Manager, Forward Deployed UX Design

Role overview

Lead a team of forward-deployed UX designers who work alongside customers in operational settings to understand complex missions and turn them into usable product experiences. You’ll guide discovery across multiple deployments, shape product direction with engineering and data partners, and help connect field-tested solutions back to a shared platform. The role is based in Arlington, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, or remotely, with up to 50% travel to customer and partner locations.

Responsibilities - Own the design experience across deployments and connect customer workflows to measurable product outcomes. - Identify critical workflows, make them measurable, and carry insights from field work into the core product. - Partner with engineering and data teams to represent real constraints, options, and solutions in the product. - Define and test human–AI interaction patterns, including when systems act, recommend, or require human approval. - Lead designers in customer settings such as factories, depots, and program offices; use observation and testing to guide decisions. - Recruit, mentor, and develop the team, while helping it prototype in code and work directly with AI models.

Requirements - U.S. citizenship. - At least 6 years in product design, including 1 or more years leading or mentoring designers. - Evidence that design work shaped product and business outcomes in complex enterprise, analytics, or AI software. - Systems thinking across products and workflows, including service design or consistency across multiple products. - Experience co-creating with domain experts in unfamiliar technical fields and carrying the work through to a shipped product. - Practical fluency with AI product design, including model-driven workflows and failure modes; strong grounding in research and human-computer interaction. - Experience building team structure in a high-growth environment without slowing delivery.

Nice to have - An active U.S. security clearance or ability to obtain one with sponsorship. - Design experience in defense, government, or public-sector work; or knowledge of supply chain, logistics, manufacturing, or industrial operations.