Founding Product Designer

TN United Kingdom; London; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

Arondite, a defence technology company, is seeking a Product Designer to join their team in London. This role involves leading design efforts, conducting user research, and collaborating with engineers to create innovative software solutions. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in UI design and a passion for enhancing user experience in a fast-paced environment.

Benefits

Highly competitive base salary

Generous equity in EMI Options

Free breakfast and lunch every day

Private health and dental insurance

Cycle to work scheme

Relocation support

Visa sponsorship for strong candidates

Qualifications

• 5 years experience in the design of software products.
• Experience conducting user interviews.
• Experience designing enterprise-grade software for both desktop and mobile.

Responsibilities

• Lead design prototyping sprints with engineers and other designers.
• Craft the design system of Arondite’s products.
• Run user research in the user’s environment.

Skills

UI design

User research

Prototyping

Collaboration

Education

5 years experience in software product design

Tools

Figma

Adobe XD

Job description

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Arondite is a defence technology company building the foundational software and AI to power the autonomous age. Our aim is to revolutionise the way organisations collaborate with sensors, robots and autonomous systems and use the data they generate. We are driven by our determination to help defend our collective democratic values and by our strong belief that an elite group of engineers can make a big difference. We are ambitious, well-funded and building for the long-term.

You will join Arondite at a pivotal moment in the company’s journey. Our company is being built by exceptional people - those who find high-impact and technically challenging work engaging and exciting, and who consistently deliver outsized impact. You will collaborate with other brilliant minds to solve some of the world’s hardest and most important problems.

You will have ownership and autonomy from Day One. There is no corporate ladder at Arondite. From your first day, you will directly influence the design, functionality, and direction of Arondite’s product offering. We hire the best people and give them extremely high levels of autonomy; the sky is the limit for an individual with the right ambition.

If you are motivated by our mission and if you want to be part of a growing team of outstanding people, then we want to hear from you.

About the role

Arondite is hiring the first member of our Product Design Team, which will be responsible for the human experience of using our software. You will be hands-on and expected to drive the direction of design at the company by crafting our systems and implementing a design-centric approach to our product development. You will work closely with both engineers and our customer-facing team to understand user needs. This is a critical role for the company and demands an ambitious and motivated Product Designer who can make design central to the way Arondite operates and builds.

Working at a fast-paced company like Arondite will be a varied and demanding experience. You will find yourself: leading design prototyping sprints with engineers and other designers; crafting the design system of Arondite’s products; mapping out and improving the UX flow; flying drones to understand how your designs can enhance human-machine teaming; and literally getting your hands dirty during field trials to interview users alongside our engineers.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Product & UI design. As our first design hire, you must be a strong individual product designer: you'll be involved at every stage of design work. You'll cover the full spectrum of software UI design, from helping define early product concepts, to wireframing the high-level workflow, to de-risking critical micro-interactions of features, to creating high-fidelity blueprints that frontend developers can use. You’ll also build out a crisp and effective visual design system, ensuring it remains consistent across our products. You should have experience using industry standard design tools such as Figma.
• User research. Alongside having strong visual craft, you’ll need to work and empathise with our users. You’ll run and observe user research in the user’s environment, which might mean sitting in a muddy field with them. You’ll focus on the problems they experience, and feed back into the design and the product to help solve them.
• Collaborating with the Engineering team. You don’t need to know how to write code, but you need understanding of and keen interest in technical architecture, and how that effects the feasibility of your designs. You’ll work closely with engineers from the rapid prototyping stage all the way through to release, ensuring that elegant design goes hand-in-hand with pragmatic engineering.
• Partnering across the wider company. Beyond Engineering, you’ll work with our Product and Strategy and Partnerships team to understand user needs and contribute to the wider product vision and direction.
• Defining the design processes. Following industry best practices, but still pushing the envelope using modern technology and tools, you will setup slick and efficient processes for the whole design cycle at Arondite.
• Building the team. As the company grows, you will help identify, recruit and onboard additional design talent into the team.

Requirements

You should have:

• 5 years experience in the design of software products
• Experience conducting user interviews
• Experience designing enterprise-grade software for both desktop and mobile environments
• Skill in UI prototyping tools such as Figma and/or Adobe XD
• A history of building design teams and processes

Ideally, you would also have:

• Experience designing geospatial applications for both desktop and mobile applications
• Understanding of interfaces for controlling robotic systems
• Ability to create or modify designs in frontend frameworks such as React

Note: We want Arondite to bring together individuals from diverse backgrounds and perspectives. We don't expect everyone to have experience across each of these areas. Please apply even if you only partially fulfil this list.

Application process

• Stage 1: Application and Portfolio. Fill in the application form and respond to each of the questions. We value thoughtful, considered responses - it really helps us understand more about you before we meet you. As part of this, please share a link to your portfolio - if there is a password then please share this as well.
• Stage 2: Initial Interview and Problem Solving Exercise. If selected, you will then be invited for an interview at our office in Old Street, London. You can expect the interview to last two hours. It will include a problem solving exercise to help us understand your design process and get to know you. There is no need to prepare anything. You will also have the opportunity to meet more of the team when you visit.
• Stage 3: Final Interview. You will speak with one of our Founders who can answer any questions you might have about the company and discuss more about your motivations for joining a fast growing defence technology startup.
• Stage 4: Offer.

Office vs hybrid working

We are focused on building a positive, collaborative engineering-driven culture. As a result, we believe in making the office a friendly, comfortable and fun place to be and we try to work from the office where possible. Of course, there are times when it makes sense for you to work from home. You may also need to travel to visit customers, depending on your role. But in general you should only apply to join Arondite if you're excited to come into the office and work in person by default. For most of us, this usually means at least 3 days a week.

• Highly competitive base salary
• Generous equity in EMI Options in a well-funded and growing startup
• A great office in Old Street offering wellness workshops and community events
• Free breakfast and lunch every day; free pizza and beers weekly
• Private health and dental insurance
• Cycle to work scheme
• Relocation support
• Visa sponsorship for extremely strong candidates
• Access to any resources, equipment and training that you need to do your job in a world-class way
• The opportunity to work with and learn from exceptional colleagues with excellent academic experience and deep industry knowledge