Staff Product UX Designer (R2487)

Introduction to Shield AI

Founded in 2015, Shield AI is a venture-backed defense technology company whose mission is to protect service members and civilians with intelligent systems. In pursuit of this mission, Shield AI is building the world’s best AI pilot. Its AI pilot, Hivemind, has flown a fighter jet (F-16), a vertical takeoff and landing drone (V-BAT), and a quadcopter (Nova). The company has offices in San Diego, Dallas, Washington DC and abroad. Shield AI’s products and people are currently in the field actively supporting operations with the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. allies. 

The Staff Product Designer role at Shield AI is responsible for solving complex User Experience and Product Design problems associated with command and control of autonomous Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). Building products that enable, empower and scale human operators, your work will result in direct mission impact while ensuring safe and successful mission planning, rehearsal, execution, and debrief.

In this high-visibility role, reporting into the Head of Product Design and Research, you will drive design strategy and execution of key products and initiatives related to human-robot collaboration. You will work alongside engineers, product managers, technical directors, designers, researchers, and operators devoted to excellence, committed to collaboration, and focused on harnessing the power of AI to protect service members, first responders, and civilians.

An ideal candidate should have prior experience leading design efforts in the autonomy, gaming, or creative/engineering tooling spaces. They should aspire to be part of an industry-changing team developing autonomy for the defense space.

• Design effective and elegant solutions to complex problems taking into account product requirements, user needs and engineering effort required.
• Be the go-to subject matter expert of the product(s) within your remit to the rest of your team.
• Contribute to product vision, product strategy and roadmapping exercises in close partnership with Product Management.
• Work across the entire design stack by clarifying and building on product requirements, creating workflows for primary and edge cases, designing detailed high-fidelity visuals brought to life through dynamic interaction prototypes.
• Speak clearly to tradeoffs between design decisions in terms that designers and non-designers can understand.
• Hold the product experience to high standards ensuring that what gets released is bug free, performant and is built to design specifications.
• Prioritize progress over perfection, knowing when to reinvent the wheel and when to apply a proven design approach.
• Provide and seek feedback from other designers and non-designers to push the bar for quality.
• Drive team-wide impact through mentorship, fostering a culture of growth and collaboration.
• Stay organized, manage time effectively and prioritize work between multiple projects and deadlines.

• A minimum of 7 years of design experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 6 years and a Master’s degree; or 4 years with a PhD; or equivalent work experience.
• Available online portfolio of past work demonstrating problem framing, problem solving and expert level visual design acumen.
• Ability to work efficiently, demonstrating bias for action in a fast-paced, ambiguous environment.
• Track record of working within cross-functional teams, synthesizing feedback and input from Product Management and Engineering.
• Curiosity for autonomy, robotics and core machine learning concepts ranging from simple, binary supervised learning to the state-of-the-art in reinforcement learning.
• Web and tablet app design experience and deep understanding of each platform’s constraints.
• Experience presenting to and influencing senior leaders outside of design.
• Top notch level skills with design and prototyping tools such as Figma, Figjam, Lottie and Lucid.
• Understanding of the full software development lifecycle.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal.
• BS/MS in Psychology, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical/Aerospace or another relevant field.

#LI-AM1 #LD

Total package details:

Regular employee positions: Salary within range listed above + Bonus + Benefits + Equity (if applicable)

Temporary employee positions: Hourly within range listed above + temporary benefits package (applicable after 60 days of employment)

*Interns/Military Fellows/Part-time not eligible for bonus, benefits or equity

Actual compensation is influenced by a wide array of factors including but not limited to skill set, level of experience, licenses and certifications, and specific work location. All offers are contingent on a cleared background check.

If you're interested in being part of our team, apply now! 

Shield AI is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.