Sofar is on a mission to connect the world’s oceans. We design, build, and deploy the largest privately owned network of marine weather sensors to power the world’s best marine weather forecasts. Our data helps our customers to increase efficiency and reduce emissions, delivering tools to governments and other stakeholders to understand impacts of climate change on extreme weather and ocean health. We live on Planet Ocean, and our goal is to create the ocean intelligence needed to ensure a sustainable future.
The Role
Designers at Sofar are responsible for:
- Owning and running user research activities for their teams
- Designing modern web application features from the ground up within a complex system
- Pivoting to the products and corresponding initiatives that present the greatest opportunities for our users and our business
- Understanding and balancing tradeoffs between business needs, user needs, and technical limitations while maintaining sustainable pace
- Using user-centered design principles to de-risk new releases and craft great experiences as part of a balanced team
- Maintaining tight feedback loops within the project team, with internal stakeholders, and with customer stakeholders
- Establishing and maintaining excellent end users relationships, with alignment on priorities and progress
- Contributing to the continuous improvement of our software design practice across the entire product lifecycle by applying and advocating for modern agile and design practices
Typical activities include:
- Conducting user research to understand end user needs
- Designing screens in Figma, sharing for feedback, and incorporating feedback from users, customers, and teammates (engineers and product managers)
- Facilitating collaborative design workshops in all-remote, hybrid, and in-person settings
- Working alongside engineers, as needed, to implement designs
- Communicating with internal and external stakeholders about design strategy, concept validation, and usability
- Attending and facilitating agile team ceremonies such as daily standup, weekly planning, and weekly retrospectives
About You
Requirements:
- 5+ years of experience in a product design role, preferably in a fast-paced startup or tech company.
- Strong understanding of design principles, typography, color theory, and layout.
- Ability to think through complex design challenges and navigate ambiguity.
- Excellent attention to detail and ability to meet tight deadlines.
- Ability to adapt quickly and work independently in a fast-paced environment with shifting constraints.
- Ability to work collaboratively with cross-functional teams and stakeholders.
Estimated Salary Range
- $145,000-$170,000
- The range listed is what we reasonably expect to pay for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and may be modified in the future. Actual compensation packages are based on several factors that are unique to each candidate, including but not limited to skill set, experience, and equity package.
Sofar's Commitment to Climate Justice
We at Sofar Ocean acknowledge that careers in the marine sciences “... have traditionally been, and remain, non-diverse work environments”, thereby limiting the entry and prosperity of underrepresented groups in the space. (Johri et al., 2021) Many of these same groups are disproportionately affected by climate change, and are often excluded from decision making that directly address their interests and needs.
We are committed to addressing these climate injustices and highly encourage people who identify as women, LGBTQ+, Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) to apply
It is the responsibility of every employee to contribute to a positive work environment through cooperative and professional interactions with co-workers, customers, and vendors.
Equal Employment Opportunity
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other factors prohibited by law.
Top Skills
What We Do
Sofar connects the world's oceans to power a more sustainable future. Sofar unlocks ocean data at scale. We deployed hundreds of Spotters globally to create the world’s largest privately-owned network of ocean sensors that collects 1.5 million real-time observations daily. Our team of ocean scientists assimilates this real-time data into our marine weather forecasts, which are up to 50% more accurate than traditional models.
In maritime shipping, we use these high-accuracy forecasts and vessel performance models to provide optimized guidance and save ships time, fuel, and emissions. We also equip researchers, operators, and innovators with our devices and data to power marine research and sustainable commercial solutions. Customers access data from our global sensor network and deploy our extensible Spotter platform to collect real-time surface and subsurface observations.
Sofar’s team of engineers, ocean scientists, and business professionals is based in San Francisco, California.
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