Lead Industrial Designer

ABOUT DOT.CARDS

dot.cards is building the platform for what happens after people connect in the real world. We began by making it effortless to share all of your most important info with a tap. With 2.5M+ devices sold and 100M+ in-person connections facilitated, we have an established audience and a foundation for bringing new products to market at scale.

Our next chapter brings together connected hardware and software that help people exchange information, capture conversations, and follow through. From products people carry every day to devices used by teams and businesses, physical design is central to how that experience works and feels. We are a revenue-backed, fast-growing company based in Los Angeles, creating new ways for technology to fit naturally into real-world interactions.

THE ROLE

We are hiring a Lead Industrial Designer to own industrial design across dot.cards’ entire physical product lineup. From NFC cards, wearables, and accessories to countertop displays and our unreleased AI hardware, you will shape products that connect the physical and digital experience. You will bring a cohesive design language to the portfolio, its packaging, and future hardware while meeting the needs of each product and its customers.

You will work closely with our product and software teams, engineers, and manufacturing partners to turn ideas into products that are intuitive to use and practical to manufacture. You will set the design direction, guide external partners, and stay hands-on from early concepts through production. This role offers the creative scope to shape new product categories and improve products already used by millions of people.

WHAT YOU WILL OWN

Product Portfolio & Design Direction

• Own industrial design across the full portfolio, balancing new product development with thoughtful improvements to existing products, accessories, and packaging

• Define and evolve a recognizable dot.cards design language across form, proportions, colors, materials, finishes, and physical interactions

• Partner with the Product team to shape the hardware roadmap, using customer insight and commercial judgment to prioritize new concepts, product refreshes, and line extensions

Concept Development & Product Experience

• Observe how customers carry and use our products, and turn those insights into concepts that meet real needs and feel natural in everyday use

• Personally develop sketches, CAD models, renderings, and physical prototypes to explore ideas and test form, ergonomics, and usability

• Partner with product, UI designers, and Engineering to create a cohesive experience across hardware and software

Materials, Finishes & Packaging

• Own color, material, and finish specifications and physical reference samples, maintaining consistency across product families, variants, and production runs

• Refine existing products for durability, fit, finish, and feel, using customer feedback, returns, and sample testing to guide improvements

• Lead packaging and unboxing design with Brand and Operations, including practical approaches to personalization, printing, and engraving across the lineup

Manufacturing & Production Quality

• Work directly with mechanical and electrical engineers and manufacturing partners on component integration, tooling, assembly, and design for manufacturability while preserving design intent

• Own clear design handoffs, including CAD, design specifications, finish requirements, cosmetic acceptance criteria, and approved reference samples

• Lead design reviews of factory samples from prototype through tooling and production, resolving material, construction, and finish issues with manufacturers

• Make thoughtful tradeoffs among design quality, durability, unit cost, tooling investment, and launch timing with Engineering, Procurement, and Operations

Design Leadership & Delivery

• Manage the work of external studios and specialists, and give clear feedback that raises the quality of the final product

• Own design priorities, schedules, and reviews across concurrent projects, keeping partners informed of decisions, dependencies, and risks

• Build reusable design standards and organized CAD, material, and sample libraries, and help grow the industrial design team as the portfolio expands

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

• 8+ years of industrial design experience, with multiple consumer products taken from early concept through mass production

• A portfolio demonstrating excellent form development, proportions, material selection, and usability, with final manufactured products that reflect the original design intent

• Experience leading design across a product family or multiple concurrent products, with a clear point of view on how they belong together

• Strong hands-on CAD, surfacing, rendering, and physical prototyping skills using SolidWorks, Rhino, KeyShot, or equivalent tools

• Practical understanding of injection molding, metal fabrication, surface finishes, tooling, and assembly, and the ability to work through constraints with engineers and manufacturers

• Experience working directly with overseas manufacturing partners, reviewing samples, and resolving issues through production

• The ability to lead designers and external partners while remaining deeply involved in the work, from evaluating concepts to refining small physical details

• Clear communication, sound commercial judgment, and a collaborative approach to making decisions in a fast-moving company

NICE TO HAVE

• Experience with connected devices, consumer electronics, audio products, wearables, or NFC-enabled accessories

• Experience developing packaging and scalable personalization systems across multiple materials and manufacturing processes

• Experience helping a growing brand expand its product portfolio and build an internal industrial design practice

• Proficient in Adobe Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign)

WHY JOIN DOT.CARDS

You will have the creative ownership to shape a growing product family at a design-first company with an established customer base. Your decisions will influence what people carry, how they interact with dot.cards, and the quality they experience every day. As we enter new categories, you will help define both the products and the design team behind them.

COMPENSATION & BENEFITS

• Base salary: $140,000 - $160,000

• Onsite work environment in Culver City, CA

Equal Opportunity Employer: dot.cards is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Accommodation Statement: We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities throughout the hiring process. If you require assistance or accommodation, please contact View email address on aiapply.co.