Senior/Staff Product Designer (U. S. Air Force)

Skylight

7h•Remote

About The Position

At Skylight, product designers play a critical role in understanding the problem space, identifying opportunities, and developing solutions using a lean-agile approach. Product designers are the primary user advocate on their team and engage in continuous research throughout the product life cycle. Working end-to-end from concept to implementation, product designers conduct research, facilitate design activities, and ensure the product team is building the right thing. In this role, you’ll partner with a mission-critical organization within the U.S. Air Force Special Operations community to modernize complex user experience journeys that underpin highly specialized operations. Leveraging your strengths in human-centered design and digital modernization, you’ll help deliver secure, scalable solutions that measurably improve usability, operational efficiency, and mission readiness. You will be responsible for managing and scaling a portfolio of software applications for the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) through our BESPIN partnership. Your primary focus will be on mobile application UI/UX design and user discovery.

Requirements

Able to plan, synthesize, and share out generative and evaluative user research to inform product and design direction
Proficiency in Figma and working within agile environments
Strong experience in human-centered design (HCD)
Ability to be flexible and navigate ambiguity
Can define scalable, end-to-end interaction flows that incorporate key design principles, intentional information architectures, common design patterns, and accessibility
Can create simple, elegant, and thoughtful user interfaces through the implementation of visual design elements, such as branding, illustration, iconography, typography, or microinteractions
Understand how to use different design processes (e.g., double diamond) and can produce documentation for storytelling that helps your team and stakeholders empathize with users
Can contribute to product strategy decisions by aligning design processes with lean/agile methodologies, serving as the primary voice for users, prioritizing and balancing user and business decisions, and crafting mental models to help define and refine product opportunities
Can facilitate and communicate well, including communicating your design rationale to different groups (users, teammates, stakeholders) effectively
Ability to demonstrate product design leadership through actions such as driving excellence in your team’s design execution
Able to leverage behavioral analytics tools, such as click maps and heat maps, to gain insights into user interactions with forms and interfaces, informing design decisions and usability improvements
Design and evaluate multivariant experiments using A/B testing platforms to assess the impact of design choices and optimize user experiences based on data-driven insights
Ability to work successfully within a professional services environment (e.g., can communicate effectively with clients)
Passionate about creating better public outcomes through great government services
A mindset and work approach that align with Skylight’s core values
Ability to travel for work from time to time
All work must be conducted within the U.S., excluding U.S. territories.
U.S. citizenship to be eligible for employment.
May be required to obtain a public trust or security clearance, up to Top Secret.
May be required to complete a company background check successfully.
Some of our available roles are on federal contracts that require a degree or additional years of experience as a substitute.

Nice To Haves

Experience working with military users
Experience with AI/ML
Experience designing, multi-step forms with thoughtful validation patterns and clear error handling to support seamless user input experiences
Lead and facilitate collaborative workshops to align stakeholders, gather insights, and drive decision-making
Experience owning design work by leading projects or serving as the sole designer, balancing strategy, execution, and cross-functional collaboration
Prior experience working in the civic tech space
Experience working in a remote-team environment

Responsibilities

Work alongside product managers, engineers, and other practitioners responsible for making critical decisions about product strategy
Plan and conduct research to inform strategic product and design direction
Define end-to-end flows that incorporate well-thought-out information architecture, systems thinking, design principles, and common design patterns
Create simple and elegant user interfaces and/or evolve existing visual systems with clear rationale
Apply a design process that incorporates frequent iterations and feedback
Create mockups and design artifacts as needed to help the team develop a shared understanding of the product vision
Balance user and business needs within an agile working environment
Uphold human-centered design principles and evangelize its value to stakeholders, engagement partners, and subject matter experts
Promote empathy for the general public and government workers as we seek to improve their tools and technology

Benefits

Medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance
Short-term and long-term disability insurance
Life and AD&D insurance
Dependent care FSA, healthcare FSA, health savings account
Dollar-for-dollar 401(k) match up to 10% of your salary with no vesting period
Flexible paid-time-off policy (generally around 25 days per year), plus 11 paid federal holidays
Up to 12 weeks paid-time-off for all eligible new birth, adoption, or foster parents
Performance rewards, including annual salary increase, annual performance bonus, spot bonuses, and stock options
Business development / sales bonuses
Referral bonuses
Annual $2,000 allowance for professional development
Annual $750 allowance for tech-related purchases
Annual swag budget of $100 to display your Skylight pride with some merchandise (hoodies, hats, and more)
Dollar-for-dollar charity donation matching, up to $500 per year
Flexible, remote-friendly work environment
An environment that empowers you to unleash your superpowers for public good