Figma Vice President of Product Design Noah Levin has announced a significant shift in hiring expectations for product designers, citing the rapid maturation of artificial intelligence tools as the primary catalyst. Speaking to Business Insider, Levin noted that AI now enables designers to generate polished, interactive prototypes in record time without requiring deep technical expertise, fundamentally raising the baseline for candidate proficiency. Consequently, Levin expects every interview applicant to demonstrate designs at the highest possible fidelity, moving beyond the rudimentary wireframes that dominated the field a decade ago. While acknowledging the industry-wide accessibility surge driven by prompt-based platforms and integrated AI features, Levin cautioned against relying on default generative outputs. He emphasized that core design principles, including solving user problems and exercising craft, remain unchanged. To distinguish themselves, candidates must demonstrate active experimentation with emerging tools and, crucially, showcase their iterative process, including discarded prototypes and failed iterations, rather than presenting only polished final products. According to Levin, revealing this development journey provides deeper insight into a designer critical thinking and problem-solving approach. This hiring evolution aligns with Figma broader stance on artificial intelligence. CEO and co-founder Dylan Field has consistently maintained that AI will not displace skilled designers but will instead automate routine tasks and elevate the average quality of output. By stripping away technical bottlenecks, AI frees creators to focus on innovation and strategic experimentation. As vibe coding platforms and mainstream design suites continue to democratize visual creation, Levin updated criteria signal a market transition where technical execution is table stakes, and original human judgment defines competitive advantage in product design.