Vibe Coding: From Developer Buzzword to Must-Have Skill Across Roles
In February 2025, Andrej Karpathy coined the term “vibe coding” to describe developers who let AI write most of their code. Twelve months later, the term shows up in job descriptions for designers, product managers, marketers, AI architects, and — we’re not making this up — lawyers.
This isn’t a think piece about what might happen. We track vibe coding jobs daily on Vibehackers. What follows is a breakdown of real, active job listings that require vibe coding skills — organized by role, not just engineering.
When the CEO of Microsoft is joking about vibe coding, you know it’s crossed the threshold from niche to mainstream.
The Numbers
We’ve tracked hundreds of vibe coding jobs since late 2025. Here’s the category breakdown:
- Product & UX / Design / Prototyping — the single largest category
- Software Engineering — transformed, not replaced
- AI/ML & Data — the fastest-growing segment
- Product/Program/Operations — PMs building their own prototypes
- GTM / Marketing / Sales / DevRel — the newest frontier
The surprise isn’t that engineering roles require vibe coding. It’s that most vibe coding job postings are for non-engineering roles.
Let’s walk through each one.
Design & UX: The Biggest Category
This one caught everyone off guard. The single largest bucket of vibe coding jobs isn’t engineering — it’s design.
Companies like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Salesforce now expect designers to go beyond Figma mockups. They want designers who can build functional prototypes using AI tools, ship interactive artifacts, and iterate without waiting for an engineering sprint.
Amazon: Sr. UX Designer, AWS Applied AI
Amazon’s Applied AI Solutions team explicitly lists “vibe coding and AI-assisted prototyping” as core responsibilities. These aren’t junior roles — they want 8+ years of design experience, plus the ability to create functional prototypes of complex scientific workflows.
Google: UX Engineering Manager, Search
Google’s Search team requires experience with “vibe coding tools, including AI Studio, Cursor, Antigravity, or Firebase Studio” as a minimum qualification. Not preferred — required. For a role paying up to $265K base.
What This Means
Designers who only produce static mockups are increasingly at a disadvantage. The expectation now is:
- Prototype in code, not just Figma
- Use AI tools to accelerate the design-to-prototype loop
- Ship interactive demos that stakeholders can actually use
Product Management: PMs Who Build
Product managers have always been the “idea people.” Now they’re expected to be the “idea people who can show you a working prototype by tomorrow.”
The shift is real: PMs who can vibe code skip the queue. Instead of writing PRDs and waiting for engineering allocation, they build the thing themselves — then hand off a working proof of concept.
Dealpath: Senior Product Manager, AI
Dealpath’s PM role explicitly requires “vibe-coding proof of concepts” and “rapid AI prototyping for early user testing.” This is a product manager role, not an engineering role.
Inflection Point Learning: Product Manager
This EdTech PM role encourages using “vibe coding tools and AI-native IDEs” to prototype and iterate quickly. The PM isn’t writing specs for engineers — the PM is building the prototype.
The pattern is clear: PMs who understand the user problem and can demonstrate a solution with AI tools are now the highest-leverage people on any team.
Software Engineering: Transformed, Not Replaced
Engineering roles haven’t disappeared — they’ve been supercharged. Companies now expect engineers to use AI as a multiplier, not just write code by hand.
The key difference from 2024: vibe coding is no longer a “nice to have” on engineering job descriptions. It’s listed alongside languages and frameworks as a core requirement.
Oracle: Principal Member of Technical Staff
Oracle’s EHR team requires “vibe coding practices” and proficiency with AI tools (Codex, Claude, Cline, ChatGPT) as basic qualifications. They also want experience with “MCP Tools/Servers” — the protocol for connecting AI assistants to external tools.
For engineers, the shift isn’t about whether to use AI. It’s about being fluent enough with AI workflows to lead their adoption across teams.
AI/ML & Data: The New AI Engineer
AI-focused roles are the fastest-growing segment of vibe coding jobs. These aren’t traditional ML engineer roles with PyTorch and training pipelines. They’re a new archetype: the AI engineer who orchestrates agents, builds RAG systems, and ships AI-powered products using vibe coding workflows.
Equifax: Lead AI Engineer
Equifax’s Lead AI Engineer role requires “vibe coding methodologies” and uses AI assistants (Gemini, GitHub Copilot, Claude) to orchestrate agentic workflows. The job is about driving an “AI-first transformation” across the company.
These roles sit at the intersection of engineering and AI strategy. They don’t just build — they define how the entire organization uses AI to build.
