Designer Startup Jobs in Washington (NOW HIRING)

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 trustworthily, 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, controllability, 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, controllability, 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, disability, financial, and retirement benefits, as well as paid leave, professional development, tuition assistance, work-life programs, and dependent care. Our recognition awards program acknowledges employees for exceptional performance and superior demonstration of our values. Full-time and part-time employees working at least 20 hours a week on a regular basis are eligible to participate in Booz Allen's benefit programs. Individuals that do not meet the threshold are only eligible for select offerings, not inclusive of health benefits. We encourage you to learn more about our total benefits by visiting the Resource page on our Careers site and reviewing Our Employee Benefits page.

Salary at Booz Allen is determined by various factors, including but not limited to location, the individual's particular combination of education, knowledge, skills, competencies, and experience, as well as contract-specific affordability and organizational requirements. The projected compensation range for this position is $86,800.00 to $198,000.00 (annualized USD). The estimate displayed represents the typical salary range for this position and is just one component of Booz Allen's total compensation package for employees. This posting will close within 90 days from the Posting Date.

Identity Statement

As part of the hiring process, we will ask you to complete an identity verification process that leverages advanced biometrics and artificial intelligence to ensure authenticity and protect against identity fraud. You are expected to be on camera during interviews and assessments. We reserve the right to take your picture to verify your identity and prevent fraud.

Candidate AI Usage Policy

AI is a part of our daily work at Booz Allen, and we are committed to the responsible and ethical use of AI tools. However, we want to ensure a fair candidate process based on your own skills and knowledge. As part of this commitment, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) or other tools to assist with responses during interviews (whether in-person or virtual) is prohibited unless permission is explicitly provided.

Work Model
Our people-first culture prioritizes the benefits of collaboration, whether it occurs in person or virtually. To support engagement and effective communication, employees working virtually are generally expected to have their cameras on during meetings.

• Remote: If this position is listed as remote, there may still be occasions when you are required to work in person at a Booz Allen or customer facility.

• Hybrid: If this position is listed as hybrid, you will be expected to work from a Booz Allen facility frequently, in alignment with leadership expectations and the needs of the role. You may also be required to work from or visit a customer facility.

• Onsite: If this position is listed as onsite, work will primarily be performed at a Booz Allen office or customer facility, where employees will collaborate directly with colleagues and customers as required by the role.

Commitment to Non-Discrimination

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to disability, status as a protected veteran or any other status protected by applicable federal, state, local, or international law.