(Senior) UX Designer (m/w/d)

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Senior UX Designer (m/f/d)

Company: GALVANY

Location: Berlin, Germany

Job Type: Full-Time

Category: UX/Product Design Operations

Date Posted: 2026-06-09

Experience Level: 5-10 Years

Remote Status: Hybrid

🚀 Role Summary

• Shape the user experience of an AI-driven Operating System for the energy transition, focusing on human-centered design principles.

• Drive end-to-end design processes, from discovery research and ideation through to polished UI delivery and iteration.

• Translate complex, multi-stakeholder workflows into intuitive and cohesive digital experiences for diverse user groups including installers, operations teams, and homeowners.

• Champion user advocacy within product development, influencing key decisions and trade-offs to ensure user needs are met.

📝 Enhancement Note: This role is positioned within operations by focusing on the practical application of UX design to streamline complex operational workflows within the energy sector. The emphasis on installers, ops teams, and homeowners, along with the AI-based OS, highlights a functional operations aspect.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Conduct comprehensive user research, including interviews, field studies with installers, and usability testing to deeply understand user needs and pain points.

• Design end-to-end user flows, interaction models, and pixel-perfect user interfaces with a clear and crisp information hierarchy.

• Collaborate closely with Product Management, Engineering, and Operations teams throughout the entire product development lifecycle to ensure seamless integration and alignment.

• Actively advocate for the end-user in all product discussions, ensuring their perspective is considered in design decisions and feature trade-offs.

• Move from messy, qualitative discovery insights to actionable design solutions that result in successfully shipped products.

• Contribute to the development and maintenance of a robust design system to ensure consistency and scalability across the platform.

• Leverage AI tools and a pragmatic approach to identify the simplest effective solutions for complex user problems.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities are framed to emphasize the operational impact of UX design, focusing on the practical application of research and design to solve real-world operational challenges within the energy sector.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education: A relevant degree is a plus, but real-world work experience and a strong portfolio are prioritized over formal educational qualifications.

Experience: 5+ years of experience shipping complex digital products, with a proven track record of end-to-end responsibility in design and UX from ideation to release.

Required Skills:

• Proficiency in user research methodologies, including user interviews, field studies, and usability testing.

• Expertise in designing end-to-end user flows and interaction models.

• Strong UI design skills with a keen eye for information hierarchy and visual polish.

• Mastery of Figma or similar design and prototyping tools.

• Demonstrated ability to move from qualitative discovery to shipped products.

• Proven track record of taking end-to-end responsibility for design/UX from ideation to release.

• Self-driven problem-solving mindset, requiring minimal direct supervision.

• Technical aptitude with a passion for understanding systems, data flows, and integrations.

• Fluent in English (C1 level).

• Intermediate to advanced German proficiency (B2 level). Preferred Skills:

• Experience designing B2B platforms and/or consumer applications.

• Experience building or contributing to design systems.

• Familiarity with React, Tailwind CSS, and Storybook.

• Comfort and experience working with data, IoT, and complex technical systems.

• Systems thinking: ability to see the bigger picture and how work connects to the wider ecosystem.

• Pragmatic approach to problem-solving, including leveraging AI tools.

📝 Enhancement Note: The experience requirements are specifically tailored to a senior-level UX role, emphasizing end-to-end ownership and a strong portfolio that showcases practical application and problem-solving capabilities.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• A comprehensive portfolio showcasing at least 5+ years of shipping complex digital products, highlighting end-to-end UX ownership.

• Demonstrations of strong UX thinking, including problem definition, user research insights, and iterative design solutions.

• Case studies that illustrate how you moved from messy discovery to successfully shipped products.

• Examples of designing cohesive experiences for multi-stakeholder workflows, ideally within B2B platforms or complex consumer applications.

• Visuals and descriptions of your UI design craft, focusing on crisp information hierarchy and polished interfaces. Process Documentation:

• Evidence of your ability to conduct and leverage user research (interviews, field studies, usability tests) to inform design decisions.

