# Founding Creative Director / Design Lead

> EQL Tech · San Francisco, United States · Full-time · Posted 2026-03-16

**Salary:** USD 130,000–200,000

**Workplace:** on_site

**Department:** Brand, Design & Marketing

## Description

### **Founding Creative Director / Design Lead**

**Location:** San Francisco, CA or Phoenix, AZ | **Work Style:** Full-time In-Person

### **The Role & Mission**

Our client is building the financial infrastructure for the next generation of education finance, specifically targeting the **$1.5T** of Education Funds currently available in the US. They are enabling families to access the **$900B** US public education budget, which is being opened up so parents can control an average of **$7,500** per child per year through state-funded Education Savings Accounts (ESAs). The product is a high-trust system consisting of a charge card, reimbursement engine, and education vendor marketplace.

As the **Founding Creative Director**, you will be the first design hire at a company that has raised **$16M** from top-tier VCs and angels. You won't be executing a roadmap handed to you; you will be building the design function from zero, establishing the visual identity, and shaping the core product experience alongside the co-founders.

**The Design Challenge:**

-   **The Benchmark:** Think **Stripe** (trust through clarity) meets **Duolingo** (warmth and engagement), rather than traditional fintech UI.
-   **Low Digital Literacy:** You must design for families who are not digital natives, distilling compliance-grade complexity into an experience that feels as intuitive as a consumer app.
-   **Systems Thinking:** You will own every external-facing touchpoint—from the mobile app UX and design tokens to film, social content, and investor decks.
-   **High Intensity:** This is an in-person company where the team works together in the office six days a week

## Requirements

### **Your Profile**

This is a role for a product designer with founder instincts - not a brand or campaign creative.

-   **Experience:** 4–8 years in product design, with a strong preference for founding or early-stage startup experience.
-   **Technical Excellence:** You are a **Figma power user** with a track record of building design systems and component libraries from scratch.
-   **Mobile-First:** You have successfully shipped production mobile apps on iOS, Android, or React Native.
-   **Systems Over Aesthetics:** You think in user journeys and system architecture before aesthetics, seeing product, brand, and voice as one cohesive system.
-   **Customer Obsession:** You are willing to go to users’ homes and onboard them 1:1 to gain deep, researched empathy for their needs.
-   **High Output:** You have the conviction to defend design decisions but can iterate rapidly with new information.
-   **Sector Expertise:** Experience in regulated or high-trust consumer products (fintech, healthtech, or edtech) is highly valued.
-   **Pedigree Signal:** A background from top design programs (e.g., RCA, RISD, Parsons, Stanford d.school) or experience on elite teams at **Stripe, Apple, Airbnb, or Figma** is strongly preferred.

## Benefits

### **Commitment, Compensation & Benefits**

This will be a big commitment, and we're aiming high. It needs to be something you are energised about taking on, or this isn't the team for you.

-   **Competitive Salary:** $120,000 – $200,000 per year, commensurate with experience.
-   **Generous Founding Equity:** We compensate you well with equity.
-   **Top-Tier Backing:** We've raised $16M from top-tier VCs and angels.
-   **Relocation Support:** You are willing to relocate to San Francisco, CA, or Phoenix, AZ, and travel to visit customers. We're an in-person company and are in the office together.
-   **Comprehensive Visa Sponsorship:** If you do not have a visa, we can support you.
-   **Unmatched Impact:** The rare opportunity to directly shape how the $900B US Public Education budget is being opened up for parents to take control of their portion (avg. $7.5k/kid/year).

INDEQL

## Apply

[Apply at EQL Tech](https://apply.workable.com/eqltech/j/D05D578C2B/apply)

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