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Staff UI Designer (R6055)

Shield AI
Actively Hiring
San Diego, Californiafull_time$117K - $170KPosted 6 days ago
Growth DivisionEngineering
About This Role
Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube. 

Job Description:

Shield AI is hiring a Senior UI Designer to lead the design evolution of the Shield AI website and establish the foundational systems that support it. This role owns the digital experience from interface strategy through high-fidelity execution, creating clear, scalable, and cohesive experiences across corporate, product, campaign, and editorial content.

You will partner closely with brand, marketing, product, and development teams to translate complex autonomy and defense technology into intuitive web experiences. The ideal candidate brings strong visual design judgment, systems thinking, and a practical understanding of how design decisions translate into performant, accessible digital products.

What you'll do:

  • Lead UI design for the Shield AI website across core pages, product experiences, landing pages, campaign content, and microsites
  • Define the website’s visual and interaction standards, ensuring a cohesive experience across desktop, tablet, and mobile
  • Create foundational design systems in Figma, including component libraries, design tokens, responsive patterns, templates, and documentation
  • Establish reusable page frameworks and modular content patterns that enable teams to build new web experiences efficiently and consistently
  • Design high-fidelity user interfaces, interaction states, prototypes, and responsive layouts for new and existing site experiences
  • Partner with developers to ensure accurate implementation, provide design QA, and refine interfaces through launch
  • Collaborate with brand and content teams to translate complex technical narratives into clear information hierarchies, visual storytelling, and user journeys
  • Improve the usability, accessibility, navigation, and overall clarity of the Shield AI web experience
  • Support the design of interactive content, data visualizations, motion concepts, and product storytelling in collaboration with creative and development partners
  • Audit existing website experiences and identify opportunities to improve consistency, component reuse, accessibility, and visual quality
  • Maintain and evolve design documentation, file organization, naming conventions, and workflows that support a scalable design practice
  • Advise stakeholders on UI best practices, responsive design, accessibility, technical feasibility, and system-level design decisions
  • Required qualifications:

  • 5–8 years of experience in UI, web, or digital product design, with experience leading major website or digital-platform initiatives
  • A portfolio demonstrating strong visual design, interface design, responsive web design, and design-system thinking
  • Advanced proficiency in Figma, including components, variants, auto layout, variables, prototyping, libraries, and developer handoff workflows
  • Experience designing for WordPress, WP Engine, or other CMS-driven website environments
  • Experience creating and maintaining scalable design systems, component libraries, templates, and reusable interface patterns
  • Strong understanding of typography, layout, hierarchy, grids, interaction design, and responsive behavior across screen sizes
  • Experience designing complex marketing, corporate, product, or editorial websites with multiple content types and stakeholder needs
  • Practical knowledge of front-end implementation, including HTML, CSS, responsive frameworks, CMS constraints, and browser behavior
  • Experience collaborating closely with developers and conducting design QA through implementation
  • Familiarity with accessibility standards, including WCAG principles, semantic hierarchy, contrast, focus states, and inclusive interaction patterns
  • Ability to simplify complex information into clear page structures, navigation systems, and user flows
  • Strong communication, presentation, stakeholder-management, and project-management skills
  • Ability to balance brand expression, user needs, technical constraints, and business priorities
  • Preferred qualifications:

    Experience designing digital experiences for enterprise SaaS, defense, aerospace, robotics, autonomy, or other complex technology sectors

    Familiarity with front-end frameworks and development workflows, including component-based architectures and design-to-code handoff

    Experience working with design tokens and systemized theming across design and engineering teams

    Experience developing motion and interaction concepts for the web using tools such as After Effects, Lottie, GSAP, Principle, ProtoPie, or Figma prototypes

    Experience with data visualization, technical diagrams, product interfaces, or interactive storytelling

    Experience designing localized or region-specific web experiences

    Familiarity with analytics, experimentation, conversion-oriented design, and iterative optimization

    Experience establishing design operations, governance models, or contribution workflows for shared design systems

    Ready to apply?

    This role is listed by Shield AI. You'll finish your application on their site.

    Apply on Shield AI
    Eligibility & work details

    Work authorization

    No U.S. person or export-control requirement stated in this listing.

    Work arrangement

    On-siteSan Diego, California, US

    Travel

    No travel indicated in this listing.

    Estimated application time

    ~2 min to start on the employer site

    Eligibility details are interpreted from the job listing to help you gauge fit. Always confirm citizenship, clearance, and certification requirements with the employer before applying.

    About Shield AI

    Defense technology company building AI pilots for aircraft

    Defense AI
    San Diego, CA
    500-1000 employees
    View Company Profile
    Job Summary
    Employment Typefull_time
    DepartmentGrowth Division
    CategoryEngineering
    Salary Range$117K - $170K
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