Senior AI UX Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior AI UX Designer Company: Hive.co Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada (Fully Remote) Job Type: Full-Time Category: User Experience (UX) / Product Design (AI Focus) Date Posted: September 17, 2025 Experience Level: Mid-Senior to Senior (5+ years) Remote Status: Fully Remote (Canada & USA)

🚀 Role Summary

• Spearhead the design of AI-powered user experiences within an email & SMS marketing automation platform, focusing on human-AI collaboration and intuitive interaction models.
• Pioneer foundational design patterns for conversational interfaces, agentic workflows, and AI transparency, shaping how users interact with intelligent agents.
• Lead AI UX research and testing initiatives to understand user mental models of AI systems and build trust in AI-driven features.
• Collaborate closely with product management and engineering teams to integrate AI UX considerations throughout the product development lifecycle.
• Define and establish concrete design systems and interaction patterns for AI interfaces, including conversation design principles and error handling for AI failures.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the core focus is UX Design, the specialization in "AI UX" and "Agentic AI" positions this role at the intersection of product strategy, user research, and cutting-edge technology. This is not a typical operations role, but the principles of process optimization, user workflow efficiency, and data-driven design are highly relevant. The "Agentic AI Pod" implies a specialized, potentially fast-moving team focused on AI research and implementation.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Conduct in-depth customer research to understand user needs and desired interactions with AI agents, translating insights into human-centered AI design strategies.
• Invent and establish new design patterns for conversational interfaces, agentic workflows, and AI transparency to ensure user control and trust.
• Lead the design process for AI features, including brainstorming, conversational flow mapping, multi-modal interaction exploration, AI prototyping, and interface crafting.
• Design and execute user research studies, including usability testing for conversational AI, to validate design decisions and uncover user comprehension of AI capabilities.
• Partner with Product Managers to define the product vision for AI-powered features and collaborate with Engineers to ensure seamless implementation of UX designs, including AI model integration.
• Develop and maintain design systems and interaction guidelines specifically for AI interfaces, covering aspects like conversation design, error handling, and transparency.
• Proactively identify and address ambiguity in emerging AI technology, designing experiences that set accurate user expectations and manage AI system limitations gracefully.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a proactive and pioneering approach to AI UX. For candidates from operations backgrounds, the emphasis on "workflow," "automation," "efficiency," and "user capabilities" aligns well with operational thinking. The ability to "navigate AI ambiguity" suggests a need for adaptability and strategic problem-solving, akin to managing complex operational challenges.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: A Bachelor's or Master's degree in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Design, Computer Science, or a related field is typically expected, though equivalent practical experience will be strongly considered.

Experience: Minimum of 5 years of experience as a UX Designer within agile product development environments, with a proven track record of taking customer-facing features from concept to launch, especially in complex technical product domains.

Required Skills:

• Demonstrated expertise in AI UX, conversational UX, or the design of intelligent systems, with a strong preference for experience with chatbots, voice interfaces, or agentic AI systems.
• A robust portfolio showcasing successful AI/conversational design work, highlighting the ability to solve complex interaction problems with intelligent systems, natural language interfaces, or automation.
• Proficiency across the AI UX lifecycle, from researching user mental models of AI, to designing conversation flows, to prototyping AI interactions, and testing user trust and comprehension.
• Solid understanding of current AI capabilities and limitations to inform the design of realistic and achievable user experiences.
• An ownership mindset and the ability to navigate uncertainty inherent in cutting-edge AI development, creating concrete design solutions.
• Strong proficiency in standard design tools such as Figma, Linear, and GitHub, with familiarity in conversation design tools and AI/ML workflow visualization.

Preferred Skills:

• Experience in prompt engineering, conversation design, technical writing, or specialized user research.
• Background in MarTech (Marketing Technology) or event marketing technology.
• Experience with AI ethics, bias mitigation, and user safety considerations in design.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on a portfolio with AI/conversational work is critical. Candidates should be prepared to showcase projects that demonstrate an understanding of how users interact with systems that learn, adapt, and take actions. For operations professionals, transferable skills include process mapping, identifying bottlenecks, and designing more efficient workflows, which can be framed within AI interaction design.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase end-to-end UX design processes applied to AI-driven products or conversational interfaces.
• Include case studies demonstrating problem identification, user research (especially AI-specific), ideation, prototyping, and user testing with measurable outcomes.
• Highlight projects involving natural language interfaces, agentic workflows, or systems where AI takes actions on behalf of the user.
• Demonstrate an understanding of how to build trust and transparency in AI interactions through design.
• Present clear articulation of design decisions, the rationale behind them, and the impact on user experience and business goals.

