Joblaze summary

In this role, the Product Designer for Defense at Applied Intuition is responsible for creating user-centric designs for real-time operator interfaces and enterprise platforms that enhance situational awareness and autonomy in defense applications. The position requires a strong background in product design, with at least eight years of experience across diverse environments, and a proven ability to conduct research and translate complex findings into actionable design solutions. This role is ideal for seasoned designers who can collaborate effectively with engineers and product managers while navigating technically intricate systems. The Defense team is focused on transforming bespoke solut

Joblaze insights

Listed about 2 months ago — first seen on Joblaze September 3, 2026. Last confirmed on Applied Intuition's careers page November 10, 2026.
This exact title is also open at 1 other location at Applied Intuition: Sunnyvale.
Salary band is below the typical range for Design roles (median ~$170,400).
Starts above 11% of 18 comparable senior design roles in United States that list Design we track (median $167,500 across 16 companies).
Design appears in 14% of 186 comparable senior design roles in United States.

Quick facts

Is the Product Designer, Defense role remote?: No — this is an on-site role in Sunnyvale.
What's the salary range?: Applied Intuition lists $150,000–$200,000 for this role.
How much experience is required?: At least 8 years of relevant experience for this Product Designer, Defense role.
Where is the role based?: Applied Intuition is hiring for this position in Sunnyvale.
What's the tech stack?: Joblaze extracted these technologies from the posting: Design.
Does Applied Intuition sponsor work visas for this role?: Yes — the posting indicates visa sponsorship is available for the right candidate.
What seniority level is this role?: Applied Intuition targets senior candidates for this position.
Is this full-time or contract?: Full-time for this Product Designer, Defense role at Applied Intuition.

From the original posting

About the role

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.

What you'll do

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.

What we're looking for

8+ years of product design experience across at least two meaningfully different environments (industries, product types, stages, or customer segments).
Bachelors' degree in design or relevant field
Track record shipping products end to end — research through launch and iteration — including hard calls on what not to build.
Strong research instincts: proven ability to learn a new domain from scratch and turn findings into design direction.
A portfolio showing judgment on information density, decision UI, and multi-user workflows.
Comfort learning and designing for technically complex systems (no autonomy/robotics background required).
Strong engineer collaboration and ability to partner with EMs/tech leads on tradeoffs.
Clear communication — from design briefs to presentations for senior leadership.
Proficiency with modern prototyping tools.

Security requirements

U.S. citizenship required.
Must hold or be eligible for a U.S. security clearance (TS/SCI target; Applied will sponsor).

Nice to have

Active DoD Secret/Top Secret/TS-SCI clearance.
Experience with defense, intelligence, maritime, aerospace, or first-responder users.
Background in C2, air traffic, cockpit/EFB, geospatial, or real-time simulation interfaces.
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.

Compensation

Includes base salary, equity, and benefits (medical/dental/vision/life/disability, 401(k) match, learning/wellness stipends, PTO). Base salary range for this Sunnyvale-based role: $150,000–$200,000. Actual salary depends on experience, skills, and level.

Standard company text repeated across Applied Intuition's postings is omitted here.

Product Designer, Defense