Lead UX Designer

builds AI‑powered software for the nuclear and utility industries - tools that keep critical infrastructure reliable, efficient, and safe. Our software integrates AI driven workflow, documentation, and research automation and is already used at 60+ nuclear reactors across North America. You'll ship production code operators and engineers rely on every day.

We're growing quickly, expanding our team and our Phoenix HQ. The work is consequential: what you build helps real plants run safer and smarter.

Eligibility: U.S. citizenship or permanent residency (green card) is required due to DOE export compliance.

Position Overview

As Principle User Experience Lead, you will shape the way the nuclear industry experiences AI. This role is a senior individual contributor position with enterprise-level influence — blending hands-on design with product strategy, user advocacy, and ownership of end-to-end experience quality.

You'll own the holistic user experience across the Nuclearn platform — from chat-based AI systems and predictive workflows to complex engineering tools — ensuring every product is intuitive, credible, and deeply trusted. You'll set the design standards, define the QA bar for product quality, and guide how Nuclearn expresses value to customers through interaction, design, and usability.

This is not a role for someone who simply executes design — it's for a design leader who thinks like a product owner, works like a craftsman, and leads by example.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the full user experience strategy and execution across all Nuclearn products, ensuring consistency, clarity, and trust at every interaction.
• Serve as the internal advocate for product quality and usability — partnering with engineering, product, and QA to define and enforce experience standards and acceptance criteria.
• Lead concept-to-production design efforts across AI workflows, chat interfaces, and predictive tools, ensuring the design supports measurable business outcomes.
• Define and maintain a unified design system and interaction framework that supports rapid iteration while upholding excellence.
• Establish experience-driven QA processes — ensuring every release meets design intent, functional clarity, and customer expectations.
• Conduct and oversee user research, usability testing, and post-release validation to continuously improve product performance and adoption.
• Champion simplicity and transparency in complex systems — designing experiences that make AI explainable, auditable, and human-centered.
• Mentor and coach designers and cross-functional peers to raise the overall design maturity of the organization.
• Represent UX in product and business strategy discussions, influencing roadmap priorities based on user insight and experience impact.
• Ensure that every aspect of the Nuclearn platform — from onboarding to daily use — communicates trust, precision, and innovation.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of professional experience in UX, Product Design, or Product Strategy, including leadership in enterprise or technical SaaS environments.
• Proven success in owning and delivering complete user experiences — from early discovery through production QA and post-launch optimization.
• Experience designing for AI systems, chatbots, or predictive machine learning applications, with a deep understanding of user trust, transparency, and explainability.
• Mastery of user-centered design principles and usability testing methodologies.
• Fluency in design and prototyping tools such as Figma, Sketch, or InVision, with the ability to translate design systems into working interfaces.
• Exceptional ability to connect design quality to measurable business and user outcomes.
• Strong storytelling and communication skills — capable of influencing senior leadership and technical peers alike.
• Experience defining and enforcing design QA and release-readiness standards.
• (Bonus) Experience with scientific, engineering, or regulated environments where accuracy and reliability are paramount.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree (or equivalent experience) in Human-Computer Interaction, Design, Computer Science, or related field.
• Experience designing products for technical or expert user bases (e.g., engineers, analysts, or regulators).
• Demonstrated ability to build and scale design systems or UX processes within a startup or growth-stage company.
• Familiarity with modern front-end technologies and frameworks, including React, TypeScript/JavaScript, HTML/CSS, and responsive UI systems, including understanding of how design systems translate into production code within a React component architecture is strongly preferred
• Experience collaborating closely with Python-based back-ends and API-driven applications a plus.
• Background in product quality or UX-driven QA process design is also a strong advantage.

Compensation & benefits

• Base salary: $136k - $190k
• Benefits: Unlimited PTO, health/dental/vision insurance

Why Nuclearn

• Work at the intersection of AI, design, and nuclear technology to advance clean energy and safety worldwide.
• Shape a new product category and establish design excellence in one of the most high-impact industries on the planet.
• Operate with autonomy, speed, and purpose in a culture that values craftsmanship and innovation.
• Competitive compensation, meaningful equity, and the opportunity to define what great UX means for AI in critical infrastructure.