Head of Design (India)

About the company

Our client is an early-stage AI company building an ambient AI memory product. It runs quietly in the background across phone and desktop, captures conversations in many languages, organises them into a searchable memory by people and projects, and shares that context with the AI tools you already use.

It is a small, senior team led by experienced founders from top AI and research backgrounds. The product is live with a growing global user base across iOS, Android, Mac, Windows, Chrome and the web.

About the role

This is the company's first design leader. Today the founder sets the product's look and behaviour himself. You will take that direction and turn it into finished, shipped design, build the system underneath it, and set the standard for design. It is a hands-on seat: you design screens yourself. It is not a large-team management job. One designer reports to you from day one.

What you will do

• Own the design system across six surfaces (iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows, Chrome and web) so the product feels like one thing everywhere.
• Lead end-to-end design for the non-iPhone surfaces, from flow to polished, shipped screens.
• Turn founder direction into strong, well-argued design options and defend the choices that matter.
• Guide a junior designer and set what "finished" looks like.
• Work closely with engineers so what ships matches what was designed.
• Design for trust: a product that listens all day has to feel calm, safe and unobtrusive.
• Work with a few hours of daily overlap with the US team.

Who you are

Must-haves

• 6 to 10 years in product design, with 2+ years leading a product area at a top Indian consumer app (CRED, Swiggy, Zepto, Zomato, PhonePe, Groww, Cult.fit or similar).
• Built or led a design system that shipped on more than one platform, including iOS and Android.
• Shipped end-to-end flows on iOS and Android, with outcomes you can speak to.
• Led a major product area alongside engineers and PMs, not only as an individual contributor.
• A portfolio of shipped work, not concepts.

Nice-to-haves

• Desktop or browser design experience.
• AI or voice product experience.
• Experience managing designers.
• Strong motion and prototyping skills.

Probably not a fit if

• Your background is agency-only, brand-only or research-only, without shipped product flows.
• You come from B2B or enterprise-only work with no consumer mobile product.
• You have not designed hands-on for more than two years.

Why this role

• First design leader, with full ownership of the design system and product across six surfaces.
• A direct line to the founders, and a CEO who cares about design as much as you do.
• Equity in a US company, in a category being defined right now.
• Remote anywhere in India.