Lead Product Designer

Lead Product Designer - TinyFish The Opportunity TinyFish operates on a fundamental principle: work with the world as it is, make the hard parts feel easy, and give people the space to do what they do best. We're seeking a Lead Product Designer who embodies this philosophy while pioneering the intersection of human-centered design and artificial intelligence. This role isn't about following established playbooks—it's about writing them. You'll architect product experiences that leverage LLMs not as mere features, but as fundamental design materials that reshape how humans interact with technology. The Role Reports to: Head of Design Location: [Flexible/Remote/Hybrid - adjust as needed] Level: Senior IC with leadership responsibilities Core Responsibilities 0→1 Product Architecture Conceptualize and design entirely new product categories that don't yet have mental models or design patterns Transform ambiguous problem spaces into elegant, intuitive experiences that feel inevitable in hindsight Build design systems that scale from first prototype to product-market fit without fundamental restructuring AI-Native Design Leadership Design interaction paradigms that treat LLMs as collaborative partners rather than command-response tools Architect probabilistic UI systems that gracefully handle the non-deterministic nature of AI outputs Create design patterns for managing context windows, token efficiency, and latency as first-class UX considerations Develop frameworks for designing around hallucination, uncertainty, and model limitations without breaking user trust Strategic Design Thinking Partner with engineering and product to influence model fine-tuning based on UX requirements Design feedback loops that simultaneously improve user experience and model performance Create evaluation frameworks for AI-powered features that balance capability with comprehensibility Establish design principles for ethical AI deployment that maintain user agency while leveraging automation Team & Culture Building Mentor designers in developing AI literacy without requiring ML engineering knowledge Establish design critique processes that evaluate both traditional usability and AI-specific interaction patterns Build cross-functional bridges between design, ML engineering, and product to create unified experiences Essential Qualifications Technical Expertise Deep LLM Knowledge: Understanding of transformer architectures, prompt engineering, RAG systems, and emerging patterns like chain-of-thought reasoning and constitutional AI AI Product Experience: Shipped products leveraging GPT-4, Claude, or similar models; understanding of their capabilities, limitations, and optimal use cases Systems Thinking: Ability to design for emergent behaviors, feedback loops, and non-linear user journeys inherent in AI systems Design Mastery 0→1 Track Record: Multiple examples of creating successful products in undefined categories where you had to invent the interaction paradigms Craft Excellence: Pixel-perfect attention to detail while maintaining velocity; ability to produce high-fidelity prototypes that feel production-ready Research Integration: Experience conducting foundational research in unexplored problem spaces and translating insights into breakthrough designs Leadership Qualities Intellectual Rigor: Ability to engage with complex technical concepts and translate them into human-comprehensible experiences First-Principles Thinking: Comfort challenging assumptions and reimagining interactions from fundamental human needs rather than existing patterns Communication Precision: Capability to articulate design decisions through multiple lenses—technical feasibility, user value, and business impact What Sets You Apart You've designed products where the AI isn't just a feature but fundamentally changes the product's architecture You understand concepts like attention mechanisms, embedding spaces, and temperature settings well enough to design around them You've wrestled with designing for stochastic outputs and found elegant solutions You've developed novel interaction patterns that make complex AI capabilities feel simple and delightful The TinyFish Approach We believe in riding the currents of technological change while maintaining deep empathy for human needs. Our design philosophy centers on finding leverage—identifying the minimal interaction that unlocks maximum value. This role offers the opportunity to define how humanity interfaces with artificial intelligence at a pivotal moment in technological history. You won't just be designing products; you'll be establishing patterns that could influence an entire generation of AI-powered experiences. TinyFish is committed to building a diverse team that reflects the global community we serve. We encourage applications from candidates who bring unique perspectives and experiences to our design challenges.