UX Product Design Lead

Skydio•San Mateo, CA

1d•$180,000 - $220,000

About The Position

Skydio is the leading US drone company and the world leader in autonomous flight. We are looking for a UX Product Design Lead to help us invent the interfaces of the future. You will not be designing generic dashboards. You will be designing the critical trust-bridge between human operators and advanced AI hardware, translating extreme technological complexity into intuitive, reliable, and beautiful experiences. As a Design Lead, you are a trailblazer. You thrive on solving problems that have never been solved before. You are equal parts strategic storyteller and hands-on craftsperson. You don't just wait for product requirements; you help define the vision, use narrative to align Engineering and Product, and execute with an incredibly high bar for detail. You will work directly with Design Leadership, Product Managers, and Engineers to map out Critical User Journeys (CUJs) and build cross-platform experiences (Web, Mobile, Ground Control Stations) that our customers implicitly trust.

Requirements

First-Principles Problem Solver: You are an out-of-the-box thinker who loves operating in ambiguous spaces where no existing design patterns exist.
Uncompromising Craftsmanship: A portfolio that clearly demonstrates an exceptionally high bar for visual design, complex systems architecture, and attention to detail.
Strategic Leadership: You have a proven track record of driving design strategy at a senior/lead level, actively shaping product roadmaps rather than just taking orders.
Fluency in Complexity: Demonstrated experience shipping products in highly technical disciplines. We want to see portfolios featuring: Robotics Controls, Avionics, Geospatial/Mapping, Heavy Data/Fleet Management, or Remote Hardware Sensing.
Prototyping Chops ("You Build to Think"): You can quickly mock up interactive prototypes to prove out concepts before Engineering writes a line of production code. You also actively integrate AI tools into your daily workflow to increase velocity and explore wider.

Nice To Haves

Deep understanding of Android-based HIG and Mobile Design Patterns for physical hardware controllers.
Front-end coding ability (HTML/CSS/Javascript) to help bridge the gap with engineering.
Obtaining FAA Part 107 certification within the first 60 days of employment is strongly encouraged for all Skydio employees and required for certain positions.

Responsibilities

Lead the UX strategy and execution for our core platforms (including remote operations). You will build interfaces for autonomous flying robots that make the operator trust the job will get done, ensuring every interaction reinforces confidence, reliability, and system transparency.
Tackle complex challenges where there is no existing playbook. You will think pragmatically and creatively to design interfaces for remote hardware sensing, 3D spatial awareness, and AI-driven missions.
Use exceptional storytelling to communicate user needs, frame complex problems, and align Engineering, Product Management, and Executive leadership around a unified, grounded design vision.
Bring an uncompromising attention to detail and craftsmanship to the team. You will build high-fidelity prototypes to test assumptions quickly, leveraging AI tools as a seamless part of your daily process to move faster and explore wider.
Go on-site with our customers to deeply understand their chaotic, high-stress environments. Bring that "ground truth" back to the studio so it informs every pixel.