Design at Intercom
Intercom has truly rebooted with ambition and design is at the centre of it
I’m excited to tell the story behind the design team at Intercom. In the last 2 years Intercom has truly rebooted with ambition as they’ve pivoted to being an AI first company. They are at the coal face of AI redefining customer service with Fin.
In this article I spoke with Thom Rimmer, Sr Director of Design, digging into behind the scenes of the design team. For over a decade Thom has been creating world-class products, scaling high-performing teams, and turning design into a strategic lever for growth.
He doesn’t just champion design— he embeds it into the company’s DNA. He drives design maturity by proving its business value, building systems that scale, and shifting design from a function to a mindset.
TL;DR of the article and what to expect:
Views on how the design industry has changed in the last 5 years
AI is changing what design is and the importance of design
How Intercom rebooted with ambition
Design isn’t a service function at Intercom. It’s in the DNA.
Introducing new fluid and flexible workstreams.
How Intercom overhauled the hiring process for designers and design leaders—because the role is changing, and what they need from designers is changing too.
Intercom is not scaling old models, they are building entirely new ones and design is at the centre.
Design at Intercom
1. How has the design industry changed over the 5 years?
Over the past five years, product design grew up. We stopped chasing a “seat at the table” because we earned it—by building real product, not just polishing pixels. Design-led founders showed that taste, clarity, and strong opinions aren’t nice-to-haves—they’re competitive advantages. Teams levelled up. Craft got sharper. Design became strategic.
Then the ground shifted.
AI isn’t just another tool—it’s a rewrite. Machines can design faster than most humans now. And yeah, some designers are panicking. But this isn’t the end of design. It’s the start of something better.
The power hasn’t disappeared—it’s just moved. It’s flowing to the designers who can think, move, and build. The ones with taste, speed, and judgment. They’re not waiting for permission. They’re already leading.
2. How is AI changing how companies view designers?
AI is changing how companies view designers—because it’s changing what design is.
When machines can generate “good-enough” UI in seconds, the value of designers shifts. It’s no longer about how fast you can mock something up. It’s about taste. Judgment. The ability to know what’s worth building, and what will actually move the needle.
At Intercom, that’s pushed us to go all-in on creative ownership. Every designer has a dev environment. Every designer ships to production. There’s no middle layer, no waiting around for sign-off. Just tight, fast feedback loops and momentum. In this new era, designers aren’t here to make things pretty—they’re here to build product.
And for design leaders, the role’s changed too. You can’t hide behind process anymore, expectations are higher. If you’re not driving quality—real craft, bold ideas, sharper thinking—you’re not leading. You’re babysitting.
This moment rewards those who are in the work. The ones setting the bar. The ones with a strong point of view on what great looks like—and the willingness to push for it.
AI isn’t killing design, it’s making it matter more. And the companies that get that? They’re not scaling back their design teams. They’re expecting more from them. And giving them more power in return.
3. How can designers who are skeptical and being left behind level-up with AI fluency specific to design?
This moment feels a lot like the early internet. Nobody knows what’s going to stick. We’re all making it up as we go. So if you’re sitting on the sidelines waiting for someone to hand you a playbook, you’ve already lost.
The designers who will thrive in this AI era aren’t necessarily the ones with the most experience—they’re the ones with the most curiosity. You need an insatiable appetite to learn. Play with every new tool that drops. Build something weird. Break it. Repeat. The goal isn’t mastery—it’s momentum.
Read constantly. Not to keep up, but to start spotting patterns. If you don’t consume, you can’t synthesise. And if you can’t synthesise, you’ll never know where to spend your attention.
And above all: start. Have an idea? A problem you wish someone solved? Try building it. The barrier to entry is basically none. You just need initiative. The tools are right there.
AI fluency is about a mindset. If you’re curious, hands-on, and biased toward action, you’re already ahead. If you’re waiting for permission, you’re falling behind.
This is the most exciting time to be a designer, certainly in my career. Don’t waste it.
4. What are Intercom up to in 2025?
Our mission has always been to help our customers provide incredible customer experiences.
We’ve been building bots and customer service tools for years—but AI has changed everything. We believe AI Agents will do the vast majority of customer service, and soon. Fin, our AI Agent is the best performing, most widely adopted, and highest grossing AI service agent on the market. We are shaping the future of how businesses communicate with their customers.
We’re a 13-year-old company that refuses to stop being a startup. Eoghan McCabe has returned as CEO to rebuild the company from first principles—ripping up bureaucracy, slashing complexity, and re-igniting ambition. We’ve got massive momentum. Intercom revenue is accelerating and we’re leading the AI customer service race.
We’re moving fast and building smart – Our productivity is up 41%. We’ve gotten back to our builder roots. We’ve got a culture of ownership. Strong opinions, bias to action, and zero tolerance for average.
5. How are you thinking about design at Intercom?
Design isn’t a service function here. It’s in our DNA.
There are more than 60 designers at Intercom and the company was founded by designers. Our CEO and Chief Strategy Officer were designers. So was our Chief Product Officer. Design has shaped this company from day one.
PMs and Designers are equal partners. We co-lead teams and shape roadmaps, strategy, and outcomes—together. Designers never need to justify their value here. You’re expected to bring strong opinions, challenge the work, and lead from the front.
Design is a force multiplier. We care deeply about taste, execution, and quality. Design isn’t here to just “make things pretty”—we’re here to define what great looks like and help the whole team get there.
In a world where it’s easier and easier to get software off the ground and to 75% built, it’s the last 25% that really matters. Great designers at Intercom act fast, with a strong bias to action. They move with speed, but never at the expense of quality. Their product judgment is sharp, and they bring conviction and energy, speak plainly, and rally others around bold ideas.
