Senior Product Designer (UX) - Clearance Required

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior Product Designer (UX) - Clearance Required

Company: Red Cell Partners

Location: Remote, USA

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: Product Design / UX Design

Date Posted: 2026-08-10T20:26:35

Experience Level: Senior (8+ years required, AI estimates 10+)

Remote Status: Fully Remote (with occasional travel up to 25%)

🚀 Role Summary

• Owns the end-to-end design of a complex AI-enabled decision-support system, from discovery through delivery, for DEFCON AI.

• Focuses on creating a unified workspace that replaces disconnected legacy systems, emphasizing user trust in AI recommendations and outputs.

• Drives the design practice for the program, establishing research approaches, design patterns, and quality standards.

• Collaborates closely with product managers, engineers, and data scientists in an agile, cross-functional team environment.

• Requires a strong hands-on design approach, with the ability to conduct user research, create interactive prototypes, and ensure high-fidelity visual craft.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as a senior individual contributor, tasked with not only executing design but also shaping the design practice for a critical program within DEFCON AI, a company focused on resilient optimization of complex systems using AI. The emphasis on "trust" in AI output and the need for formal design artifact reviews highlight the strategic importance and scrutiny this role will face.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Conduct structured user discovery through interviews, shadowing, and workflow observations to understand mission and operational needs.

• Develop current-state and future-state workflow maps, ensuring they are validated by end-users and meet formal review criteria.

• Design a comprehensive user workspace including prioritized work queues, unified record views, enrichment panels, decision flows, history, trend views, and operational dashboards.

• Create high-fidelity, interactive prototypes for customer review and approval before production code is written.

• Design interfaces that present AI model recommendations, confidence levels, and supporting evidence transparently, making uncertainty visible.

• Develop clear pathways for users to review, disagree with, and document reasons for overriding AI recommendations.

• Design audit and traceability views to link conclusions back to source records.

• Partner with front-end engineers to ensure designs are buildable and maintain a high quality bar through implementation.

• Contribute to and evolve a design system to ensure interface coherence and component reusability across products.

• Design for high-volume, repetitive work scenarios, prioritizing keyboard efficiency, scannability, and minimal context switching.

• Ensure all designs meet accessibility standards, including Section 508 and WCAG requirements.

• Proactively identify and propose improvements to the existing user experience.

• Support the establishment and growth of the company's design practice, including repeatable research habits and cleaner engineering handoffs.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities are heavily weighted towards a discovery-first, hands-on approach. The expectation is for the designer to not only execute but also define processes and standards, particularly concerning user research, workflow mapping, and the presentation of complex AI outputs. The "design for trust" aspect is a recurring theme, indicating a need for sophisticated interaction design and information architecture.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: No specific degree is listed, but a strong portfolio and demonstrated experience are paramount.

Experience: 8+ years of product or UX design experience. AI estimates suggest a typical candidate would have 10+ years.

Required Skills:

• Proven track record of owning the design for complex, end-to-end applications from discovery through shipping and user adoption.

• Demonstrated experience designing data-dense, workflow-heavy enterprise software interfaces (role-based views, dashboards, data visualization, queues, case/record views).

• Strong visual design craft, including layout, hierarchy, and typography at a stakeholder reviewable fidelity.

• Direct experience conducting user research (interviews, observations) and translating findings into design decisions.

• Ability to translate ambiguous problems into clear, usable solutions, balancing user needs, business goals, and technical constraints.

• Proficiency in prototyping tools such as Figma or equivalent.

• Expertise in information architecture and design-system thinking for navigable complex information and reusable components.

• Experience designing for expert users in domains not initially known, with a discipline for learning.

• Skill in working with subject-matter experts with limited time and extracting necessary information.

• Fluency in accessibility standards, specifically Section 508 and WCAG.

• Experience working within or helping to build an established design practice.

• Hands-on design execution capability; this is not a management role.

• Comfort working within a cross-functional agile product team.

• US Citizenship required.

• Active US Top Secret clearance is a mandatory requirement from the start. Preferred Skills:

• Experience designing for government users, especially within controlled environments.

• Experience designing review-queue, triage, or high-volume workflow interfaces.

• Experience designing interfaces that present AI or model output, including explainability and human review patterns.

• Familiarity with government accessibility review and remediation processes.