Process Documentation:

• Evidence of structured design processes, including user journey mapping,
• Examples of how user data and feedback were used to iterate on AI interactions and improve workflow efficiency.
• Documentation of how design systems or interaction patterns were developed and applied for AI features.
• Case studies that clearly articulate the "before" and "after" of a design intervention, quantifying improvements in user task completion, comprehension, or satisfaction.

📝 Enhancement Note: While not a traditional operations portfolio, the expectation for demonstrating process, iteration, and measurable outcomes is directly transferable. Candidates should frame their AI UX projects through the lens of improving user workflows, enhancing efficiency, and driving adoption of new technology, much like an operations professional would analyze and optimize business processes.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: As this is a Senior role in a high-demand field (AI UX), and based on the company's stated intent for "meaningful salary + equity," a competitive range for Toronto, Canada, would typically be in the CAD $120,000 - $180,000+ annual base salary range, plus equity. This can vary significantly based on candidate experience, negotiation, and specific location within Canada/US.

Benefits:

• Meaningful Salary + Equity: Performance-based compensation reflecting impact.
• Fully Remote Work: Option to work fully remote in Canada or the US, offering flexibility and autonomy.
• Flexible Work Hours: Ability to customize schedules within reasonable limits to accommodate team and role needs.
• Comprehensive Health + Insurance: Robust health and dental coverage.
• Generous Parental Leave Top-Up: Support for new parents.
• Unlimited Vacation/PTO Policy: Encourages work-life balance and employee well-being.

Working Hours: Full-time, with an expectation of 40 hours per week, but offering flexibility in scheduling to promote work-life balance and accommodate different working styles.

📝 Enhancement Note: The compensation structure emphasizes impact through salary and equity, common in tech startups. The remote-first and flexible hours policies are significant benefits for professionals seeking autonomy and better work-life integration, which can be particularly attractive to those accustomed to the demands of operations roles.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Marketing Technology (MarTech), specifically focused on email and SMS marketing automation for event marketers. Company Size: While not explicitly stated, "Agentic AI Pod" suggests a focused, potentially smaller, specialized team within a growing company. Hive.co's overall size is likely in the startup to scale-up phase, typical of companies integrating advanced AI. Founded: Hive.co was founded to provide event marketers with a powerful platform for customer engagement. The company's mission is to "create moments that matter by connecting event marketers to their biggest fans."

Team Structure:

• The Senior AI UX Designer will be part of an "Agentic AI Pod," indicating a dedicated, cross-functional team focused on AI initiatives.
• This pod likely includes Product Managers, AI Engineers, and potentially Data Scientists.
• The role reports to the VP, Product, suggesting a direct line of sight to product leadership and strategy.
• Collaboration will extend across other "pods" within the organization to establish platform-wide AI design standards.

Methodology:

• Data-Driven Design: Hive integrates with over 25 partners, ingesting rich customer data in real-time to enable client segmentation and personalized messaging. This implies a strong reliance on data for understanding customer behavior and informing design.
• Agile Development: The description mentions working on agile product development teams, indicating iterative development cycles and cross-functional collaboration.
• Human-Centered AI: The core philosophy is to design AI experiences that amplify user capabilities while maintaining control and trust, focusing on user needs and mental models.

Company Website: https://www.hive.co/

📝 Enhancement Note: Hive's focus on data integration and personalization within the event marketing space suggests a culture that values efficiency, customer understanding, and technological innovation. The "Agentic AI Pod" structure implies a fast-paced, experimental environment where new ideas are rapidly tested and implemented.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned as a Senior UX Designer, indicating a level of expertise and autonomy. It’s not a direct operations role, but the skills in process optimization, user workflow enhancement, and automation are highly valued in operations. The "Senior" title suggests leadership potential within the UX discipline.

Reporting Structure: The Senior AI UX Designer will report directly to the VP, Product. This provides high visibility and direct impact on product strategy and roadmap. This structure also implies less hierarchical management and more collaborative decision-making.

Operations Impact: While not directly managing operational processes, this role's impact is through designing AI-driven workflows and interfaces that make marketers' jobs easier and more efficient. By simplifying complex tasks through AI, the designer indirectly contributes to operational effectiveness for Hive's clients and potentially for internal Hive processes. The goal is to "transform how marketers accomplish real work through intelligent agents."

Growth Opportunities:

• Specialization in AI UX: Deepen expertise in a rapidly growing and highly sought-after field, becoming a subject matter expert in human-AI interaction design.
• Leadership in Design: Opportunity to define and lead design standards for AI across an entire platform, influencing future product development.
• Cross-Functional Influence: Work closely with leadership and engineering teams, gaining exposure to broader product strategy and AI development processes.
• Pioneering Role: Contribute to building foundational AI design patterns, offering a unique opportunity to shape the future of user interaction with intelligent systems.
• MarTech Expertise: Develop specialized knowledge within the MarTech industry, a sector ripe with opportunities for process automation and efficiency gains.

