Senior UX Designer

About Agile Defense   At Agile Defense we know that action defines the outcome and new challenges require new solutions. That’s why we always look to the future and embrace change with an unmovable spirit and the courage to build for what comes next.   Our vision is to bring adaptive innovation to support our nation's most important missions through the seamless integration of advanced technologies, elite minds, and unparalleled agility—leveraging a foundation of speed, flexibility, and ingenuity to strengthen and protect our nation’s vital interests. Requisition #: 1339 Title: Senior UX Designer Location: Stuttgart, Germany Clearance: Secret Clearance + Above (TS or TS/SCI) Overview: As a Senior UX Designer, you will lead research and design activities that balance user needs, mission requirements, and technical constraints. You will collaborate closely with product managers, engineers, and data scientists to transform complexity into clarity. This role is ideal for someone who thrives in ambiguous problem spaces, brings a systems mindset to user challenges, and can advocate for design as a strategic partner within agile teams. Familiarity with AI tools, data platforms, or emerging technologies is preferred, but not required. This position is part of a broader community of practice at Agile Defense dedicated to human-centered design, innovation, and ethical AI delivery. As a direct employee of Agile Defense, you would receive a benefit package that includes health/dental/vision insurance coverage, 401K with company match, PTO & paid holidays, and annual tuition/training assistance. For more information, please visit our website. Responsibilities / Key Objectives: Objective 1: Lead Discovery and Research to Inform UX and IA Strategy ·   Facilitate stakeholder interviews, discovery workshops, and content audits to uncover user needs, workflows, and data sources. ·   Define and document user and system requirements using human-centered and ontology-aware design methods. ·    Map current-state user journeys and metadata structures to highlight friction, duplication, or misalignment. ·    Identify opportunities to normalize terms, clarify page purpose, and improve AI retrieval accuracy. Objective 2: Design Scalable, Accessible, and Intuitive User Experiences · Create wireframes, interactive prototypes, and annotated specifications for complex workflows and data-heavy applications. ·   Partner with developers to ensure usability and accessibility standards (508, WCAG) are met across front-end implementations. ·   Facilitate usability testing and synthesis to iterate on designs based on real user feedback and mission context. ·   Promote plain language, responsive layouts, and inclusive design practices throughout the product lifecycle. Objective 3: Architect Metadata Models, Taxonomies, and Ontologies for AI Enablement ·   Define taxonomies and controlled vocabularies to support consistent tagging, classification, and retrieval of mission-critical data. ·   Build content models and lightweight ontologies that inform agent-based workflows and LLM-powered assistants. ·   Collaborate with platform and data teams to integrate metadata into DoD data catalogs and pipelines. · Document IA deliverables such as labeling schemes, content governance plans, and semantic data mappings. Objective 4: Integrate UX and IA Into Agile, AI-Centered Delivery · Work within agile product teams to ensure design and IA artifacts are incorporated into backlogs, sprints, and releases. ·   Participate in sprint ceremonies, backlog refinement, and roadmap planning. ·   Support design reviews and architecture decisions that balance usability with technical feasibility and model performance. ·   Help define evaluation criteria and success metrics for both UX (e.g., usability, satisfaction) and IA (e.g., findability, labeling consistency, model precision). Objective 5: Drive Knowledge Sharing and Practice Growth · Mentor junior designers and IA contributors on cross-disciplinary best practices. · Develop IA templates, design systems, and metadata standards reusable across ADA IR teams. · Contribute to internal workshops or playbooks that educate stakeholders on the value of IA in AI solution delivery. ·   Participate in continuous improvement efforts tied to model tuning, content accuracy, and user feedback loops. Preferred Skills & Qualifications ·   3+ years of UX design and/or IA experience supporting complex systems, preferably in government or AI/ML contexts ·   Proven experience leading user research, usability testing, and content strategy initiatives ·   Strong understanding of taxonomy, metadata, data modeling, and content governance principles · Proficiency with prototyping and architecture mapping ·   Working knowledge of Section 508/WCAG accessibility standards and responsive design · Familiarity with AI/ML tools, agent-based workflows, or data labeling platforms is a plus · Experience supporting agile software delivery teams and participating in sprint rituals . Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in UX Design, Human-Computer Interaction, Information Science, or a related field