Design Engineer

At Onward, we're building tools to automate the workday.

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About Onward

Opportunity

All work starts with a conversation. Whether it's a stand-up, sales call, interview, or meeting, conversations are the foundation of every company. They are where ideas are shared, decisions are made, and progress begins.

Today, people spend hours each day transforming these conversations into tangible, actionable artifacts – such as summaries, messages, follow-ups, CRM updates, tickets, and more. When compounded across an entire organization, these redundant tasks, which we call "work-about-work," represent the most significant drain on productivity that a company faces.

Approach

Onward is purpose-built to help modern teams turn conversation into action.

Our solution connects the dots between every conversation and the knowledge stored within your company's apps. Within minutes, Onward eliminates "work-about work," keeps knowledge up to date across every system, and helps startups and enterprises save millions of dollars in lost productivity.

Our team comes from incredible companies like Midjourney and Zynga, and we're backed by Y Combinator and world-class investors and operators, including the earliest supporters of Stripe, Rippling, Zapier, Retool, Airtable, and many more.

The Role

What does the role look like?

You'll be at the forefront of transforming how people interact with ambiguous conversation data, creating tools that convert complex conversations into clear, actionable insights. You will oversee the end-to-end design and development process for new features and products, and collaborate closely with the product and engineering teams to brainstorm, create, and implement designs.

We're a small team executing an ambitious roadmap. We invest heavily in our people, and are focused on building a strong, revenue-generating business. People who are excited and passionate about working this way should apply.

This role is based in San Francisco, CA. We use a hybrid work model (~3 days in-office) and offer relocation assistance to new employees.

In this role, you will:

• Build a deep understanding of our customers, their objectives, and how Onward can solve their problems.

• Lead the design cycle for new products and features, from concept to implementation.

• Design and build responsive web applications within product deadlines.

• Maintain and improve our existing design assets, including our design system.

• Produce high-quality work consistently, and with sharp attention to detail.

To excel in this role, you should:

• Have 3+ years of relevant experience as a design engineer, designer, or front-end engineer at tech and product-driven companies.

• Be knowledgeable about tools like Figma and TypeScript and React.

• Have proven experience in fast-growing startup environments, successfully shipping high-quality products and features ("0-1 and 1-5").

• Have demonstrated ability to thrive in ambiguous environments with competing priorities and tight deadlines.

• Have excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Enjoy working quickly (in fact, prefer it).

What to Expect

Compensation, Benefits, and Perks

Annual Salary Range: $140,000—$170,000 USD

Your offer will include a competitive salary, employee-friendly equity, and the following:

• Health, dental, and vision coverage

• A new MacBook Pro + WFH support

• Paid coffee and lunch during workdays

• Regular team events and off-sites

• Unlimited paid time off (with a minimum!)

What does the hiring process look like?

Many of our interviews are enabled through self-scheduling, but we are always on hand to speak to you or answer questions throughout the process. We respond quickly and will request and share feedback at every stage.

1. Application (You are here): Our team will review your application to see how your skills and experience align with our needs.

2. Introductory call (30m): Our goal is to explore your motivations to join our team, learn why you’d be a great fit, and answer questions about us.

3. Interview (45m): You'll meet the hiring team, who will evaluate the skills needed to be successful in your role. No live coding or design work required.

4. On-site workday (full day): You'll join a stand-up, meet the team, and work on a task related to your role, offering a realistic view of what it's like working at Onward.

5. Offer stage: You may want to speak to more of the team, see a demo, or have other suggestions for us. If everyone’s happy, we’ll make you an offer to join us.

Onward is an equal-opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made upon connection with the hiring manager.