Lead Product Designer

Persons in these roles are expected to work from our offices in Seattle. On-site requirements vary based on position and team. If you have questions about on-site work arrangements for this role please ask your recruiter.

Our base salary range is $137520 - $206280 and in addition we have generous bonus plans to provide a competitive compensation package.

Who You Are:

Ai2 is looking for a Lead Product Designer to build intuitive elegant and impactful user experiences across our growing portfolio of AI this role you will transform complex AI concepts into visually compelling and intuitive experiences. You will work closely with research and engineering to drive high-impact projects that shape the future of AI products and user interactions.

This role is for a senior IC who can drive product design end to end from framing user problems to delivering high-quality UX solutions that influence product direction. This is a highly visible role that combines strategic design thinking deep UX expertise and strong systems-level problem solving. If you thrive in a fast-paced innovative environment and can balance strategic vision with hands-on execution wed love to hear from you.

Youre an experienced designer who thrives at the intersection of complex systems and human-centered design. You have a strong UX foundation excellent interaction and visual design judgement and have the ability to translate abstract AI concepts into approachable powerful user experiences. Youre hands-on thoughtful and data-driven. You are equally as comfortable mapping user journeys as you are crafting detailed prototypes. You drive clarity in ambiguous problem spaces and bring cross-functional teams along through clear communication and design rationale.

Who We Are:

At Ai2 our design team shapes how people experience understand and interact with AI. We design how people interact with Ai2s research and products from exploring open models in the Ai2 Playground to defining new interaction patterns for AI agents and the Earth System platform. Were a small collaborative team that works closely with researchers engineers and program managers to turn complex AI systems into meaningful user experiences. We value curiosity collaboration and a shared commitment to pushing the boundaries of AI-driven design and technology.

Your Next Challenge:

Key responsibilities of the role include the following:

Product & UX Design:

• Own the end-to-end design process for complex multi-surface AI products from user research and information architecture to interaction design prototypes and visual polish.
• Translate complex technical and research concepts into simple discoverable and intuitive user experiences.
• Design interaction flows wireframes and high-fidelity mockups using modern tools like Figma.
• Partner with PMs engineers and researchers to align product strategy user needs and technical feasibility.

Design Systems & Frameworks:

• Build and maintain reusable design systems patterns and components that enable fast iteration and consistent experiences.
• Define and evangelize scalable design frameworks that connect visual and interaction design to Ai2s broader mission.
• Contribute to and evolve a unified design language across projects.

Strategic Influence & Collaboration:

• Drive design alignment across teams clarifying priorities and ensuring design quality scales with impact.
• Partner with leadership to shape the long-term user experience strategy for Ai2s open models and tools.
• Communicate design rationale and trade-offs effectively to both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams to define mechanisms that improve design collaboration velocity and quality.

What Youll Need

• 8 years of experience in UX product or interaction design for complex digital products.
• A strong portfolio demonstrating modern user-centered design with measurable product impact.
• Expertise in end-to-end product design from problem framing through polished UI execution.
• Proficiency in Figma and familiarity with research and prototyping tools.
• Solid understanding of user-centered design accessibility and responsive design best practices.
• Demonstrated ability to simplify complex systems preferably in technical or AI-driven products.
• Exceptional communication skills and ability to articulate design rationale to diverse audiences.
• Comfort operating in ambiguous fast-paced environments.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience designing for developer tools AI interfaces or data-heavy applications.
• Familiarity with A/B testing user analytics or quantitative validation methods.
• Understanding of business metrics and how design drives adoption and engagement.

Physical Demands and Work Environment:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by a team member to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions.

• Must be able to remain in a stationary position for long periods of time.
• The ability to communicate information and ideas so others will understand. Must be able to exchange accurate information in these situations.
• The ability to observe details at close range.
• Can work under deadlines.

A Little More About Ai2:

Ai2 is a Seattle based non-profit AI research institute founded in 2014 by the late Paul Allen. Our mission is building breakthrough AI to solve the worlds biggest problems. We develop foundational AI research and innovation to deliver real-world impact through large-scale open models data robotics conservation and beyond.

In addition to Ai2s core mission we also aim to contribute to humanity through our treatment of each member of the Ai2 Team. Some highlights are:

• We are a learning organization because everything Ai2 does is ground-breaking we are learning every day. Similarly through weekly Ai2 Academy lectures a wide variety of world-class AI experts as guest speakers and our commitment to your personal on-going education Ai2 is a place where you will have opportunities to continue learning alongside your coworkers.
• We value diversity - We seek to hire support and promote people from all genders ethnicities and all levels of experience regardless of age. We particularly encourage applications from women non-binary individuals people of color members of the LGBTQA community and people with disabilities of any kind.
• We value inclusion - We understand the value that peoples individual experiences and perspectives can bring to an organization and we are building a culture in which all voices are heard respected and considered.
• We emphasize a healthy work/life balance we believe our team members are happiest and most productive when their work/life balance is optimized. While we value powerful research results which drive our mission forward we also value dinner with family weekend time and vacation time. We offer generous paid vacation and sick leave as well as family leave.
• We are collaborative and transparent we consider ourselves a team all moving with a common purpose. We are quick to cheer our successes and even quicker to share and jointly problem solve our failures.
• We are in Seattle and our office is on the water! We have mountains we have lakes we have four seasons we bike to work we have a vibrant theater scene and we have so much else. We even have kayaks for you to paddle right outside our front door. We welcome interest from applicants from outside of the United States.
• We are friendly chances are you will like every one of the 200 (and growing) people who work here. We do.

Ai2 is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based upon race religion color national origin sex (including pregnancy childbirth or related medical conditions) sexual orientation gender gender identity gender expression transgender status sexual stereotypes age status as a protected veteran status as an individual with a disability or other applicable legally protected characteristics. You may view the related Know Your Rights compliance poster and the Pay Transparency Nondiscrimination Provision by clicking on their corresponding links.

This employer participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you are authorized to work in the U.S. If E-Verify cannot confirm that you are authorized to work this employer is required to give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) or Social Security Administration (SSA) so you can begin to resolve the issue before the employer can take any action against you including terminating your employment. Employers can only use E-Verify once you have accepted a job offer and completed the Form I-9.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to employees and applicants with disabilities to the full extent required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If you feel you need a reasonable accommodation pursuant to the ADA you are encouraged to contact us at

Benefits:

• Team members and their families are covered by medical dental vision basic life insurance basic accidental death and dismemberment insurance short-term disability long-term disability and an employee assistance program.
• Team members are able to enroll in our voluntary life insurance program our voluntary accidental death and dismemberment program our health savings account plan our healthcare reimbursement arrangement plan and our health care and dependent care flexible spending account plans.
• Team members are able to enroll in our companys 401k plan.
• Team members will receive $125 per month to assist with commuting or internet expenses and will also receive $200 per month for fitness and wellbeing expenses.
• Team members will also receive up to ten sick days per year up to seven personal days per year up to 20 vacation days per year and twelve paid holidays throughout the calendar year.
• Team members will be able to receive annual bonuses and can participate in the long-term incentive plan.

Note: This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed by the team members(s) of this position. Team members will be required to follow any other job-related instructions and to perform any other job-related duties requested by any person authorized to give instructions or assignments. All duties and responsibilities are essential functions and requirements and are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities. To perform this job successfully the team member(s) will possess the skills aptitudes and abilities to perform each duty proficiently. Some requirements may exclude individuals who pose a direct threat or significant risk to the health or safety of themselves or others. The requirements listed in this document are the minimum levels of knowledge skills or abilities. This document does not create an employment contract implied or otherwise other than an at will relationship.