How to Hire a Real UX/Product Designer
One of the biggest hiring mistakes I see over and over: teams looking for a UX/UI designer and ending up with a visual designer who can wireframe but can’t figure out how to make software a delight to USE.
The title says “UX,” but what they really hire is someone who makes beautiful screens — with little understanding of the user’s problem, the business goals, or the system as a whole.
A real UXD (often also called a Product Designer) does so much more than draw rectangles. You’re hiring someone to help you build the right product — not just the right interface.
Here’s how to tell the difference.
What does a real UX/Product Designer do?
A real UX/Product Designer is a problem-solver. They:
- Help clarify user and business goals.
- Frame and reframe problems as new information comes in.
- Understand tradeoffs across design, engineering, and product.
- Advocate for users while understanding business realities.
- Validate ideas through research and testing.
- Translate messy, ambiguous problem spaces into clear, usable solutions.
Their work lives upstream, not just at the end of the feature spec.
What you don’t want
Red flags in candidates:
- Portfolios full of polished mockups with no explanation of the problem, process, or outcomes.
- Heavy emphasis on visual style with little mention of research, iteration, or validation.
- No evidence of collaboration with product, engineering, or stakeholders.
- A process that starts with “I opened Figma” instead of “I talked to users.”
UI is part of UX. But it’s only the tip of the iceberg.
What you do want
Ask to see their portfolio. But don’t look for pretty screens. Look for:
- Case studies that tell a story: What was the problem? Who was the user? What constraints existed? How did they make decisions?
- Evidence of user research, both generative (what do people need?) and evaluative (does this solution work?).
- Comfort with ambiguity and iteration.
- Diagrams in their portfolio showing flows and information structures.
- Ability to explain tradeoffs — why they chose this path over that one.
- Collaboration: working with PMs, engineers, data scientists, marketing, and support to find the best solution.
- Curiosity. A real UX/Product Designer is deeply curious about people, systems, and consequences.
Interview questions that reveal depth
Skip the “tell me your favorite font” questions. Instead, ask:
- “Tell me about a time you changed your mind after talking to users.”
- “Describe a project where you had to balance conflicting needs — what tradeoffs did you make?”
- “How do you decide what to test?”
- “Walk me through a messy project where you didn’t have all the data you wanted. How did you proceed?”
You’re looking for systems thinkers who can explain how they make decisions under uncertainty.
Why this matters
If you hire the wrong designer, you won’t feel it right away. The screens will look great. Stakeholders will nod. Prototypes will demo well.
But over time, the cracks show:
- You struggle to get return engagement.
- Users drop off at critical moments such as check out
- Features get built that solve the wrong problems.
- Teams spin in circles because design decisions weren’t grounded in real needs.
- Engineers get resentful because designs can’t be built or screens don’t make any sense.
- Product managers are resentful because they have to make error pages or deal with edge cares at 2 a.m.
A strong UX/Product Designer acts as a force multiplier for your product team. They make everyone better by ensuring you’re building the right thing, not just shipping something pretty.
Don’t hire a wireframer. Hire a problem-solver.
That’s how you get great products.