📝 Enhancement Note: For operations professionals, this role offers a transition into a high-growth area of technology where their analytical and process-oriented thinking can be applied to user experience. The growth trajectory is focused on becoming a leader in AI design within a dynamic tech environment.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Fully Remote. This means there is no central physical office for this role. The company operates with a distributed workforce.

Office Location(s): The role is open to candidates legally authorized to work in Canada and the United States. This allows for flexibility in living arrangements and work locations within these countries.

Workspace Context:

• Autonomy and Flexibility: Remote work provides significant autonomy over the work environment and schedule, emphasizing results over physical presence.
• Digital Collaboration: The team relies heavily on digital collaboration tools (Figma, Linear, GitHub, etc.) for communication, design, and project management.
• Cross-Pod Interaction: Opportunities to collaborate with various "pods" (teams) within Hive, fostering a dynamic and interconnected work environment.
• Innovation Hub: Working within the "Agentic AI Pod" means being part of a team focused on cutting-edge AI development, likely fostering a culture of experimentation and continuous learning.

Work Schedule: Flexible work hours are encouraged, provided they do not disrupt team collaboration or role responsibilities. This allows individuals to structure their day around personal productivity peaks and team needs.

📝 Enhancement Note: The fully remote and flexible work environment is a key cultural element, requiring strong self-discipline and communication skills. For individuals coming from structured operational environments, this offers a shift towards outcome-based work and personal responsibility.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Likely a brief call with a recruiter or hiring manager to assess basic qualifications and cultural fit.
• Portfolio Presentation & Design Challenge: A core part of the process will involve presenting a portfolio of relevant AI/conversational UX work. This may be accompanied by a design challenge focused on AI interaction design, requiring candidates to demonstrate their problem-solving approach, ideation, and design rationale.
• Team Interviews: Interviews with members of the Agentic AI Pod and potentially other cross-functional collaborators (Product, Engineering) to evaluate technical skills, collaboration style, and understanding of AI concepts.
• Leadership Interview: A final interview, likely with the VP, Product, to discuss strategic thinking, leadership potential, and overall fit with Hive's vision.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Highlight AI/Conversational Work: Prioritize projects that specifically showcase your experience with intelligent systems, natural language interfaces, or agentic AI.
• Demonstrate Process: Clearly articulate your design process, emphasizing user research, problem definition, iterative design, and testing, especially as it applies to AI interactions and user trust.
• Quantify Impact: Where possible, use metrics to demonstrate the success of your designs (e.g., improved user task completion, increased AI comprehension, reduced errors).
• Showcase Problem-Solving: Explain complex challenges you've faced and how you approached them with innovative AI UX solutions.
• Explain AI Limitations: Discuss how you considered and designed for the limitations and potential failures of AI systems.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand AI Capabilities: Familiarize yourself with current advancements and limitations in AI, particularly in conversational interfaces and agentic systems.
• Think Conversationally: Practice mapping out conversational flows and anticipating user queries and AI responses.
• Focus on Trust & Transparency: Consider how to design interfaces that build user trust and clearly communicate AI capabilities and limitations.
• Prepare to Explain Your Thought Process: Be ready to articulate your design decisions, trade-offs, and the rationale behind your proposed solutions, especially in the context of AI.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on a portfolio and design challenges is standard for UX roles. For this AI-focused position, candidates must demonstrate a unique understanding of human-AI interaction, which sets it apart from general UX roles. Operations professionals can leverage their experience in process mapping and efficiency analysis to frame their approach to designing effective AI workflows.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma (for UI design, wireframing, prototyping), potentially specialized AI prototyping tools.
• Project Management: Linear (mentioned as a tool used), Jira, Asana, or similar.
• Collaboration & Version Control: GitHub (mentioned for engineers, but familiarity is beneficial), Slack, Confluence.
• User Research Tools: UserTesting.com, Maze, Lookback, or similar platforms for remote usability testing.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Familiarity with analytics platforms (e.g., Amplitude, Mixpanel) to understand user behavior within the platform.
• Tools for visualizing AI performance metrics or user interaction data.

CRM & Automation:

• While the company is a CRM/automation platform (email/SMS marketing), the UX designer will interact with these concepts through the user interface they design for marketers.
• Understanding of workflow automation principles is key, even if not directly configuring automation tools.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in Figma is paramount. Familiarity with tools like Linear and GitHub suggests a modern, integrated development workflow. The role requires an ability to work with and understand the output of AI models, even if not directly building them.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values: (Interpreted through the lens of UX and AI design)

• Efficiency & Effectiveness: Designing AI systems that genuinely improve user workflows and task completion, mirroring operational goals.
• Data-Driven Decisions: Leveraging customer data and research to inform design choices and optimize user experiences.
• Transparency & Trust: Building AI interactions that are clear, understandable, and foster user confidence.
• Innovation & Adaptability: Embracing new technologies and methodologies to push the boundaries of what's possible in AI UX.
• Collaboration & Ownership: Working effectively across teams to achieve shared goals and taking accountability for design outcomes.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Partnership: Close collaboration with Product Managers and Engineers is essential for successful AI feature development.
• Design System Advocacy: Championing the creation and adoption of AI-specific design standards across the organization.
• Feedback Integration: Openness to feedback from team members and stakeholders to refine designs and processes.
• Knowledge Sharing: Proactively sharing insights and best practices related to AI UX with the broader team.

