UX/UI Engineer

About us We are a small early-stage (pre-Series A) startup building AI-powered software for clinical research teams at academic medical centers. We turn dense, unstructured trial protocols into structured, usable data, so the people running studies spend less time wrangling documents and more time on the work that matters. The Role: We need someone who can sit between dense, technical clinical-trial workflows and the people who use them every day, and make the complicated feel obvious. High autonomy, high ownership, low process. You will have real influence over the product, not a backlog of pixel-pushing tickets. Why this role exists We build software for clinical research teams at academic medical centers. The problems we solve are genuinely hard: turning long, unstructured protocol documents into structured data and usable interfaces that coordinators rely on for high-stakes, detail-heavy work. Our team is strong on the systems side. We think logically, algorithmically, and we build robust pipelines and data models. What we are missing is a design-first voice: someone whose instinct is to start with the user, question complexity, and relentlessly simplify. You would own that perspective and raise the bar for the entire product experience. This is not a "take the spec and build the screens" role. You will help decide what the screens should be. What you'll do Own the end-to-end experience for key workflows, from problem framing and user research through interaction design, prototyping, and shipped front-end code. Turn complex, information-dense tasks into clear, low-friction interfaces. Reduce clicks, cognitive load, and the chance of error for expert users doing repetitive, high-stakes work. Translate real user behavior into design decisions. Talk to users, watch them work, and bring that evidence back to the team. Build production UI for our application in React, and maintain a coherent, reusable component system. Design and build our public-facing website, owning how we present the product to the world. Establish and grow our design system: tokens, components, patterns, and the documentation that keeps them consistent. Be the advocate for the user in a room full of engineers who naturally think in systems and edge cases. Push back, propose alternatives, and explain the "why" behind design choices. Partner closely with backend and platform engineers so the experience and the data model serve each other. Who you are You start from the user, not the feature list. When you see complexity, your first question is whether the user should ever have to see it. You hold both craft and pragmatism: you care about typography, spacing, and interaction detail, and you also ship. You can design and build. You move fluidly between Figma and a code editor and do not need a separate engineer to make your designs real. You communicate design decisions clearly to a technical audience and welcome being challenged on them. You are comfortable being the design conscience of a small team, setting the standard rather than inheriting one. Good with clear thinking and communication. Must Have 3+ years building and designing user interfaces, or a closely related blend of design and front-end engineering. Degree in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) preferred. We also welcome strong candidates with degrees in Software Engineering, Computer Science, or related technical fields. Strong UI/UX design fundamentals: interaction design, information architecture, visual hierarchy, and the judgment to know what to cut. Figma fluency: components, variants, auto layout, prototyping, and building or maintaining a design system. Comfortable using Claude as part of your daily design and prototyping workflow. Our team relies on Claude, including Claude Design, to communicate ideas and build prototypes quickly, and you should be excited to work the same way. Production front-end engineering with React, including hooks and sound component architecture (our application is built in React). Design systems and component library experience (Storybook or similar). Experience designing data-dense interfaces: tables, forms, dashboards, complex state. Bonus if you have taken something genuinely overwhelming and made it feel calm. Comfortable planning, organizing, and running user tests and user interviews, and turning what you learn into design changes. Accessibility literacy (WCAG, keyboard and screen-reader support) as a default, not an afterthought. Comfort working in Git and shipping into a real codebase alongside engineers. Nice to have TypeScript. Next.js (our website is built in Next.js). Familiarity with a component or utility CSS framework (Bootstrap, Tailwind, etc.). Motion and micro-interaction design. Formal graphic design training or experience, for example a technical degree paired with graphic design coursework, a minor, or professional design work. Background in healthcare, clinical, scientific, or other regulated or expert-user software, or any domain where the users are professionals and the data is dense. Experience as the first or early design hire at a startup. Logistics Location: New York, NY or Pittsburgh, PA. Schedule: Hybrid, 4 days in office and 1 remote. Type: Full-time. Portfolio or work samples available upon request. We love case studies that show your process and decisions, not just final visuals. Work authorization: must be authorized to work in the United States. [We are unable to sponsor work visas at this time] Equal opportunity We are an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds and do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. Salary range is $100,000-$140,000 depending on experience and local market.