Lead Designer, Discover

About Discover

People are looking for more than content. They're looking for growth, connection, and transformation — experiences that change how they see themselves and the world. Circle is where they find that. Not another platform optimizing for clicks and consumption — a place built around becoming something.

Discover is where Circle becomes visible to the world — the surface where creators get found and people find experiences worth their time. It's a two‑sided marketplace problem spanning communities, courses, events, and more, and one of the most genuinely interesting design challenges on the platform.

About the Role

You’ll own Discover end‑to‑end as the lead designer: identifying opportunities, setting design direction, and shipping work that raises the bar for how discovery feels at Circle. You’ll work closely with a founder‑led product team that has strong vision and high standards — and you’ll bring the craft, the systems thinking, and the bottom‑up ideas that make that vision real.

This role is for designers with deep experience in consumer marketplace products — owning discovery, ranking, and engagement at scale. If your background is primarily in internal tools, CMS platforms, or growth systems, this role will not be a fit.

The Problem You’ll Be Solving

Discovery is one of the hardest design problems. You’re serving two audiences with opposing needs simultaneously:

• Creators who need visibility, trust signals, and growth.
• Consumers who need signal through noise, confidence to commit, and experiences that deliver on their promise.

AI is the core interaction model — not a filter or recommendation widget, but the primary way Discover understands intent and surfaces what’s worth someone’s time. You’ll tackle open questions such as:

• How does an AI‑driven experience build trust in a marketplace?
• How do you make an AI‑driven surface feel like a trusted recommendation from someone who knows you, not a ranked list from a system that doesn’t?

What You’ll Be Doing

• Own Discover’s design end‑to‑end: identify opportunities, frame problems, set design direction, and ship.
• Design AI‑driven discovery experiences: conversational, relational UX, interfaces, curation experiences, and trust signals.
• Serve both sides of the market: apply systems‑level understanding of creator visibility and consumer confidence to every design decision.
• Prototype at speed using AI‑assisted tools (Cursor, Claude Code, v0, Lovable) and stay involved through launch with engineers.
• Mentor and elevate: raise the craft standard on Discover, provide real feedback, and develop designers alongside you.

What You’ll Need to Be Successful

• Strong alignment with Circle’s values.
• Proficiency in English (spoken, written, reading) at CEFR Level C2 / ILR Level 5.
• Marketplace or two‑sided platform experience (hard requirement). Portfolio must show outcomes, not just interfaces.
• 5+ years of product design experience, including shipped 0→1 work, complex multi‑user flows, and clear evidence of driving product direction.
• Experience as the most senior designer on a product area: setting direction, making trade‑offs, owning outcomes without constant guidance.
• Genuine fluency with AI‑assisted prototyping; able to discuss process concretely.
• Proficiency in Figma for high‑fidelity design and cross‑functional collaboration.
• Proactive communication: share thinking early, give real opinions, keep the team informed.
• Comfort designing in ambiguity; build conviction through iteration.

Compensation

• $140,000 – $170,000 USD per year (starting point).
• Cash compensation is subject to an annual review and increase once per year.
• Includes equity, benefits, and perks.

The Fun Stuff (Benefits)

• Fully remote: work from anywhere in the world.
• Autonomy and trust: outcomes over everything else.
• 35 days of paid time off annually, plus a paid sabbatical after 5 years.
• Generous U.S.‑benchmarked compensation and startup equity, regardless of location.
• Awesome medical coverage with 100 % coverage for you and your family, or medical reimbursement where applicable.
• Parental leave for expanding or starting a family.
• Home office stipend.
• Learning & development stipend.
• Annual bonus potential for roles without variable income or commission.
• Company retreats twice a year (fully paid) in incredible locations worldwide.