Founding Design Lead (m/f/x)

Overview

Founding Design Lead (UI/UX) at Cortea AI in Berlin. Join to lead design from zero to one, shaping product experience for an AI-powered auditing platform.

Note: This description reflects the role and responsibilities; salary and benefits are described below.

Base pay range

This range is provided by Cortea AI. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

About us

We’re Cortea, a Berlin-based startup transforming audits with AI. The challenge is manual audits of unstructured data and documents that frustrate auditors at huge cost, while demand keeps rising. Our solution is AI-powered software and specialized AI agents for auditors that streamline workflows and remove repetitive tasks. Backed by >10m euro funding from top-tier VCs, with a working AI product and paying customers, we’re expanding our product and scaling the team. We value first-principles thinking, speed, trust, and the joy of tackling big challenges together.

Your role involves helping shape product vision, roadmap, and user-experience standards, and contributing to a design culture within the company.

Responsibilities

• Lead design from zero to one — from workflow mapping to pixel-perfect delivery
• Collaborate with founders, engineers, and customers to turn audit flows into intuitive, delightful interfaces
• Create flows, prototypes, and high-fidelity visuals for your features
• Design and refine our component library, layout system, and visual identity
• Help shape product vision, roadmap, and user-experience standards
• Assist with hiring and establishing a design culture within the company
• Run usability tests, build feedback loops, and bring a systems mindset to decisions

This isn’t a “take the ticket” job. We want someone who asks why, pushes for better, and helps us build a product that feels like magic.

Qualifications

• Experience designing complex SaaS products
• Passion for design and figuring out best-in-class solutions to UX, UI, and interaction challenges
• A portfolio of excellent product designs delivered within a fast-paced environment
• Think in flows, not just screens
• Fluency in Figma and tight collaboration with engineers
• Hands-on: prototype, test, and iterate with real users and stakeholders
• Strong product sense with the confidence to push back when needed
• Bonus: experience with AI/ML, enterprise tools, B2B SaaS, or workflow-heavy apps

We don’t expect you to check every box; we’re looking for talented designers who learn fast and deliver impact.

What we offer

• High impact and growth: Front-row seat to scaling an AI startup with real ownership from day one
• Mission-driven culture: First-principles thinking, bold ideas, and a supportive team
• Compensation: €90–120k salary plus meaningful equity
• Personal development: Learning budget for courses and conferences
• In-office setup: Central Berlin office, team lunches, retreats, flexible vacation

Interview process

• First Call — Intro to Cortea with our Founders Associate
• Second Call — Portfolio walkthrough and design challenge with our design lead
• Third Call — Deep dive into our culture
• On-site Half-Day (Berlin) — Meet the team and work on a real problem together

We’re an equal-opportunity team and encourage women and underrepresented groups to apply.

Compensation Range: €90K - €120K

Seniority level

• Mid-Senior level

Employment type

• Full-time

Job function

• Design, Art/Creative, and Information Technology

Industries

• Software Development

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Related roles: UI/UX Design Manager - AI Powered (Relocation to Dubai); (Senior) Product Designer UX/UI (m/f/d) in Berlin; Senior Product Designer (B2B Web SaaS) (DE).

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