GTM, Marketing & Content: Vibe Marketing Is Real
Here’s where things get interesting. Marketing and go-to-market roles are increasingly expected to build — not just write copy.
Greg Isenberg’s “vibe marketing” concept has already materialized in real job listings.
Base44: AI Content Creator — $205K–$230K
Yes, you read that salary right. Base44 is paying content creators over $200K to “build and demo real apps on the Base44 AI platform” and grow community engagement. This is a marketing role that requires vibe coding.
SAP: AI Product Marketing Consultant — up to $229K
SAP’s product marketing role for their developer AI platform (Joule) explicitly references vibe coding. This is a marketing consultant defining positioning and messaging — who also needs to understand the vibe coding tools they’re marketing.
The message is clear: marketing roles that involve developer tools, AI products, or technical communities now expect hands-on experience with the tools themselves.
The Wildcards: Roles You Didn’t Expect
Some of the most interesting vibe coding jobs don’t fit neatly into any category.
Airtable: Lead Forward Deployed Engineer — $248K–$351K
Airtable’s highest-paying vibe coding role isn’t in engineering — it’s in customer success. Forward Deployed Engineers embed with enterprise customers to prototype solutions. They need to vibe code because the job is essentially “show up and build the thing the customer needs, in real time.”
Grant Street Group: Associate General Counsel — $155K–$200K
A lawyer. Grant Street Group’s Associate General Counsel role explicitly lists “vibe coding/AI orchestration familiarity” and mentions building OpenClaw assistants. A legal role at a GovTech SaaS company that expects you to build with AI.
When law departments start listing vibe coding as a skill, you know the shift is real.
Entry Points: Pure “Vibe Coder” Roles
Not every vibe coding job requires 8+ years of experience at a FAANG company. A growing number of roles are specifically looking for people whose primary skill is building quickly with AI tools.
Leadr.co: AI Developer / Vibe Coder — $45K–$75K
Leadr.co’s role is refreshingly honest about what they want: someone who ships AI-powered automations using Cursor, Claude, Replit, and Bolt. No CS degree required — they want shipped projects and a builder mentality.
These entry-level vibe coder roles are the on-ramp for people who’ve been building with AI tools on their own and want to get paid for it.
What This Means for You
The data from real job listings tells a clear story:
If you’re a designer: Learn to prototype in code using AI tools. Figma alone isn’t enough anymore. Amazon, Google, and Microsoft want designers who can build functional demos.
If you’re a PM: Start building POCs with vibe coding tools. The PMs who can show a working prototype before the first sprint planning meeting have an enormous advantage.
If you’re an engineer: Fluency with AI coding tools is no longer optional. Know the tools (Cursor, Claude Code, Copilot), know the protocols (MCP), and be ready to lead AI adoption on your team.
If you’re in marketing or GTM: The highest-paying content and marketing roles now expect you to build, not just write. If you’re marketing developer tools, you should be using them.
If you’re in any other role: The Grant Street Group general counsel role proves it — vibe coding is showing up everywhere. If your work involves information, automation, or decision-making, AI-assisted building is relevant to you.
The Salary Picture
Based on the listings we track, vibe coding roles pay well across every category:
Role Type | Salary Range | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Forward Deployed Engineer | $248K – $351K | Airtable |
| UX Engineering Manager | $178K – $265K | |
| AI Content Creator | $205K – $230K | Base44 |
| Principal Product Designer | $140K – $304K | Microsoft |
| Sr. UX Designer | $138K – $212K | Amazon |
| Lead AI Engineer | Not listed | Equifax |
| Associate General Counsel | $155K – $200K | Grant Street Group |
| AI Developer / Vibe Coder | $45K – $75K | Leadr.co |
The range is wide — from entry-level vibe coder roles under $75K to senior cross-functional positions above $300K. But the trend is consistent: roles that combine domain expertise with AI-assisted building command a premium.
The Bottom Line
Vibe coding started as a developer behavior. By early 2026, it’s a cross-functional skill that shows up in design, product, engineering, AI, marketing, operations, and legal job descriptions.
The companies leading this shift aren’t startups experimenting — they’re Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, Oracle, and Equifax. They’re embedding vibe coding into their hiring because they’ve seen what happens when employees can turn ideas into working systems without waiting for an engineering queue.
The question for your career isn’t whether vibe coding is relevant to your role.
It’s whether you’ll learn it before or after your next job interview requires it.
We track hundreds of vibe coding jobs across every role — engineering, design, product, marketing, AI, and more. Filter by category, location, and salary to find the role that matches your skills. Updated daily.
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