The new rules of hiring UX designers in an AI world
When AI builds the mockups, what makes a designer irreplaceable?
Apr 29, 2025
A black-and-white photograph of a small group of designers engaged in an informal discussion around a low circular table.
Throughout my career, I’ve laid witness to some great product designers who can deliver both craft and business impact with ease. As a hiring manager, I’ve also skimmed through hundreds of design portfolios and resumes with about 2 min/portfolio to judge whether to move or drop. Which has led me to believe that I have a good “designer-radar” that can cut through the bulls*** of portfolios and LinkedIn.
And yet here I am, in 2025, trying to fine-tune my “radar” because AI didn’t just redefine the design toolkit, it flipped it on its head. Because if we’re still scanning for Figma chops and pixel-perfect Dribbble shots, we’re screening for a role that AI can already do better, faster, and cheaper.
Today AI can translate natural language prompts into high-fidelity screens, whip up illustrations, spit out wireframes, and even suggest research-driven feature flows. Execution is no longer the moat.
So what are we hiring for now? Thinker over tinkerer? Sensemaker over screenmaker? Editor over ego? After much introspection, here are the traits I’m looking out for when recruiting and hiring designers—and just as importantly, some pointers on how to spot the real ones from the “I put ChatGPT in my LinkedIn title” crowd.
The great storyteller
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: designers spend more time selling their work than creating it. Every pixel needs a defence, not just design.
If it only ever lives in Figma, it’s not a product — it’s a graveyard.
To get shipped, a design has to unite stakeholders — and those are the toughest rooms to win over. Designers who can pitch their design, paint a compelling product narrative, and make a button placement feel like a revolution — those are the ones who will get their work shipped.
If they can explain complex ideas without sounding like they swallowed a UX glossary, hire them. In a world flooded with AI-generated mediocrity, clarity is the real power move.
How to detect?
Pay close attention to their portfolio case studies. Are they storytelling, or just rambling? If it’s just a graveyard of screens and metrics without any problem framing, move along.
Listen carefully during portfolio walkthroughs. Are they weaving a story or just narrating slide after slide?
During live design challenges, watch how they structure messy problems. Good storytellers impose clarity on chaos, not add to it — even live.
If you’re zoning out during the interview, guess what—your stakeholders will too.
The editor, not just creator
Ask any senior designer: making something from scratch is easy. Improving existing UIs however — that’s the real work.
Imagine a scenario where the designer has presented 3 options but the feedback and product direction requires a solution that will be a mish-mash of all three. Can your designer decide what to keep and what to throw out? Can they “edit” their own work to create an optimal user experience?
Most design isn’t blue-sky; it’s wrestling messy feedback, Frankenstein specs, and AI drafts into something coherent. The pros know what to keep, what to cut, and how to shape chaos into clarity.
Editorial judgment — the ability to curate and improve — is what separates a junior from a true operator. Experience sharpens it, but discernment is non-negotiable at every level.
How to detect?
During the interview process, and specially during portfolio walkthroughs, ask "If you could change one thing about this project in hindsight, what would it be and why?” This tells you if they can take an objective look at their work and edit the good from the bad.
Look for portfolio examples where they inherited and enhanced existing products.
Check if their case studies explain what they didn't do, not just what they did.
Challenge them to improve an existing design—not start from scratch.
Present them with an AI-generated design and ask them to critique and improve it
The ethics and accessibility queen
AI will never have empathy. It doesn’t care if a button is readable, if a flow is predatory, or if a “free trial” turns into a billing nightmare. AI will happily optimise for clicks, conversions, and chaos — with no moral compass attached.
Designers, on the other hand, must.
A great designer today isn’t just a pixel pusher — they’re the ethical bridge between humans and machines. They must be willing to train, tame, and challenge AI outputs, ensuring products stay human-centred even when it’s faster, easier, or more profitable not to.
You don’t need someone who sprinkles “user empathy” into a portfolio like parsley. You need someone who will advocate for users when it’s inconvenient, when it costs time, and when it means pushing back on leadership or a shiny growth metric. Hire designers who build for everyone, not just the easy majority.
How to detect?
While this is much harder to detect, look for red flags like UX dark patterns in their portfolio work.
During design challenges, note whether they ask questions about user contexts and needs before jumping to solutions.
Present scenarios where business goals and user needs conflict—see which they prioritise. Watch for signs they think about people, not just pixels.