• Experience managing design work on fixed-deliverable schedules with formal customer acceptance.

• Front-end development fluency (HTML, CSS, React) to facilitate close collaboration with engineers.

• Experience with enterprise, regulated, or technically complex products.

• Experience contributing to or evolving a design system.

📝 Enhancement Note: The requirement for an active US Top Secret clearance is a significant filter. The emphasis on "owning the design end-to-end" and "arriving with a method that already works" underscores the need for a highly autonomous and experienced senior designer who can immediately contribute without extensive ramp-up or a defined design team structure.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase examples of shipped, complex applications with a focus on user adoption and impact.

• Include case studies detailing the end-to-end design process for data-dense, workflow-heavy interfaces (e.g., dashboards, queues, record views).

• Present work demonstrating direct user research, problem definition, and solution design.

• Highlight examples of designing for AI/model output, explainability, and user trust.

• Demonstrate strong visual craft and high-fidelity prototyping capabilities.

• Include examples of information architecture and design system contributions.

• Showcase designs that adhere to accessibility standards (Section 508, WCAG).

• Be prepared to discuss specific systems owned, design decisions made, and outcomes achieved. Process Documentation:

• Portfolio pieces should clearly articulate the design process followed, including discovery, research, ideation, prototyping, and iteration.

• Demonstrate how user needs, business goals, and technical constraints were balanced.

• Provide evidence of collaboration with product managers and engineers throughout the design lifecycle.

• Show how design rationale was communicated to stakeholders and how feedback was incorporated.

• Include examples of designing for iterative releases and incorporating user feedback.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio is critical, serving not only as a showcase of skills but also as proof of the candidate's ability to execute independently and within a rigorous, government-contracting environment. The emphasis on "formal reviews" and "customer acceptance" means portfolio pieces should reflect a structured, defensible design process.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: $180,000 - $215,000 per year.

• This range is based on the provided information and typical industry benchmarks for senior-level UX/Product Designers in the US, considering the specialized nature of the work (AI, government sector, clearance requirements). Benefits:

• Competitive salary, bonus, and equity package.

• 100% employer-paid comprehensive health insurance (medical, dental, vision) for employees and their families.

• Unlimited Paid Time Off (PTO), subject to manager approval.

• Flexible work environment with autonomy over the workday.

• 14 weeks of fully-paid parental leave.

• Optional 401K, FSA, and equity incentives.

• Mental health benefits through Tara Mind.

• Access to cost-effective GLP-1 solutions through Crux.

• Opportunities for professional development and continued learning.

• Career track opportunity with potential for rapid advancement.

Working Hours: 40 hours per week (standard full-time). The role offers a flexible work environment, allowing employees to manage their work day.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is competitive for a senior-level remote role in the US, especially considering the required Top Secret clearance and the specialized domain of AI and decision support systems for national security. The benefits package is robust, with strong emphasis on health, family support, and flexibility.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Technology, specifically focused on building and investing in companies in healthcare, cyber, and national security. DEFCON AI operates within this as an "insights company" leveraging AI for complex system optimization.

Company Size: Red Cell Partners is an incubation firm; DEFCON AI is a portfolio company. Specific size not detailed, but the context suggests a growing, innovative environment.

Founded: Red Cell Partners' founding date is not specified, but the company aims to bring "revolutionary advancements to market." DEFCON AI's founding is also not specified, but its mission is to provide resilient optimization through AI.

Team Structure:

• The Senior Product Designer will be part of the DEFCON AI product organization, reporting to a Product Lead.

• They will work alongside product ownership, quality assurance, and front-end engineering staff.

• Collaboration will be daily with product and engineering to define scope, tradeoffs, and priorities.

• The role works with an existing designer and will help establish and grow the design practice.

• The culture emphasizes a "shared sense of duty and deep belief in the power of innovation." Methodology:

• DEFCON AI leverages artificial intelligence, mathematical optimization, data analytics, and software engineering.

• The product development process is described as "discovery-first," involving user research, workflow mapping, and interactive prototyping before coding.

• Agile methodologies are utilized within cross-functional product teams.

• Design artifacts are formally reviewed against written criteria, indicating a structured and rigorous approach to quality assurance.

