UI​/UX Designer

Job Description

This isn’t a traditional UX role focused on process ceremonies and long research cycles — it’s a builder role at the center of an early AI platform. We’re looking for a hands‑on UI/UX designer who can translate deep technical capabilities into a product experience that is clear, fast, and visually compelling. You won’t just refine flows — you’ll define them. You won’t wait for perfect inputs — you’ll create momentum and direction.

Our ideal candidate is energized by early‑stage product work and understands how to design under uncertainty. You are comfortable working from evolving requirements, incomplete data, and fast feedback loops. You know how to study the competitive landscape, extract best practices, and rapidly shape them into a differentiated product identity. You care about usability, but you also care about product velocity and business impact.

This role is especially well suited for designers who want something new and highly relevant — moving out of slow‑moving projects, government programs, or legacy technologies into a fast, product‑driven AI platform. If you’ve been looking for a way to apply your skills to modern AI products with real user impact and rapid iteration, this is an opportunity to reset your trajectory.

You’ll work directly with engineering, product strategy, and sales/marketing leadership to shape the primary user experience of the Holokai platform — from our desktop Chat Enablement interface to our SaaS administrative control plane. If you enjoy turning complex systems into intuitive products and want visible ownership over the user experience of an emerging AI platform, this role provides that opportunity.

Holokai is building a platform to accelerate the secure, rational adoption of Enterprise AI. Our product enables organizations to safely deploy AI tools through model access controls, governance guards, and policy enforcement — while still delivering strong user productivity through a desktop chat experience and integrated AI workflows.

We are an early‑stage startup with pilot customers, rapid product iteration, and direct customer feedback loops. Designers at Holokai work close to product decisions and engineering implementation, not as a downstream function but as a core part of product creation.

• Designers with commercial startup or SaaS product experience who want greater ownership and product influence
• Designers currently supporting legacy technologies or less relevant use cases who want to transition to modern AI product design
• Designers who relocated to the DC metro area from commercial tech hubs and want to stay in product‑focused work
• High‑talent early‑career designers or recent graduates with strong portfolios and high learning velocity
• Builders who prefer shipping and iteration over heavy process and documentation cycles
• Designers who enjoy working directly with engineers and shaping product direction early

• Own the end‑to‑end UI/UX design of the Holokai product across desktop and SaaS platform interfaces
• Translate complex AI, security, and governance capabilities into intuitive, user‑centered workflows
• Design clean, visually strong interfaces that highlight product differentiators and build product trust
• Create wireframes, high‑fidelity mockups, prototypes, and production‑ready design assets
• Establish and evolve Holokai’s visual and interaction identity across the platform
• Work directly with engineers to ensure designs are practical, implementable, and performant
• Partner with product, sales, and marketing to align UX with adoption and growth goals
• Incorporate feedback from pilot customers and early users into rapid design iterations
• Evaluate competitor and adjacent products to identify usability patterns and opportunities
• Contribute directly to front‑end implementation where practical (design systems, components, styling)

• Strong portfolio demonstrating shipped product UI/UX work for modern SaaS or desktop applications
• Ability to design for complex technical products and data‑rich interfaces
• Demonstrated ability to design and ship product features with limited…