📝 Enhancement Note: The company culture likely values a blend of startup agility, user-centricity, and a forward-thinking approach to AI. For individuals transitioning from operations, the emphasis on measurable outcomes and process improvement will resonate, albeit applied to user experience design.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Pioneering AI UX: Designing for a rapidly evolving field where best practices are still being established, requiring creativity and adaptability.
• Managing User Expectations: Clearly communicating AI capabilities and limitations to users to prevent over-promising and build trust.
• Integrating AI into Existing Workflows: Seamlessly embedding AI agents into marketers' current processes without causing disruption.
• Navigating AI Ambiguity: Dealing with the inherent uncertainty of AI development and designing solutions that are robust yet flexible.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deep Dive into AI Interaction Design: Becoming an expert in a cutting-edge field with immense career growth potential.
• Industry Conferences & Training: Opportunities to attend events and pursue certifications related to AI, UX, and conversational design.
• Mentorship from Leadership: Learning directly from the VP, Product, and other experienced AI practitioners within the company.
• Building a New Design System: Opportunity to define and establish foundational design patterns for AI interfaces, leaving a significant impact on the company's products.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are inherent to working with emerging technology. The growth opportunities are significant, positioning the candidate as a leader in a specialized and in-demand area. Operations professionals can leverage their experience in problem-solving and process optimization to tackle these challenges.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• AI Strategy: "How would you approach designing a conversational interface for an AI agent that helps marketers automate email campaign segmentation?" Discuss your process, key considerations, and potential challenges.
• Human-AI Collaboration: "Describe a time you designed an experience where humans and AI worked together. What were the key design principles you followed to ensure effective collaboration and user trust?"
• Problem Solving: "Imagine a user is frustrated because an AI agent misunderstood their request. How would you design the interface to handle this situation gracefully and help the user achieve their goal?"
• Company & Culture: "What interests you most about Hive and our focus on Agentic AI? How do you see your skills contributing to our mission?"
• Team Dynamics: "How do you typically collaborate with product managers and engineers on complex features? How do you ensure user needs are represented throughout the development process?"
• Impact Measurement: "How would you measure the success of an AI-driven feature you designed? What metrics would you track to demonstrate its impact on user efficiency or task completion?"

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Tell a Story: Frame each project as a narrative, detailing the problem, your role, your process, the solutions, and the outcomes.
• Focus on AI Relevance: Emphasize the AI-specific aspects of your work, even if the project wasn't solely AI-focused. Highlight how you considered user interaction with intelligent systems.
• Be Prepared for Deep Dives: Expect questions about specific design decisions, research methodologies, and trade-offs made during the design process.
• Showcase Your Process: Clearly articulate your approach to user research, ideation, prototyping, and testing, especially for AI interactions.

Challenge Preparation:

• Practice Conversation Design: Sketch out conversational flows for common marketing tasks.
• Consider AI Limitations: Think about how to design for common AI failures like misinterpretations, irrelevant responses, or lack of context.
• Emphasize Transparency: Prepare examples of how to clearly communicate AI capabilities and limitations to users.
• Structure Your Response: If given a design challenge, clearly outline your understanding of the problem, your proposed solution, and the rationale behind it.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating not just general UX skills, but a specific understanding of AI interaction paradigms, user trust in AI, and the nuances of conversational design. Operations professionals can draw parallels between optimizing business processes and designing efficient, intuitive AI workflows.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this AI UX Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on Ashby.
• Tailor Your Resume: Highlight experience with AI, conversational interfaces, user research, and cross-functional collaboration, using keywords from the job description (e.g., "AI UX," "conversational design," "agentic AI," "human-AI collaboration").
• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 of your strongest projects that best showcase your AI/conversational UX skills. Ensure each case study clearly outlines the problem, your process, your contributions, and the impact of your design.
• Prepare Your Narrative: Practice articulating your experience and design philosophy, focusing on how you approach complex problems, collaborate with teams, and drive user-centric solutions, particularly in the context of AI.
• Research Hive: Understand Hive's platform, target audience (event marketers), and their mission. Familiarize yourself with their existing products and any publicly available information about their AI initiatives.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions tailored to a UX role. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.