Company Website: www.redcellpartners.com

📝 Enhancement Note: The company culture is mission-driven, focused on innovation and addressing national challenges. For a designer, this means working on impactful problems with potentially high stakes. The "discovery-first" and "agile" approach, combined with formal design reviews, suggests a structured yet iterative development process.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a Senior Individual Contributor role. The designer is expected to be the most senior design voice on the program, setting design direction without direct design leadership above them for escalation. They are responsible for owning how design is done.

Reporting Structure: Reports to the Product Lead within the DEFCON AI product organization. Collaborates closely with product managers, engineers, and data scientists.

Operations Impact: The Senior Product Designer's work directly impacts the usability and trustworthiness of a critical AI-enabled decision-support system. Successful design will lead to better decision-making, anticipation of disruptions, and alignment of operational goals for national security and other critical sectors. The role's output is a formal deliverable that influences program success and customer acceptance.

Growth Opportunities:

• Design Practice Leadership: Opportunity to significantly shape and build the design practice at DEFCON AI, establishing repeatable processes, standards, and a design system.

• Skill Specialization: Deepen expertise in designing complex enterprise systems, AI interfaces, and working within government contracting environments.

• Career Advancement: Potential for rapid advancement as Red Cell Partners grows its portfolio companies and design functions. This senior role sets the stage for future leadership opportunities.

• Mentorship: As the design team grows, there will be opportunities to mentor other designers and raise the collective skill level.

• Cross-functional Expertise: Gain deep understanding of AI, mathematical optimization, data analytics, and software engineering through close collaboration.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role offers substantial autonomy and the chance to build something from the ground up within a growing organization. Growth is less about traditional hierarchical promotion and more about increasing scope, influence, and establishing best practices.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Fully Remote. Occasional travel (up to 25%) is required to DEFCON AI HQ, customer sites, and vendor facilities.

Office Location(s): Remote within the USA. Travel destinations may include DEFCON AI HQ and various customer/vendor sites.

Workspace Context:

• Remote Autonomy: A results-based, flexible environment where the employee manages their work day.

• Collaborative Tools: Will utilize standard collaboration tools for remote work and product development, likely including Figma, communication platforms (e.g., Slack, Teams), and project management software.

• Cross-functional Interaction: Daily interaction with product, engineering, and data teams, fostering a highly collaborative, albeit remote, environment.

• Impactful Projects: Work on cutting-edge AI technology with direct application in critical sectors like national security, cyber, and healthcare, providing a stimulating and meaningful work context.

Work Schedule: Standard 40-hour work week, with flexibility in managing daily hours. Occasional travel may require adjustments to the schedule.

📝 Enhancement Note: While fully remote, the requirement for up to 25% travel indicates a need for flexibility and willingness to engage in person with stakeholders and users in potentially sensitive government environments.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Likely involves a review of resume and portfolio to assess experience against requirements, particularly the 8+ years, clearance, and portfolio of complex applications.

• Portfolio Review & Discussion: A deep dive into the candidate's portfolio, focusing on specific case studies, design process, user research methods, and outcomes. Expect detailed questions about owned systems, design decisions, and challenges faced.

• Design Challenge/Exercise: A practical exercise or case study may be presented to assess problem-solving skills, design methodology, and ability to translate requirements into solutions, potentially focusing on AI output presentation or workflow optimization.

• Cross-functional Interviews: Conversations with Product Leads, Engineers, and potentially Data Scientists to assess collaboration style, technical understanding, and ability to integrate design within an agile team.

• Behavioral & Cultural Fit: Questions to gauge comfort with ambiguity, ability to build a design practice, and alignment with the company's mission-driven culture.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Structure for Impact: Organize your portfolio to clearly showcase end-to-end projects, highlighting the problem, your role, the process, your specific contributions, and the measurable outcomes.

• Focus on Complexity: Emphasize projects involving complex data, intricate workflows, enterprise software, or AI/decision-support systems.

• Demonstrate Research: Clearly articulate your user research methodology, how insights informed your design, and how you validated solutions.

• Explain "Why": Be prepared to articulate the rationale behind every significant design decision, especially concerning AI output presentation, trust, and user control.

• Showcase Visual Craft: Present high-fidelity mockups and interactive prototypes that demonstrate strong visual design skills and attention to detail.

• Highlight Collaboration: Include examples of how you partnered with engineering and product teams throughout the lifecycle.

• Quantify Impact: Whenever possible, use metrics or user feedback to demonstrate the success and impact of your designs.

