Lead Product Designer
Clera· United States·
About the Role
We're a fast-growing, angel-funded B2B SaaS startup building AI-powered communication tools for thousands of European business customers — including professional services firms, medical practices, and tradespeople. Our product automates and enhances how businesses handle calls and customer communication around the clock.
We're looking for an experienced, hands-on Lead Product Designer to own Design, Branding, and Design Team leadership. You'll work shoulder-to-shoulder with founders and engineers, set the design standard across product and brand, and ship at high velocity with direct access to real customers. This is a rare opportunity to define and scale design at a pivotal growth stage.
What You'll Do
Take full ownership of product design, branding, and the design team — roughly a 50/50 split between individual contributor craft and team leadership.
Lead hands-on product design across three product areas, maintaining consistency and quality throughout.
Conduct regular customer interviews with end-users (e.g. tradespeople, doctors, professional service providers) and translate insights directly into design decisions.
Define, build, and maintain a scalable design system across product, web, and brand.
Own and evolve the brand identity, including website design and visual language.
Lead and mentor the design team, spanning website, branding, and product design workstreams.
Collaborate closely with founders and engineering in tight feedback loops for rapid decision-making and daily releases.
Set and uphold design standards — measuring design decisions with analytics and iterating data-driven.
Leverage AI-first tools (e.g. Cursor, Claude, v0) to accelerate prototyping and design workflows.
What We're Looking For
Must-haves:
Native German speaker (DACH market focus) with good English for an international team — this is a dealbreaker requirement.
5+ years of end-to-end product design experience with ownership of multiple product areas.
Demonstrated leadership experience managing or mentoring designers — or a strong, clear intent to step into that responsibility.
Proven ability to own branding, website, and product design simultaneously while setting and maintaining design standards.
Strong analytics-driven mindset: you measure design decisions and iterate based on data, not just intuition.
Experience conducting customer interviews and integrating user research into design outcomes.
Hands-on proficiency with Figma, prototyping, and design systems at scale.
Experience working with AI tools to accelerate design and prototyping workflows.
Nice-to-haves:
Domain experience in B2B software, professional services, or CRM-like environments.
Experience building and maintaining a design system across multiple product areas at significant scale.
Background at B2B SaaS, AI, or communication-focused companies.
Compensation & Benefits
Salary: $80,000 – $150,000 annually (depending on experience)
High autonomy and direct influence on product direction
Close collaboration with founders and a small, high-calibre team
Significant room to shape design culture, processes, and standards from the ground up
Visa sponsorship: Not available
Location
This is an on-site role based in Vienna, Austria. You'll be working in-person with the core team at our Vienna office. Candidates must be based in or willing to relocate to Vienna.