Founding Product Designer

YOUR MISSION
A software engineer today works alongside Claude Code or Cursor. A mechanical engineer designing the next jet engine still clicks through CAD trees, searches Excel sheets and asks whoever has been around longest.
We are building the AI co-engineer for physical products: one that works natively in 3D and learns from real engineering decisions. We are in production with major European manufacturers.
The interaction model is still an open problem. How does an engineer give an agent context, steer its work and understand what changed? How much should the agent figure out itself? And how does all of this fit into existing CAD and engineering workflows?
You will work directly with founders, engineers and customers to figure that out and turn it into a product people can actually use.
You are our first full-time product designer. We want someone with a point of view who can help shape the direction, not someone waiting for a finished brief.
WHAT YOU'LL WORK ON
You will work across discovery, interaction design and shipped product. We cannot say exactly what that looks like in month three, but these are the kinds of problems in front of us:
How engineers work with AI agents in 3D. Briefing, steering, reviewing and understanding agent work without turning the product into another complex engineering tool.
Connecting AI into real engineering workflows. Spend time with customers, understand how they actually work, test ideas early and turn what you learn into better product decisions.
Prototyping new interaction models. Sometimes that means Figma, sometimes a rough prototype in code, sometimes pairing directly with an engineer. Use whatever gets us to an answer fastest.
Driving product initiatives with founders and engineers. Help frame the problem, facilitate decisions and turn a direction into projects and tasks the team can execute.
Making the product coherent as it grows. Own interaction and visual quality, including the design system, without slowing down experimentation.
WHAT WE CARE ABOUT
You have shipped complex software products for expert users and can point to the decisions you made, not just the final screens.
You are comfortable when the problem is not yet defined. You form your own opinion, push back and help create clarity.
You have strong product judgment. You know when to research, when to prototype, when to polish and when to ship.
You are comfortable working directly with customers and software engineers, and you learn unfamiliar domains quickly.
You have strong interaction and visual craft and are comfortable with Figma, prototyping in code and AI-assisted workflows.
You are fluent in German and English.
Bonus: CAD, 3D, PLM, industrial software, AI agents or other highly technical products. None required.
HOW TO APPLY
Via Ashby with:
Your CV
Your portfolio – at least two case studies of complex B2B or AI products, showing your process, not just final screens
A link to something you prototyped in code or with AI tools – rough is fine
A 2-min intro video (any format you like)
A short answer to: "What is the most complex workflow you have simplified – what made it hard, and what did you decide to leave out?"
No recruiters, no portals.

Work arrangement
Yes