Founding Product Engineer / Designer

About Architect

Architect is an AI research and product lab for chip design. We build AI models and systems that can explore, design, optimize, and verify new hardware. Our goal is to reimagine chip design using AI, cut down ASIC design time and cost, and enable a new era of ultra-efficient, domain-specific chips powering the future of computation.

Born out of Stanford, our team blends researchers and engineers from DeepMind, Meta, Apple, Intel, and other frontier labs. Backed by leading VCs and angels, including the Chief Scientist at Google, Stanford professors, and founders of chip companies, Architect operates in stealth, pushing the limits of AI4EDA and building the intelligence layer for the hardware revolution.

What You’ll Do

As a Founding Product Designer at Architect, you’ll define how the world’s first AI-powered developer platform for hardware design. You’ll design interfaces where AI and human engineers co-create silicon, from RTL generation to system-level optimization, in a fluid, intelligent environment. You’ll own the full product experience: from high-level interaction design and visual systems to polished, production-ready UI. You’ll work closely with the ML and product teams to translate complex AI workflows into intuitive, powerful tools for hardware engineers. This is a 0→1 role — you’ll set the foundation for Architect’s product identity and design language, and shape how hardware design feels in the AI era.

What We’d Like to See

Background:

• 4+ years designing end-to-end experiences for highly technical or developer-facing products — IDEs, design tools, data/ML platforms, or productivity software.
• Previous experience at a design-driven company (e.g. Notion, Linear, Figma, Replit, Anthropic, etc.) or a startup where design was central to product strategy.
• A portfolio demonstrating systems thinking, exceptional visual craft, and strong product intuition.

Core Skills:

• Mastery of Figma (or equivalent) for designing and prototyping complex workflows.
• Deep understanding of UI and UX principles for data-dense, tool-heavy products.
• Ability to think from first principles: how should AI behave in an IDE context?
• Comfort translating abstract AI capabilities into concrete interaction models and flows.
• Strong visual and typographic sensibility — ability to make highly technical tools feel beautiful.
• Huge Bonus: ability to implement your designs directly using React, TypeScript, or JavaScript — we love “design engineers” who bridge design and code.

Bonus:

• Experience designing for AI-powered tools, agent interfaces, or developer workflows.
• Experience with rapid prototyping frameworks (Framer, React, or custom tooling).
• Interest in chip design, hardware visualization, or technical creative tools.
• Worked at early-stage deeptech or design-centric startups as the first or founding designer.

• A product thinker who obsesses over clarity, speed, and precision.
• You understand how to turn complexity into simplicity without dumbing things down.
• You thrive in ambiguity and like working shoulder-to-shoulder with engineers.
• You’re comfortable being the first designer, setting standards, and leading by example.
• You care deeply about aesthetics and the invisible details that make tools joyful to use.

What We Offer

• Competitive salary
• Fast-paced startup with autonomy and visible impact
• Cutting-edge AI-driven chip design challenges