• Clear Clearance Context: Be ready to discuss your experience working with sensitive data or within government environments if applicable.

Challenge Preparation:

• Anticipate AI Presentation: Practice designing how to present AI recommendations, confidence scores, and supporting evidence in a way that builds user trust and facilitates critical evaluation.

• Workflow Optimization: Prepare to outline how you would analyze and redesign complex workflows to improve efficiency, reduce errors, and enhance user experience.

• Information Architecture: Be ready to discuss how you structure complex information for clarity, navigability, and efficient access, especially in data-dense applications.

• Accessibility: Understand how to integrate Section 508 and WCAG compliance into your design process from the outset.

• Stakeholder Communication: Practice articulating your design rationale clearly and persuasively to diverse audiences, including technical and non-technical stakeholders.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview process is designed to thoroughly vet a senior candidate, focusing on their ability to operate autonomously, drive design strategy, and deliver high-quality, defensible design work within a high-stakes environment. The portfolio is paramount and should directly address the core challenges of the role.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Prototyping & Design: Figma (explicitly mentioned), or equivalent high-fidelity prototyping tools.

• Design Systems: Experience with creating, contributing to, or working within design systems is essential.

• User Research Tools: While not specified, expect common tools for remote interviews, usability testing, and data analysis (e.g., Lookback, UserTesting.com, Dovetail).

Analytics & Reporting:

• Understanding of how to design dashboards and interfaces that present key performance indicators (KPIs) and data visualizations effectively.

• Experience designing for systems that will likely track user engagement, task completion rates, and error rates. CRM & Automation:

• Not directly applicable to this design role, but an understanding of how design integrates with broader product and engineering workflows is necessary. Other Relevant Technologies:

• AI/ML Concepts: Familiarity with the principles of AI and machine learning, particularly in how their outputs are presented and understood by users.

• Agile Development Tools: Experience with project management tools like Jira or Asana, commonly used in agile environments.

• Accessibility Tools: Familiarity with tools for checking and validating accessibility compliance.

📝 Enhancement Note: The explicit mention of Figma indicates it's the primary tool. The emphasis on design systems and AI output presentation suggests a need for proficiency in creating reusable components and designing interfaces that clearly communicate complex, data-driven, and AI-generated information.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Innovation & Advancement: A core tenet of Red Cell Partners, driving the development of revolutionary solutions.

• Duty & Impact: A strong sense of purpose, particularly within the national security, cyber, and healthcare sectors, aiming to address pressing national problems.

• Resilience & Optimization: DEFCON AI's focus on creating systems that are resilient in the face of disruption and optimize complex operations.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: Implicit in the AI and analytics focus, suggesting that decisions are informed by data and evidence.

• Trust & Transparency: A critical design principle for the AI system, emphasizing the need for users to understand and trust the technology's outputs.

• Excellence & Rigor: Indicated by the formal review process for design artifacts and the expectation of high-quality deliverables.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Partnership: Daily collaboration with product, engineering, and data science teams is fundamental to the role.

• Discovery-Oriented: A culture that values deep user understanding and research before solutioning.

• Agile and Iterative: Working within agile sprints, with continuous feedback and iteration on designs.

• Mentorship and Growth: A willingness to establish and contribute to a growing design practice, raising the bar for designers around them.

• Clear Communication: Emphasis on presenting design rationale clearly to stakeholders, ensuring understanding and buy-in.

📝 Enhancement Note: The culture values individuals who are mission-oriented, innovative, and capable of rigorous, data-informed work. For a designer, this means being comfortable with complex problem spaces, advocating for user needs, and contributing to a culture of quality and continuous improvement.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Designing for Trust in AI: The primary challenge is creating interfaces that present AI recommendations in a way that users trust but also critically evaluate, making uncertainty and disagreement visible.

• Ambiguity and Discovery: Navigating an ambiguous problem space and establishing clear design direction through extensive user research and discovery.

• Building a Design Practice: Operating without an established design framework around you and being responsible for building repeatable processes, standards, and a design system.

• Government Environment: Designing for users within controlled government environments, adhering to strict security protocols and accessibility requirements (Section 508).

• Fixed Deliverables & Formal Reviews: Working under pressure with formal customer acceptance criteria for design artifacts.

