We are looking for a highly experienced Forward Deployed Product Designer to continue growing our Design team and help shape the future of the Ark. This role is highly embedded: you will work directly alongside our forward-deployed engineers and end-users, requiring a designer who values speed of delivery over perfection and rapid iteration. You must be a critical thinker and problem solver who can take ownership of feature strategy and development. A strong candidate can not only convert ambiguous objectives into empowering and enjoyable experiences but also helps facilitate all parts of the process, including rapid, low-fidelity prototyping, interaction design, and on-site client engagement to drive continuous UX research and ensure we are building for user needs.
Our forward-deployed product team is a collaborative group of product managers, implementation, and engineers. We operate within integrated deployment, each of which focuses on key user workflows and needs that we have identified in the defense space. You will join a deployment depending on your background and take charge of the tasks for that track.In a typical week, the individual who fills this position could expect to:
- Collaborate directly with end-users and forward-deployed engineers to understand mission-critical workflows.
- Gather real-time feedback and iterate rapidly on design solutions within the operational environment.
- Collaborate with product managers and engineers to scope, architect, and deliver 0-to-1 product initiatives and prototypes.
- Assess, prioritize, and address the most critical gaps in prototype solutions under development, based on user feedback and in partnership with product managers.
- Fail often, iterate quickly, and try again.
This role is a full-time position located out of our offices in Pittsburgh, PA, or Arlington, VA.
This role may require up to 50% travel.- Act as an embedded UX expert, collaborating closely with forward-deployed engineers, data analysts, and go-to-market teams to rapidly understand user needs and apply UX best practices to translate them into validated product features and user experiences.
- Execute rapid prototyping cycles by quickly designing and documenting user flows, wireframes, and interactive prototypes, prioritizing speed and iterative testing to optimize data visualization and facilitate data exploration.
- Collaborate directly with embedded product and engineering teams to support design implementation, engaging in productive cost-benefit discussions that balance speed and delivery with design integrity for future iteration.
- Present designs and key milestones to clients, peers, and executive-level stakeholders, grounding all decisions in UX research best practices and validated user needs.
- Contribute to the development and maintenance of an established design system and UI component library.
- Become an expert on Ark.ai itself and the commercial and publicly sourced data it contains.
- U.S. Citizenship is required
- Bachelor's degree in HCD, HCI, Graphic Design, Interaction Design, or related field.
- 3-5+ years of experience designing and shipping complex, intuitive, and successful web-based products - ideally with a data component.
- Proven experience working in a highly agile, embedded development process, demonstrating an ability to prioritize speed of delivery and rapid iteration while ensuring quality.
- Portfolio with revenue-generating case studies.
- Interest in defense tech, analysis, and data visualization.
- Ability to work independently with little supervision.
- Ability to solve problems creatively, effectively, and at multiple fidelities.
Desired Skills:
- Current possession of a U.S. security clearance at the Top Secret level, or the ability to obtain one with our sponsorship
- Experience in or exposure to the nuances of a startup or other entrepreneurial environment
- Master's in HCD, HCI, Graphic Design, Interaction Design, or related field.
- Experience working in a customer-facing or consulting role.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in HCD, HCI, Graphic Design, Interaction Design, or related field
- 3-5+ years of experience designing and shipping complex web-based products
- Proven experience working in a highly agile, embedded development process
- Portfolio with revenue-generating case studies
- Ability to work independently with little supervision
Govini Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Govini and has not been reviewed or approved by Govini.
-
Healthcare Strength — Healthcare coverage is positioned as strong, with medical, dental, and vision insurance described as covered “in full” for employees and offered with competitive options for families.
-
Retirement Support — Retirement support appears competitive, with a 401(k) match listed up to 4% and immediate vesting, which strengthens the long-term value of the package.
-
Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time-off benefits are broad on paper, including unlimited vacation and sick days, which can increase flexibility if team norms allow consistent usage.
Govini Insights
What We Do
Govini builds software to accelerate the Defense Acquisition Process. Ark, Govini’s flagship product, is a suite of AI-enabled applications, powered by integrated government and commercial data, that solves problems across the entire spectrum of Defense Acquisition, including Supply Chain, Science & Technology, Production, Sustainment, and Modernization. With Ark, the Acquisition community eliminates slow, manual processes and gains the ability to rapidly imagine, produce, and field critical warfighting capabilities. Ark transforms Defense Acquisition into a strategic advantage for the United States.
