Senior UX Designer

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior UX Designer

Company: AeroVect

Location: Atlanta, Georgia, United States

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Product Design / UX Design

Date Posted: 2026-09-16

Experience Level: 5-10 years

Remote Status: Hybrid (US, Canada, UK)

🚀 Role Summary

• Spearhead the design vision and establish comprehensive design standards for AeroVect's Autonomous Ground Support Equipment (AGSE) Service.

• Lead hands-on, end-to-end UX design for critical Fleet Operations products, including remote assistance, dispatch, and fleet monitoring interfaces.

• Shape intuitive and trust-building customer-facing experiences for airline and airport stakeholders, focusing on dashboards, reporting, and SLA visibility.

• Drive user research initiatives to deeply understand operator and customer needs, translating insights into actionable design solutions.

• Build and maintain a scalable design system and component library to ensure consistency and quality across all AGSE Service user interfaces.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned as the foundational design leader within a Series A startup, requiring a blend of strategic vision-setting and hands-on execution. The emphasis on "0 -> 1" product development and establishing design standards from scratch indicates a significant opportunity for impact and ownership. The focus on high-stakes, real-time operator tools suggests a need for extreme attention to detail, information density, and reliability.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Define and implement design principles, patterns, and a robust component library that will scale across all fleet operations products and customer-facing tools.

• Establish clear standards for representing autonomy state, system confidence, and exception handling across all user interfaces to build operator and customer trust.

• Collaborate closely with Engineering to define and enforce front-end implementation standards, ensuring design intent is accurately translated into the final product.

• Conduct in-depth user research, including usability testing, contextual inquiry, and operator shadowing, with airline/airport customers and internal operators to identify pain points and unmet needs.

• Translate complex autonomy concepts into user-friendly interfaces that facilitate informed decision-making, even for users with varying confidence levels in the technology.

• Own the end-to-end design process for real-time operator workflows, focusing on information density, effective escalation handling, and minimizing decision latency for safety and reliability.

• Design intuitive dashboards, performance reporting tools, and Service Level Agreement (SLA) visibility interfaces for airline and airport stakeholders.

• Ensure a cohesive visual and interaction language across both operator-facing and customer-facing products, respecting their unique contexts and constraints.

• Partner with Product Management, Commercial, and Operations teams to ensure customer-facing surfaces accurately reflect the maturity and capabilities of the AGSE Service.

• Set the benchmark for design quality within the product organization and contribute to design reviews as the team grows.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a dual focus: building the core operational tooling for internal users and designing the external-facing interfaces for clients. The emphasis on "high-stakes, real-time operator workflows" and "designing for users operating under time pressure, cognitive load, or safety-critical decision-making" suggests a need for expertise in complex control interfaces and critical information display, often seen in operations control centers.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: BFA, BS, or equivalent practical experience in Design, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), or a related field.

Experience: 5+ years of product design experience, with a proven track record of owning complex, multi-surface products from conception to launch.

Required Skills:

• Product Design: End-to-end ownership of complex product design, from discovery to high-fidelity execution.

• Information Architecture: Structuring and organizing information within interfaces to ensure clarity and usability, especially in high-density environments.

• Interaction Design: Creating intuitive and efficient user flows and interactions for complex systems.

• Visual Design: Developing aesthetically pleasing and functional user interfaces that align with brand standards and user needs.

• User Research: Conducting qualitative and quantitative research to understand user behaviors, needs, and pain points.

• Usability Testing: Designing and executing tests to identify and resolve usability issues.

• Design Systems & Component Libraries: Experience in establishing or significantly contributing to design systems and reusable component libraries from inception.

• 0 -> 1 Product Development: Proven ability to design and launch new products or features in a fast-paced, early-stage startup environment.

• Communication & Stakeholder Management: Articulating design rationale effectively to technical and non-technical audiences, managing expectations, and building consensus.

• Portfolio: A strong portfolio showcasing a range of work, particularly in information-dense interfaces, real-time data visualization, and complex workflow design.

Preferred Skills:

• Teleoperations/Remote Assistance Design: Experience designing for systems involving remote control and monitoring.

