To get in touch send a note to contact@jon-kyle.com
Past teams I’ve joined or projects I’ve contributed to have come about through word of mouth. There’s a kismet to it. I’ve never openly shared that I’m “available for work.”
After a few busy years (more on that below), I took a summer sabbatical. I’m now easing back into conversations with projects and teams in my circle. But after certain experiences and learnings during that break, and in the spirit of open-mindedness, it occurred to me: why not try something new?
Why not simply share I’m available for work?
What I do
In a nutshell, design engineering and product leadership.
For a more comprehensive overview, take a look at my extended read.cv.
My first love was—and remains—design. I have a deep consideration for page layout, typography, interaction, and imbuing interface with a certain feeling.
Out of eagerness to interact with otherwise static designs, I became technically proficient across the stack.
I’m capable of architecting and implementing backends in the early stages of development, and I know when to hand parts off for further productization and scaling.
The closest you can be to the surface of a product is where design meets infrastructure. The designs may look great statically, but do they feel right in use? The backend may meet the technical specifications, but does it feel fast? This all shakes out in the client, which is where I have historically spent a lot of time—iterating on design in situ. This practice has distilled into design engineering.
Because of this wide knowledge, my vocabulary and insights connect disciplines. Over the past three years, I found myself in product leadership roles—coordinating projects between senior/staff designers and engineers, roadmapping, knowledge base building, and more.
What I’ve Done
Three projects and teams stand out over my career, alongside my continuous individual creative studio practice. For a more comprehensive overview, take a look at my extended read.cv.
Cargo (fka Cargo Collective) is where I began my career as their first hire. My responsibilities included designing and engineering multiple core surface, such as a highly adaptive and customizable templating system used as the foundation for every Cargo site, as well as the design system of the admin panel, and (much) more. To get a sense of the culture, you can skim through this interview in the Atlantic.
Mirror was a long-form publishing tool. As the first hire, I designed and engineered the client MVP, which served as the foundation for raising our Series A from USV/A16. I also helped grow the team across design and engineering, established our product culture and process, managed projects across the org, and (much much) more.
Family is a design-first wallet focused on making emergent technology more friendly. After initially advising the team, I joined Los Feliz Engineering in a more open role. This included research and design engineering of internal prototypes, standing up a light project management structure, and assisting transition the design culture through an acquisition.
Outside of this, I’ve maintained a continuous individual creative studio practice with Sierran Systems, where I have accepted commissions from 12:01, a24, Are.na, Bloomberg Businessweek, Dublab, Es Devlin, Google Arts & Culture, Hassan Rahim, LOT2046, Mountain Hardware, Nicholas Alan Cope, Osk Studio, Outpost, Redbull Music Academy, UCLA Architecture and Urban Design, Warp Records, and more.
A Good Fit
I’m open to exploring opportunities ranging from well defined one-off projects to joining a team. This could involve design-engineering (or either design or engineering individually), a product role, or advising/consulting on projects that overlap between technology, culture, and publishing.
I’m based in Los Angeles and am open to working in an East-side office a few days a week. While I’m comfortable working remotely, I prefer projects based in American time zones.
I’m also available for consulting and advisory roles on products and projects, particularly those related to culture, publishing, and social. My insight ranges across product design/engineering, interface, hiring strategies, roadmap planning, and more.
My base compensation for joining a funded team is approximately ~$180k/year, and my base day rate is ~$1.6k, whether for commissioned work or consulting/advising. Each situation is unique, and exceptions are possible.
Don’t hesitate to say hello :)
Trade and Tools
Briefly, I believe we’re at a meaningful juncture in how we produce work. I matured alongside the computer and the internet—two complimentary disruptions to the means of production and distribution of things.
These changes greatly reduced the friction for me (and many others) to create things and reach an audience. The accessibility of tools lowered the resources needed to produce work and encouraged meandering between disciplines for the curious.
Continued collapse between discipline is happening today. The crystallization of the design engineer role over recent years—a role I’ve been intuitively practicing my entire career—is a clear example.
Similarly, we see this with the emergence of LLMs—ML, AI, what-have-you… While a dose of skepticism for the typical “hot air” you see with any emergent technology is healthy, my recent use of tools like Cursor and Claude has made me aware that something transformative is again happening.
Small, high velocity, and opinionated teams working alongside this new tooling have the potential to do great work. But it will require immense finesse, a refined sensibility, and expertise across disciplines—distinctly human expertise.
I’m particularly interested in exploring the dynamics of how these changes might impact the way we work on similarly curious projects or within teams.
Thanks!
https://jon-kyle.com
contact@jon-kyle.com