Headquartered in Silicon Valley, California, Archer is a leader in the next-gen aerospace sector building an end-to-end advanced air mobility platform that delivers air taxis, unmanned aircraft systems (“UAS”), aviation-related physical artificial intelligence (“AI”) solutions, and other technologies to customers worldwide across the commercial aerospace and defense sectors.
Our sights are set high and our problems are hard, and we believe that diversity in the workplace is what makes us smarter, drives better insights, and will ultimately lift us all to success. We are dedicated to cultivating an equitable and inclusive environment that embraces our differences, and supports and celebrates all of our team members.
Archer is best known for Midnight, our electric aircraft. This role isn't on that program. The AI Products Org is building software for the general aviation industry: mobile apps, websites, and web apps for consumer end users. We haven't announced what we're working on, and we're not going to spoil it in a job posting. What we can tell you: it's early, it's greenfield, and the design decisions made in the next year will define these products for a long time.
That's why we're hiring a Staff Designer. Not someone to execute a roadmap that's already figured out, but someone who can take a loosely defined problem, explore it, and come back with something worth building.
What You’ll Do:
- Own product design for consumer end-user software end to end: mobile apps, websites, and web applications
- Take products from 0 to 1. Some of what you'll work on doesn't exist yet in any form, not even a brief
- Run product explorations — sketch out directions, pressure-test them with the team, kill the weak ones early
- Work with minimal direction. You'll get context and constraints from PM and engineering, but the design leadership on your projects is you ship. Then keep refining what shipped based on how people actually use it
- Raise the bar on craft across the org, through your own work and through feedback on everyone else's
- 8+ years of product design experience minimum. Realistically, the person we're picturing has 12–15
- Products you've designed that are live and in users' hands. We will ask about them, in detail: what you decided, what you got wrong, what you'd change
- Real 0→1 experience: you've built the first version of something, not just iterated on a mature product
- Strong systems thinking across mobile and web. You know when a pattern should be shared across platforms and when it shouldn't
- Comfort with ambiguity. If you need a fully scoped ticket before you can start, this won't be a fit
- A portfolio that shows your thinking, not just polished final screens
Bonus Qualifications:
- Experience designing for aviation, or an interest in general aviation. Pilots and aviation nerds, this is your moment
- Experience working alongside AI/ML teams, or designing products with AI-driven features
- You've shipped consumer products in a domain with real-world constraints (regulated industries, safety-adjacent, hardware-adjacent) and know how that shapes design
If you want to hear more about what we're building before you apply, you can't. Apply, and we'll tell you plenty.
At Archer we aim to attract, retain, and motivate talent that possess the skills and leadership necessary to grow our business. We drive a pay-for-performance culture and reward performance that supports the Company’s business strategy. For this position we are targeting a base pay between $175,00.00 - $215,000.00 . Actual compensation offered will be determined by factors such as job-related knowledge, skills, and experience.
Archer Aviation San Jose, California, USA Office
San Jose, CA, United States
Archer Aviation Mountain View, California, USA Office
1090 Terra Bella, Mountain View, United States
Similar Jobs
What you need to know about the San Francisco Tech Scene
Key Facts About San Francisco Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 365,500; 13.9% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: Google, Apple, Salesforce, Meta
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, cloud computing, fintech, consumer technology, software
- Funding Landscape: $50.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, Greylock Partners, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins
- Research Centers and Universities: Stanford University; University of California, Berkeley; University of San Francisco; Santa Clara University; Ames Research Center; Center for AI Safety; California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