• Examples of your design process, from ideation and flow design to interaction modeling and final UI delivery.

• Documentation of collaboration with Product, Engineering, and Operations teams, demonstrating how you integrated user needs into cross-functional development.

• Articulation of how you've advocated for the user and influenced product decisions in trade-off discussions.

• Case studies showing the application of systems thinking to ensure cohesive and scalable design solutions.

📝 Enhancement Note: The portfolio requirements are designed to assess the candidate's practical experience in applying UX principles to complex operational challenges, with a strong emphasis on research, end-to-end ownership, and collaboration within a product development cycle.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range: Based on industry benchmarks for a Senior UX Designer in Berlin with 5-10 years of experience and strong technical/language skills, the estimated annual salary range is €70,000 - €95,000. This range accounts for the cost of living in Berlin, the company's likely stage (profitable green-tech startup), and the demand for specialized UX talent in the tech sector.

Benefits:

• Competitive salary package.

• Flexible perks program, allowing customization for sports, mobility, and learning needs.

• Opportunity to contribute to decarbonization efforts with measurable impact in CO₂ savings, energy efficiency, and cost reductions.

• Prime office location in Berlin Charlottenburg.

• Regular company events and all-hands meetings fostering connection and team spirit.

• A culture that values in-person collaboration while offering partial remote work flexibility.

• A work environment free from excessive corporate bureaucracy, enabling direct impact and swift execution.

Working Hours: Standard full-time (approximately 40 hours per week), with flexibility and an option for partial remote work.

📝 Enhancement Note: The salary range is an estimation based on the provided location (Berlin, Germany), experience level (5-10 years), and the company's description as a profitable green-tech startup. It aligns with typical compensation for senior UX roles in major German tech hubs.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Green-tech/SaaS, focusing on the energy transition through AI-driven software solutions for heat pumps, battery storage, and smart metering. The company operates at the intersection of technology, sustainability, and smart home/building energy management.

Company Size: While not explicitly stated, the description of a "profitable green-tech startup" in a "hypergrowth phase" suggests a dynamic, growing organization, likely ranging from 50-200 employees. This size offers opportunities for significant impact and visibility without excessive corporate hierarchy.

Founded: The founding date is not specified, but the company's focus on AI and the energy transition implies a relatively modern establishment, leveraging current technological advancements. The emphasis on being "profitable" suggests a stable, established business model rather than an early-stage venture.

Team Structure:

• The UX team likely operates within a Product department, collaborating closely with Product Managers and Engineers.

• Designers are expected to have end-to-end autonomy, suggesting a flat hierarchy within product development teams.

• Cross-functional collaboration is a cornerstone, with designers working directly with Installers, Operations teams, Product, and Engineering throughout the entire product lifecycle. Methodology:

• Data Analysis & Insights: Emphasis on user research (interviews, field studies, usability tests) to drive design decisions, moving from messy discovery to shipped products.

• Workflow Planning & Optimization: Transforming complex, multi-stakeholder workflows into cohesive and intuitive user experiences.

• Automation & Efficiency: Pragmatic approach to problem-solving, including leveraging AI tools to find the simplest effective solutions.

Company Website: https://galvany.de

📝 Enhancement Note: The company culture is characterized by a strong mission-driven approach (climate-neutral living), a focus on execution and impact, and a pragmatic, user-centric methodology. The startup environment implies agility and a hands-on approach.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: This is a Senior UX Designer role, signifying a level of expertise and autonomy. It involves end-to-end ownership of design projects, from initial research and ideation through to the final implementation and iteration. The role requires a strong strategic thinker who can influence product direction and champion user needs.

Reporting Structure: While not explicitly detailed, senior individual contributors typically report to a Head of Design, a Director of Product, or a Product Lead. The emphasis on "no micromanagement" and "shipping" suggests a collaborative but independent working relationship.