• Balancing Needs: Effectively balancing user needs with complex business goals and technical constraints, especially in a high-stakes domain.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deep AI/ML Domain Expertise: Gaining in-depth knowledge of AI applications in decision support and complex system optimization.

• Government Sector Design: Developing specialized skills in designing for government users and understanding their unique workflows and constraints.

• Design System Development: Leading the creation or evolution of a design system from its foundational stages.

• Advanced Interaction Design: Refining skills in designing for complex data visualization, AI output interpretation, and high-volume workflow efficiency.

• Strategic Design Influence: Opportunity to shape product strategy and influence technical direction through design leadership.

• Mentorship and Team Building: Developing leadership and mentorship skills by helping to build out the design team and practice.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are significant, demanding a high degree of autonomy, problem-solving skill, and resilience. However, these challenges directly translate into substantial growth opportunities for a designer looking to make a significant impact and develop specialized expertise.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you had to design for user trust in an AI or complex algorithmic output. What were the key design challenges, and how did you address them? What was the outcome?"

• "Walk us through your process for conducting user discovery and mapping workflows for a complex enterprise system. How do you ensure your maps accurately reflect reality and lead to actionable design insights?"

• "How would you approach designing a new design system from scratch or significantly evolving an existing one? What are the critical components and considerations?"

• "Describe a situation where you had to balance competing user needs, business goals, and technical constraints. How did you prioritize and make trade-offs?"

• "How do you ensure accessibility (Section 508, WCAG) is integrated throughout your design process, not just as a final check?"

• "What is your approach to designing for high-volume, repetitive tasks where efficiency and error reduction are paramount?" Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you about Red Cell Partners and DEFCON AI, specifically our mission in healthcare, cyber, and national security?"

• "How do you approach working in an environment where the design practice is still being established? What steps would you take in your first 90 days?"

• "Describe your experience working in cross-functional agile teams. How do you ensure effective communication and collaboration with product managers and engineers?"

• "How do you handle situations where you have to deliver designs under tight deadlines or with formal customer review processes?"

• "What does 'designing for resilience' mean to you in the context of complex systems?" Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Select Key Projects: Choose 2-3 projects that best demonstrate your experience with complex data, workflows, AI output, and enterprise/government applications.

• Tell a Story: For each project, clearly articulate the problem, your specific role and responsibilities, your design process (discovery, research, ideation, prototyping, iteration), key decisions and rationale, and the measurable impact or outcomes.

• Focus on "Why": Be prepared to deeply explain the "why" behind your design choices, especially concerning user trust, AI presentation, and workflow efficiency.

• Showcase Process: Highlight your user research methods and how they informed your design decisions. Demonstrate your prototyping skills with interactive examples if possible.

• Address AI/Trust: If you have relevant projects, specifically call out how you handled presenting complex data or AI outputs and fostered user trust.

• Visual Fidelity: Ensure your presented work is polished, high-fidelity, and clearly demonstrates your visual craft.

• Be Ready for Deep Dives: Anticipate detailed questions about every aspect of your work, including technical constraints, stakeholder feedback, and trade-offs made.

📝 Enhancement Note: Interview preparation should focus on demonstrating strategic thinking, deep UX expertise in complex domains, and the ability to operate autonomously and shape processes. Being ready to discuss specific examples of designing for trust in AI and navigating government requirements will be crucial.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior Product Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on Greenhouse.

• Customize Your Resume: Tailor your resume to highlight the 8+ years of relevant experience, specific achievements in designing complex applications, user research, workflow design, AI output presentation, and accessibility. Ensure keywords like "Product Designer," "UX," "Figma," "AI," "Section 508," and "Top Secret Clearance" are prominent.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select and refine your portfolio to showcase 2-3 strong case studies that directly align with the job requirements, emphasizing end-to-end ownership, discovery, complex workflows, and AI-related design challenges. Ensure it's easily navigable and visually polished.

• Prepare Your Narrative: Practice articulating your experience, design philosophy, and specific project details. Be ready to discuss your process, rationale, and the impact of your work, particularly in relation to building trust in AI and designing for government users.

• Research Red Cell Partners & DEFCON AI: Understand their mission, focus areas (healthcare, cyber, national security), and the importance of AI-driven optimization. This will help you tailor your responses and demonstrate genuine interest.

• Confirm Clearance Status: Be prepared to confirm you meet the US Citizenship and active US Top Secret clearance requirements upfront.

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