Staff UI Designer (R6055)

Shield AI · San Diego, California

  • Senior
  • Full-time
  • $160,000 – $290,000
  • Posted 2026-09-24
  • Confirmed live on 25 September 2026

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Job description

Shield AI is a venture-backed defense-tech company with the mission of protecting service members and civilians with intelligent systems. Its products include Hivemind autonomy software, V-BAT and X-BAT aircraft, and Aechelon simulation and synthetic reality technologies. With offices and facilities across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, and Asia-Pacific, Shield AI’s technology actively supports operations worldwide. For more information, visit www.shield.ai. Follow Shield AI on LinkedIn, X, Instagram, and YouTube. 

Job Description:
Shield AI is hiring a Senior UI Designer to lead the design evolution of the Shield AI website and establish the foundational systems that support it. This role owns the digital experience from interface strategy through high-fidelity execution, creating clear, scalable, and cohesive experiences across corporate, product, campaign, and editorial content.
You will partner closely with brand, marketing, product, and development teams to translate complex autonomy and defense technology into intuitive web experiences. The ideal candidate brings strong visual design judgment, systems thinking, and a practical understanding of how design decisions translate into performant, accessible digital products.

What you'll do:
• Lead UI design for the Shield AI website across core pages, product experiences, landing pages, campaign content, and microsites

• Define the website’s visual and interaction standards, ensuring a cohesive experience across desktop, tablet, and mobile

• Create foundational design systems in Figma, including component libraries, design tokens, responsive patterns, templates, and documentation

• Establish reusable page frameworks and modular content patterns that enable teams to build new web experiences efficiently and consistently

• Design high-fidelity user interfaces, interaction states, prototypes, and responsive layouts for new and existing site experiences

• Partner with developers to ensure accurate implementation, provide design QA, and refine interfaces through launch

• Collaborate with brand and content teams to translate complex technical narratives into clear information hierarchies, visual storytelling, and user journeys

• Improve the usability, accessibility, navigation, and overall clarity of the Shield AI web experience

• Support the design of interactive content, data visualizations, motion concepts, and product storytelling in collaboration with creative and development partners

• Audit existing website experiences and identify opportunities to improve consistency, component reuse, accessibility, and visual quality

• Maintain and evolve design documentation, file organization, naming conventions, and workflows that support a scalable design practice

• Advise stakeholders on UI best practices, responsive design, accessibility, technical feasibility, and system-level design decisions

Required qualifications:
• 5–8 years of experience in UI, web, or digital product design, with experience leading major website or digital-platform initiatives

• A portfolio demonstrating strong visual design, interface design, responsive web design, and design-system thinking

• Advanced proficiency in Figma, including components, variants, auto layout, variables, prototyping, libraries, and developer handoff workflows

• Experience designing for WordPress, WP Engine, or other CMS-driven website environments

• Experience creating and maintaining scalable design systems, component libraries, templates, and reusable interface patterns

• Strong understanding of typography, layout, hierarchy, grids, interaction design, and responsive behavior across screen sizes

• Experience designing complex marketing, corporate, product, or editorial websites with multiple content types and stakeholder needs

• Practical knowledge of front-end implementation, including HTML, CSS, responsive frameworks, CMS constraints, and browser behavior

• Experience collaborating closely with developers and conducting design QA through implementation

• Familiarity with accessibility standards, including WCAG principles, semantic hierarchy, contrast, focus states, and inclusive interaction patterns

• Ability to simplify complex information into clear page structures, navigation systems, and user flows

• Strong communication, presentation, stakeholder-management, and project-management skills

• Ability to balance brand expression, user needs, technical constraints, and business priorities

Preferred qualifications:
Experience designing digital experiences for enterprise SaaS, defense, aerospace, robotics, autonomy, or other complex technology sectors

Familiarity with front-end frameworks and development workflows, including component-based architectures and design-to-code handoff

Experience working with design tokens and systemized theming across design and engineering teams

Experience developing motion and interaction concepts for the web using tools such as After Effects, Lo

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