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 identity
Own and evolve our branding: typography, color, layout, visual guidelines, and overall direction
Build and maintain a scalable design system with reusable components and standards
Bring consistency to our frontend platform so every customer-facing screen follows the same principles
Design intuitive, polished interfaces that make complex voice AI workflows easy to understand
Work directly with frontend engineers to implement designs and improve the product experience
Use AI development tools like Claude to translate design guidelines into code and standardize implementation
Contribute to the codebase when needed, including frontend improvements and pull requests
Maintain brand consistency across our website, product, marketing materials, and customer-facing assets
Set 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 company
Exceptional visual design skills and a portfolio showing high-quality work across brand and digital product
Experience building or maintaining design systems and establishing consistent standards
Strong command of UI/UX, typography, layout, color, and visual hierarchy
Experience designing web applications and working closely with frontend engineering teams
Ability to own design projects from initial concept through implementation
Comfort with AI tools and learning new technologies to move faster
Strong attention to detail and the ability to explain and defend design decisions
High 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 startup
Experience at a company recognized for exceptional design quality
Background designing B2B SaaS platforms or complex web applications
Hands-on frontend experience with HTML, CSS, React, or similar
Experience working with GitHub, contributing code, and submitting pull requests
Familiarity with AI-assisted development tools such as Claude
Experience 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 coverage
401(k) with 4% match
Unlimited PTO
Meaningful equity
Wellness stipend
Race/tournament stipend (so you can go compete in cool stuff!)
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner provided
Annual offsites in fun spots (Costa Rica, the Rockies)
Interview Process
1. 15-min intro call
2. Portfolio review focused on visual design, brand identity, and design systems
3. Deep dive with leadership on your design approach, past work, and technical capabilities
4. Final conversation with leadership