Product Designer

Product Design @ Kilo Code

The situation: Software development is being reshaped by AI, and a lot of the existing developer experience is being rebuilt from scratch. We’re building tools that sit directly inside how developers write, debug, and ship code, and knowledge workers interact with AI agents. That means designing for complex workflows, tight feedback loops, and users who care deeply about speed, control, and clarity.

We’re looking for a Product Designer who can help rethink core parts of the developer workflow, where AI becomes a natural extension of how work gets done, not a layer on top.

This is not a handoff role. You’ll work directly with engineers and product to define problems, test ideas, and ship improvements into production.

You are:

• Deeply product-minded. You care about whether something works in production, not just how it looks in mockups

• Fast. Like, uncomfortably fast for normal companies. You make decisions, ship, and iterate instead of getting stuck refining edge cases

• Someone who can zoom out (end-to-end journeys, developer workflows) and zoom in (interaction details, states, language)

• Comfortable designing for technical users. You either understand how developers work or can get there quickly

• Strong in systems thinking. You can design across workflows, not just individual screens

• Able to translate complex technical concepts (AI, dev tools, infra) into simple, intuitive interfaces

• Comfortable working through ambiguity and incomplete information

• Collaborative with engineering and product, and able to think through constraints in real time

• Fluent in AI, especially how it changes workflows, not just features; Some people call you AI-native

• Comfortable prototyping ideas to communicate them clearly (design tools, code, or AI-assisted workflows)

• Kind, thoughtful, honest, open, and patient with others

You might also:

• Have experience designing developer tools, technical products, or complex SaaS systems

• Have worked on AI-native features or products

• Be comfortable with frontend concepts and how designs translate into implementation

• Have experience contributing to or working within a design system

• Have a portfolio that shows end-to-end ownership and shipped work, not just concepts

• Have operated as a senior IC, owning problems end-to-end and driving them into production

Week 2 you will:

• Own a product area or workflow

• Be accountable for how your designs perform in production, not just how they look

• Run tight feedback loops, shipping and refining improvements quickly

• Develop a strong understanding of a core user journey

Month 1 you will:

• Be driving design direction for a core part of the product

• Operate with high autonomy and minimal direction

• Be driving measurable improvements to key workflows based on usage and feedback

The work setup:

• Remote (strong preference for ET, CT, or Western Europe time zones) but we ship together in person every 2-3 months (think: hackathon energy, not conference rooms).

• You’ll spend most of your time designing, prototyping, and iterating on real product experiences

• You’ll collaborate closely with engineers, often working in the same loop rather than separate phases

• We prioritize progress over perfection, and real user feedback over internal opinions

• We thank people publicly, give feedback directly, and own our mistakes

Anti-requirements:

• Needing pixel-perfect specs before starting

• Treating design as a handoff instead of a collaborative process

• Treating design as purely visual instead of solving real workflow problems

• Designing without understanding how things actually work in the product

• Getting stuck refining details instead of shipping and learning

• Waiting for perfect alignment or consensus before moving forward

• “I didn’t design that, so I’m not fixing it.”

The Reality of Working at Kilo

We want to be transparent about what it takes to succeed here.

• We Work Exceptionally Hard: We are ambitious, and ambition requires effort. Most people who do not succeed at Kilo fail because they underestimate the work ethic required. We’re not a 9-9-6 shop, but we do expect you to bring energy, intensity, and grit every single day.

• High Accountability: We don't hide behind vanity metrics. You will own outcomes, not just pull requests. You will have a number (WAUzer), and you will be responsible for hitting it.

• A Driven Culture: We foster healthy competition and a shared will to win. We support each other, but we also push each other to be the absolute best.

Apply with:

Links to your portfolio, shipped work, case studies, or anything that shows how you think and what you’ve built.