{"id":568735,"url":"https://alion.io/job/kernel-founding-product-designer","title":"Founding Product Designer","company":{"id":456080,"name":"Kernel","domain":"kernel.ai","url":"https://alion.io/company/kernel-9","size_band":null,"is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Ashby","truth_index":null},"role":"Design","role_family":"Design","seniority":null,"employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["London, United Kingdom"],"countries":["GB"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":110000,"max":150000,"currency":"GBP","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":200637},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":null,"visa_sponsorship":true,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Canva","optional":false},{"name":"Figma","optional":false},{"name":"OpenAI","optional":false},{"name":"Slack","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-09-07T13:28:57Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-09-07","last_verified_at":"2026-11-01T18:32:09Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":55,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":55},"description":"About Kernel\nAgents are starting to sell, buy and operate on behalf of companies. But before an agent can close a deal, qualify an account, route a lead or assess risk, it has to answer a basic question: which company is this?\nToday, that answer is messy, and no one answers it reliably. Business identity lives across CRMs, ERPs and third-party datasets full of duplicates, missing parent companies, stale addresses and incorrect enrichment. The cost shows up across the enterprise: sales teams miss revenue opportunities because they lack the right account context; operations teams take on avoidable exposure because risk signals are fragmented or wrong; and finance teams end up chasing, writing off, or defaulting on bad debt that should have been caught earlier.\nHumans have worked around that mess for years. Agents cannot. They need a reliable business identity layer they can trust.\nKernel is building that layer: the business registry for agents. We issue a permanent KERN ID for every business, plus the context an agent needs to act on it. Ops, data and revenue teams at Gong, Legora, Mistral, Canva and Checkout already use Kernel on their own systems. Agents are next, and there will be far more of them.\nWe have raised $20M from top VCs and operators at Plaid, OpenAI, Slack and others, and we are growing 5x YoY.\nThe role\nYou’ll be Kernel’s Founding Product Designer, shaping how people experience Kernel and building a product they’ll love to use.\nYour mission: simplify complexity. Make a powerful product feel effortless: clearer workflows, sharper mental models, fewer decisions, more confidence.\nWhat you’ll do\nOwn core UX end-to-end: flows, IA, interaction design, and visual craft.\n\nRun ground-truth discovery: lead user interviews, synthesize fast, turn insight into shipped changes.\n\nPrototype quickly: use whatever gets to a high-signal prototype (Figma, v0, Figma Make, code, etc.).\n\nShip with engineering + PM: tight loops, high quality in production, iterate fast.\n\nBuild the design foundation: principles, patterns, lightweight system - without slowing the team down.\n\n5% “other stuff”: occasional help with decks/narrative when it moves the business.\n\nWhat we’re looking for (impact > seniority)\nFounding designer experience is a plus, but not a requirement - what matters most is that you have early-stage startup experience and can point to tangible examples of transforming a business through design.\n\nYou’ve shipped meaningful product work and can walk through decisions + outcomes.\n\nYou’re strong at simplifying complexity (not just polishing UI).\n\nYou can run discovery independently and get to the truth.\n\nYou move fast, communicate clearly, and collaborate tightly with engineers.\n\nYou have taste and execution: prototype → production details.\n\nThis role may not be for you if you:\nNeed other designers to work best.\n\nNeed perfect clarity before starting.\n\nPrefer long cycles and big “reveals.”\n\nWant fully remote work (we move faster in-person).\n\nWhat We Offer\nWe will do our best to offer you a ride of a lifetime. It will not be easy, but it will be thrilling.\nSalary: £110,000 - £150,000 base + equity\n\n24 days holiday per year + bank holidays\n\n£450 Monthly Office Dinner Allowance\n\n2 weeks work-from-anywhere\n\nGenerous parental leave policy\n\nPension plan\n\nTop-spec equipment and central London office\n\nTeam events and dinners\n\nWork directly with the founders to scale the systems that power enterprise AI\n\nHigh-autonomy, high-trust environment with a small team shipping at pace\n\nVisas & Relocation\nWe sponsor visas for exceptional candidates and provide relocation support for those moving to London.\nInterview Process\nStage 1: Introductory Call with Stefan (45 minutes)\nStage 2: Founding Team Conversation with Marcus (30 min)\nStage 3: Take-Home Assessment with Remote Working Session with Stefan & Sam (60 minutes)\nFinal Stage: Founders Interview - A conversation with Anders (CEO) and Marcus (co-founder) focused on values alignment and long-term vision (45 minutes).\nFollowing 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