Founders & hiring managers
Hire the person who makes it worthy of delegation.
You're a founder or hiring manager evaluating the first design hire at an AI product.
Both sides of the hiring table are working from outdated specs. This path covers what the role now requires, how to score for it, and why judgment — not polish — is the moat.
Before you start
The 10-second version
A founder hiring or evaluating a founding product designer for an AI product
A designer working out what the role now requires — and how to prove you can do it
If you only have 10 minutes: read the scorecard, the green and red flags, and the interview questions.
In order
Your reading path
Read the guides in this order — each one builds on the last.
01
A decision guide for both sides of the table: scorecard, green/red flags, interview kit, self-assessment, and a first-30-days plan.
02
The four trust patterns (evidence, honest confidence, reversibility, graceful recovery), progressive trust, and a 20-minute trust audit.
03
When everyone rents the same models, judgment is what's left to own — and how to train it and write it down.
What you'll walk away with
Takeaways
You're not hiring "a designer" — you're hiring a product partner who can make ambiguity usable.
Score for judgment: separating a cool AI demo from durable user value, and designing what happens when the model is wrong.
Trust is a set of interface decisions with specific locations on specific screens — bake the four patterns into the design system so every feature inherits them.
When everyone rents the same models, taste — judgment under constraints — is the moat left to own.
Begin