What are the responsibilities and job description for the Lead Product Designer position at Elayne?
About Elayne
Each year, $3 trillion in wealth is transferred to the next generation. Yet the process behind that handoff is broken: faxes, phone trees, spreadsheets, and grief. It can take families hundreds of hours, tens of thousands of dollars in fees, and often years to complete.
Elayne is building the software layer this process has always been missing. We're both the infrastructure professionals build on and the product families use directly, automating everything from the first form to the final account transfer. Backed by Y Combinator and Accel, we have thousands of families already using Elayne to get through one of the hardest stretches of their lives. We have a real product in people's hands, a brand and design language we care deeply about, and a long road of hard, genuinely impactful problems ahead.
The role
We're hiring a Lead Product Designer to own major parts of the product end to end. This is a seat for someone with the craft, perspective, and judgment of a design leader. You'll set direction for the surfaces you own rather than wait for a spec. You influence what to build, design it, and see it shipped.
You should be meticulous about building simple flows out of incredibly complex processes: how one step connects to the next, what state the user is in at every point, where they get stuck, and what happens at each branch, handoff, and edge case. And you should be relentless about the user's voice: what a grieving family actually feels, where the process confuses or saddens them, and what they need to see in the hardest moments.
This role works closely with Product, Engineering, and Growth. As we scale, it can grow into Head of Design.
What you'll own
As Elayne's Lead Product Designer, you will turn complex, emotionally loaded problems into product experiences families can trust.
1. End-to-end flows for the surfaces you own
You will design complete journeys, not screens in isolation: the entry point, every branch and state, the error and edge cases, the empty states, and the handoffs to AI or human support. You own how it feels start to finish.
2. Trust around legal and financial complexity
You will design how Elayne explains money, legal authority, and institutional process to people who are overwhelmed. You will decide what to surface, what to simplify, and how to make unfamiliar, high-stakes concepts feel safe and clear.
3. The role of AI in the experience
You will define where AI should lead the user, where it should work quietly in the background, and where a human needs to be present. You will design the patterns that make automated help feel trustworthy rather than uncanny.
4. The system that lets quality scale
Over time, you will build and steward the design language, components, and patterns that let Elayne grow without losing craft or consistency. You will raise the bar for how the whole team designs.
What we're looking for
- 5 years designing and shipping products end to end, with a portfolio that shows range across UX and UI
- The judgment to make high-stakes design calls and stand behind the outcome
- Fluency in Figma and the ability to move from rough concept to build-ready fast
- A track record of owning ambiguous problems, not executing handed-down specs
- Strong instincts for making complex, data-dense workflows feel simple
- A real point of view on designing with AI and knowing how to leverage AI
- Comfort in high-trust or regulated categories (fintech, legaltech, healthtech, insurance, estate/family services) is a bonus
How we work
We are a small, high-trust team. We care deeply about the people we serve, but we are not precious about process. We move very quickly, communicate directly, and hold a high bar for the quality of the experience we deliver.
The work here is highly collaborative. The best ideas often come from being close to the details: a family conversation, a product gap, an operational edge case, or a partner need. We expect people to take ownership of outcomes, pull in the right teammates, and turn what they learn into better systems for everyone.
Compensation & Equal Opportunity
This is a full-time role based with the rest of the team in New York City. The expected salary range for this role is $150k-220k, plus equity. This range represents a good-faith estimate for this position at the time of posting. Final compensation will depend on your experience, scope, and fit for the role.
We also offers health insurance and a 401(k) plan. You'll be part of shaping which benefits we add next.
Elayne is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants based on ability, experience, and potential, and do not discriminate on the basis of any protected characteristic under applicable federal, state, or local laws.
How to apply
Send us:
- your portfolio (2–3 case studies that show how you think, not just final screens)
- one example of a complex flow or system you’re proud of
- a short note on how you like to leverage AI in your design work
Process
- Intro call: motivation, experience, mutual fit
- Portfolio deep dive product walkthrough: your work, and how you think about ours
- Collaborative design session: a real Elayne problem, focused on product thinking
- Final conversation with the CEO: vision, scope, and design philosophy
Salary : $150,000 - $220,000