Senior UI Design Engineer

About You:

You are a skilled UI/UX designer with experience designing displays in aviation, aerospace, or other safety-critical industry. You have a passion for designing displays that support operators of safety-critical systems in which an increasing number of traditionally-manual tasks are being automated. You are comfortable with and competent at working with a team of senior and junior engineers, can make and justify key decisions to the rest of the team and to stakeholders, and want to drive a team’s technical direction in close collaboration with the technical leads and engineering manager.

The Role:

• Drive the design of usable, intuitive user interfaces that enable pilots to interact with Merlin’s autonomous flight technologies.
• Conduct user research with Merlin’s pilots and potential end-users of Merlin’s systems to gather insights and validate design concepts.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams (including engineers, pilots, and software developers) to design and implement user interfaces for avionics and flight control systems.
• Ensure interface designs meet aviation standards (e.g., ARINC 661, DO-178C, FAA and EASA guidelines).
• Integrate advanced design methodologies with tools such as GLStudio, Qt, Figma, or other UI development platforms.
• Explore emerging technologies (e.g., augmented reality, AI, and voice control) for application in aviation systems.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in human factors, interaction design, industrial design, computer science, or a related field.
• 5+ years of experience in UI/UX design, preferable in aviation, aerospace, or other safety-critical industries.
• Demonstrated track record developing usable and intuitive user interfaces that enhance user situational awareness, reduce workload, and mitigate errors.
• Proficiency in user interface development tools like GLStudio, Qt, or other real-time graphical user interface platforms.
• Experience using prototyping tools (e.g., Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD).
• Familiarity with human factors principles and usability testing processes.
• Familiarity with aviation industry standards (e.g., ARINC 661, DO-178C, FAA and EASA guidelines).
• Strong communication and presentation skills with the ability to convey design concepts clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.

Nice to Haves:

• Master’s or Doctorate degree in human factors, interaction design, industrial design, computer science, or a related field.
• Experience using GLStudio to develop user interfaces.
• Experience with avionics systems integration and software development.
• Experience certifying pilot-vehicle interfaces on military and/or civil aircraft.
• Experience with flight testing on crewed or uncrewed aircraft.
• Familiarity with DoD and commercial open architectures such as A-GRA, OMS, FACE, and IMA.

Logistics:

• 20-30% of travel required to support team meetings, design activities, and flight testing