Operations Impact: The UX Designer's work directly impacts the efficiency and usability of GALVANY's AI-based Operating System. By creating intuitive interfaces for installers, operations teams, and homeowners, the role contributes to smoother operational workflows, faster adoption of new technologies, and ultimately, the company's mission of making climate-neutral living accessible. This translates to tangible business impact through improved customer satisfaction, reduced operational overhead, and accelerated energy transition goals.

Growth Opportunities:

• Operations Skill Advancement: Deepen expertise in designing for complex operational workflows, particularly within the energy tech sector. Gain hands-on experience with AI-driven systems and IoT integrations.

• Leadership Potential: Progress into a Lead UX Designer role, mentoring junior designers, defining design strategy, and taking on larger-scale projects. Potential to influence the broader product vision.

• Specialization: Develop deep expertise in specific areas such as B2B platform design, energy systems UX, or AI interface design.

• Cross-functional Exposure: Broaden understanding of business operations, product strategy, and engineering challenges through close collaboration.

📝 Enhancement Note: The growth analysis focuses on how a UX role contributes to operational efficiency and how the individual can develop within a mission-driven, high-growth tech company.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: The company values in-person collaboration and connection, indicating a professional office environment. While partial remote work is an option, the "prime location in Berlin Charlottenburg" and emphasis on "regular company events and all-hands" suggest a vibrant, community-focused workspace.

Office Location(s): Prime location in Berlin Charlottenburg, Germany. This area is known for its accessibility and professional atmosphere, conducive to collaboration and client/stakeholder interactions.

Workspace Context:

• Collaborative Environment: The office fosters in-person collaboration, with regular company events and all-hands meetings designed to build team cohesion and shared understanding.

• Operations Tools & Technology: The role requires proficiency in Figma and other design tools. Familiarity with React, Tailwind, and Storybook is a plus, indicating a modern tech stack that designers will interact with. The AI-based OS suggests a cutting-edge technological environment.

• Team Interaction: Opportunities for direct interaction with Product, Engineering, and Operations teams are integral to the design process, ensuring a holistic approach to product development and operational efficiency.

Work Schedule: Full-time employment with a standard work week (likely 40 hours), offering flexibility and the option for partial remote work. This balance allows for focused deep work and collaborative sessions, supporting efficient operations and personal well-being.

📝 Enhancement Note: The work environment description emphasizes the blend of in-person collaboration essential for effective operations design and the flexibility that supports individual productivity.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: A brief call to assess basic qualifications, experience, and cultural fit with GALVANY's mission and values.

• Portfolio Review & Case Study Discussion: A deeper dive into your portfolio, focusing on specific projects that demonstrate end-to-end UX ownership, research-driven design, and problem-solving for complex workflows. Be prepared to discuss your process, rationale, and impact.

• Design Challenge/Workshop: You may be asked to participate in a design challenge or collaborative workshop to assess your practical design skills, problem-solving approach, and ability to work with others. This could involve analyzing a specific user problem or scenario relevant to GALVANY's operations.

• Team & Stakeholder Interviews: Meet with key members of the Product, Engineering, and Operations teams to evaluate collaboration style, communication skills, and alignment with company culture.

• Final Interview: Potentially with a founder or senior leadership to discuss strategic fit and long-term vision.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate for Impact: Select 3-5 strong projects that best represent your end-to-end UX capabilities, especially those involving complex workflows or B2B platforms.

• Tell a Story: For each project, clearly articulate the problem, your role, the process you followed (research, ideation, design, testing), the challenges you faced, and the measurable outcomes or impact.

• Highlight Operations Relevance: Specifically call out how your designs improved operational efficiency, user adoption, or addressed pain points for installers, ops teams, or homeowners.

• Showcase Research & Rationale: Detail your research methods and clearly explain the rationale behind your design decisions, linking them back to user needs and business objectives.

