Design Lead, New Ventures

About Toast Toast builds technology that helps food and beverage businesses run smoother, serve customers better, and grow with confidence. Our platform brings together the tools teams need to power daily operations—while turning complexity into clear, actionable insights. We’re purpose-built for the pace of hospitality, and we’re investing in new experiences that make great businesses easier to run at any scale. A day in the life (Responsibilities) We’re looking for a product designer to be the design lead on our New Ventures team—helping Toast explore, validate, and bring to life new product ideas from early concept through MVP and iteration. This role is intentionally open to a wide range of experience levels. What matters most is your ability to use AI tools to move fast, explore broadly, prototype convincingly, and continuously test ideas to create amazing user experiences. We’ll be looking for someone who is exceptionally strong at translating complex problem spaces—including high volumes of data points, operational constraints, edge cases, and competing stakeholder needs—into UIs that feel intuitive and calm. In this role, you will: Own design end-to-end for one of Toast’s new ventures —from fuzzy early concepts to shippable experiences (and everything in between). Use AI tools to iterate quickly: generate and compare concepts, accelerate exploration, and bring workflows to life through rapid prototyping. Design information-dense experiences that are still highly scannable and decision-oriented—prioritizing hierarchy, progressive disclosure, and clear actions. Create prototypes that feel real—clickable flows, interaction models, and lightweight specs that help product and engineering make decisions fast. Make smart tradeoffs under constraints—move fast with MVP patterns, while sweating the details that matter most (hierarchy, states, error handling, accessibility, and clarity) Run with a bias for action and testing: quickly validate assumptions via low-fi experiments, usability testing, dogfooding, and iterative refinement. Operate autonomously: set your own plan, seek input when needed, and keep momentum without waiting for perfect clarity – while partnering closely with product and engineering teams. Communicate clearly: tell the story of what you’re building, why it matters, and what you learned—through artifacts, demos, and written narratives. What you'll need to thrive (Requirements) Demonstrated ability to move from ambiguity to a strong point of view, then turn that into tangible UI flows quickly with modern tools Demonstrated strength translating complex workflows and high volumes of inputs/data into interfaces that are simple, scannable, and decision-oriented. Strong product thinking: you can connect user needs, business outcomes, and feasibility into a cohesive experience. High comfort working in 0→1 environments where priorities shift, learning is the output, and “done” is an iteration—not a finish line. Ability to work as a team-of-one designer: self-directed, organized, and proactive about aligning stakeholders. Most important: you have a clear pattern of using AI tools to accelerate design—exploration, iteration, prototyping, critique, synthesis, or communication—and you can speak specifically about how you use them to ship better work faster. What will help you stand out (Nonessential Skills/Nice to Haves) You’ve worked on early-stage products, internal incubations, or rapid experimentation teams. AI at Toast At Toast, one of our company values is that we're hungry to build and learn. We believe learning new AI tools empowers us to build for our customers faster, more independently, and with higher quality. We provide these tools across all disciplines, from Engineering and Product to Sales and Support, and are inspired by how our Toasters are already driving real value with them. The people who thrive here are those who embrace changes that let us build more for our customers; it’s a core part of our culture. Our Total Rewards Philosophy We strive to provide competitive compensation and benefits programs that help to attract, retain, and motivate the best and brightest people in our industry. Our total rewards package goes beyond great earnings potential and provides the means to a healthy lifestyle with the flexibility to meet Toasters’ changing needs. Learn more about our benefits at https://careers.toasttab.com/toast-benefits. The base salary range for this role is listed below. The starting salary will be determined based on skills and experience. In addition to base salary, our total rewards components include cash compensation (overtime, bonus/commissions, if eligible), benefits, and equity (if eligible). Pay Range $138,000—$221,000 USD How Toast Uses AI in its Hiring Process Throughout the hiring process, our goal is to get to know you. We use AI tools to support our recruiters and interviewers with tasks like note-taking, summarization, and documentation of interviews to ensure they can be fully focused on your conversation. All hiring decisions are made by people. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is Baked into our Recipe for Success At Toast, our employees are our secret ingredient—when they thrive, we thrive. The restaurant industry is one of the most diverse, and we embrace that diversity with authenticity, inclusivity, respect, and humility. By embedding these principles into our culture and design, we create equitable opportunities for all and raise the bar in delivering exceptional experiences. We Thrive Together We embrace a hybrid work model that fosters in-person collaboration while valuing individual needs. Our goal is to build a strong culture of connection as we work together to empower the restaurant community. To learn more about how we work globally and regionally, check out: https://careers.toasttab.com/locations-toast. Apply today! Toast is committed to creating an accessible and inclusive hiring process. As part of this commitment, we strive to provide reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities to enable them to access the hiring process. If you need an accommodation to access the job application or interview process, please contact candidateaccommodations@toasttab.com. ------ For roles in the United States, it is unlawful in Massachusetts to require or administer a lie detector test as a condition of employment or continued employment. An employer who violates this law shall be subject to criminal penalties and civil liability.