Senior Product Designer

Frontdoor Defense; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 160,000 - 230,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity

Benefits package

Job summary

Sift is seeking a Senior Product Designer to own core platform experiences, from discovery to launch, for engineers working with high-frequency telemetry and mission-critical hardware data.

This hands-on role spans user research, interaction design, prototyping, and polished UI execution. You will collaborate with Product Management and Engineering, leveraging our design system and evolving it as needed.

Qualifications

• 6+ years in product design (UI/UX) with ownership of complex software experiences.
• Strong interaction design for data-rich, workflow-heavy applications.
• Experience across user research, IA, interaction design and polished visuals.
• Experience building interactive prototypes to communicate and test ideas.
• Strong systems thinking with consistency across product surfaces.
• Excellent communication and storytelling to align teams.
• Interest in AI-assisted design tools and new approaches.
• Ability to work independently in ambiguous environments.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end design for core product experiences from problem to launch.
• Conduct user research including on-site visits to understand engineers' workflows.
• Design data-dense interfaces with high usability and visual craft.
• Partner with PM and Eng to define problems and ship improvements.
• Use AI-assisted tools to build prototypes, explore solutions, and iterate.
• Contribute reusable components and patterns to Sift's design system.
• Engage in critiques and raise design quality across the team.

Skills

Product design experience

Interaction design

End-to-end design

Prototyping

Systems thinking

Communication skills

AI-assisted design tools

Independent work

Tools

Claude Code

Figma MCP

Job description

Senior Product Designer

Lead end-to-end design of Sift's core platform experiences from discovery to launch

Location: San Francisco, CaliforniaUnited States Compensation: $160,000 - 230,000 USD / year

About The Role

Senior Product Designer

Sift is the data infrastructure platform for hardware engineering teams. Sift turns high-frequency telemetry into engineering insights for mission-critical systems. Teams use Sift to build and operate rockets, satellites, autonomous vehicles, energy systems, defense platforms, and more. Founded by former SpaceX engineers who built the tools behind Dragon and Starlink, Sift is building the data infrastructure to herald the AI era for physical systems.

About the Role

We're looking for a Senior Product Designer to own core user experiences across Sift's platform. You'll design complex, data-rich interfaces that help engineers monitor, analyze, and make decisions about mission-critical hardware systems.

This is a hands-on role spanning user research, interaction design, prototyping, and polished UI execution. You'll work closely with Product Management and Engineering from problem definition through launch, using our design system while helping evolve it.

We're looking for someone who combines strong design craft with systems thinking, enjoys working directly with technical users, and is excited to use AI-assisted tools to explore, build, and iterate faster.

Responsibilities:

• Own the end-to-end design process for core product experiences, from problem discovery and user research through prototyping, validation, and launch.
• Conduct user research, including on-site customer visits, to understand how engineers work with complex telemetry data and translate their needs into intuitive workflows.
• Design sophisticated, data-dense interfaces with a high bar for usability, interaction quality, and visual craft.
• Partner closely with Product Management and Engineering to define problems, evaluate tradeoffs, and ship improvements based on user feedback and product outcomes.
• Use AI-assisted design and development tools, such as Claude Code and Figma MCP, to build interactive prototypes, explore solutions, and accelerate iteration.
• Contribute reusable components, interaction patterns, and improvements to Sift's design system.
• Participate in design critiques, share new tools and workflows, and help raise the quality of design across the team.

Required Skills:

• 6+ years of experience in product design (UI/UX), with a strong portfolio demonstrating ownership of complex software experiences.
• Strong interaction design skills, particularly for technical, data-rich, or workflow-heavy applications.
• Ability to work across the full design process, from user research and information architecture to detailed interaction design and polished visual interfaces.
• Experience building interactive prototypes to communicate, test, and refine design solutions.
• Strong systems thinking, with the ability to simplify complex workflows while maintaining consistency across a product.
• Excellent communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to explain design decisions, incorporate feedback, and build alignment across teams.
• Interest in using AI-assisted tools to improve design workflows, with a willingness to experiment and adopt new approaches.
• Ability to work independently, navigate ambiguity, and move quickly without sacrificing design quality.

Bonus Points:

• Experience designing data visualization, observability, monitoring, analytics, or other data-intensive products.
• Familiarity with charts, dashboards, real-time data displays, or complex technical workflows.
• Experience designing tools for engineers, developers, scientists, or other highly technical users.
• Background in aerospace, defense, robotics, industrial systems, or advanced hardware.
• Hands-on experience with Claude Code, Figma MCP, or other AI-assisted prototyping and development tools.
• Experience working at an early-stage startup and contributing to a growing design system.

Portfolio Required: Please include a link to your portfolio or relevant design work. Applications without visual work samples will not be considered.

Location:

Sift's headquarters is in Marina Del Rey, CA (Next to LAX). We collaborate in person twice a week in our Los Angeles or San Francisco office —on Mondays and Thursdays —and come together for a full week in LA once every quarter. We are open to relocating candidates to work from either office for the right candidate.

Salary range: $160,000 - $230,000 per year. Plus equity and benefits.

Eligibility:

U.S. Person Required: Must be a U.S. citizen, lawful permanent resident (Green Card Holder), or protected individual such as an asylee or refugee in compliance with ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) / EAR (Export Administration Regulations) regulations.