• Visual Polish: Ensure your portfolio is well-organized, visually appealing, and easy to navigate. Include mockups, prototypes, and any relevant data or metrics.

Challenge Preparation:

• Understand the Context: Familiarize yourself with GALVANY's mission, products, and target users (installers, homeowners, ops teams).

• Think Systemically: Be prepared to analyze problems within a broader system context, considering how design decisions impact other parts of the platform and user journey.

• Embrace Pragmatism & AI: Consider how you would approach a problem pragmatically, potentially leveraging AI tools for efficiency or insights.

• Communicate Your Process: Clearly articulate your thought process, assumptions, and design trade-offs. Focus on how you would validate your solutions.

📝 Enhancement Note: This section provides specific, actionable advice for preparing a UX portfolio and navigating interviews for a role with a strong operational focus.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Figma: The mandatory tool for design, prototyping, and collaboration. Proficiency is essential.

• Prototyping Tools: Integrated within Figma or other specialized tools for creating interactive prototypes.

• User Research Platforms: Tools for conducting interviews, surveys, and usability tests (e.g., UserTesting.com, Maze, Typeform).

• Design System Tools: Tools for managing and contributing to design systems (e.g., Storybook, Zeroheight, internal tools).

Analytics & Reporting:

• Product Analytics Tools: Familiarity with tools like Amplitude, Mixpanel, or Google Analytics to understand user behavior and inform design decisions.

• Data Visualization Tools: Ability to interpret and potentially work with dashboards from tools like Tableau or Power BI to understand performance metrics.

CRM & Automation:

• CRM Systems: While not a primary design tool, understanding how UX impacts CRM usability for sales and operations teams is beneficial.

• Project Management Tools: Familiarity with tools like Jira, Asana, or Trello for tracking design tasks and collaborating with engineering.

• Collaboration Platforms: Slack, Microsoft Teams for day-to-day communication.

📝 Enhancement Note: The technology stack highlights tools critical for modern UX design within a tech-focused company, including specific mentions of Figma, design systems, and the potential use of AI tools.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Outcome-Led: Focus on delivering tangible value and impact over simply completing tasks. Prioritize work that moves the needle for business and users, embracing iteration and adaptation.

• Systems Thinker: Understand and consider the broader ecosystem and how individual design contributions fit into a cohesive, scalable whole. See the connections and dependencies.

• Pragmatic: Seek out the simplest, most effective path to solve problems, with a particular emphasis on leveraging AI tools for efficiency and smart solutions.

• Customer Champion: Maintain a relentless focus on the end-user, actively seeking exposure to customer experiences and ensuring their needs are central to all decisions.

• Research-Driven: Validate assumptions through empirical methods like interviews, field studies, and usability tests, allowing evidence to guide design choices.

• Craft & Systems: Balance meticulous attention to detail in UI design with the creation of scalable, reusable components within a design system.

Collaboration Style:

• Cross-functional Integration: Close, continuous collaboration with Product, Engineering, and Operations to ensure a unified approach to product development.

• Process Review & Feedback: An environment that encourages open feedback and iterative design refinement.

• Knowledge Sharing: A culture that promotes sharing insights, best practices, and learnings across teams to foster collective growth and efficiency.

📝 Enhancement Note: The culture and values are aligned with a high-performing, mission-driven tech startup, emphasizing user-centricity, efficiency, and a collaborative, pragmatic approach to problem-solving.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Translating Complex Workflows: The primary challenge is transforming messy, multi-stakeholder operational workflows (installers, ops teams, homeowners) into intuitive and cohesive digital experiences.

• Balancing User Needs with Technical Constraints: Navigating the complexities of an AI-based operating system, data flows, and potential IoT integrations while ensuring a user-friendly interface.

• Driving Adoption of New Technologies: Encouraging the adoption of heat pumps and integrated energy systems by making the management and operation of these systems simple and accessible through excellent UX.

