Founding Product Designer

About Kernel<br /><br />Agents 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?<br />Today, 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.<br />Humans have worked around that mess for years. Agents cannot. They need a reliable business identity layer they can trust.<br />Kernel 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<br /><br />Gong, Legora, Mistral, Canva and Checkout<br /><br />already use Kernel on their own systems. Agents are next, and there will be far more of them.<br />We have raised $14M from top VCs and operators at Plaid, OpenAI, Slack and others, and we are growing 5x YoY.<br />The role<br /><br />You’ll be<br /><br />Kernel’s Founding Product Designer , shaping how people experience Kernel and building a product they’ll love to use.<br />Your mission:<br /><br />simplify complexity . Make a powerful product feel effortless: clearer workflows, sharper mental models, fewer decisions, more confidence.<br />What you’ll do<br /><br />Own core UX end-to-end:<br /><br />flows, IA, interaction design, and visual craft.<br /><br />Run ground-truth discovery:<br /><br />lead user interviews, synthesize fast, turn insight into shipped changes.<br /><br />Prototype quickly:<br /><br />use whatever gets to a high-signal prototype (Figma, v0, Figma Make, code, etc.).<br /><br />Ship with engineering + PM:<br /><br />tight loops, high quality in production, iterate fast.<br /><br />Build the design foundation:<br /><br />principles, patterns, lightweight system - without slowing the team down.<br /><br />5% “other stuff”:<br /><br />occasional help with decks/narrative when it moves the business.<br /><br />What we’re looking for (impact &gt; seniority)<br /><br />Founding 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.<br /><br />You’ve shipped meaningful product work and can walk through decisions + outcomes.<br /><br />You’re strong at<br /><br />simplifying complexity<br /><br />(not just polishing UI).<br /><br />You can run discovery independently and get to the truth.<br /><br />You move fast, communicate clearly, and collaborate tightly with engineers.<br /><br />You have taste and execution: prototype → production details.<br /><br />This role may not be for you if you:<br /><br />Need other designers to work best.<br /><br />Need perfect clarity before starting.<br /><br />Prefer long cycles and big “reveals.”<br /><br />Want fully remote work (we move faster in-person).<br /><br />What We Offer<br /><br />We will do our best to offer you a ride of a lifetime. It will not be easy, but it will be thrilling.<br />Salary:<br /><br />£110,000 – £150,000 base + equity<br /><br />24 days holiday per year + bank holidays<br /><br />£450 Monthly Office Dinner Allowance<br /><br />2 weeks work-from-anywhere<br /><br />Generous parental leave policy<br /><br />Pension plan<br /><br />Top-spec equipment and central London office<br /><br />Team events and dinners<br /><br />Work directly with the founders to scale the systems that power enterprise AI<br /><br />High-autonomy, high-trust environment with a small team shipping at pace<br /><br />Visas &amp; Relocation<br /><br />We sponsor visas for exceptional candidates and provide relocation support for those moving to London.<br />Interview Process<br /><br />Stage 1:<br /><br />Introductory Call with Stefan (45 minutes)<br />Stage 2:<br /><br />Founding Team Conversation with Marcus (30 min)<br />Stage 3:<br /><br />Take-Home Assessment with Remote Working Session with Stefan &amp; Sam (60 minutes)<br />Final Stage:<br /><br />Founders Interview - A conversation with Anders (CEO) and Marcus (co-founder) focused on values alignment and long-term vision (45 minutes).<br />Following Mutual Fit: Reference checks and offer stage.<br /><br />#J-18808-Ljbffr