Senior Design Engineer

About Us Quartermaster is building the world's most comprehensive maritime intelligence platform. Our SmartMast™ system transforms commercial and civilian vessels into a persistent, distributed sensing network—combining HD video, AI, radar, RF sensing, and AIS to deliver real-time maritime domain awareness at global scale. With 600+ sensors deployed across 25+ countries and more than 400,000 vessels identified outside of AIS, we are setting a new standard for what ocean surveillance and safety can look like. We are a mission-driven, high-velocity team building dual-use technology for defense agencies, coast guards, and commercial maritime operators. Job Description We are looking for a Senior Design Engineer who thrives at the intersection of operational complexity, user interface design, and front-end engineering. Reporting to the CTO and working cross-functionally with the Head of Product, you'll live at the intersection of design and engineering—translating high-fidelity design intent into production-quality interfaces that empower analysts and operators in complex maritime environments. You'll build the components, tooling, and prototypes that make mission-critical experiences feel seamless and perform under pressure. Good design here is not cosmetic—it is operationally significant, and requires production-grade technical execution. Key Responsibilities Build and ship production-ready UI components from design specs, prioritizing performance, reusability, and scalability across our web portal. Develop and maintain our design system as living code—keeping design tokens, component libraries (React/TypeScript), and documentation in sync across our maritime intelligence applications. Prototype novel interactions and data visualizations—including live sensor feeds, event timelines, and tracking dashboards to pressure-test new product proposals in real, interactive environments. Bridge design and engineering by implementing high-fidelity features like map interfaces and radar overlays that preserve design intent in high-density data environments. Build tooling and automation that accelerate the design-to-development workflow between product and core engineering. Iterate on implementations based on direct operator feedback, field testing, and rigorous performance insights from defense and government customers. Conduct and synthesize user research to inform technical design decisions, turning complex maritime workflows into highly performant and clear user journeys. Establish and enforce accessibility standards (WCAG), performance optimization guidelines, and responsive design practices across the front-end repository. Qualifications (Preferred) 5+ years of experience in product design, UI/UX engineering, or front-end design engineering, paired with a designer's eye and a portfolio demonstrating mastery of data-rich web application interfaces. Strong front-end engineering competencies: Deep fluency in HTML, CSS/Tailwind, and modern JavaScript/TypeScript, with hands-on experience building components in React. Deep proficiency in Figma, including advanced component libraries, auto-layout, token management, and the tooling that keeps code components consistent with their design source of truth. A strong visual design foundation—typography, color, layout, and hierarchy—especially when designing for dense, operationally critical environments where information clarity and software performance are non-negotiable. Fluency in UX principles: interaction design, information architecture, and the technical ability to translate complex data workflows into simple, intuitive interfaces. Experience designing and building geospatial or map-based interfaces; comfort handling layered, overlapping data visualizations and Canvas/WebGL rendering paradigms. Comfort working in iterative processes, incorporating user research, field feedback, and performance data to refine and evolve your work. Bonus Points: Experience designing for defense, maritime, aviation, or other mission-critical operational domains requiring precision, clarity, and real-world impact. Background in designing for data visualization, sensor dashboards, or real-time monitoring systems. Experience with motion design, micro-interactions, or advanced layout automation for operational interfaces. Work Environment Distributed team environment working asynchronously. Start-up atmosphere with autonomy given to engineers In office and flexible hours #J-18808-Ljbffr