• Continuous Learning in a Fast-Paced Environment: Staying ahead of evolving user needs, technological advancements (especially AI), and the dynamic energy sector.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Operations Skill Advancement: Gain deep expertise in designing for complex operational systems within the critical green-tech sector.

• AI & IoT Design: Develop specialized skills in designing interfaces for AI-driven platforms and IoT-connected devices.

• Cross-functional Growth: Broaden understanding of product strategy, engineering, and business operations through close collaboration with diverse teams.

• Mentorship & Leadership: Opportunities to mentor junior designers and potentially step into lead roles as the company grows.

📝 Enhancement Note: Challenges are framed around the core responsibilities of the role, highlighting opportunities for skill development and problem-solving within GALVANY's specific domain.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• "Describe a time you transformed a complex, multi-stakeholder workflow into a simple user experience. What was your process and the outcome?" (Focus on research, iteration, and impact on operations.)

• "How do you approach user research with field-based professionals like installers? What methods do you find most effective?" (Highlight your fieldwork experience and ability to gather practical insights.)

• "Walk us through a project where you had to make significant design trade-offs. How did you balance user needs with business or technical constraints, and who did you collaborate with?" (Demonstrate your advocacy for the user and your collaboration skills.)

• "Given our mission of making climate-neutral living accessible, how would you approach designing an interface for homeowners to manage their heat pump and battery storage?" (Showcase your ability to apply design thinking to the company's specific domain.) Company & Culture Questions:

• "What interests you about GALVANY's mission to decarbonize living spaces?" (Connect your personal values to the company's purpose.)

• "How do you embody our value of being 'Outcome-Led' in your design process?" (Provide concrete examples of prioritizing impact and iteration.)

• "Describe your experience working in a fast-paced startup environment. How do you handle ambiguity and prioritize tasks without constant direction?" (Showcase your self-driven mindset and adaptability.)

• "How do you see your role as a UX Designer contributing to the operational efficiency of our AI-driven Operating System?" (Connect your UX skills directly to operational improvements.) Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Structure for Impact: For each case study, clearly outline the problem, your specific role, the process (research, ideation, design, testing), key decisions, challenges, and quantifiable outcomes.

• Highlight Operational Wins: Emphasize how your designs solved operational pain points, improved user efficiency, or drove adoption for installers, ops teams, or homeowners.

• Show, Don't Just Tell: Use visuals (wireframes, mockups, prototypes, user journey maps) to illustrate your design process and final solutions.

• Be Ready for Deep Dives: Anticipate questions about your research methods, design rationale, technical considerations, and how you handled feedback or criticism.

• Connect to GALVANY: Where possible, draw parallels between your past projects and the challenges GALVANY is looking to solve.

📝 Enhancement Note: These interview questions and preparation strategies are tailored to assess a candidate's ability to apply UX principles to operational challenges within the green-tech industry.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Senior UX Designer position:

• Submit your application through the provided link on Ashby.

• Curate Your Portfolio: Select 3-5 of your strongest projects that demonstrate end-to-end UX ownership, especially those involving complex B2B workflows or operational improvements. Tailor your selection to highlight your experience with research, problem-solving, and delivering tangible outcomes.

• Optimize Your Resume: Ensure your resume clearly articulates your 5+ years of experience shipping complex digital products and your ability to take end-to-end responsibility. Use keywords such as "UX Design," "User Research," "Figma," "B2B Platforms," "Operational Workflows," and "Systems Thinking."

• Prepare Your Case Studies: For each portfolio piece, prepare a concise narrative focusing on the problem, your process, your contributions, challenges, and measurable results. Be ready to specifically discuss how your designs impacted users and operations.

• Research GALVANY: Understand the company's mission, products, target users (installers, homeowners, ops teams), and the broader energy transition landscape. Prepare to discuss how your skills align with their goals and culture.

⚠️ 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.