Job Description

About the Role:

OpenRouter is building the world's largest marketplace for LLMs, growing rapidly to meet the evolving needs of developers, enterprises, and AI enthusiasts. As our first designer, you'll join a small, highly technical team of 7.

This role is perfect for someone who is highly productive, has high agency, and is excited to own the entire design function, from UI/UX to product thinking, and enjoys working closely with founders and engineers. You'll play a critical role in shaping our platform, building out our design system from scratch, and solving problems for our customers.

While we're not expecting you to directly implement designs in code, we are looking for someone who is excited to embrace modern AI tools that begin to move design closer to the code. Since we're building a technical AI infrastructure product, the ideal candidate is someone who is excited about AI software and services and is excited to dig in and understand the value proposition of OpenRouter.

Key Responsibilities:

UI/UX & Design System:

• Own the end-to-end design process: research, wireframing, prototyping, and final implementation.
• Build and maintain a scalable design system, while still being focused on shipping.
• Collaborate closely with engineering to ensure designs translate well into code.
• Optimize usability and simplify complex AI workflows to create intuitive, developer-friendly experiences.

Product & Strategy:

• Work directly with founders to refine product vision, user experience, and design priorities.
• Contribute to product strategy by aligning business goals, user needs, and technical constraints.
• Listen to our customers and iterate based on feedback.

Collaboration & Execution:

• Partner with engineers to ship fast, functional, and delightful user experiences.
• Use AI-powered design tools to move faster, automate repetitive tasks, and generate creative solutions.
• Participate in product and design critiques, working asynchronously with the team over Slack, Notion, and Linear.

About You:

• 5+ years of experience in Product Design, UI/UX, or a related field.
• Strong background in end-to-end product design, from UX research to high-fidelity UI.
• Fluent in TailwindCSS or comfortable working closely with utility-first design systems.
• Excited about AI—you don't need to be an ML expert, but you should be eager to design for technical users.
• A startup mindset—you thrive in ambiguity, take ownership, and can move quickly with limited resources.
• Strong communication skills—you know how to articulate design rationale and work effectively in a remote, async team.

What We Offer:

• High-impact role: Shape the design language and UX of a rapidly growing AI infrastructure company.
• Fast-moving, technical team: Work with experienced engineers and founders who prioritize execution.
• Ownership & autonomy: You'll own the design function and have the freedom to drive it as you see fit.
• Competitive compensation: Salary + meaningful equity in an early-stage, high-growth startup.

If you're a highly capable, product-minded designer who loves working close to the code, we'd love to hear from you.

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