Design Engineer

Company Description Deveillance builds hardware and AI products that protect individuals and organizations from constant recording, behavioral manipulation, and confidential information leaks. In a world of always-on devices and data-driven influence systems, Deveillance focuses on giving people control over what is collected and how it is used. The company is dedicated to a future where human security, freedom, and personal agency are protected by design. Deveillance’s team includes engineers, researchers, activists, journalists, and artists who collaborate across disciplines to advance this mission. The organization values purpose-driven work and invites those who share this vision to contribute to its evolving portfolio of privacy-focused technologies.The RoleThis is a founding design hire and it is deliberately broad. You will own the experience end to end, from the object in someone's pocket to the interface that tells them it is working.Privacy hardware has a design problem that most products do not: the thing it does is invisible. Nobody can see a microphone being defeated. Trust has to be carried entirely by the industrial design and the interface, and if we get that wrong the physics does not matter. That problem is yours.Some days that means UX architecture and interaction principles. Some days it means surfacing, acoustic openings and tolerances in Rhino. Then back into Figma to specify states and hand a clean build to engineering. We are not looking for someone to direct work and review it. We want someone who does the work at a very high level and has done it long enough to know exactly where things go wrong.What will you doSet the UX principles for Spectre and everything that comes after it, and hold the line on them as the team growsSolve the trust problem: design how a person knows, at a glance, that they are protected right now and what is happening around themDesign complete product flows, including setup, detection, status, alerts and the edge cases everyone else skipsTake interfaces from concept sketches to production ready Figma, including a real component library and a design system that holds upModel and iterate the industrial design in Rhino, from concept forms through parts ready to manufactureWork shoulder to shoulder with our physics, hardware and firmware engineers on acoustics, emitter placement, thermals, ergonomics, materials and finishesOwn the details that decide whether people carry it: weight, pocketability, battery behavior, what it feels like to pick upPrototype fast and often. Sketch it, print it, hold it, cut it, try again, several times a weekRun usability sessions with real users and turn what you learn into decisions rather than decksShape the product visual language and brand alongside the founding teamWhat we are looking forFive or more years designing products that actually shipped, including at least one thing people can hold in their handsReal range across UX and UI. You think in systems, and you also notice a two pixel misalignmentExpert level Figma, including components, variables, auto layout and prototypingStrong Rhino skills. Comfortable with surfacing, fluent in how a form becomes a part. Grasshopper is a plusAn exceptional portfolio. This is what we weigh most heavily, and there is a section below on what that means to usExperience taking work into manufacturing, or at minimum a serious respect for what that process demandsDirect, clear communication. You argue hard for a decision, and you let it go when the evidence changesComfort working on a product where the claim has to be exactly right, because people are trusting it with private conversationsBased in the Bay Area and able to work on-site with the team five days a weekNice to haveFront end ability such as HTML, CSS, React or SwiftUI, enough to prototype in the real mediumMotion design, rendering in KeyShot or Blender, or product photographyWearables, consumer electronics, audio hardware or small form factor device experienceFamiliarity with design for manufacture, injection molding, CNC, or additive processesAn interest in privacy, security or civil liberties that predates this job postingA background in industrial design, mechanical engineering, or HCI/UXWhat an exceptional portfolio looks like for usThree to five projects shown in real depth, not twenty shown in passingVisible process: the constraint you were handed, the options you rejected, and why you chose what you chosePhysical and digital work sitting side by sideCraft in the last ten percent, which is where most work quietly gives upProducts that shipped, with an honest account of what happened after they didCompensation$130,000 to $220,000 base salary, depending on experience and demonstrated craftMeaningful equity, sized for an early team memberWhatever hardware and software you need, plus a workshop budget for prototyping, materials and toolsAnnual budget for learning, conferences and travelHow we hirePortfolio review, 45 minutes. Walk us through two projects in depthCraft conversation, 60 minutes. UX judgment, systems thinking, and how you make calls under constraintMeeting with the teamReferences, then an offerWe aim to go from first conversation to a decision within three weeks.