Original listing text, shown exactly as published by the company.
The Role
This product operates at the intersection of high-fidelity simulation, geospatial data, and real-time decision-making — environments where poor UX has direct operational consequences. We're looking for a UX Lead who can take dense, domain-specific requirements from operators, engineers, and mission planners and turn them into clear, performant, and intuitive workflows.
This is not a pixel-pushing role. You will function as a peer to the Product Manager — shaping how the product works, not just how it looks. You will conduct user research with hard-to-reach domain experts, run design sprints, own the design system, and ensure the frontend team has clear, implementable specifications to build against.
Responsibilities
- Lead end-to-end UX for a complex, data-dense geospatial and simulation platform — from early concept through production-ready design specifications.
- Conduct user research with domain experts including operators, analysts, and mission planners. Surface mental models, workflow requirements, and pain points that users may not be able to articulate directly.
- Translate highly technical, domain-specific requirements into clear interaction patterns, information architectures, and user workflows.
- Build and iterate on prototypes (low to high fidelity) in close collaboration with the Product Manager — moving quickly from concept to testable artifact.
- Own the design system. Define and maintain consistent, implementable UI standards that the frontend engineering team can build against with confidence.
- Partner closely with frontend engineers to ensure design intent is executed correctly. Participate in implementation reviews and catch fidelity gaps early.
- Facilitate design reviews and research readouts with technical and non-technical stakeholders — including engineers, product leads, and customer teams.
- Manage and mentor UI/UX Designers and Researchers as the team grows, setting quality standards and design process.
- Contribute to product strategy. Bring user insight into roadmap conversations and advocate for decisions grounded in research, not assumptions.
- Document design decisions and rationale to support cross-functional alignment and institutional knowledge.
Requirements
- Strong user research skills — proficiency in interviews, contextual inquiry, usability testing, and synthesizing findings into actionable design direction.
- Demonstrated experience designing data-dense or geospatial interfaces — maps, dashboards, operational displays, or similar complex information environments.
- Proficiency in Figma, including prototyping, component libraries, and design system management.
- Ability to work in ambiguous, domain-heavy environments where users cannot always articulate what they need — comfort turning incomplete requirements into clear design hypotheses.
- Excellent communication and facilitation skills. Able to run a design review or research readout with engineers, PMs, and customer stakeholders equally effectively.
- Experience working closely with a Product Manager as a peer — contributing to product thinking, not just executing on specifications.
- Strong written communication skills for documenting design rationale, research findings, and workflow logic.
- Comfort operating with high autonomy in a fast-moving environment with evolving requirements.
- Eligible to obtain and maintain an active U.S. security clearance.
Preferred Qualifications
- 5+ years of experience in UX design, product design, or human factors engineering.
- Experience designing for defense, aerospace, government, or other mission-critical software environments.
- Familiarity with military operator workflows, mission planning interfaces, or command-and-control systems.
- Experience designing for or within classified environments (SCIFs, air-gapped networks) where standard tooling and collaboration methods may be restricted.
- Understanding of accessibility standards in operational or low-light environments.
- Exposure to frontend engineering concepts (React, component libraries) sufficient to communicate implementation constraints with engineers.
- Active U.S. security clearance (Secret or Top Secret).
- Experience building or scaling a design system from early-stage to production.
