SECTION I · THE BRIEF
Brief #43100Updated 22 AUG 2026SAN FRANCISCO, CAYc
Employbl Company Profile

Founding Design Engineer

Helium is hiring a Founding Design Engineer in San Francisco, CA. Full brief — comp band, interview process, and hiring team — available to Employbl members.

Location
San Francisco, CA
Company size
1–10
Posted
3d ago
Via
Yc
Section II · Premium ProfileMembers only
  • 01Comp band & equity packageLocked
  • 02Seniority & experience requirementsLocked
  • 03Interview process & rubricLocked
  • 04Hiring manager & team contextLocked
  • 05Growth trajectory in this roleLocked
  • 06Offer & decision timelineLocked
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Helium logo

Founding Design Engineer · Helium

View company profile
Job title
Founding Design Engineer
Job location
San Francisco, CA, US
Job listing URL
https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/helium/jobs/lK6JrVU-founding-design-engineer
Job description
**Helium is building Self-Improving Software**: AI that automatically generates & tests new software experiences to lift revenue. We’re… * **Talent-dense** (8 people, 6 engineers, 75% ex-founders) * **Well-funded** ($6M from Google & Leaders from OpenAI) * **Fast-growing** (Serving tens of millions of AI experiences per day for top consumer companies). AI has created a once-in-history opportunity, and we’re here to win, because of that… * **🔴 We work hard — In-Office Monday–Friday + often push through weekends 🔴** # **What You’ll Do** **Own design across Helium’s entire AI Experience generation product, including…** * Design and implement end-to-end user flows including… * Using Helium’s AI editor to generate new in-app experiences * Running experiments and automatically analyzing results * Receiving and critiquing auto-generated experiences * Help engineers think through UX challenges and critique / uplevel design generally * Build out a visual identity and a design system * Work directly with the founders to help build out our team. * Talk to customers every week about how to simplify and improve our product * Wearing a lot more hats than listed above 👷. # **What We’re Looking For** **You should be a designer-who-codes (or an engineer with taste)** * 1-4+ years as a product designer, frontend engineer, or similar role combining design and implementation * Deep expertise in modern frontend technologies (React, TypeScript, modern CSS) * Excellent design taste and a keen eye for detail * Track record of making complex user flows intuitive (Making “The simple simple and the complex possible”) # **Nice To Haves** * Experience designing interfaces for AI products or ML-powered features * Experience optimizing frontend performance and reducing latency * Experience with brand, visual design, or creating design systems. * Founder experience # **Reasons This Role Might Not Be A Fit** * You’d like to spend weeks perfecting every experience * You avoid Cursor or AI coding tools. * You don’t want to talk to customers or figure out the end-to-end plan for features. # **Requirements** 🔴 Note 🔴 * This is a **full-time, in-person role** based in **San Francisco** - we work from the office **6 days a week** (Mon-Sat) * You must be **based in the Bay Area** or willing to **relocate before starting**. * We require **US work authorization**, but are open to **O-1 visa sponsorship** for truly exceptional candidates. # **Our stack:** * Next.js (React/Typescript), Zustand * AI (vercel) SDK * Tailwind/Shadcn * Supabase * Clickhouse * Golang/[**Fly.io**](http://Fly.io) * Mobile: Swift, Flutter, Expo, Android Requires Bachelors degree or higher in Computer Science or similar fields.
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Where this role is based

San Francisco, CA

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Helium headquarters

Company size

1–10 employees

Founded

2024

Total raised

$7,402,999

View company profile ↗

Funding rounds

  • Seed$5.4M
  • Pre Seed$2M