Principal Designer at Tolan (San Francisco, CA)
Tolan· San Francisco, CA· $200k–$300k·
Role details
Equity · Benefits
Summary
The Principal Designer will own end-to-end design projects for Tolan, partnering with engineering to build features from concept to production. This role focuses on shaping the future of embodied AI interfaces through high-quality visual design and user iteration.
Job description
Tolan is building personal AI that helps people think, reflect, and take action in their real lives.
We're an experienced team that previously founded Even, acquired for $300M in 2022. Tolan is backed by the designers and founders behind Instagram, Retro, Behance, Vimeo, and Notion.
THE ROLE
We're hiring a Principal Designer to help shape the future of Tolan. You'll work in a small team to design, build, and ship features that push the boundaries of our relationship with embodied AI.
WHAT YOU'LL DO
- Own design projects end-to-end, from foundational product decisions to polished visual details.
- Partner closely with engineering and product to take features from concept to production.
- Set and maintain a high design bar across the full Tolan experience.
- Push the boundaries of what's possible at the frontier of embodied AI interfaces.
- Talk with real users, learn from what you ship, and iterate quickly.
WHO WE'RE LOOKING FOR
- Experienced designer. You have 5+ years of experience owning design projects end-to-end with little oversight.
- Consumer product chops. You've worked on consumer-facing products and taken them from concept to production, learned from real users, and iterated quickly.
- Autonomous collaborator. You thrive in highly autonomous and collaborative environments.
- Product-minded. You care as much about solving product problems as you do about visuals.
- Pattern breaker. You know when to follow patterns and when to break them to make something entirely new.
Compensation: $200,000-300,000 base salary + equity + benefits
Why work at Tolan
- Culture: Described as “the calmest culture I’ve ever seen” – direct, low-ego, drama-free, with a focus on doing great work quickly (nextplayso.substack.com)
- Work environment: In-person in San Francisco; small, veteran team (~38 people) where every hire makes a significant impact (tolans.com; linkedin.com)
- Engineering philosophy: AI tools are fully embraced – candidates are evaluated on how they use AI to build, and daily work is heavily AI-augmented. Engineers are expected to own the output, not just the code (tolans.com/relay)
- Perks/Notes: Not explicitly listed; the focus is on meaningful work, long hours when needed but a marathon mindset, and a fun, intelligent team (nextplayso.substack.com)