UX Designer
Ford Motor Company
Location
🇺🇸 United States
Type
full_time
Salary
Undisclosed
Posted
4d ago
Job Description
We’re looking for an Industrial UX Designer & Researcher to help shape the future of digital and physical experiences within vehicle manufacturing environments. This role blends hands-on UX design with deep user research, focusing on tools used on the plant floor, including assembly, quality, maintenance, and operations, as well as emerging interactions with humanoid and autonomous robotic systems. You’ll work closely with engineers, plant leadership, and frontline workers to design intuitive, efficient, and safe experiences that improve productivity, human-robot collaboration, and decision-making in complex industrial settings. What You’ll Do Design & Execution • Design end-to-end user experiences for manufacturing tools, including HMIs, internal web apps, dashboards, robotics control interfaces, and mobile or tablet applications • Create intuitive interaction models for human-robot collaboration, including task assignment, monitoring, and exception handling • Translate complex workflows involving human and robotic systems into clear, usable interfaces for plant operators and technicians • Create wireframes, prototypes, and low-fidelity designs using tools like Figma • Ensure designs meet usability, accessibility, and safety-critical
requirements
, especially in environments involving robotics User Research • Conduct field research in manufacturing plants, observing both human workflows and interactions with autonomous or humanoid systems • Use contextual inquiry, shadowing, and interviews to understand operator trust, mental models, and pain points with robotics • Validate concepts through usability testing in real-world or simulated environments • Synthesize findings into actionable insights that inform both product and robotics behavior design • Develop research artifacts such as personas, journey maps, and task analyses to represent diverse user roles across the plant floor • Create experience maps that capture end-to-end workflows across human and robotic systems, highlighting friction points and opportunities Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) • Design and evaluate experiences for humanoid and autonomous robots working alongside humans • Define interaction patterns for robot communication, including visual signals, UI feedback, alerts, gestures, or voice where applicable • Improve transparency, predictability, and trust in autonomous systems through thoughtful UX • Collaborate with robotics and AI teams to align system behavior with user expectations Collaboration • Partner with product managers, engineers including software, hardware, and robotics, and operations teams to define and deliver solutions • Facilitate workshops and co-creation sessions across cross-functional teams • Align design solutions with production goals, safety standards, and operational constraints Systems Thinking • Design for interconnected ecosystems across manufacturing and robotics platforms such as MES, IoT, fleet management, and robotics control systems • Map and define technology touchpoints across the ecosystem, ensuring cohesive experiences across devices, interfaces, and physical interactions • Create service blueprints or experience blueprints that connect front-stage user interactions with back-end systems, data flows, and operational processes • Contribute to and evolve design systems that support both traditional industrial tools and robotics interfaces • Balance near-term usability improvements with long-term scalability and platform thinking What We’re Looking For Experience • High School Diploma or equivalent with a minimum of 6 years of equivalent work experience or a combination of