Product Designer

Defense Unicorns; United States; On-site; USD 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Conferences

Training reimbursements

Unlimited PTO

Medical/Dental/Vision insurance

Health reimbursement account

Life insurance & disability insurance

401k with company contribution

Stock options

Home office setup budget

Paid parental leave

Job summary

Defense Unicorns is seeking a product designer to craft enterprise software experiences focused on self-service access and tool discovery. The role emphasizes guiding users through complex workflows with a clear, approachable design while ensuring security and governance for regulated environments.

You will collaborate with product managers, engineers, and customer-facing teams to build a cohesive UX across the software delivery lifecycle, from concept through implementation, while anchoring

Job description

• This designer’s first focus will be helping mission users discover approved tools and request access through a clear self-service workspace
• Over time, the role will encompass the full workflow around enterprise software deployments, including the SREs and administrators who configure available tools and manage access
• This role is ideal for a product designer who can make complex software delivery and administration feel approachable, guided, and low-risk for users who may not be deep Kubernetes or SaaS administration experts, while still preserving the control, security, and technical accuracy large organizations require
• You will partner closely with product managers, engineers, designers, and customer-facing teams to create an integrated UDS experience across the software delivery lifecycle
• The listed responsibilities are not exhaustive and additional responsibilities may be assigned based on the evolving needs of the organization
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to conceptualize, prototype, test, and refine user-centered solutions for UDS Enterprise, translating concepts into user-friendly designs that align with our brand and business objectives
• Conduct comprehensive UX research and following UX testing methodologies to gather user feedback, identify pain points, and iterate on design solutions
• Help define early product concepts, flesh out the high-level workflow and micro-interactions, and execute on an effective visual design for enterprise experience
• Cultivate empathy for end-users across product teams & stakeholders by creating and maintaining user personas for enterprise users
• Collaborate with developers to design and build an intuitive enterprise experience that helps scale mission value and success
• Create, collaborate, and iterate on user flows, user personas, user roles, user journeys, and other UX/UI design artifacts
• Plan iterative UI design improvements that improve the enterprise user experience
• Develop a deep understanding of disconnected operations, classification boundaries, and DoD operational constraints
• Document UI solutions and contribute to the team’s shared component library
• Work closely with other product teams and designers to ensure seamless cross-product integration with other UDS platform tools
• Develop a working understanding of UDS, DevSecOps, IDAM, and the constraints of highly regulated environments

What We Work On

• Kubernetes
• Cloud Environments (AWS/GCP and Azure)
• Infrastructure-as-code (like Terraform/Pulumi)
• Continuous Delivery and automation tooling
• GitOps
• Containers
• CNCF projects and open source products and packages
• Helm/Kustomize-Value Stream Mapping
• Building and improving security delivery
• Building Kubernetes and cloud native applications

Benefits

• Conferences (travel, lodging, and fees)
• Reimbursement for approved trainings/subscriptions
• Unlimited paid time off, with a mandatory 10 days off on top of 11 federal government holidays
• Medical/Dental/Vision (premiums are 100% company paid)
• Health reimbursement account
• Life insurance & disability insurance
• 401k with employer contribution (regardless of employee contribution)
• Company stock options
• Home office setup budget
• Paid parental leave

Strong growth mindset and curiosity about technology, customers, and the missionComfort working through complex information architecture, data-heavy interfaces, system state, auditability, and user permissionsFamiliarity with identity and access management concepts such as SSO, RBAC, groups, permissions, organizations, tenants, and user provisioningComfort working in ambiguous problem spaces and turning vague requirements into concrete designsProven ability to work autonomously, know when to ask for help, and actively resolve dependenciesFamiliarity with Tailwind CSS utility-first approach and constraints, enough to have informed conversations with engineers about feasibility and implementationSolid proficiency across systems design, UX/interaction design, and visual designPortfolio Requirement: Candidates must demonstrate proven product design experience for enterprise software, ideally with examples that include:Complex enterprise workflows with multiple user roles, organizations, tenants, catalogs, or workspacesExperience designing for enterprise users, service members, administrators, SREs, IT teams, platform teams, security teams, or similarly complex user groups3-5 years of product design experience, with at least 1-2 years designing enterprise software or complex B2B SaaS productsSelf-service product experiences where users request access to resources/tools.Simplified complex workflows without hiding important constraints from users.Systems thinking across workflows, not just isolated screensAbility to create simple UX flows that help users understand security, access, status, and next steps without creating unnecessary frictionUnderstanding of accessibility fundamentals and knowledge of 508 complianceComfort learning technical domains and asking good questions when context is unclearExperience designing products that support enterprise self-service, multi-tenancy, centrally managed administration, or organization-level governanceExperience working remote/asynchronously with distributed teams across time zonesWe are seeking a dynamic individual who can adapt and take on new responsibilities as they ariseExperience designing workflows where users discover, compare, request, access, or manage tools, applications, services, permissions, subscriptions, or policiesAbility to explore multiple solutions, identify tradeoffs, and articulate clear UX rationaleExperience facilitating design critiques, remote user testing sessions, and collaborative design sessionsBasic understanding of Kubernetes concepts or willingness to learn, including clusters, namespaces, workloads, deployments, and platform operationsDon’t have all the preferred experience or qualifications? Studies show that underrepresented groups like women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs if they don’t meet every requirement listedAbility to make complex workflows clear and concise in writing, prototypes, diagramsProficiency in Figma, including component libraries, auto-layout, variables, prototyping, responsive design techniques, and developer handoffExcellent visual, verbal, and written communication skills with the ability to articulate design decisions to both technical and non-technical audiencesExperience designing identity, SSO, RBAC, organization management, tenant management, entitlement, or access-control workflowsExperience designing SaaS management, service catalog, internal developer portal, marketplace, app store, or enterprise administration tools such as Google Workspace Admin, 1Password Business, Jamf, Okta, Keycloak, AWS, Azure, GitHub Enterprise, GitLab, Backstage, ServiceNow, or similar platformsPrevious experience designing for government, defense, or national securityExperience leveraging AI tools to accelerate UX processes without sacrificing quality, judgment, or originalityExperience designing products used by both less technical mission end users and the SREs, platform teams, or technical administrators who support themExperience with Kubernetes, DevSecOps, developer platforms, infrastructure management, security workflows, or cloud administration