Senior UX Designer

Vast is looking for a Senior UX Designer, reporting to the Director, Ground Software & IT, to support the development of the software that will be required to test hardware on the ground and command and monitor Vast artificial-gravity human-rated space stations while on orbit. This will be a full-time, exempt position located in our Long Beach location.

As a UX Designer, you will work closely with engineers across disciplines to understand the problems they face. By empathizing with our engineers and understanding their needs – including their workflow, pain points, and perspective – you will design interfaces that are efficient, effective, and user-friendly. UX Designers at Vast are members of our software engineering teams. You will work side-by-side with software engineers on a daily basis to help make the designs you researched and created a reality. Through this close collaboration you will support rapid agile and iterative development to ensure the team can quickly respond to user feedback and move swiftly towards a functional design.

Responsibilities: 

• Interview users of the software we are designing and building to understand their needs and compile requirements
• Storyboard user journeys to understand how users approach tasks they need software to accomplish
• Create low-fidelity prototypes to rapidly ideate on application layout and functionality using digital design software, whiteboard, or paper
• Gather and assimilate user feedback and apply to designs in an iterative fashion
• Create high-fidelity prototypes incorporating colors, fonts, buttons, menus, navigation to emulate as close as possible the functionality of the app being built
• Build and maintain design systems of UI components to promote design cohesion across software products and teams

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor of Science degree in informatics, human-centered design & engineering, or graphic design
• 5+ years experience in graphic or user interface design

Preferred Skills & Experience:

• Experience with graphic and interface design tools like Adobe Creative Cloud, Sketch, Figma, or similar
• Familiarity with the software development lifecycle and agile methodologies
• Familiarity with design thinking methodologies
• Understanding of visual taxonomies and their applications in design
• Knowledge of computer applications and the ability to easily navigate through different computer software programs
• Ability to work effectively in a team environment
• Ability to make independent judgments with limited information
• Communication skills for relaying data (verbally and in-writing) between other employees, vendors, and customers
• Logical and strategic approach to solving problems
• Comfortable working in a high-stress environment balancing several projects at any given time, and the flexibility to adjust for abrupt changes in strategic direction.

Additional Requirements:

• Willingness to work overtime, or weekends to support critical mission milestones