Staff UX Designer

Archer; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 175,000 - 215,000; Full time

Job summary

Archer is hiring a Staff Designer to lead end-to-end design for consumer end-user software, including mobile apps, websites, and web apps. You will bring 0→1 thinking, run explorations, and ship with minimal direction, then refine based on how people use it.

The role values strong craft, a portfolio that demonstrates thinking, and comfort with ambiguity. The AI Products org is building software and you’ll influence design decisions in a greenfield environment with ownership typically seen in

Qualifications

• 8+ years of product design experience minimum (likely 12–15).
• Live products in users' hands; be ready to discuss decisions.
• Real 0→1 experience: built the first version of something.
• Strong systems thinking across mobile and web.
• Comfort with ambiguity.
• A portfolio showing your thinking, not just polished final screens.

Responsibilities

• Own product design for consumer end-user software end to end: mobile apps, websites, and web applications.
• Take products from 0 to 1; explore uncreated space.
• Run product explorations — sketch directions, test them with the team, kill weak ones early.
• Work with minimal direction; ship and refine what shipped based on user feedback.
• Raise the bar on craft across the org, through your own work and feedback on others.

Skills

Product design

0→1 experience

Mobile & Web

Systems thinking

Portfolio

Ambiguity tolerance

Job description

Archer is an aerospace company based in San Jose, California building an all-electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft with a mission to advance the benefits of sustainable air mobility. We are designing, manufacturing, and operating an all-electric aircraft that can carry four passengers while producing minimal noise.

Our sights are set high and our problems are hard, and we believe that diversity in the workplace is what makes us smarter, drives better insights, and will ultimately lift us all to success. We are dedicated to cultivating an equitable and inclusive environment that embraces our differences, and supports and celebrates all of our team members.

Archer is best known for Midnight, our electric aircraft. This role isn't on that program. The AI Products Org is building software for the general aviation industry: mobile apps, websites, and web apps for consumer end users. We haven't announced what we're working on, and we're not going to spoil it in a job posting. What we can tell you: it's early, it's greenfield, and the design decisions made in the next year will define these products for a long time.

That's why we're hiring a Staff Designer. Not someone to execute a roadmap that's already figured out, but someone who can take a loosely defined problem, explore it, and come back with something worth building.

What You’ll Do:

• Own product design for consumer end-user software end to end: mobile apps, websites, and web applications
• Take products from 0 to 1. Some of what you'll work on doesn't exist yet in any form, not even a brief
• Run product explorations — sketch out directions, pressure-test them with the team, kill the weak ones early
• Work with minimal direction. You'll get context and constraints from PM and engineering, but the design leadership on your projects is you ship. Then keep refining what shipped based on how people actually use it
• Raise the bar on craft across the org, through your own work and through feedback on everyone else's

What You Need:

• 8+ years of product design experience minimum. Realistically, the person we're picturing has 12–15
• Products you've designed that are live and in users' hands. We will ask about them, in detail: what you decided, what you got wrong, what you'd change
• Real 0→1 experience: you've built the first version of something, not just iterated on a mature product
• Strong systems thinking across mobile and web. You know when a pattern should be shared across platforms and when it shouldn't
• Comfort with ambiguity. If you need a fully scoped ticket before you can start, this won't be a fit
• A portfolio that shows your thinking, not just polished final screens

Bonus Qualifications:

• Experience designing for aviation, or an interest in general aviation. Pilots and aviation nerds, this is your moment
• Experience working alongside AI/ML teams, or designing products with AI-driven features
• You've shipped consumer products in a domain with real-world constraints (regulated industries, safety-adjacent, hardware-adjacent) and know how that shapes design

About The Team:

AI Products is a roughly 100-person software org inside a company of aerospace engineers, and we expect to grow substantially over the next year. You get the resources and momentum of a real org, but the products themselves are early — which means senior designers here get the kind of ownership that usually only exists at startups.

If you want to hear more about what we're building before you apply, you can't. Apply, and we'll tell you plenty.

At Archer we aim to attract, retain, and motivate talent that possess the skills and leadership necessary to grow our business. We drive a pay-for-performance culture and reward performance that supports the Company’s business strategy. For this position we are targeting a base pay between $175,00.00 - $215,000.00 . Actual compensation offered will be determined by factors such as job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.

Archer is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusivity in the workplace. All aspects of employment are decided on the basis of merit, qualifications, and business needs. We do not discriminate based upon race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.

Archer is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to job applicants with physical or mental disabilities, and those with sincerely held religious beliefs. Applicants who may require reasonable accommodation for any part of the application or hiring process should provide their name and contact information to Archer’s People Team at [e-mail] . Reasonable accommodations will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Information collected and processed as part of any job applications you choose to submit is subject to Archer's Candidate Privacy Policy .

Archer is unable to provide work visa sponsorship for this position at the present time.

Archer is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusivity in the workplace. All aspects of employment are decided on the basis of merit, qualifications, and business needs. We do not discriminate based upon race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.