Human-Centered Designer

Human-Centered Designer
*
* The Opportunity:

** We've shipped the first generation of agentic AI, and now we're moving quickly to go deeper with user-built agents, multi-agent orchestration, and platform teams that can extend themselves. We are a small, startup-minded team that ships fast and owns what we build end-to-end. We are looking for a human-centered designer to own the end-to-end experience of ARPA-H’s production AI assistant GRACE, including how users understand it, trust it, and get real work done with it.

Designing for agentic AI is hard, output is probabilistic, workflows are open-ended, and trust is earned interaction by interaction. You will shape how GRACE feels, while operating within the privacy, security, and responsible-use requirements of our mission and the federal environment.
** What You’ll Work On:
*** Own the design of GRACE across research, interaction, and visual design, being accountable for whether the experience works for users.
* Design interaction patterns for agentic AI, including conversational flows, tool-call and reasoning visibility, human-in-the-loop confirmations, error and uncertainty states, and graceful handling of partial or long-running responses.
* Design how GRACE presents rich output legibly and trust worthily, including citations, tables, diagrams, maps, generated images, and long-form results.
* Bring and apply industry best practices and emerging design patterns specific to agentic AI, including agent transparency, cont rollability, memory and context, multi-agent workflows, and letting users build and direct their own agents.
* Create the flows, wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity designs that turn ambiguous problems into shippable interfaces.
* Own and evolve a design system so the product stays consistent, accessible, and fast to extend.
* Talk to ARPA-H users and comprehend their workflows, goals, and where GRACE helps or gets in the way.
* Run lightweight, high-velocity research through interviews, usability tests, and concept validation that fit a team that ships weekly, not quarterly.
* Turn research into clear, prioritized insights that the team can act on, and close the loop by measuring whether changes helped.
* Build a durable understanding of who GRACE serves and advocate for them in every decision.
* Design for trust as a first-class outcome.
* Design for the realities of AI, including hallucination, uncertainty, latency, and failure.
* Ensure accessibility is designed in from the start.
* Bring genuine care for the sensitivity of the mission.
* Work hand-in-hand with engineers, the applied researcher, and product to translate design intent into shipped product, including closely with front-end so fidelity and interaction detail survive to production.
* Prototype quickly, get it in front of users, and iterate.
* Communicate design decisions clearly to both designers and non-designers, and make the rationale, not just the mockup, legible to the team.

Join us. The world can’t wait.
** You Have:
*** 7+ years of experience in a product design or UX design field, displaying a portfolio of shipped products
* Experience designing for AI, LLM, chat, or agentic products, including streaming responses, citation and source display, tool-call visibility, and for uncertain or probabilistic output
* Experience across the full design process, including research, interaction design, and visual or UI design
* Experience with modern design tools such as Figma, including components, prototyping, and design systems
* Experience planning and running interviews and usability tests, and turning findings into decisions
* Experience shipping complex, interactive products in high-velocity environments where you owned the experience end-to-end
* Knowledge of industry best practices and design patterns specific to agentic AI, including agent transparency, cont rollability, human-in-the-loop, and multi-agent workflows
* Ability to pay strict attention to detail with a high bar for quality and commitment to accessibility, including WCAG or Section 508
* Ability to be a self-starter and clear communicator who works with a high sense of urgency, gives and receives feedback well, works closely with engineers, and makes the people around them better
* Bachelor's degree
** Nice If You Have:
*** Experience working closely with implementation, including reading the front-end, comprehending what React and Chainlit make easy or hard, and designing within real constraints
* Experience building or contributing to design systems at scale
* Experience designing productivity tools, research tools, or other complex information-dense products
* Experience in startup or early-stage environments
* Ability to be comfortable with ambiguity, rapid iteration, and wearing multiple hats
* Possession of strong interaction and visual design skills
** Compensation
* * At Booz Allen, we celebrate your contributions, provide you with opportunities and choices, and support your total well-being. Our offerings include health, life,…