Product Designer - Internship (Summer 2027)
Product, Design · Intern
Texas, USA · Los Angeles, CA, USA · New York, NY, USA · Austin, QC, Canada
Posted on Oct 15, 2026
Product Designer - Internship (Summer 2027)
New York, NY • Los Angeles, CA • Austin, TX
Design
In office
Intern
About Nominal
Nominal is building the connected test and operations platform powering the world's most advanced hardware systems, from spacecraft and autonomous vehicles to next-generation defense programs. Our platform gives hardware engineering teams a single place to ingest data, analyze performance, automate test execution, and collaborate across every phase of development, so they can move faster without sacrificing safety or precision. We're a fast-moving team that owns problems end-to-end, works across disciplines, and thrives at the intersection of hardware and software.
We serve top-tier commercial and defense customers, from autonomy leaders like Anduril and Shield AI to next-generation aerospace teams like Hermeus and REGENT, and performance engineering teams like Pratt Miller Motorsports, alongside mission partners within the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force on programs where failure isn’t an option. We’re backed by Sequoia, General Catalyst, Founders Fund, Lux Capital, and Lightspeed. Our team draws from SpaceX, Palantir, Anduril, Applied Intuition, and other leading companies, united by a common mission: giving hardware engineers the tools to build the future with speed, safety, and confidence.
The role
We’re looking for students graduating in 2028 with solid visual and product design fundamentals who are seeking a Summer 2027 internship and are interested in joining Nominal full time after graduation in 2028.
You’ll work alongside designers, engineers, and product partners on a scoped project that addresses a real customer need. With mentorship and regular feedback, you’ll build experience across research, prototyping, and detailed design while contributing to the tools engineers use to test and validate complex hardware.
🚀 What you’ll do
- Turn complexity into clarity. Learn how engineers work with high-frequency, high-volume hardware data and help translate those workflows into intuitive product experiences.
- Learn from real users. Work with the team to understand customer needs, observe workflows, and identify opportunities to improve the product.
- Partner with design, engineering, and product to research, prototype with AI, and contribute directly to product improvements and features.
- Take a scoped design project from exploration through detailed design, with guidance from your design mentor and team.
- Build your craft. Share work in design critiques, incorporate feedback, and explain the thinking behind your decisions.
- Contribute to our design system by applying existing patterns and helping improve components and documentation.
🎯 Reach out if…
- You’re graduating in 2028, seeking an internship in Summer 2027, and interested in a full-time product design role at Nominal after graduation.
- You have a portfolio of academic, personal, or internship projects that demonstrates visual design fundamentals and thoughtful problem-solving.
- You can use design and prototyping tools to communicate ideas through flows, layouts, and interactive concepts.
- You’re curious about unfamiliar technical problems and ask questions to understand how people work.
- You’re open to feedback and can show how you’ve used it to improve your work.
🌟 Bonus, not required
- You’ve explored AI tools to prototype or test design ideas.
- You’ve worked on data visualization, technical software, or hardware-related projects.
✨ Benefits/Perks
- Receive mentorship from our world-class team
- Trips to co-locate with the team across our different offices
- Free lunch, dinner, snacks, and drinks
- A beginning-of-internship swag bag and an end-of-internship intern gift
- In-office hardware lab with a $250 project stipend
All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin.
ITAR Requirements
To conform to U.S. Government export regulations, applicant must be a (i) U.S. citizen or national, (ii) U.S. lawful, permanent resident (aka green card holder), (iii) Refugee under 8 U.S.C. § 1157, or (iv) Asylee under 8 U.S.C. § 1158, or be eligible to obtain the required authorizations from the U.S. Department of State. Learn more about the ITAR here.
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This position requires access to information and technology that is subject to U.S. export controls. Your responses to the questions below will be used solely to determine your eligibility under U.S. law to receive information and materials subject to U.S. export controls. Are you any of the following “protected individual(s)” as defined in the Immigration and Naturalization Act, 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)? *
U.S. Work Authorization - Are you authorized to work in the United States? *
Will you require sponsorship from Nominal for employment now or in the future? (e.g, OPT, H1B visa)? *
Clearance Eligibility - Do you presently hold an active U.S. security clearance, or are you eligible to obtain and maintain a U.S. security clearance? *
If you have held a U.S. security clearance in the past, what clearance level have you held? *
2027 Product Design Internship Question: Please share a link to your portfolio. *
2027 Product Design Internship Questions : Do you have any pending offers or deadlines we should know about? If so, what companies and dates? *
2027 Product Design Internship Questions: What design tools do you prefer for UI/UX work? *
2027 Product Design Internship Questions: Why are you interested in Nominal? We want to know why you want to work here and what skills you hope to develop in your first full-time role out of school, a great answer is around 100 words max. Feel free to reference specific things about our product, mission, or team. *
2027 Product Design Internship Questions: Tell us about a time feedback or testing changed your design. What did you learn, what did you change, and how did you assess whether it improved the experience? *
Voluntary Self-Identification
To comply with government reporting requirements, we invite candidates to participate in the self-identification survey below. Your completion of this form is entirely optional, and your decision will neither influence the hiring process nor any subsequent stages. Any information you choose to share will be kept confidential and stored in a secure file. As outlined in our Equal Employment Opportunity policy, we uphold a commitment to non-discrimination based on any protected group status specified in applicable laws.
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Voluntary Self-Identification of Veteran Status
VEVRAA requires Government contractors to take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment protected veterans. To help us measure the effectiveness of our outreach and recruitment efforts of veterans, we are asking you to tell us if you are a veteran covered by VEVRAA. If you believe that you belong to any of the following categories of protected veterans, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.
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Disabled veteran
A veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military and is entitled to disability compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to disability compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, or was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disabilityRecently separated veteran
A veteran separated during the three-year period beginning on the date of the veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S military, ground, naval, or air serviceActive duty wartime or campaign badge veteran
A veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge was authorized under the laws administered by the Department of DefenseArmed Forces service medal veteran
A veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military ground, naval, or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985 (61 Fed. Reg. 1209).Veteran status
Req ID: R154
