Senior UI/UX Designer

Turion is developing the critical infrastructure of the space economy. We're doing this by building vertically integrated hardware and software: DROID, our line of space vehicles, and Starfire, our software suite covering simulation, modeling, planning, and operations.
We're a group of people who fell in love with the future sci-fi promised us, and we're building it into reality. We build hard things. We build them well. And we're just getting started.

We are looking for a Senior UI/UX Designer to help shape the user experience and visual direction of our Mission Control software suite. This role will be embedded with the Mission Control Software team and will be responsible for designing intuitive, scalable, and operationally effective interfaces for complex aerospace workflows.

In this role, you will work closely with mission operators, customers, product stakeholders, and frontend engineers to deeply understand user needs, translate operational workflows into clear product experiences, and ensure our applications are designed with usability, consistency, and long-term scalability in mind.

This is a senior design role that goes beyond visual execution. You will be expected to lead discovery efforts, gather and synthesize user feedback, define design priorities, contribute to product planning, establish strong UX practices, and mentor teammates through thoughtful design critique and collaboration. You should be comfortable operating in ambiguous problem spaces, asking the right questions, and turning complex technical systems into approachable, high-confidence user experiences. You will own the design process from research and concept development through high-fidelity Figma designs, engineering handoff, and post-release feedback loops.

This is a full-time, exempt position based on-site at our Irvine, California headquarters.

Responsibilities

• Drive UI/UX design for a suite of Mission Control applications used by mission operators, customers, and internal teams.

• Partner with product managers, engineers, operators, and customers to understand workflows, pain points, operational constraints, and success criteria.

• Conduct and synthesize UX research, including user interviews, workflow analysis, usability testing, heuristic reviews, and feedback sessions.

• Translate complex aerospace and mission operations workflows into clear, usable, and scalable product experiences.

• Create user flows, wireframes, prototypes, high-fidelity designs, and interaction specifications in Figma.

• Establish and maintain strong information architecture across related applications and workflows.

• Contribute to and evolve design systems, component libraries, interaction patterns, and visual standards.

• Collaborate closely with frontend engineers to ensure designs are clearly specified, feasible, and well understood during implementation.

• Participate in product planning by helping identify user needs, design risks, dependencies, and opportunities for improvement.

• Provide design QA feedback during implementation to help preserve design intent, usability, and consistency.

• Mentor other designers, engineers, and cross-functional partners on UX best practices, design critique, and user-centered product development.

• Build and maintain active feedback loops with mission operators and customers to continuously improve the product experience.

Required Qualifications

• Strong portfolio demonstrating end-to-end product design work for complex software applications.

• Advanced proficiency with Figma, including components, variants, prototyping, design systems, and developer handoff.

• Strong UI design fundamentals, including layout, typography, hierarchy, interaction design, accessibility, and visual consistency.

• Strong UX research skills, including user interviews, usability testing, workflow mapping, heuristic evaluation, and research synthesis.

• Experience designing scalable, consistent, and user-friendly interfaces for complex workflows.

• Strong understanding of design systems and how to apply them across multiple applications or product surfaces.

• Strong information architecture and systems thinking skills.

• Ability to operate in ambiguous, technical, or highly specialized domains.

• Experience collaborating closely with frontend engineers and product stakeholders.

• Ability to clearly communicate design rationale, tradeoffs, and recommendations to technical and non-technical audiences.

• Experience taking products or major features from discovery through implementation and iteration.

Nice to Have

• Experience designing for aerospace, defense, mission operations, industrial software, data-heavy tools, command-and-control systems, or other complex technical domains.

• Experience with responsive design across desktop, tablet, and varied operational environments.

• Experience growing or formalizing design systems within an engineering-led organization.

• Experience mentoring designers or helping raise design maturity across a team.

• Experience incorporating AI tools into research, design exploration, prototyping, or design operations workflows.

• Familiarity with component-based frontend development concepts, such as reusable UI components, responsive behavior, and engineering handoff constraints.

What Success Looks Like

A successful Senior UI/UX Designer in this role will help the team move from simply building interfaces to building coherent, operator-centered product experiences. You will improve how we discover user needs, validate design decisions, communicate product workflows, and deliver software that mission operators can trust in high-consequence environments.

You will be expected to bring strong design craft, but your larger impact will come from helping the team make better product decisions earlier, reduce ambiguity, and create systems that scale across our Mission Control software ecosystem.

Senior UI/UX Designer: $140,000-$180,000

Employees may be asked to support alternate shifts, extended shifts, and/or travel during peak work periods.

ITAR Requirements:

This position may include access to technology and/or software source code that is subject to U.S. export controls. To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State.

Benefits:
We offer a comprehensive compensation and benefits package designed to support the well-being and professional growth of our employees. In addition to a competitive base salary and company stock, determined by factors such as job-related knowledge, education, skills, experience, and market demand, full-time employees are eligible for:

• Equity: Receive equity in Turion Space, letting you benefit from the company's success

• Health Insurance: Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage for employees and their dependents.

• Retirement Plans: Access to a 401(k) plan with a 3% Employer Direct Contribution to help you plan for your future.

• Paid Time Off: Generous vacation days, personal days, sick days, and holidays to ensure you have time to recharge.

• Parental Leave: Paid parental leave following the birth of a newborn or adoption.

• Emotional Wellbeing: A no-cost Employee Assistance Program (EAP) to support you and your household’s emotional health and wellbeing.

• Professional Development: Opportunities for ongoing internal training, workshops, and courses to advance your skills and career growth.

• Team Building Activities: Regular social events, team outings, and company-sponsored activities to foster a positive work environment.

We are dedicated to providing a supportive and enriching environment for our team members, recognizing that our collective success is built upon the well-being and satisfaction of each individual.

Turion Space is an Equal Opportunity Employer; employment with Turion Space is governed on the basis of merit, competence and qualifications and will not be influenced in any manner by race, color, religion, gender, national origin/ethnicity, veteran status, disability status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, mental or physical disability or any other legally protected status.