking, and the judgment to simplify a genuinely complex financial product without dumbing it down.
  • Real creative range beyond UI. Graphic design, illustration, art direction, or a similar creative background. Your portfolio needs to demonstrate this directly, not just claim it.
  • A track record of ownership. You can point to specific projects you carried from an ambiguous problem through a shipped, successful outcome, not just execution against a defined spec.
  • Comfort operating without a playbook. This role requires building the process alongside the product. You should be someone who is energized by that, not someone who needs it handed to you.
  • Active use of AI tools such as Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor as part of how you already work.
  • Experience at a fast-growing startup, ideally in a founding or early design role. This is a strong plus, not a requirement, but we're looking for someone who has operated at this level of ambiguity and speed before.
  • Based in San Francisco. Slash has a strong in-person culture and this role is expected in our office.

What's in it for you
  • Ground-floor equity and the chance to define design at a company scaling fast
  • High autonomy and ownership culture
  • Comprehensive health and benefits plan
  • Working out of our downtown San Francisco office space
  • Unlimited PTO

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