Opportunities
Work on what comes next.
Underpin works on software for complex, high-judgment work: evidence-heavy review, operational decisions, field capture, and new ways of inspecting what an intelligent system is doing. The studio collaborates with people who care deeply about the products they build.
Areas of interest
Product Design
Workflow structure, interaction models, and interfaces for software people rely on while doing difficult work.
Design Engineering
Prototypes and production UI where design decisions are carried through in the code, not handed off and lost.
Applied AI
Assistance that stays inspectable: visible sources, explicit control, and a person who can accept or reject the result.
Product Development
End-to-end product work across strategy, engineering, and the operational details that make a tool usable.
Open positions
Product Design
Senior Product Designer
Product Design, AI & Emerging Technology
About Underpin
Underpin is an independent product and technology venture focused on building intelligent, useful software that solves complex problems.
Our work spans AI-powered applications, enterprise workflows, developer tools, and emerging interaction paradigms. We believe exceptional products emerge when design, engineering, and product strategy operate as an integrated discipline—not isolated functions.
We favor thoughtful execution, technical curiosity, rapid experimentation, and a willingness to challenge conventional approaches.
The role
We're interested in connecting with experienced Senior Product Designers for future product initiatives.
This is a hands-on product design opportunity centered on turning ambiguous problems into intuitive, functional software experiences. You'll work across the full product lifecycle, from discovery and concept development to prototyping, implementation, and iteration.
We're particularly interested in designers who are comfortable operating at the intersection of complex workflows, emerging technology, and human-centered design.
The ideal candidate combines strong visual and interaction design skills with systems thinking, technical fluency, and an understanding of how products are actually built.
What you'll do
Own end-to-end product design
Translate complex requirements and ambiguous problems into clear user experiences, from initial concepts to production-ready designs.
Design sophisticated workflows
Simplify complex, data-rich interfaces for technical and professional users.
Explore AI-native experiences
Design interactions involving LLMs, intelligent agents, automation, human oversight, and AI-assisted decision-making.
Prototype rapidly
Create interactive prototypes using Figma, Framer, React, or other appropriate tools to test ideas and communicate behavior.
Build scalable design systems
Establish reusable components, interaction patterns, design tokens, and accessibility standards.
Collaborate across disciplines
Work closely with engineering and product stakeholders to balance user needs, technical constraints, and business priorities.
Validate design decisions
Use research, usability testing, product analytics, and qualitative feedback to inform iteration.
Contribute to product strategy
Identify opportunities, challenge assumptions, and help determine what should be built—not simply how it should look.
What we're looking for
- 5+ years of professional product design experience, preferably with SaaS, enterprise software, developer tools, or technically complex applications.
- A compelling portfolio demonstrating shipped products, end-to-end ownership, interaction design expertise, and measurable outcomes.
- Advanced proficiency with Figma, including component architecture, variables, prototyping, and design-system workflows.
- Strong understanding of information architecture, complex user journeys, usability principles, and accessible design.
- Experience collaborating directly with engineers and understanding frontend implementation constraints.
- Ability to communicate design decisions clearly and defend them with evidence and sound reasoning.
- Comfort navigating ambiguity, making independent decisions, and balancing strategic thinking with hands-on execution.
- Demonstrated experience designing responsive web applications and sophisticated interaction patterns.
Particularly interesting experience
While not required, we'd be especially interested in candidates with experience in one or more of these areas:
AI and agentic UX
LLM interfaces, AI copilots, autonomous workflows, explainability, human-in-the-loop systems, or intelligent automation.
Design engineering
Working knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, TypeScript, React, or modern frontend frameworks.
Enterprise UX
Complex workflows, permissions, data visualization, operational dashboards, or multi-step business processes.
Design systems
Creating or governing component libraries, design tokens, Storybook integrations, and cross-product design standards.
0-to-1 product development
Experience taking products from concept through MVP, validation, and launch.
Technical products
Developer platforms, cybersecurity, legal technology, financial technology, or other specialized domains.
How we think about design
We believe strong product designers do more than produce polished screens.
They understand the underlying problem, explore alternatives, anticipate edge cases, and make thoughtful tradeoffs. They can move between high-level strategy and pixel-level execution without losing sight of the user.
We're particularly interested in designers who can demonstrate how their work changed a product's trajectory, simplified a difficult workflow, improved a measurable outcome, or enabled a team to build something that otherwise wouldn't have been possible.
We value curiosity, intellectual independence, craftsmanship, and the ability to turn ideas into working software.
Portfolio expectations
We value demonstrated work over credentials or polished presentations alone. A strong portfolio will show:
- Two or three substantive projects demonstrating your personal contributions.
- The problem being solved, key constraints, and how design decisions evolved.
- Evidence of interaction design depth and systems-level thinking.
- Shipped outcomes, user impact, or measurable business results.
- Examples of collaboration with engineering and product stakeholders.
Interactive prototypes, working software, GitHub repositories, and technical case studies are welcome.
Underpin — Building useful intelligence into software.
This description outlines the profile we're exploring for potential future product design opportunities. Specific engagement arrangements, compensation, and timelines will be established for confirmed openings.
Future collaboration
Underpin collaborates with people who care deeply about the products they build. We're interested in connecting with designers, engineers, and independent thinkers working at the intersection of technology and human experience.
Writing does not open a funded role, and it is not an application that is stored on this website. It opens the Underpin LinkedIn page.