• Fleet Management Software: Familiarity with designing interfaces for managing fleets of vehicles or equipment.

• Safety-Critical Domain Experience: Background in autonomous vehicles, robotics, aviation, industrial operations, or other domains where reliability and safety are paramount.

• Startup Design Leadership: Experience as the first or an early designer at a startup, building out design function and processes.

• Time-Pressure/Cognitive Load Design: Expertise in designing for users operating under high cognitive load or strict time constraints.

• Front-end Engineering Collaboration: Comfort working closely with front-end engineers and contributing to implementation discussions.

• System Confidence Communication: Understanding how to design interfaces that clearly communicate system states, uncertainty, and potential failures.

• Aviation/Airport Operations: Familiarity with the operational environments of airlines, airports, or large-scale ground handling.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "5+ years" requirement, coupled with the "0 -> 1" product development and "establishing design standards from scratch" points, strongly suggests this role is for a senior individual contributor with leadership potential, rather than a pure management role. The emphasis on "information-dense interfaces" and "real-time data" is critical for portfolio preparation.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Case Studies: Detailed case studies showcasing end-to-end UX design processes for complex products, particularly those involving operational workflows or real-time data.

• Information Density & Workflow Design: Examples demonstrating the ability to design clear, efficient, and information-rich interfaces for high-stakes operational environments.

• Design System/Component Library Contribution: Evidence of contributions to or creation of design systems, component libraries, or style guides, highlighting scalability and consistency.

• User Research Integration: Showcase how user research findings (usability testing, contextual inquiry) informed design decisions and led to measurable improvements.

• Problem/Solution Framing: Clearly articulate the user problem or business challenge addressed by each design project and the impact of the proposed solution.

Process Documentation:

• Discovery & Ideation: Examples of how you approach user discovery, define problems, and generate design solutions.

• Prototyping & Iteration: Demonstrate proficiency in creating interactive prototypes and iterating on designs based on feedback and testing.

• Cross-functional Collaboration: Illustrate how you partner with Product Managers, Engineers, and other stakeholders throughout the design lifecycle.

• Design Standards & Guidelines: Show examples of design principles, interaction guidelines, or visual standards you have developed or implemented.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a "0 -> 1" role, the portfolio should emphasize the candidate's ability to establish processes and standards, not just execute within existing ones. Highlighting "designing for users operating under time pressure, cognitive load, or safety-critical decision-making" will be crucial.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on the Senior UX Designer title, 5-10 years of experience, and the hybrid/remote work arrangement in a major US tech hub like Atlanta, a competitive salary range for this role is estimated to be between $140,000 - $190,000 USD per year. This estimate considers industry benchmarks for senior design roles in tech startups, particularly those in deep tech or advanced engineering sectors, and is subject to variation based on candidate experience, specific qualifications, and final negotiation.

Benefits:

• Health Insurance: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage.

• Equity/Stock Options: Potential for significant ownership in a growing Series A startup.

• 401(k) Plan: Retirement savings plan with potential company matching.

• Paid Time Off (PTO): Generous vacation, sick leave, and paid holidays.

• Professional Development: Budget for conferences, training, and continuous learning opportunities.

• Flexible Work Arrangement: Hybrid work model offering a balance between in-office collaboration and remote flexibility.

• Relocation Assistance: May be available for candidates relocating to the Atlanta area.

Working Hours: Standard full-time hours are expected, typically around 40 hours per week. While flexibility is inherent in a hybrid model, the role's demands, especially in a startup environment and for critical operations tooling, may require occasional extended hours to meet project deadlines or respond to urgent operational needs.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary estimate is derived from industry salary data aggregators (e.g., Glassdoor, Levels.fyi) for Senior UX Designers in the US, adjusted for a Series A startup context and the specified experience level. The range aims to be competitive while acknowledging the inherent variability in startup compensation packages which often include equity.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Aerospace Technology / Autonomous Systems / Ground Handling Services. AeroVect operates at the intersection of aviation, autonomous technology, and operational logistics, aiming to disrupt traditional ground handling processes with innovative autonomous solutions.

