Principal UX Designer

Most AI projects don’t fail on the model - they fail because nobody wants to use what was built. As our Principal UX Designer, you’ll be the specialist authority who makes sure that never happens for our clients: the person our AI Engineers, AI Consultants, and client teams turn to when the experience layer of an engagement is the hardest part of the problem, and when trustworthy, responsible AI needs an interface people actually trust. You’ll operate at the intersection of individual client engagements - spanning DAX corporations to leading “Mittelstand” businesses - and appliedAI’s broader design practice, working closely with adjacent teams such as Change & Enablement and Trustworthy AI to turn deep UX expertise into real-world impact. Your tasks will include:

• Own the user experience strategy across our most demanding client AI engagements - from discovery and early concept through validated, handover-ready designs that clients’ engineering teams can build with confidence
• Shape UX and CX strategy across engagements - framing the actual problem before a single screen is designed, running discovery and moderated research sessions with operators, planners, and engineers, so design decisions rest on evidence rather than opinion
• Define the interaction patterns agentic systems need - human-in-the-loop approval, latency and status communication, source attribution, uncertainty and error states, and safe defaults for irreversible actions
• Set the standard for how we design and modernize complex, operationally critical systems - dense data, high stakes, long-lived workflows, and users who cannot afford to guess what the system just did
• Drive adoption of shared design systems and component libraries across engagements - specifications and patterns that make the next project faster, not a slide deck about consistency
• Establish DesignOps and design governance across our project portfolio - methodologies, review rituals, and quality bars that scale experience maturity across multi-stakeholder programs, with accessibility (WCAG 2.2 AA / EN 301 549) as a non-negotiable design requirement validated in close partnership with engineering
• Own and evolve appliedAI’s experience and design standards across the whole professional services organization, and raise the craft bar through review, critique, and mentoring

• Extensive experience, typically 10+ years, in experience design and design leadership, including leading or growing a multidisciplinary UX/design practice, with deep command of the end-to-end product design process from research through detailed interaction and visual design
• Comfortable working at the boundary with engineering and being able to translate a design system into implementation-ready specifications and hold a high bar in review, without needing to ship production code yourself
• A track record designing for complex, data-dense, operationally critical enterprise systems like industrial, infrastructure, control-room or comparable environments, delivered inside multi-stakeholder programs
• Proven experience establishing DesignOps, governance models, and design methodologies that raise experience maturity beyond your own projects with designing systems, quality gates, and process frameworks that other teams actually adopt
• Experience designing for AI or data-heavy products is a strong plus - non-deterministic output, latency, trust, and explainability change the design problem fundamentally
• A trusted strategic advisor in ambiguous, client-facing settings, facilitating workshops, navigating conflicting stakeholder interests, and delivering difficult messages diplomatically, with the credibility to operate from C-suite conversations down to the operators who use the system
• Fluent in English, German a strong plus as part of our client work happens in German, * A highly qualified and motivated team of ~90 people is on a journey to change the rapidly evolving European AI Landscape

• Experience the best of both worlds with our hybrid work model: You can choose to work from our vibrant offices - either at the IPAI in Heilbronn or the House of Communication in Munich - while also enjoying the flexibility to work remotely a few days each week
• Opportunity to shape a variety of projects and the development of new, original content based on the latest developments in AI and its adoption in businesses
• An atmosphere that encourages to think and experiment in new ways with software, hardware, and processes
• A highly visible initiative that helps you build a large and high-level network of start-ups, partners, and tech companies
• A flexible development budget that’s yours to shape - invest it in training, certifications, conferences, or new challenges, however you want to grow
• Sports membership with Wellpass to access thousands of sports facilities all over Germany (and beyond), as well as online courses
• JobRad: Lease a bike for a cheaper rate via JobRad and we cover the bike insurance on top
• Sabbatical option: You can take a sabbatical of up to 3 months after min. 3 years of employment - because sometimes 30 vacation days are not enough to explore the beauty of this world
• PME Familienservice: A 24/7 support for a successful work & life in any life situation. Benefit from free support in areas like life coaching, child care and many other options
• Mobility budget: Every month we contribute to your individual mobility usage with public transport or shared mobility offers within the app Moovster
• Workation: Work from anywhere in the EU/EWR area for up to 3 months per year - combining working at a nice place and spending your leisure time in the evening like vacation