Δ Builder roles

What does an AI-native builder actually do?

The Builder Impact framework as plain-language responsibilities + capabilities at each level — not full job descriptions. Copy a block and append it to your existing PM, design or engineering role card, so "AI-native" stops being a vibe and becomes an expectation.

Practitioner

impact · your work

Append to an IC PM, researcher or designer role.

Responsibilities

  • Ships from customer insight to a working prototype using AI-native workflows.
  • Keeps their own backlog clean and prioritised with AI, not by hand.
  • Owns the judgment on AI-assisted output — puts their name on what ships.

Capabilities

  • Runs compound AI workflows and Claude skills on real product work.
  • Generates design-system-respecting screens; blocks off-system output with a critic.
  • Maintains a reusable Claude project + prompt library for their own work.

Certified via the AI-Native Practitioner credential.

Architect

impact · your team

Append to a senior, staff or tech-lead role.

Responsibilities

  • Builds and maintains the team's AI harness — the workflow the team runs.
  • Wires agents to real product data (Aha!, Jira, Figma, the design system) via MCP.
  • Owns the evals that catch regressions before they reach review.

Capabilities

  • Designs agentic pipelines and tools the team picks up and runs.
  • Integrates data through MCP; keeps shared context current.
  • Runs eval suites and guardrails on agent output.

Certified via the AI-Native Architect credential.

Lead

impact · your org

Append to a manager, head or director role.

Responsibilities

  • Sets the AI-native standards that keep output trustworthy at team scale.
  • Rolls the workflow across PMs, designers and engineers with shared context.
  • Reports adoption curves and outcomes to leadership — not satisfaction scores.

Capabilities

  • Designs the team's AI-native operating model and governance.
  • Enables the team — onboarding, standards, shared context they actually use.
  • Measures adoption and ties it to business outcomes.

Certified via the AI-Native Lead credential.

Not sure which level fits your team?

Take the AI-native assessment → See the framework →