Senior UX Designer

Agile Defense, Inc.; Honolulu (HI); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Agile Defense in Honolulu is seeking a Senior UX Designer to lead research and design for complex defense systems, on-site. You will translate user needs from government technicians into production-ready interfaces and define usability requirements.

You will collaborate with product managers and engineers, conduct task analyses, design for human-in-the-loop controls, and ensure accessibility and explainability within security constraints.

Qualifications

• Ability to maintain required TS/SCI access.
• Experience leading user research and design for data-intensive or mission-critical applications.
• Experience designing decision or governance steps within workflows.
• Experience with AI-enabled systems and explainability.
• Background in human factors engineering, cognitive psychology, or ergonomics.

Responsibilities

• Lead user research and design for Target Effect Pairing (TEP) and related workflows.
• Turn research into functional requirements, workflow specifications, and interface designs.
• Co-author user requirements with Fires SMEs and design approval gates for human-in-the-loop constraints.
• Ensure on-site collaboration with government and development stakeholders in secure facilities.

Skills

User research

TS/SCI access

Human-centered design

Task analysis

Data-driven design

Job description

About Agile Defense

At Agile Defense we know that action defines the outcome and new challenges require new solutions. That’s why we always look to the future and embrace change with an unmovable spirit and the courage to build for what comes next.

Our vision is to bring adaptive innovation to support our nation's most important missions through the seamless integration of advanced technologies, elite minds, and unparalleled agility—leveraging a foundation of speed, flexibility, and ingenuity to strengthen and protect our nation’s vital interests.

Requisition:1964

Job Title:Senior UX Designer

Location:Honolulu, HI | On-Site

Clearance Level:TS/SCI eligibility required

Required Certification(s):None

Summary

Targeteers at USPACOM work from target development through effects pairing with authority they cannot hand to software. An AI recommendation that is hard to read, hard to question, or hard to overrule makes that work slower and harder to trust, however good the model behind it is. Target Effect Pairing (TEP), built on the Maven Smart System for USPACOM Joint Fires, has to do the opposite.

You lead user research and design for TEP. You run requirements elicitation and task analysis with government targeteers, JFE and JTCB staff, and J32 operators across the capabilities analysis and the commander's decision and force assignment workflows. You turn what you learn into functional requirements, workflow specifications, and interface designs that engineers implement, and you co-author user requirements with the Product Manager/Fires SMEs. You also design the approval gates and human-in-the-loop constraints the technical team builds against.

Your users are experts with little time to spare, they work in secure facilities, and access to them will be limited. Each session has to count.

What Success Looks Like

Objective 1: In the first 90 days, produce a task analysis of the current workflow that operators recognize as their own

• The analysis comes from sessions with targeteers, JFE and JTCB staff, and J32 operators, and they confirm it is accurate.
• Pain points are ranked by operational cost and agreed with the Fires SMEs.
• Engineers know which steps the product should change and which it should leave alone.

Objective 2: Turn research into requirements and designs that engineers build as designed

• Functional requirements and workflow specifications, co-authored with the Fires SMEs, leave engineers no gaps to guess at.
• Data-dense comparison views and geospatial interfaces hold up in usability testing with operators.
• Design rationale is written down well enough that engineers and leadership can see why each choice was made.

Objective 3: Design human-in-the-loop controls that keep every governmental decision with a person

• Approval gates make explicit who decides, at which step, and on what evidence, and the technical team implements them as constraints.
• Analysts can see why the system recommended something, question it, adjudicate discrepancies, and override it, and testing shows they do.
• Leadership and government stakeholders can walk through the decision pathway and find no step where authority is unclear.

Objective 4: By the end of year one, show that the product reduces operator workload and earns trust

• Usability studies or field evaluations measure time and manual steps against the workflow you documented at the start.
• Operators can say when they would accept a recommendation and when they would not.
• Findings from each evaluation change the backlog.

What You Bring

Required Skills

• Ability to maintain required TS/SCI access.

Preferred Skills

• You have led research and design for data-intensive or mission-critical applications used by expert operators.
• You have run task analysis or cognitive task analysis and turned the results into requirements engineers built from.
• You have designed decision, approval, or governance steps into a workflow and seen them hold up in use.
• You have designed for AI-enabled systems, with attention to explainability and human-machine teaming.
• You have a background in human factors engineering, cognitive psychology, or ergonomics.
• You have run usability studies or field evaluations with highly specialized users.
• You have worked in DoW, Joint, combatant command, Navy/NIWC, or CDAO mission environments. Knowledge of Joint Fires, command and control, or intelligence workflows is strongly valued.

WORKING CONDITIONS

Environmental Conditions

Work is primarily performed in professional office, Government, and technical development environments. This position requires regular on-site collaboration in the San Diego area, including work with Government and development stakeholders at or in support of NIWC-Pacific. Periodic travel may be required to support operational stakeholders and other mission activities. Work may occur in secure facilities with restrictions on personal electronic devices and remote connectivity.

Strength Demands

Sedentary to light physical demands associated with professional office and technical work environments. Occasional movement or transport of laptops, documents, and other standard work materials may be required.

Physical Requirements

Regular use of computers and standard office equipment; ability to participate in meetings, technical working sessions, and collaborative development activities for extended periods; ability to communicate effectively in person and through approved electronic means; and ability to travel as required.

Our Core Values

Employees of Agile Defense are our number one priority, and the importance we place on our culture here is fundamental. Our culture is alive and evolving, but it always stays true to its roots. Here, you are valued as a family member, and we believe that we can accomplish great things together. Agile Defense has been highly successful in the past few years due to our employees and the culture we create together.

What makes us Agile? We call it the 6Hs, the values that define our culture and guide everything we do. Together, these values infuse vibrancy, integrity, and a tireless work ethic into advancing the most important national security and critical civilian missions. It's how we show up every day. It's who we are.

• Happy - Be Infectious. Happiness multiplies and creates a positive and connected environment where motivation and satisfaction have an outsized effect on everything we do.
• Helpful - Be Supportive. Being helpful is the foundation of teamwork, resulting in a supportive atmosphere where collaboration flourishes, and collective success is celebrated.
• Honest - Be Trustworthy. Honesty serves as our compass, ensuring transparent communication and ethical conduct, essential to who we are and the complex domains we support.
• Humble - Be Grounded. Success is not achieved alone, humility ensures a culture of mutual respect, encouraging open communication, and a willingness to learn from one another and take on any task.
• Hungry - Be Eager. Our hunger for excellence drives an insatiable appetite for innovation and continuous improvement, propelling us forward in the face of new and unprecedented challenges.
• Hustle - Be Driven. Hustle is reflected in our relentless work ethic, where we are each committed to going above and beyond to advance the mission and achieve success.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities