# 5 Job Trends in Product Design Right Now **URL:** \ **Category:** Growing your career\ **Created:** [October 1, 2025, 8:16pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/5-job-trends-in-product-design-right-now/256 "2025-10-01T20:16:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nathaliesmith](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/nathaliesmith/32/443_2.png) [@nathaliesmith](https://forum.zurb.com/u/nathaliesmith)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 8:16pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/5-job-trends-in-product-design-right-now/256/1 "2025-10-01T20:16:38Z")
Hi peeps, after combing the internet for open and active design leadership opportunities weekly, I’ve been noticing some patterns, thought I’d share! **Big takeaway:** Product design is evolving. The strongest opportunities go to designers who show range and demonstrate measurable impact. 1. **More competitive market** - Hiring is happening, but it’s selective. Because AI accelerates output, companies are valuing designers who can think strategically vs creating a factory output. 2. **“Full-spectrum” designers -** Companies want designers who can do more than UI, think research, prototyping, data, and product thinking. **Why?** **Products live and die by outcomes, not aesthetics.** That means designers who can run a test, read a funnel, or measure a signal are more valuable. 3. **Leveraging AI is a must** - AI isn’t replacing designers, but it’s reshaping what kind of design is valuable. The edge goes to those who can both design AI features for users _and_ use AI to accelerate their own workflow. 4. **Impact over aesthetics -** Portfolios that show real outcomes (metrics, before/after results) carry more weight than polished mockups alone. 5. **Soft Skills are still SO important** - Your ability to tell the story: why this matters, how it connects to KPIs, and what trade-offs were made, is critical. Can you present, negotiate, and influence? **Example:** A designer who can’t explain research insights to engineering won’t move the roadmap, no matter how polished their mockups are. Just some patterns I’ve noticed. Any big ones I’m missing or disagreements with the above? Happy Reading! ---
**Author:** ![Kevin\_Schumacher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Kevin\_Schumacher](https://forum.zurb.com/u/Kevin_Schumacher)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 10:31pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/5-job-trends-in-product-design-right-now/256/2 "2025-10-01T22:31:39Z")
Reads post. Immediately punches list into Gemini along with resume to analyze where to maximize improvement foci. Thanks Nathalie. ---
**Author:** ![ben](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/ben/32/442_2.png) [@ben](https://forum.zurb.com/u/ben)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 10:59pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/5-job-trends-in-product-design-right-now/256/3 "2025-10-01T22:59:49Z")
😂 legitimate thing that probably occurs way more frequently than we’d think @Kevin_Schumacher ---
**Author:** ![ben](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/ben/32/442_2.png) [@ben](https://forum.zurb.com/u/ben)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 11:04pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/5-job-trends-in-product-design-right-now/256/4 "2025-10-01T23:04:54Z")
These are great! Short-term (next ~20 years) this makes a ton of sense. Long term, soft skills and personality will probably be the most important. ---
**Author:** ![nathaliesmith](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/nathaliesmith/32/443_2.png) [@nathaliesmith](https://forum.zurb.com/u/nathaliesmith)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 11:30pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/5-job-trends-in-product-design-right-now/256/5 "2025-10-01T23:30:23Z")
Omg love this Kevin! So glad you found it useful! ---
**Author:** ![nathaliesmith](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/nathaliesmith/32/443_2.png) [@nathaliesmith](https://forum.zurb.com/u/nathaliesmith)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2025, 11:31pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/5-job-trends-in-product-design-right-now/256/6 "2025-10-01T23:31:35Z")
I honestly see these things shifting possibly every year or so. With the growing capacity of AI, who knows what things will look like in a year, you know? But totally agree, soft skills are a freaking treasure. ---
**Author:** ![ben](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/ben/32/442_2.png) [@ben](https://forum.zurb.com/u/ben)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 12:58am UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/5-job-trends-in-product-design-right-now/256/7 "2025-10-02T00:58:16Z")
I think AI (in terms of AGI) has hit a wall. But, there are a lot of verticals now to tackle with AI tooling, aka, software to be built. I think to get another 5% of capability, they’ll have to double their infra. The next 5% will be even harder. ---
**Author:** ![Kevin\_Schumacher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Kevin\_Schumacher](https://forum.zurb.com/u/Kevin_Schumacher)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2025, 4:18am UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/5-job-trends-in-product-design-right-now/256/8 "2025-10-02T04:18:16Z")
The speed at which AI software tooling is exploding is mind-boggling and so rapid that it’s difficult to maintain adoption. I, like yourself @ben think that things are likely to slow down as people build the tooling which will have the most longevity and usefulness. Very similar to the dotcom boom, where we got Amazon and Google, but nobody remembers [Pets.com](http://Pets.com), Peapod or Webvan. Same with AI tooling. I also think that now that we have the ability to build our own tools (Agents and MCPs anyone?) - there also will be a side-market of people who build discardable, single-purpose tools when there aren’t tools available. My hard guess is that there will be folks who discover a universal, undiscovered need by doing this and accidentally create a billion dollar, long-lasting business of the future. ---
**Author:** ![ben](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/ben/32/442_2.png) [@ben](https://forum.zurb.com/u/ben)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2025, 5:59pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/5-job-trends-in-product-design-right-now/256/9 "2025-10-06T17:59:05Z")
Coming back to this because I started seeing a bunch of Sora videos pop up lately. Insane how realistic it looks. Makes me wonder how far LLMs can get with scaling and training. ---
**Author:** ![nathaliesmith](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/nathaliesmith/32/443_2.png) [@nathaliesmith](https://forum.zurb.com/u/nathaliesmith)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2025, 11:22pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/5-job-trends-in-product-design-right-now/256/10 "2025-10-16T23:22:54Z")
Unfortunately, Sora convinced me I watched a real video of a grandma was feeding a wild bear.. disappointed was the understatement of the century. ---
**Author:** ![ben](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/ben/32/442_2.png) [@ben](https://forum.zurb.com/u/ben)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2025, 6:35pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/5-job-trends-in-product-design-right-now/256/11 "2025-10-24T18:35:58Z")
I’m starting to become a bigger believer in these trends as the week has progressed. Definitely curious to see where the world is going. ---
**Author:** ![nathaliesmith](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/nathaliesmith/32/443_2.png) [@nathaliesmith](https://forum.zurb.com/u/nathaliesmith)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2025, 12:41am UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/5-job-trends-in-product-design-right-now/256/12 "2025-11-14T00:41:42Z")
Popping this back up to the top. Only because I want to keep it fresh. I’ll be curious to see how this list changes in 6 months.