Founding Design Engineer

Urban Ridge Supplies•New York, NY

11h•$140,000 - $185,000•Hybrid

About The Position

Noto is hiring its first design engineer to own how its product looks, works, and reads. The role combines design and engineering with product judgment, attention to detail, and empathy for users, taking ideas from initial sketch through implementation and release. Noto’s customers use the product throughout the day across many workflows, and the design engineer will improve areas that have become unnecessarily complex, bringing clarity, cohesion, and craft to the experience. The role involves hands-on ownership of product design and implementation, including building projects end to end from the user interface through the database. The design engineer will establish design quality standards, influence other engineers’ work from early scoping through final polish, identify customer pain points, and define the components, patterns, and copy standards used by the team. This is product work, not marketing or brand work, and includes meaningful influence over both what the company builds and how it builds it. The team is based in New York City and works four days per week in the office at Herald Square and one day remotely. Team members may work from anywhere for one week per quarter. Occasional travel for team offsites and customer visits is expected. The team reports working 50–60-hour weeks, with some late nights and occasional weekends expected.

Requirements

Four or more years designing and building software products.
Full-stack ability and comfort with React, Next.js, Node, and Postgres.
Ability to use AI to ship features end to end and recognize when AI-generated code is incorrect.
Strong product judgment: ability to simplify messy workflows and explain why a proposed solution works.
Care for words and details, including labels, error messages, empty states, and parent emails.
Comfort working with ambiguity and going directly to customers to uncover the real problem.
Currently authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis; the company cannot sponsor employment visas.

Nice To Haves

Experience as the first or only designer at a company.
Experience designing complex operational software such as scheduling, billing, or administrative tools.
Interest in helping education businesses thrive.

Responsibilities

Own the design of the entire product, including layouts, workflows, and on-screen copy.
Design and build projects end to end, from the user interface to the database.
Set the design quality bar and shape other engineers’ work from early scoping through final polish.
Identify moments that confuse or slow customers, then redesign and build better solutions.
Establish the components, patterns, and copy standards that guide how the team builds.
Investigate customer problems by speaking with business owners and front-desk staff, including when work begins with unstructured customer-call notes.
Attend industry conferences and connect with users to learn and develop the product.