Forward Deployed Product Designer

Scale is hiring a Senior/Staff Product Designer to lead product design for Scale's Public Sector business unit. The mission of Scale's Public Sector team is to bring AI-powered decision support directly to government and defense customers - deploying trusted, mission-critical tools in the field, not just building internal software. This role will own the end-to-end design of one of our core mission workflows: planning (synthesizing information for senior decision-makers), operations (surfacing high-signal alerts from complex data streams), or analytical (research and reporting tools) - partnering with product from day one to shape ambiguous, high-stakes problems into deployable customer-facing experiences. This is a forward-deployed role: you'll work directly and regularly on-site with government and defense customers, representing design in the room and building the trust needed to get stakeholder buy-in without a manager present. Responsibilities Own end-to-end design - from ambiguous, undefined requirements through wireframes, high-fidelity mockups, and interactive prototypes - for a customer-facing government/defense product experience. Partner directly with Product as a peer from the earliest stages of a project, not just at handoff. Work forward-deployed, on-site with customers, building direct relationships and confidently socializing design decisions with stakeholders. Design for complex, data-dense workflows: dashboards, mapping interfaces, alerting systems, and analytical reporting tools. Work directly in code alongside engineers, going beyond static mockups to help build and refine the shipped experience. Contribute design assets and interaction patterns back to the broader platform, not just the account or project you're staffed on. Help calibrate and grow the design team by participating in portfolio reviews and interviews as we scale this function. Navigate high ambiguity - customer requirements are often not clean or fully defined, and you