Product Designer (Defense)

• Physical AI is the next wave beyond LLMs, and the stakes are highest in defense: fragmented systems cause missed threats, and clunky interfaces cost operators time they can’t get back. Applied is one of a small number of companies with the product surface, field access, and engineering depth to fix this
• The Defense team has proven its autonomy, simulation, and onboard systems in real deployments. Now we’re turning bespoke, program-driven wins into products that scale across customers, platforms, and theaters — and design carries a lot of that weight
• We’re hiring a Product Designer to own that experience end to end, across two connected surfaces:
• Real-time operator interfaces for command, control, and situational awareness — on tablets, ground stations, and shipboard/airborne environments with constrained compute and connectivity
• Enterprise web platforms that defense engineering teams, customers, and partners use to build, simulate, test, and ship autonomy
• You don’t need to arrive as a defense expert — you need to be a fast, rigorous learner who can turn a complex domain into a clear point of view. You’ll conduct primary research with warfighters, analysts, and engineers, and pair with a strong PM and engineering bench to ship. Expect up to 25% travel, including internationally, to bases, ranges, and customer sites
• Reports to the head of product design; partners with PMs across DroneStack, Defense OS, autonomy platforms, and simulation, plus the engineers building each system
• Own the design of one or more Defense products end to end — research, interaction and visual design, prototyping, shipped UI
• Become the voice of the operator through primary research, ride-alongs, and exercises with warfighters and partners
• Design real-time edge interfaces that reduce cognitive load and shorten the decide-act loop under contested comms and limited compute
• Design the trust model for agentic autonomy — approval and escalation patterns that keep humans meaningfully on the loop
• Design the enterprise tools used to build, simulate, validate, and ship autonomy
• Extend the Defense design system to serve both real-time and enterprise workflows without splintering
• Turn one-off program deliveries into repeatable products
• Represent design at demos, program reviews, and industry events; help grow the design practice as the vertical scales

Benefits

• Health Insurance: Applied covers 100% of the cost and offers medical, dental, vision, and life insurance
• Fitness Stipend: Our wellness program supports your health and fitness goals. We pay for your trainers, gym memberships, massages, and more!
• 401(k) Match: 50% employer matching to help you save money for retirement
• Learning Stipend: We invest in your learning and growth by reimbursing you for educational and training expenses
• Parental leave: 12-week, fully paid parental leave to bond with a newborn child or new adopted or foster child
• Catered lunch, expensed dinner, on-site meals and snacks- Proficiency with modern prototyping tools
• Strong research instincts: proven ability to learn a new domain from scratch and turn findings into design direction
• Strong engineer collaboration and ability to partner with EMs/tech leads on tradeoffs
• Comfort learning and designing for technically complex systems (no autonomy/robotics background required)
• Clear communication — from design briefs to presentations for senior leadership
• 8+ years of product design experience across at least two meaningfully different environments (industries, product types, stages, or customer segments)
• A portfolio showing judgment on information density, decision UI, and multi-user workflows
• Track record shipping products end to end — research through launch and iteration — including hard calls on what not to build
• U.S. citizenship required
• Must hold or be eligible for a U.S. security clearance (TS/SCI target; Applied will sponsor)
• Background in C2, air traffic, cockpit/EFB, geospatial, or real-time simulation interfaces
• Experience with defense, intelligence, maritime, aerospace, or first-responder users
• Active DoD Secret/Top Secret/TS-SCI clearance
• Experience with developer platforms, MLOps, data labeling, or test/observability tools
• Design experience for edge/constrained-compute environments
• Experience shaping trust/approval patterns for AI copilots or agentic systems
• Prior military, intelligence, or fleet operational service
• Experience helping build a design practice from the ground up
• Don’t meet every single requirement? If you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles