Tom Scott

Building Design teams for the AI era for companies like Lovable, Attio, and Fin.

[Tom Scott @tomscottv]

Company: we’re struggling to hire a designer.

Also company...

We are looking for:

- Someone who is AI-pilled
- Someone with strong visuals
- Someone to do service design
- Someone who can do “the UX”
- Someone to build a design system
- Someone to do some content work
- Someone who can do brand design
- Someone who can do motion design
- Someone who can think big, but work in the detail.

We offer:

- 5 days a week in our office with no windows.
- A day off for your birthday
- 41k per year, with 0.000001% equity (if you pass probation)
- Half day off every quarter if you behave.

[Tom Scott @tomscottv]

https://t.co/vQf88wen16

[Tom Scott @tomscottv]

@msllrs Epic work as per usual!

[Tom Scott @tomscottv]

@floguo Thank you! This is incredible 🙏

[Tom Scott @tomscottv]

Observation: I've seen many Product Designers reposition themselves as Design Engineers.

This is fine, but for these roles, you usually need:

(Especially working across product)

- To be able to hit the front-end technical requirements equal to that of product engineers.

- Engineering is a big bulk of your work, whilst still being able to design. Not just ship work, but understand the details of how code works and how it fits together within a product.

I would take a deep look into JDs before applying, as each company has a different meaning of what a Design Engineer is.

Otherwise, just own it that you're a Product Designer who ships.

[Tom Scott @tomscottv]

@felixleezd Yes but people need to find you? If no one knows who you are, that's how you get an abundance of inbound job leads.

[Tom Scott @tomscottv]

@kurissuuu Haha yes 🙌

[Tom Scott @tomscottv]

@zendadddy @kurissuuu Agreed. Why do you think companies continue to insist on doing them? Its the most frustrating thing to see and I’m seeing more companies have them in their process now.

[Tom Scott @tomscottv]

@felixhhaas 🔥

[Tom Scott @tomscottv]

@tankots @WisprFlow It doesn’t feel as smooth on mobile. It’s such a great product, I love it, and make it work. But on mobile it feels more clunky switching back to the app etc. but what a product you’ve built! 🙌

[Tom Scott @tomscottv]

@kurissuuu +1 seeing this a lot. Also, what I am seeing is a lot of designers trying to showcase this by bringing vibecoded products to an interview, but look very vibed, and ultimately get rejected on "craft".

[Tom Scott @tomscottv]

Great designers want to work for companies that push them to be the very best.

For example:

- They are all in on AI. Playbooks that worked five years ago are gone. AI fluency is the standard across design, engineering, HR, marketing, people ops, and finance.

- Designers have ownership. You don’t just hand off designs. You start owning more of the frontend.

- Good enough is not good enough. “Good enough” isn’t accepted. You push for the final 1% of excellence.

- Small teams. You can get so much done with small teams.

- Setting industry standards. You can experiment with new tools and share what you learn internally and externally.

- You feel inspired by the people around you.

- You’re building something that matters with people who are kind. Underrated.

- Leadership are in the details. How can people lead you if they don’t know what they’re leading?

- The company oozes taste in everything it puts out. If you know, you know.

- Mindshare is seen as a critical strategy in competitive categories; it’s one of the top priorities in most companies. Designers want to know they are in a company that is pushing to define and win the category they are in.

Would you add anything else?

[Tom Scott @tomscottv]

A real issue for design teams when hiring:

Some design teams are so far ahead, prototyping with newer AI tools and, in general, ways of working, that it’s difficult to find designers who have done this and meet every requirement.

This is why we need to hire on potential, not just polished portfolios. 99.9% of the time, the perfect designer just does not exist.

This is why hiring more interns and early-stage designers would be great, as they are often far ahead with AI understanding and the newer ways of working in design, as it’s all they’ve known.

[Tom Scott @tomscottv]

I disagree with this statement.

Designers owning more of the frontend, understanding AI, understanding business value is an evolution of the product design role for many.

This does not mean you should be paying more than one salary. A good designer will understand when they are being spread thin and be able to handle that correctly. Scope is increasing for many disciplines, not just design.

[Tom Scott @tomscottv]

@andupoto It was also very early :)

[Tom Scott @tomscottv]

Working at the new Lovable HQ in Stockholm for a few days.

The talent density here is off the charts. 🔥

[Tom Scott @tomscottv]

@luca_skarlo Didn’t smell any feet. Can confirm 👌

[Tom Scott @tomscottv]

@haydencdesign Sure is!

[Tom Scott @tomscottv]

A lot of design teams are quietly dropping titles.

They are moving to everyone just being “Designer” or “Member of the Design staff” externally, but keeping internal levelling. (L1-10+ for example)

Why it's happening:

- Teams want flatter structures so decisions move faster and less energy goes into company politics.

- Scope and impact now matter more than titles. AI is blurring roles so fast. Someone with 3 years experience might know about AI than someone with 20+.

- To focus on hiring designers focused on just the work, and obsessing about the craft of design.

Where I see issues:

- For some companies this will work, others not so much, in some companies (usually big corporates) your title can be important to get into the right rooms to make impact.

- Some people will feel they've worked hard for a title, but that title does not define your career. Your work does more of the talking.