We’re constantly exploring the use of new tools and ways of working as you can see from our Slack group.
6. How do you measure success of the design team?
We measure the success of the design team the same way we measure the success of Intercom: by the impact we have on the business. Our job is to ship product that drives the company forward—and keeps us ahead in the AI Agent market. Design isn’t an island here; it’s integrated, accountable, and essential.
But it’s not just what we’ve shipped—it’s how we work that’s changed. We’ve ripped up the old rulebooks. Gone are the rigid teams, triads, and structures. In their place: fluid, flexible workstreams. Some have one designer, some have a few, some have none. What matters is that we’re always focused on the highest-impact work. This isn’t just evolution—it’s a completely new company.
Intercom now measures itself against AI-native startups, not its past. We’ve rebuilt the product org around speed, ownership, and adaptability. Our rituals and rhythms reflect that. Teams are smaller, faster, more autonomous. And to keep the bar high across everything, design managers and leaders are closer to the work—connecting dots, creating consistency, and pushing for quality across the board.
7. What are the reporting lines for the design team?
We’ve made deliberate changes to how reporting works in design at Intercom. One of the biggest shifts: we decoupled management reporting lines from specific areas of focus. Designers move more frequently now—between workstreams, products, and priorities—so it no longer makes sense to tie them rigidly to a domain or manager based on where they’re working today.
We’ve also flattened the structure. Fewer layers. Less abstraction. Our design leaders are now closer to the work—actively helping shape execution, offering feedback that matters, and connecting the dots across projects to ensure we’re building a cohesive, high-quality product.
The goal is simple: give designers the support they need without slowing them down.
8. What to expect in the interview process
We’ve completely overhauled our hiring process for designers and design leaders—because the role is changing, and what we need from designers is changing too.
Our aim is simple: run a sharp, respectful process—for both us and the candidate. We know interviewing takes time, energy, and headspace, so we’re focused on being thorough, fast, and transparent. From first conversation to offer, the process should take no more than four weeks—and in practice, it’s often closer to two.
For ICs, the process is just two rounds. First, a hiring manager screen. Then a final loop made up of three parts: a case study presentation, a time-boxed task, and a values interview. For design leaders, it’s a similar structure—tight, focused, and designed to assess what actually matters.
We’ve reintroduced design tasks for IC roles to close the gap between what’s in a portfolio and how someone actually thinks. We’re hiring for high-autonomy, high-impact roles, and we need to understand how candidates approach ambiguity, make decisions, and communicate ideas. The task is short and focused. It’s not about perfect visuals—it’s about clarity, direction, and product instincts. For us, it’s still the best way to get meaningful signal.
We use a consistent rubric across roles and candidates, so candidates always know what we’re looking for—and where they stand. Along the way, they’ll meet folks across the team and have every opportunity to validate whether Intercom and this role are the right fit for them.
This isn’t just about assessing talent. It’s about setting the tone for how we work: thoughtful, fast, and high quality.
9. If you receive 300+ applicants to a role, what makes 1-2 designers stand out above the rest? What do you really look for?
Great portfolios need to go beyond aesthetics—they need to demonstrate how a designer thinks, builds, and drives impact. We’re looking for evidence of AI integration in a workflow: how they’ve used tools for generative design, rapid iteration, or automation. We’re looking for candidates to show us how they’ve experimented, where they’ve pushed the tools, and what they’ve learned.
We have a high bar for craft—and your portfolio needs to reflect that. It’s not just about the projects you include, but how you present them. If your portfolio doesn’t demonstrate your ability to deliver exceptional, considered work and isn’t itself a well-crafted product, it won’t stand out. We’re looking for precision, polish, and taste.
But craft alone isn’t enough. We value designers who think strategically and align their work with real business goals. The strongest portfolios showcase problem-solving rooted in user and company needs—with measurable outcomes to back it up. We want to see how you’ve worked cross-functionally with product, engineering, and data to ship AI-driven products that actually move the needle.
This space is moving fast, and the best designers move with it. Demonstrate that you’re continuously learning—up to date on tools, trends, and evolving your skills. And communicate your work with clarity and intent. A compelling portfolio has structure, story, and a strong personal voice.
10. What are the biggest mistakes you see when designers reach out to you for roles?
Designers applying for roles they’re just not ready for—especially at senior, staff, or principal levels. These roles come with serious expectations: autonomy, quality, speed, product judgment. If you can’t consistently deliver at that level, the title doesn’t matter.
And here’s a spicy take: I don’t care how many years of experience you have. Years in the job aren’t the same as ability. Just because you’ve been doing it for a decade doesn’t mean you’re operating at a staff level. What matters is the work—can you actually perform at the level the role demands? That’s the bar. Not time served.
11. Intercom are leading the AI Agent Customer service category, how is design playing a role in staying there?
We’re not just supporting innovation, we’re helping drive it. Design is front and centre: disambiguating the future through rapid experimentation, prototyping, and bold bets. We’re not scaling old models—we’re building entirely new ones.
That means bringing craft, creativity, and product taste to every conversation. Design shows up as an equal partner, setting a high bar and then pushing it higher. We obsess over the details, challenge assumptions, and bring clarity to complex ideas. Invention is part of the job now. And in a space moving this fast, design is how we stay ahead.
Roles live at Intercom:
We’re hiring across both individual contributor and leadership roles—and we’re looking for people who want to build what’s next.
IC roles:
Senior, Staff & Principal Designers — to push the boundaries of craft and help shape the future of our Fin product.
Senior Growth Designer — to redefine monetization in the AI era.
Senior Web Designers — to evolve how we show up online, with speed and polish.
You can apply here.
brilliant interview. I like how the questions are very timely and relevant to designers. I will come back for this often.
Thank you, Tom
Crip and clean, Thanks for bringing this to light!