Company Size: Series A startup, likely ranging from 50-150 employees. This size indicates a dynamic, fast-paced environment where individual contributions have a significant impact, but processes are still maturing.

Founded: Company was founded recently (exact date not provided, but Series A funding implies a few years of operation). This suggests a focus on rapid growth, product development, and market penetration.

Team Structure:

• Product Team: The Senior UX Designer will work closely with the Product team, likely including a Product Manager who will be a key partner.

• Engineering: Close collaboration with front-end and back-end engineers is essential for design implementation and technical feasibility discussions.

• Operations & Commercial: Interaction with Fleet Operations, Commercial, and potentially Customer Success teams to understand user needs and market demands.

• Founding Team: Direct access and reporting lines to senior leadership or founders, common in early-stage startups.

Methodology:

• Agile/Lean Development: Expect an iterative approach to product development, with rapid prototyping, testing, and deployment cycles.

• Data-Driven Design: Emphasis on using user research, analytics, and operational data to inform design decisions and measure impact.

• User-Centricity: A strong focus on understanding and solving the real-world problems of operators and airline/airport customers.

• Pragmatic Design: Balancing ideal design solutions with the practical constraints of a startup environment and evolving technology.

Company Website: http://www.aerovect.com

📝 Enhancement Note: As the first dedicated designer, this role has the opportunity to significantly shape the company's design culture and methodologies. The "Series A" status implies a need for experienced individuals who can bring structure and best practices while remaining adaptable.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This role is positioned as a Senior Individual Contributor (IC), with significant autonomy and ownership. It is a foundational role for the design function, requiring leadership in vision and standards, but not necessarily direct people management at this stage.

Reporting Structure: The Senior UX Designer will likely report to a Head of Product, VP of Product, or potentially a CTO/CEO in a very early-stage setup. They will be a key partner to the Product Manager(s) for the AGSE Service.

Operations Impact: The UX Designer's work will directly impact the safety, efficiency, and reliability of AeroVect's autonomous ground handling operations. By creating intuitive and trustworthy interfaces, they will influence operator adoption, customer satisfaction, and ultimately, the commercial success and scalability of the AGSE Service. The ability to translate complex autonomous systems into understandable user experiences is critical for building market confidence.

Growth Opportunities:

• Design Leadership: Opportunity to build and lead the design team as the company scales, potentially growing into a Design Lead or Head of Design role.

• Product Strategy Influence: Deep involvement in shaping product strategy based on user insights and design expertise.

• Domain Expertise: Developing deep knowledge in aviation, autonomous systems, and operational logistics, becoming a sought-after expert in a niche but growing field.

• System-Level Design: Expanding expertise into designing complex, interconnected systems and user experiences.

• Mentorship: Opportunity to mentor junior designers as the team grows.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "first dedicated designer" aspect is a significant growth opportunity, allowing the individual to define their own path and build out the design function according to their vision and best practices. This is a key differentiator from roles in more established companies.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid. This indicates a blend of remote work and in-office collaboration. The company has a physical presence in Atlanta, GA, and also supports remote employees in the US, Canada, and the UK.

Office Location(s): Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The specific office details (e.g., amenities, collaboration spaces) are not provided, but being in Atlanta suggests access to a major metropolitan area with a growing tech scene.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Hub: The office serves as a hub for key in-person meetings, workshops, and team-building activities, fostering strong cross-functional relationships.

• Technology-Enabled: Expect access to modern design tools, hardware, and collaboration software necessary for effective UX design and remote teamwork.

• Dynamic Startup Culture: The environment is likely fast-paced, requiring adaptability and proactive engagement with colleagues across different departments.

Work Schedule: While a standard 40-hour work week is typical, the hybrid nature and startup environment may offer flexibility. However, the critical nature of operational tooling and real-time systems might necessitate responsiveness outside of standard hours when urgent issues arise. The role requires balancing asynchronous communication for remote colleagues with synchronous collaboration for in-office or virtual meetings.

📝 Enhancement Note: The "TELECOMMUTE" location type combined with specific country requirements (US, Canada, UK) suggests a globally distributed team with a core hub in Atlanta. This implies a strong reliance on digital collaboration tools and asynchronous communication protocols.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A call with a recruiter or hiring manager to assess basic qualifications, experience, and cultural fit.

