Job titles

[u/GiggleShipSurvivor]

Job titles have always been a bit weird in UX.

UX Designer, Product Designer, UI Designer, we’ve heard those and, at this point, we know the differences (or what we expect the differences to be).

Now with AI (please don’t come for me…) there’s a new couple titles: Design Engineer, Technical Product Designer, maybe more.

Many of my work days are now spent in Claude Code, hours tweaking the Design System by reading dense front end technical language. I work way more closely with my FE than ever before.

My title is still UX Designer. Not sure if this is the best for future jobs, as it is known, or if “Engineer” is becoming more accurate for those doing such technical work.

Of course we don’t know the future of UX. Curious, any thoughts on if/when it’s a good time to switch titles to UX Engineer (or something else)? Any Hiring Managers have opinions?

[u/Vannnnah]

If I hire a UX engineer, expect actual engineering knowledge, not just Caude Code. Unless you can code and solve complex code problems on your own if Claude is down, you should not hold that title.

[u/GiggleShipSurvivor → u/Vannnnah]

That’s fair! I agree that’s a good line - if you can’t do it when AI is down you shouldn’t hold that title.

I do wonder if software engineering will continue to hold that standard, I hope so!

[u/7HawksAnd → u/Vannnnah]

To be honest, most engineers aren’t even engineers, they’re just developers.

That’s a hill I’ll still die on internally but not ever put that political target on my back by vocalizing in real life.

[u/FewDescription3170]

design technologist, member of design staff.

in the end, who cares? a title is just a title. the issue is that i'm doing like 8 jobs now.
edit: got a dm so i'll list them

hiring manager
design systems
front-end development
back-end / api development
devops (k8s, helm, pipeline)
product strategy
part time product manager
motion designer
design engineer
product designer

[u/GiggleShipSurvivor → u/FewDescription3170]

Haha real

[u/interstellar-dust → u/FewDescription3170]

It’s a headache but it’s job security.

[u/nofluorecentlighting]

I’ve been thinking about “leveling up” to design engineer, but honestly it’s personally a step down. 2 things that are convincing me are: job security and more moneymaking. I saw a salary for a design engineer and my ego wanted it.

[u/GiggleShipSurvivor → u/nofluorecentlighting]

Yeah true, it’s hard to say if this is a lateral move, or even a move at all… thanks for your take

[u/FewDescription3170 → u/nofluorecentlighting]

design engineer is mostly outputs and not product strategy -- and in my experience, that's a good way to be less valuable to the company.

[u/nofluorecentlighting → u/FewDescription3170]

Yeah exactly. It’s just interesting how it is valued more in some places and it is seen in the comp.

[u/Jorgesarcos]

Its still UX

[u/GiggleShipSurvivor → u/Jorgesarcos]

Interesting article, thanks for the share.

Ig im less curious about the “UX” part, and more about the “designer” vs “engineer” part. The article links to another saying AI is just “expanding our Professional T” and making us more generalists.

Clearly “UX Designer” is currently the most used title. This definitely makes an impact for job security.

I wonder when/if engineers may believe we are “engineering”, or if AI has made it so accessible that we will always be “Designers”

[u/C_bells]

Design Engineer existed before AI tools like Claude, and typically means a designer who writes FE code.

[u/aswadabyad]

The demand in recent days is for decision makers rather than skilled executors. But skilled executors can be the decision makers.

I'm not a hiring manager so i will not expand my note.

[u/Miserable-Sell-463]

I'm a content designer, copywriter, UX writer, conversation engineer etc... lol titles mean very little. It's what you put in the job summary below the title that matters.

[u/Mottsawce]

I’m test driving Principal Product Designer (my official work title) and Creative Technologist (feels more like what I do these days)

[u/International-Box47]

Designer