Ask how they've advocated for accessibility or ethical design in previous roles.
The AI power user
The best designers today aren’t threatened by AI—they’re riding it like a high-speed bike. The worst? Still arguing whether it’s “real creativity.”
In 2025, if your designers aren’t fluent in AI, you’re already behind. Period.
The reality is simple: what used to take a full day — like mapping a complex feature flow or drafting multiple concepts — can now happen in hours. And in a world where speed-to-market is a competitive advantage, designers who wield AI well aren’t just faster; they unlock more iterations, better ideas, and bigger wins.
You need designers who don’t just use AI tools, but think with them. Who know when to hit ‘generate’, and when to step away and craft by hand. Who view AI not as a crutch, but as a creative accelerator. Look for fluency, not fear. Curiosity, not complacency. The future belongs to designers who collaborate with machines — not compete with them.
How to detect?
Ask how AI has changed their design process and what tools do they use? If the answer is “It hasn’t,” proceed with caution.
Build your own working knowledge of current AI design capabilities so you can evaluate their answers. Maybe signup for my design newsletter 👀.
Encourage AI usage in design challenges—then discuss how they refined the output.
See if they mention prompt engineering, rapid prototyping with AI, or using AI as a collaborator.
Present examples of AI-generated designs and ask for critique.
Think of the time when we were taught multiplication tables in school, when calculators were already around? Similar vibes today. If your designer can’t use a calculator and do mental math, they’re not ready for this race.
The opinionated taste-haver (not the crowd-pleaser)
"This is the wireframe, just copy it into Figma," says the eager product manager who doesn't understand design's purpose.
You don't need a human who can just "copy to Figma"—AI already does that. The real value of a designer today isn’t just execution. It’s judgement. It’s having a point of view about why something should exist, how it should feel, and what the experience should fight for.
You need designers who question assumptions. Who push back — not for the sake of ego, but in service of the product, the user, and the brand. You want designers who can say “no” with logic, taste, and grace. Great designers are not just collaborative, they are constructively opinionated. They know how to listen deeply, filter wisely, and still steer toward better outcomes — even when it’s unpopular or slower in the short term.
Good designers can take feedback. Great designers know when not to take it.
How to detect?
Ask: “Tell me about a time you disagreed with product or leadership. What happened?”
Grill them on their past designs. Look for a strong why behind every design decision in their portfolio.
During portfolio walkthroughs, see if they defend their design decisions—or fold like lawn chairs. Watch for genuine conviction when they explain their design choices.
Ask how they've handled negative feedback.
The strategic systems thinker
AI is getting scarily good at crafting one-off flows. But building coherent, scalable product ecosystems? Thinking about onboarding, churn, feature adoption, and growth loops? That still demands a human mind — preferably a sharp one.
It’s easy to make a pretty screen. It’s much harder to architect an experience that evolves with user needs, aligns with business goals, and compounds value over time. That’s not something you can prompt ChatGPT for — that’s strategic design thinking in action.
You need designers who can zoom out and see the bigger system. Who understand that every screen is not an island, but a node in a much larger network of interactions, incentives, and feedback loops. Designers who think beyond the MVP — who design with scale, adaptability, and long-term product health in mind.
In a world where AI floods the surface layer with “good enough” screens, your edge comes from the humans who can think beyond the screen — and build systems that are not just usable, but durable, profitable, and loved.
How to detect it:
Ask them to critique an app or product strategy, not just a screen, focusing on the strategic choices rather than visual elements.
Look for portfolios that show entire user journeys, not isolated features. Look out for how portfolio projects handle consistency across features.
During interviews, toss them a business problem and watch how they frame it—not just how fast they jump to screens.
During design challenges, present challenges that require scalability and component reuse.
In my opinion, craft can be taught. But taste can't be taught, strategic vision can't be automated, and ethical judgment can't be prompted. These qualities have always mattered, but AI has made them essential rather than optional.
In a world where anyone can generate decent UI with a prompt, exceptional designers aren't the ones who make pretty screens—they're the ones who know which screens should exist in the first place. They understand the business, the users, and the bigger picture.
Hire for brains, heart, and spine. Look beyond the portfolio polish and dig into how candidates think, communicate, and solve problems. The pixels will take care of themselves. In an AI world, that's the difference between a pixel pusher and a design leader.