• Portfolio Review & Design Challenge: A session where candidates present their portfolio, discussing specific case studies and demonstrating their design process. This may be followed by a take-home design challenge or an in-situ problem-solving exercise.

• Cross-functional Interviews: Meetings with Product Managers, Engineers, and potentially members of the Operations or Commercial teams to evaluate collaboration skills and domain understanding.

• Final Interview: A discussion with senior leadership (e.g., Head of Product, CEO) to assess strategic thinking, vision, and overall fit for the company's growth trajectory.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Focus on Impact: Clearly articulate the problem, your design process, and the measurable impact (e.g., improved efficiency, reduced errors, increased user satisfaction) of your solutions.

• Showcase Relevant Work: Prioritize projects that demonstrate experience with complex interfaces, operational tooling, real-time data, or safety-critical systems. If you lack direct experience, highlight transferable skills and thought processes.

• Tell a Story: Structure your case studies as narratives, explaining the context, challenges, your role, design decisions, trade-offs, and outcomes.

• Highlight 0 -> 1 Experience: If applicable, showcase your ability to build design systems, establish processes, and drive product development from scratch.

• Be Prepared for Technical Depth: Expect questions about your design tools, prototyping methods, and how you collaborate with engineers on implementation.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Domain: Research AeroVect's business, the challenges of airport ground handling, and the complexities of autonomous systems.

• Focus on Process: For any challenge, emphasize your design process, decision-making rationale, and how you would approach research and iteration, even within time constraints.

• Information Density & Clarity: Practice designing for scenarios where users need to quickly process a lot of information and make critical decisions.

• System Confidence: Consider how you would visually represent the reliability and state of an autonomous system to users.

📝 Enhancement Note: The emphasis on "setting the bar for design quality" and being the "first dedicated designer" means the interview process will likely heavily scrutinize the candidate's ability to define and uphold design standards, not just execute tasks.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Design & Prototyping: Figma (highly probable, industry standard), Sketch, Adobe XD. Candidates should be proficient in at least one, with Figma being the most common.

• User Research Platforms: Tools like UserTesting.com, Lookback, Maze, or internal tools for conducting remote usability tests and gathering feedback.

• Collaboration Tools: Slack, Microsoft Teams for communication. Jira, Asana, Trello for project management and task tracking.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Product Analytics: Tools like Amplitude, Mixpanel, or Google Analytics to understand user behavior within the digital products.

• Data Visualization Tools: While not explicitly mentioned, experience with tools that can create dashboards or integrate with reporting systems (e.g., Tableau, Power BI, or custom solutions) would be beneficial.

CRM & Automation:

• CRM: Salesforce, HubSpot (less likely for a direct UX role, but good to be aware of data sources).

• Integration Tools: Understanding how design interacts with backend systems and APIs.

📝 Enhancement Note: While specific tools aren't listed, proficiency in industry-standard UX/UI design and prototyping software like Figma is almost a given for a Senior UX Designer role. The ability to work with data and understand system integrations is increasingly important for operational design.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Reliability & Safety: Core to AeroVect's mission, this translates to a design culture that prioritizes robustness, error prevention, and clear communication of system states.

• Efficiency & Optimization: A drive to continuously improve processes and workflows through intelligent design and automation.

• Innovation & Autonomy: Embracing new technologies and approaches to solve complex problems, fostering a culture of forward-thinking.

• Collaboration & Transparency: Open communication and teamwork across departments to achieve shared goals, especially critical in a hybrid/remote setup.

• Customer Focus: Deep understanding and dedication to meeting the needs of airline and airport operators.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-Functional Partnerships: Expect close working relationships with Product Managers and Engineers, involving them early and often in the design process.

• Data-Informed Decision Making: A culture that values evidence from user research and operational data to guide design choices.

• Iterative Feedback Loops: Regular design reviews, critiques, and usability testing sessions to gather feedback and refine designs.

• Shared Ownership: A collective responsibility for product success, where design is seen as an integral part of the development lifecycle, not an isolated function.

