Brand Design Lead

Valarian: A New Era of Sovereign Intelligence 

Valarian is a dual use technology company building critical tools to safeguard the future in an era of evolving global security challenges. Backed by a Series A funding round of $50m led by NEA, we are rethinking security beyond traditional military domains to address asymmetric threats that impact our technological advantage, economic strength, and democratic institutions. We provide the control infrastructure that allows government and regulated enterprise to put frontier-class AI to work safely.

We are bringing a frontier AI experience inside secure boundaries for the first time. Our technology supports mission critical workflows across government, healthcare, and enterprise, including:

• Scaling open-weight models without external inference endpoints.

• Putting frontier class AI to work across organisations through partnerships with other leading AI startups such as Perplexity. 

• Increasing operational resiliency for air gapped, on prem, and cloud based systems.

• Securing intellectual property and maintaining auditability for high stakes enterprise environments.

• Facilitating secure information flow during disaster response, M&A due diligence, and privileged legal communications.

We’ve only scratched the surface. Built in Britain by veterans of the Ministry of Defence, British Forces, Darktrace, and elite engineering backgrounds, we are driven by a shared mission to safeguard western democracy . Whether you join our London HQ or our wider global organisation, you’ll be part of a collaborative, high performing team creating the cutting edge software and infrastructure that defines the frontier of enterprise AI.

As Brand Design Lead at Valarian, you will define and execute our visual and product design strategy, elevating how our complex technology is experienced by government agencies, enterprise partners, and end users alike. You’ll be responsible for making security feel intuitive, modern, and powerful—from shaping the UI/UX of the Acra platform to crafting a distinct visual identity across our digital presence, collateral, and marketing touchpoints.

This is a hands-on role combining high-level design strategy, systems thinking, and meticulous execution. You’ll work closely with Product, Engineering, BD, and Leadership to translate complex cryptographic and security infrastructure concepts into elegant, intuitive digital products and a cohesive, world-class brand identity.

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  Define & Evolve Brand Identity: Craft and safeguard Valarian’s brand language across all mediums, including visual assets, digital design, event collateral, pitch decks, and brand guidelines.

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  Build Design Systems: Design, implement, and maintain scalable UI component libraries and design tokens that bridge product design and web/marketing presence.

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  User Research & Validation: Work closely with Product Managers, Engineers, and stakeholders to understand complex user workflows (government, defence, enterprise) and iterate based on user testing and feedback.

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  Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with BD, Strategy, and Marketing teams to design compelling interactive assets, proposal/pitch materials, and client-facing product demonstrations.

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  Complex Data Visualisation: Simplify highly technical workflows—such as zero-trust access, secure enclave monitoring, and data flows—into crisp, actionable dashboards and intuitive user interfaces.

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  Maintain Accessibility & Standards: Ensure product accessibility, consistency, and clarity across all platforms while keeping usability front-and-center in high-stakes operational environments.

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  Scale the Design Capability: Help establish design frameworks, standards, and playbooks as the business grows, with the opportunity to hire and mentor junior design talent over time.

• Proven Product & Brand Experience: Demonstrated experience designing complex digital products (SaaS, cybersecurity, enterprise platforms, or deep tech) along with strong brand/visual design capabilities.

• Mastery of Design Tools: Expertise in modern design and prototyping tools (Figma, Framer, Adobe Creative Cloud, etc.) and experience managing design systems.

• Translating Complexity: A track record of turning highly abstract, complex concepts (like encryption, zero-trust, or secure enclaves) into clean, elegant, and usable visual solutions.

• End-to-End Design Ownership: Ability to take a feature or brand asset from napkin sketch to user research, prototyping, and developer hand-off.

• Strong Visual Aesthetics: Sharp eye for typography, layout, iconography, color theory, and visual story-telling.

• Collaboration with Engineering: Experience working closely with front-end engineers, understanding technical constraints, CSS/HTML frameworks, and design system handoff processes.

• Adaptability in High-Growth Environments: Proven ability to move fast, balance perfection with speed-to-market, and prioritize high-impact initiatives.

• Excellent Communication: Strong presentation and storytelling skills—ability to articulate design choices clearly to technical, commercial, and executive stakeholders.