Hello, we’re Instrumentl.
Billions in grant funding are still managed in spreadsheets. We're fixing that. Instrumentl is a hypergrowth, YC-backed startup on a mission to help the nonprofit sector drive impact — and we're well on our way to becoming the #1 most-loved grant management tool. We help over 5,500 nonprofits, from local homeless shelters to organizations like the San Diego Zoo and the University of Alaska, find, win, and manage grants in one place. 🌏 ✨
Our charts are dramatically up-and-to-the-right 📈 — we're cash flow positive and doubling year-over-year, with customers who love us (NPS is 65+ and Ellis PMF survey is 60+).
About the role:
We're hiring a Senior Product Designer to own Manage, our post-award product area where $1.1B+ in grant funding is tracked, reported on, and kept compliant.
Grant professionals are doing some of the most important, high-stakes work in the country, and they deserve tools to match it. Until recently, that infrastructure didn't exist. Post-award work happened across a patchwork of spreadsheets, email chains, and disconnected accounting exports, with the grant professional as the middleperson: manually moving information between systems instead of doing the strategic work they were hired to do.
We're building the solution: a single, intelligent platform where every stage of the grant lifecycle connects, and each stage makes the next one smarter. We recently launched Spenddown, enabling nonprofits to see real-time budget vs. actuals tracking synced from accounting systems like Sage Intacct and QuickBooks Online. We're now building toward program financials, cross-functional workflows, reporting functionality, and compliance reviews.
These are meaty, genuinely hard design problems: complex data models, multi-stakeholder workflows spanning grant professionals, finance teams, and program staff, and high-stakes compliance contexts where post-award mistakes cost organizations their funding. This product area is still being invented, and the designer who owns it will shape what post-award management looks like for thousands of organizations.
You'll report directly to Hope, Head of Design, and work as a true strategic partner to your PM and engineering lead. This is an IC role with outsized scope, not a feature factory.
The Instrumentl team is remote. You can design from anywhere in the continental U.S. or Canada as long as you have 4+ hours of overlap with the Pacific time zone. As a close-knit team, we want to have (virtual) face time with you and watch your cat roam in the background. Get to know us at instrumentl.com/about. We can't wait to meet you!
What you'll own
Lead end-to-end design for the Manage product area: discovery and research through shipping and iteration
Shape how financial data is visualized and surfaced (budget vs. actuals, burn rates, variance flags, forecast views, just to name a few) for people who are not accountants
Design complex, multi-stakeholder workflows for cross-team collaboration
Envision AI-powered features to free up grant professionals’ time and increase compliance
Drive definition of completely greenfield spaces
Raise the quality bar across Instrumentl's design system
What you bring
Seasoned IC: You've owned entire product domains, not just shipped features. You write your own brief, define the problem, and set the roadmap in partnership with your PM.
Curious: You are full of questions, and you seek out answers. Deriving insights from deep listening in user interviews is one of your strengths. You connect with others easily and have a knack for identifying patterns.
Systems thinker: You've designed for data-dense, multi-entity systems: financial dashboards, ops tracking tools, reporting workflows, or similar. You know how to cut through complexity until it feels intuitive.
B2B SaaS experience: You've spent meaningful time designing complex software. You understand multi-user workflows, role-based access, data provenance, and the operational needs of power users.
Finance-adjacent experience: You've designed for finance or adjacent domains. You understand how to communicate variance, forecasting, reconciliation, and compliance to non-technical users.
AI skilled: You're already using AI tools in your design practice, such as prototyping with v0, iterating with Claude, or thinking seriously about how AI advances product development. You're excited about designing AI-powered features.
Startup background: You have sound intuition and make good calls with incomplete information. You thrive in possibilities and don't need a heavy process to stay organized.
Strategic partner: You don't just execute a spec. You bring point of view into the room
push back when something isn't right for users, and drive alignment across engineering, product, and GTM.
Must have skills
7+ years of product design experience, with at least 2 years at senior level
Proven track record owning complex B2B or enterprise product areas end-to-end
Deep expertise designing data-heavy UIs: financial dashboards, tracking tools, reporting views, or similar
Strong Figma skills: user flows, wireframes, hi-fi mockups, prototypes, and design systems
Experience working closely with engineers in a fast-shipping startup environment
Ability to conduct and synthesize user research independently
Exceptional communication: present work, defend decisions, and align stakeholders clearly
Active use of AI tools in your design workflow
Nice to haves
Exposure to financial software, accounting tools, compliance workflows, or fund reporting
- Experience designing for nonprofits or social impact
Design systems experience
Familiarity with accessibility standards
Comfort with basic front-end concepts (HTML, CSS) to collaborate closely with engineers
Experience mentoring other designers
Compensation & Benefits
Salary range: $160 - $205k plus equity
Health, dental, and vision insurance
Generous PTO policy, including parental leave
401(k)
Company laptop + stipend to set up your home workstation
Twice annual retreats for in-person time with your colleagues
Work with awesome nonprofits around the US. We partner with incredible organizations doing meaningful work, and you get to help power their success.
What to expect:
is evolving rapidly. You'll always have new challenges and opportunities to grow — you won't be bored. You'll join a small but mighty design team and take on one of our most strategically critical product areas from day one.
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