📝 Enhancement Note: As the first designer, the candidate has a unique opportunity to influence and embody these values, setting the tone for how design is perceived and integrated within the company.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Establishing Design Function: Building out design processes, standards, and a design system from scratch in a fast-paced startup environment.

• Designing for Complexity & Trust: Translating highly technical autonomous systems into interfaces that are intuitive, reliable, and build trust with operators and customers.

• Balancing Operator & Customer Needs: Designing for two distinct user groups with different needs, contexts, and technical proficiencies (e.g., high-information-density operator tools vs. customer-facing dashboards).

• Pace vs. Quality: Maintaining high design quality and user-centricity while meeting the rapid development timelines of a startup.

• Remote Collaboration: Effectively collaborating and maintaining design consistency across a distributed, hybrid team.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Deep Domain Expertise: Gaining profound knowledge in aviation, autonomous systems, and ground operations.

• Leadership Development: Opportunities to shape and lead the design function as the company grows.

• Strategic Product Influence: Direct impact on product strategy and roadmap through user insights and design expertise.

• Building Scalable Design Systems: Hands-on experience creating and scaling design systems for complex operational software.

• Industry Exposure: Working with cutting-edge technology that is transforming a major industry.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges are significant but directly correlate with the growth opportunities. This role is ideal for someone who thrives on building and wants to make a substantial impact on a product and company.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "How would you approach establishing design principles and a component library for a new product like our AGSE Service?" (Focus on process, collaboration, and scalability).

• "Describe a time you had to design for users operating under high cognitive load or in a safety-critical environment. What were the key considerations and outcomes?" (Highlight experience with information density, error prevention, and trust-building).

• "How would you balance the design needs of real-time fleet operators with those of airline/airport stakeholders who need SLA visibility and reporting?" (Demonstrate understanding of user segmentation and context-aware design).

• "What is your process for conducting user research in a fast-paced startup environment, and how do you translate findings into actionable design decisions?" (Showcase pragmatic research methods and impact-driven outcomes). Company & Culture Questions:

• "Based on your understanding of AeroVect, what do you see as the biggest design challenges for our AGSE Service?" (Demonstrate research and strategic thinking).

• "How would you foster a strong design culture and ensure design quality as the product and engineering teams grow?" (Focus on leadership, collaboration, and process establishment).

• "How do you collaborate with engineering teams to ensure successful implementation of your designs, especially concerning complex technical constraints?" (Highlight communication and partnership skills). Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure for Impact: Begin with a high-level overview of your career and then dive into 2-3 detailed case studies that best represent your skills for this role.

• Emphasize Process: For each case study, clearly articulate the problem, your role, the research conducted, your design process, key decisions, trade-offs made, and the measurable outcomes or learnings.

• Showcase Relevant Examples: Prioritize projects demonstrating information-dense interfaces, operational workflows, real-time data, or safety-critical considerations.

• Be Ready for Detail: Be prepared to answer in-depth questions about your design choices, tools used, and how you handled specific challenges.

• Connect to AeroVect: Where possible, draw parallels between your past work and the challenges AeroVect faces.

📝 Enhancement Note: The interview will likely probe the candidate's ability to not just design, but to build a design function. Expect questions that assess their strategic thinking, ability to establish processes, and their comfort level with ambiguity and rapid iteration.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior UX Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided Ashby link.

• Customize Your Resume: Tailor your resume to highlight experience in product design, UX strategy, information architecture, and any relevant experience with operational tools, real-time data, or safety-critical systems. Quantify achievements wherever possible.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 2-3 of your strongest case studies that best demonstrate your ability to design complex, information-dense interfaces, establish design systems, and conduct user research. Ensure your portfolio clearly articulates the problem, your process, and the impact of your work.

• Prepare Your Presentation: Practice presenting your portfolio walkthrough, focusing on storytelling, design rationale, and the measurable outcomes of your projects. Be ready to discuss your approach to building design standards from scratch.

• Research AeroVect: Understand AeroVect's mission, the AGSE Service, their target customers (airlines, ground handlers), and the challenges of autonomous ground operations. This will help you tailor your application and speak knowledgeably during interviews.

⚠️ 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.