Product Designer (Early Team)

Tern is the all-in-one platform for travel advisors to run their business, from CRM and itineraries to payments and bookings. We’re on a mission to make running a travel business feel as joyful as planning a trip.

We’re adding a second product designer to the team. You’ll help define how design works at Tern: how we collaborate, critique, prototype, ship, and scale. You’ll work closely with engineering, product, and customer experience to shape the future of the travel advisor workflow and help build the team that will take us there.

This isn’t an entry-level role. You’ve owned meaningful product experiences before, and you’re ready to take on even more.

What You’ll Do

• Own high-impact product areas, from early research and architecture to polished UI

• Talk to customers regularly and bring their voice into the product

• Partner with PMs, engineers, and customer support to scope and deliver thoughtful experiences

• Help shape the foundation of Tern’s design team, including future hires, systems, and culture

• Balance speed and quality, knowing when to go deep and when to get scrappy to keep momentum

• Make Tern a place where great design work happens

We’re Looking for Someone Who…

• Has shipped end-to-end product work in a startup or fast-moving environment

• Has strong product instincts and navigates UX, technical, and business tradeoffs

• Thrives in ambiguity, takes initiative, and doesn’t wait for perfect inputs

• Can juggle multiple projects across different stages: shipping one, refining another, exploring a third

• Works quickly and pragmatically to ship value fast—even when there isn’t time for perfect polish or deep research upfront

• Wants to co-create how design works at an early-stage company, from tooling and process to team rituals

• Is excited to experiment with new technologies, especially how LLMs and other AI tools can create better product experiences

• Communicates clearly, gives generous feedback, and brings good energy to the team

This Probably Isn’t a Fit If You…

• Are mostly focused on brand, visual, or marketing design

• Haven’t worked on product teams or owned end-to-end product experiences

• Prefer a highly structured environment or a fully built design system

• Need weeks of uninterrupted time to explore, research, and polish before shipping

• Aren’t interested in (or are skeptical of) the role AI can play in product design

What We Offer

• Competitive Salary & Equity – Meaningful ownership in a venture-backed startup.

• Fully Remote Work – Join a distributed team with flexible working arrangements.

• World-Class Team – Work alongside high-performing, mission-driven teammates.

• Health & Wellness – Comprehensive benefits, including 100% coverage for you and 80% for dependents.

• Mission-Driven Work – Help build technology that empowers travel advisors and transforms the industry.

• Travel Perks – We’re in travel, after all! Opportunities for industry events, conferences, and networking.

Why join now

Tern is building the future of travel technology. We’re replacing legacy tools with a modern, powerful platform that makes running a travel business easier, more profitable, and more scalable.

• We’re early, small, and growing fast. You’ll have outsized impact and ownership, working closely with the founders, engineers, and customers.

• You’ll talk to real users often. Our customers love what we’re building, and we’re just getting started.

• We’re actively exploring how AI, especially LLMs, can unlock new tools for travel advisors. You’ll help shape how those capabilities come to life in the product.

A note on how we work: We ship every week. That means fast-moving, sometimes messy design cycles. You might be designing one thing, refining another, and planning a third. It’s not always neat, but it’s deeply rewarding if you like learning fast and building real things that matter.