Are we looking at a revival of the UX generalist?

UX JDs seem to suggest it’s happening.

Unless you are hiding under a rock, you are aware that UX roles in tech are in decline. A recent jobs analysis indicated that the number of listed roles for UX professionals dropped below 1000 in Q1 of 2025. And while we are now in the midst of the mythical “September surge,” where companies make their final hires when the budget gets locked for the year, it does not appear that the number of open roles will return to those of previous years. UX job growth has dropped by 38% this year per the World Economic Forum. The fears that many UX professionals have been voicing this year about UX in the age of AI are coming true, and it leaves me (and probably others) wondering what comes next.

What I am seeing is an emerging trend that when UX roles are being posted, they are more senior and with the expectation of doing more than design. UX and product designers are being asked to take on research tasks, as are UX Strategists. In addition to that, design and research are often showing up not in UX roles, but instead as part of the job description of a Product Manager. It appears that as AI tools are able to make UX and product professionals more efficient, companies are deciding which skills and functions are most important — design and product management — and taking the skills they seem less important — research and writing — and passing those duties on to the designers and PMs. There is also (in my own observations) an increase in UX strategist roles, which suggests that process is also important, and that research can be done by anyone.

I should note that there is no mention of UX writing in most of these JDs. It’s research only that is being added as a responsibility. So writing? Clearly the lowest priority.

It’s not new for there to be UX generalists in the world of tech. There was a time when UX research was not scaled up as a major discipline with an increase in specialization over the past 5–10 years. Some of this could be because companies were moving too fast and doing too much for UX professionals to do more than just design, so research was split off as a new role. It could be that companies realized that research rigor was best left to, well, researchers who understood how to design powerful studies. And as the field improved things like onboarding and recognized the importance of language in products, good writing also became more prized, leading to more UX writer roles.

But as AI makes it easier and faster to do all of these UX tasks, companies are starting to make moves to flatten the roles. From where I sit, there seem to be three different approaches that tend to align with the level of UX maturity of the company.

Low maturity: these companies are fully flattening roles. They may even put design and research onto the PM role instead of hiring any UX professionals, relying instead on vibe coding products to create prototypes based on the PMs own research.

Mid-level maturity: these companies are hiring UX generalists and relying on them to leverage AI to be effective in research, design, and writing instead of hiring specialists.

High maturity: these companies are still hiring specialists for the most part, though some have also pivoted into the more flattened roles.

What does this mean for the field? First and foremost, it means that there are going to be fewer roles… at least for now. Companies are still trying to figure out the right combination of personnel, tooling, and financial strategy to be cash flow positive and avoid racking up UX debt in their products. This will go beyond the number of roles that come available, and will delve into the types of roles and what they will be expected to do. We will most certainly see an ongoing movement toward generalist roles as both AI tools improve, and aspractitioners get better at using them. We may see a transformation in roles like research or writing, or simply fewer of them as well. These disciplines may be absorbed in some cases, or there may come a reckoning across tech — something that indicates that it’s wiser to invest in specialized work. PMs may be taking on more responsibilities as product tools become more effective. While it’s nearly impossible to say what the changes will be, it is clear that change is already here, and it’s likely to speed up before it stabilizes.