Marketing Consultant
Great design isn’t a luxury, in today’s digital-first world, it is a major competitive advantage.
Companies that invest in intuitive, user-centred experiences stand out, win user trust and build loyalty. And behind every frictionless experience is a talented UX team making it all feel seamless.
But here’s the challenge, finding top-tier UX talent isn’t easy. The demand is high, portfolios don’t always tell the full story and the right candidates are often off the radar. That’s where partnering with a UX design recruitment agency or having a well-structured hiring strategy becomes a game changer.
If you’re a hiring manager, this guide will help you find, evaluate, and hire the right UX professionals, whether you’re working with an agency or hiring directly.
UX and Product Design roles we recruit:
Why hiring great UX talent matters
Exceptional user experience (UX) design can increase conversion rates, reduce churn and boost customer satisfaction. But it all starts with the right talent, designers who can balance user needs, business goals and technical constraints.
Hiring for UX roles is different from hiring engineers or marketers. It requires a nuanced understanding of skills like empathy, design thinking and user research, which is why many companies choose to partner with a UX design recruitment agency to streamline and improve their hiring process.
Define what “great UX talent” looks like
Before you start sourcing candidates or contacting a recruitment partner, define what success looks like in the role.
Key UX roles to understand:
- UX designer – Designs user flows, wireframes and focuses on usability.
- UI/UX designer – Combines UX principles with polished visual design.
- UX researcher – Gathers and analyses user insights to guide design.
- Product designer – A hybrid role that may span UX, UI and even light front-end development.
Essential skills to look for:
- Strong user empathy and communication
- Proficiency in UX tools (Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD)
- Familiarity with the full design process: discovery → ideation → testing → iteration
- Ability to collaborate with cross-functional teams
If you’re unsure how to assess these skill sets, a UX design recruitment agency can help by pre-vetting candidates who meet your specific needs.
Craft a targeted job description
Generic job posts attract generic candidates. Your job description is your first impression, tailor it and make it count.
Tips for an effective UX job post:
- Be specific about the role, responsibilities and expected outcomes
- Include tools, workflows and team context
- Highlight your team’s structure, culture and design philosophy
- Outline real challenges the designer will help address
Instead of saying “We need a UX expert,” try:
“Join our product team as a UX designer and lead the end-to-end design of our mobile app’s onboarding flow. You’ll collaborate with product managers and engineers to turn user insights into elegant, scalable solutions.”
Many UX design recruitment agencies can also help craft compelling job descriptions that reflect your brand and attract the right type of talent.
Where to find UX talent
Knowing where to look is half the battle. While general job boards can reach a wide audience, they rarely connect you with high-calibre designers.
Top places to source UX professionals:
- Design platforms: Dribbble, Behance (especially for visual/UI work)
- LinkedIn: Use filters and direct outreach for targeted sourcing
- UX communities: Designer Hangout, UX Mastery, Slack groups
- Design schools and bootcamps: Excellent for finding emerging junior talent
- Freelance platforms: Trial working relationships that may lead to full-time hires
Or… partner with a UX design recruitment agency
A recruitment agency, such as Intelligent People which specialises in UX / UI & product design, can give you access to a pool of vetted, highly qualified designers. They understand the nuances of UX roles and can significantly reduce the time and effort required to find the right fit.
How to review UX portfolios effectively
A portfolio is a UX designer’s storytelling tool. But visuals alone don’t guarantee substance — you need to dig into their thinking.
What to look for:
- Case studies with context – problem → process → solution → outcomes
- User research and testing – evidence of validation and iteration
- Clear design thinking – insight into decision-making
- Storytelling – can they explain the rationale behind their work?
What to avoid:
- Portfolios with no explanation of the design process
- No mention of user feedback, testing or iteration
- Work that appears disconnected from business or user outcomes
If you’re not confident assessing portfolios yourself, a UX design recruitment agency can help pre-screen them based on your goals and requirements.
Create a UX-focused interview process
Resumes and portfolios only tell part of the story. Your interview process should uncover how a candidate thinks, solves problems and works with others.
Must-have steps:
- Portfolio walk-through – Let candidates explain their work and decisions
- Design challenge – Assign a realistic UX task (with constraints)
- Collaboration session – Observe how they brainstorm or ideate live
- Behavioural interview – Learn how they handle feedback and constraints
Example questions to ask:
- “Tell me about a time a design didn’t perform as expected, what did you do?”
- “How do you prioritise user needs when there are competing business goals?”
Specialist UX design recruitment agencies often design or assist with these interview stages and can recommend techniques to ensure a fair and insightful process.
Don’t skip the culture and collaboration check
UX is rarely a solo effort. Designers must work effectively with product management, developers, marketers and even users.
Look for candidates who:
- Have experience working in cross-functional teams
- Are comfortable with iteration and ambiguity
- Welcome feedback and testing
- Communicate clearly and constructively
Bring other team members into interviews or run informal “meet the team” sessions to see how well the candidate fits your working culture.
Offer more than just a salary
Top UX professionals are motivated by more than money. They want to work somewhere that values design and empowers them to make a difference.
What great UX candidates care about:
- Having influence on product direction
- A culture that embraces research, iteration, and user feedback
- Opportunities for career progression and creative growth
- Clear design ownership and autonomy
If you’re working with a UX design recruitment agency, make sure they understand these values so they can communicate them effectively to candidates.
Tools to support your UX hiring process
To stay organised and ensure consistency in your hiring decisions, use:
✅ UX interview scorecard – Evaluate candidates across design thinking, communication, collaboration and process
📝 Role requirements checklist – Clarify what’s essential vs nice-to-have
📥 Design challenge template – Provide a fair and structured task for all candidates
Most UX design recruitment agencies will already have these in place, so if you’re working with one, ask for their toolkit to streamline the process.
Conclusion
Hiring great UX talent is about more than filling a vacancy, it’s about bringing someone into your team who can shape better experiences, connect with users and help drive product success.
Whether you’re building a design team from scratch or scaling up, your recruitment strategy should reflect the care and precision you expect from the design itself. And if you’re short on time or UX-specific hiring knowledge, partnering with a UX design recruitment agency, such as ourselves, can give you a powerful head start, let’s know if you need to hire today.
