Forward Deployed UX Researcher

Air; Arlington, Pittsburgh, San Francisco (VA, Allegheny County, CA); Híbrido; USD 110.000 - 170.000; Jornada completa

Descripción de la vacante

Air is seeking a Forward Deployed UX Researcher/Designer to embed with customers and understand their mission, needs, and friction. You will transform insights into product direction and work with engineers, data scientists, designers, and product managers to craft innovative AI-native solutions that address real readiness gaps.

You will own discovery end-to-end—from framing questions to delivering findings, balancing priorities, and communicating clear, impactful stories to stakeholders in a

Formación

• Experience conducting applied UX or product research in a professional setting.
• Planning studies and synthesizing findings independently.
• Strong command of qualitative methods (interviews, contextual inquiry, usability testing).
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision in a fast-paced environment.
• Excellent communication skills to tell a clear, compelling story with research and influence cross-functional partners.

Responsabilidades

• Embed with customers in the field to understand their mission and how they evaluate readiness.
• Frame hypotheses and translate findings into product direction and prototypes.
• Distill insights to direct what the team delivers and drive 0-to-1 initiatives.
• Collaborate with engineers, data scientists, designers, and product managers to shape core offering.

Conocimientos

Qualitative research methods

Contextual inquiry

Interviews

Usability testing

Independent work

Storytelling with research

Cross-functional influence

Prototype generation (AIND)

Educación

Bachelor’s degree in HCI, Psychology, Design or related field

Descripción del empleo

Company Description

Air is the leader in Enterprise Readiness. Our mission is to establish readiness as a real-time condition that is continuously achieved. Today, a dangerous Readiness Gap exists between what the front line needs and what is delivered. Our AI-native platform, Air Enterprise Readiness, aligns development, production, delivery, and sustainment into one coordinated execution system for government agencies and industrial suppliers. By revealing true capacity, exposing real constraints, coordinating resources, and executing at the speed of operational demands, the front line gets what it needs to succeed.

Job Description

As a Forward Deployed UX Researcher/Designer, you will embed directly with our customers in the field to understand in detail their mission and how they evaluate continuous readiness. You will do that through a deep understanding of the end-user's jobs, problems, needs, and friction to achieve their goals. You turn this understanding into a product direction and work with other forward-deployed roles to design and develop innovative AI-native solutions to create a 10x better way of satisfying customer needs, instantly. This is a highly collaborative, fast-paced, customer-facing role where you own the discovery work end-to-end—from framing the question to delivering insights that direct what we deliver.

To succeed in this role, you are a curious and rigorous problem solver who values outcomes over process, exercises exceptional judgment when balancing competing priorities, and thrives in ambiguous, high-stakes, empowered environments.

This role is a full-time position located out of our office in Arlington, VA / Pittsburgh, PA / San Francisco, CA / Anywhere in the US.

This role may require up to 75% travel.

Scope of Responsibilities

• Partner with other forward-deployed roles (engineers, data scientists) to scope research, frame hypotheses, and translate findings into 0-to-1 product initiatives and prototypes.
• Run fast, pragmatic research: contextual inquiry, interviews, usability sessions, and concept tests against working prototypes.
• Assess, prioritize, and help correct the most important gaps in solutions under development based on what you hear from users.
• Synthesize quickly, share insights early, and iterate—learn fast, adjust, and go again.
• Work with core platform researchers, designers, and product managers to distill what’s customer-specific and what needs to become part of our core offering.

Qualifications

• U.S. Citizenship is required

Required Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Human-Computer Interaction, Psychology, Design, a related field, or equivalent practical experience.
• Worked in a startup or entrepreneurial environment.
• Experience conducting applied UX or product research in a professional setting, including planning studies and synthesizing findings independently.
• Strong command of qualitative methods (interviews, contextual inquiry, usability testing) and comfort with mixed-methods work.
• Ability to work independently with minimal supervision and a strong desire to work in a challenging, fast-paced environment.
• Excellent communication skills—able to tell a clear, compelling story with research and influence cross-functional partners.
• Experience in AIND to generate prototypes and validate

Desired Skills

• A current U.S. security clearance, or the ability to obtain one with Air’s sponsorship.
• Experience researching complex, domain-heavy, or enterprise software, ideally in defense, government, or other regulated settings.
• Experience working within the boundaries of a federally accredited software environment.
• Experience in a customer-facing, consulting, or embedded role.

We firmly believe that past performance is the best indicator of future performance. If you thrive while building solutions to complex problems, are a self-starter, and are passionate about making an impact in global security, we’re eager to hear from you.

Air is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability and protected veterans status or any other characteristic protected by law.

Voluntary Self-Identification

For government reporting purposes, we ask candidates to respond to the below self-identification survey.Completion of the form is entirely voluntary. Whatever your decision, it will not be considered in the hiringprocess or thereafter. Any information that you do provide will be recorded and maintained in aconfidential file.

As set forth in Air’s Equal Employment Opportunity policy,we do not discriminate on the basis of any protected group status under any applicable law.

If you believe you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans listed below, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.As a government contractor subject to the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA), we request this information in order to measurethe effectiveness of the outreach and positive recruitment efforts we undertake pursuant to VEVRAA. Classification of protected categoriesis as follows:

A "disabled veteran" is one of the following: a veteran of the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service who is entitled to compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs; or a person who was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability.

A "recently separated veteran" means any veteran during the three-year period beginning on the date of such veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval, or air service.

An "active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran" means a veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge has been authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense.

An "Armed forces service medal veteran" means a veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military, ground, naval or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985.