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 education and work experience
- 6+ years of UX design or UX research experience in industrial, enterprise, robotics, or other complex systems
- Experience designing for physical environments or cyber-physical systems such as manufacturing, robotics, logistics, or field operations
Skills
- Strong UX design skills including interaction design, information architecture, and visual design
- Proficiency in Figma or similar tools
- Experience conducting and synthesizing qualitative and quantitative research
- Ability to design for complex, real-time systems involving automation or robotics
- Understanding of human factors, cognitive load, and safety considerations in high-risk environments
- Strong storytelling and communication skills
Mindset
- Empathy for frontline workers and awareness of the realities of industrial environments
- Curiosity about emerging technologies like humanoid robotics and AI-driven autonomy
- Systems thinker who can navigate both detailed UI design and end-to-end workflows
- Comfortable working in ambiguous, fast-evolving spaces
Nice to Have
- Experience with humanoid robots, AMRs (Autonomous Mobile Robots), or robotic fleet management systems
- Experience designing multimodal interactions including visual, voice, and gesture
- Background in Human-Robot Interaction (HRI)
- Knowledge of vehicle manufacturing processes
You may not check every box, or your experience may look a little different from what we've outlined, but if you think you can bring value to Ford Motor Company, we encourage you to apply!
As an established global company, we offer the benefit of choice. You can choose what your Ford future will look like: will your story span the globe, or keep you close to home? Will your career be a deep dive into what you love, or a series of new teams and new skills? Will you be a leader, a changemaker, a technical expert, a culture builder…or all of the above? No matter what you choose, we offer a work life that works for you, including:
- Immediate medical, dental, and prescription drug coverage
- Flexible family care, parental leave, new parent ramp-up programs, subsidized back-up child care and more
- Vehicle discount program for employees and family members, and management leases
- Tuition assistance
- Established and active employee resource groups
- Paid time off for individual and team community service
- A generous schedule of paid holidays, including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day
- Paid time off and the option to purchase additional vacation time.
**For a detailed look at our benefits, click here: **Benefit Summary
This position is a salary grade** 6**.
This position is a salary grade 6 and ranges from $85,400-$143,200.
*Visa Sponsorship is not provided for this role*****
Candidates for positions with Ford Motor Company must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Verification of employment eligibility will be required at the time of hire.
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to a culturally diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, age, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability status or protected veteran status. In the United States, If you need a reasonable accommodation for the online application process due to a disability, please call 1-888-336-0660.
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