The Role

We’re hiring a Product Designer to help shape how our product speaks to the world. You’ll work across engineering, product, GTM, and operations to design features that earn trust; through clarity, care, and detail that’s easy to miss but impossible to ignore.

At Ascend, we see design as a conversation between product and user—one that unfolds across UI, copy, systems, brand, and motion. This role is for someone who wants to sharpen their craft while operating with range: a designer who can think systematically, move quickly, and cares about building tools that are both useful and quietly beautiful.

Must have

• Experience with velocity: 3+ years of experience designing software at a growth-stage startup
• Strong fundamentals: Confident in visual and interaction design, and systems thinking, with a portfolio that shows clarity and restraint
• Attention to detail: You catch the small things, care about them, and help others do the same
• Building for scale: You’ve designed products that serve complex use cases for enterprise customers
• Shaping from zero: You’re energized by ambiguity and know how to find shape in a blank canvas
• A point of view: You know what good design looks like, and why something falls short
• Creative range: You’re excited to stretch beyond product UI and into brand, motion, storytelling, or wherever the work demands

Nice to have

• Experience working on SaaS, fintech, or accounting tools
• Familiarity with front-end development or working closely with engineers
• Prior experience with design systems, especially at smaller startups
• Exposure to motion, animation, or data visualization

What you’ll shape

As an early member of a small team, your impact won’t just be measured by the features you ship. You’ll help shape how design is practiced at Ascend:

• Our quality standards and how we uphold them
• Our processes and how we scale them
• Our rituals, critiques, and team culture
• Our system of values for craft, performance, and communication

You’ll be joining a team that is open-minded and restless about improvement.

What to expect

First 30 Days — Immediate Impact

• Ship your first features in week one—build context by contributing to real product work
• Get hands-on with our design system through implementation and iteration
• Collaborate with GTM on brand and marketing assets
• Join product reviews, critiques, and design rituals to build context fast

First 60 Days — Full Contribution

• Own and ship a scoped product feature end-to-end
• Contribute patterns and polish to our design system
• Partner closely with engineering to improve design/dev collaboration
• Support marketing and brand efforts with fluency and consistency

First 90 Days — Independent Ownership

• Take ownership of a meaningful product surface area and operate with autonomy
• Drive a project from early discovery to implementation
• Raise product quality through reviews, system design, and strong partnerships
• Suggest improvements to how we work—process, tools, and cross-functional practices

How to Apply

If this sounds like a fit, we’d love to hear from you. Please include a portfolio or samples of work that help us understand how you think and what you value in design.

Compensation: $120,000 w/ equity