Thriving as a Long-Term IC: Lessons in Influence, Growth, & Fulfillment

“Designers often think success means climbing the management ladder. But what if your real impact and fulfilment comes from staying an individual contributor?”

That’s the provocative question Cliff Seal, UX Architect at Salesforce, put on the table in his talk at UXDX USA 2025. After 13 years at the same company, a rare milestone in today’s fast-moving tech world, Cliff has built a career that challenges conventional wisdom about growth, leadership, and longevity in design.

Rather than chasing a managerial title, Cliff has chosen the less visible, often misunderstood path of the long-term IC. And what he’s learned is that thriving in this role requires more than just sharpening your craft. It’s about cultivating trust, shaping outcomes, and redefining what influence looks like when you don’t sit at the top of an org chart.

This article distills Cliff’s reflections into lessons any designer can apply. Whether you’re early in your career, debating the management path, or searching for ways to create lasting impact in the IC track.

The Myth of the “Next Step”

Cliff started by naming the elephant in the room: the pressure many designers feel to “graduate” into management. For years, he’s been asked when he’ll take on direct reports, as though staying an IC signals stagnation. His answer? A simple “no.”

“I like my job,” he said plainly. “I don’t need a new title to prove my value.”

This mindset shift reframes career growth not as a ladder to climb but as a landscape to navigate. There are multiple ways forward. Management is one, but it isn’t the only valid choice. And in Cliff’s view, the IC path, when approached intentionally, can be just as influential and rewarding.

Balancing Skill and Trust

One of Cliff’s central points is that developing as an IC means excelling in two dimensions: skill and trust. Too often, designers over-index on craft alone. They focus on polishing deliverables, mastering tools, and dazzling with visual finesse. But without the trust of colleagues, stakeholders, and users, skill won’t carry you far.

To illustrate this, Cliff shared a story Simon Sinek once told about an elite military unit that evaluates members on skill and trust. Unsurprisingly, they want people who are high in both. But when forced to choose, they would rather have someone with moderate skill and high trust than the opposite.

In design teams, the same is true. “The high-skill, low-trust person is toxic,” Cliff argued. “You might be brilliant, but if people can’t rely on you, they won’t follow your lead.”

The lesson? Invest just as much in relationships, reliability, and integrity as you do in design mastery. Your career will thrive at the intersection of both.

From Outputs to Outcomes

Another trap Cliff warns against is confusing design outputs with design outcomes.

In the early phases of a career, it’s tempting to equate success with producing polished screens, prototypes, or flows. Managers and peers often reinforce this by rewarding visible effort rather than impact. But for long-term IC success, Cliff insists, you must shift focus.

“Design isn’t about making awesome products,” he explained. “It’s about creating awesome users. People who can achieve their goals more effectively because of what you designed.”

That shift, from the artefact to the effect, changes everything. It pushes designers to validate through user behaviour, measure with meaningful metrics, and embrace iteration as a pathway to value rather than perfection.

Cliff gave the example of Engagement Studio, a tool his team built for B2B marketers. Instead of chasing a perfect interface, they spent weeks observing how marketers diagrammed their workflows. They iterated toward a visual language that users already understood, then added testing features and subtle animations to build confidence. The outcome wasn’t just adoption; it was delight. Marketers nicknamed the animated paths “the Yellow Brick Road” or “Orange Goo.” A dry business tool became something people enjoyed using.

That joy, Cliff emphasised, came not from the polish of the UI but from helping users succeed in their larger, more compelling goals.

Growing Through Feedback

If skill and trust are the foundations of a thriving IC career, feedback is the bridge between them. Cliff is blunt: if you can’t give and receive feedback with empathy, you’ll stall out.

In the middle stages of a career, he explained, your growth comes from helping others grow. That requires the courage to critique thoughtfully and the humility to accept critique without defensiveness.

“You can’t just craft thoughtful designs,” Cliff said. “You have to craft thoughtful designers. Whether that’s your peers or the cross-functional partners you work with.”

He described projects where small groups of designers came together to streamline experiences across multiple Salesforce products. Success didn’t come from one person’s brilliance but from the group’s willingness to test, critique, and adapt. By giving feedback that made others better, each designer multiplied their own impact.

The result wasn’t just improved products. It was a culture of trust that opened doors to more ambitious challenges.

Leading Without the Title

By the later stages of an IC career, Cliff argued, leadership looks less like managing people and more like shaping direction through influence.

At Salesforce, leaders value ICs who can step into opaque, high-stakes projects and deliver clarity. These are not glamorous assignments. They’re messy, politically charged, and technically complex. But they’re also opportunities to demonstrate influence without authority.

Cliff shared how he and colleagues noticed inefficiencies in how design systems were being implemented. Instead of complaining, they experimented, collaborated with engineers, and proposed solutions. Over time, their willingness to face problems head-on, backed by data and outcomes, earned trust from executives.

The lesson? IC leadership isn’t about holding a title. It’s about telling true stories, owning failures, and showing you can generate results in complexity. Do that consistently, and people will seek your voice, even at the highest levels.

Redefining Success

Perhaps the most powerful takeaway from Cliff’s talk is his redefinition of career success.

For ICs, success isn’t measured by the size of your team or the seniority of your title. It’s measured by the influence you have on people, products, and processes, whether through building trust, enabling users, or shaping strategy.

Staying an IC isn’t a fallback or a failure to advance. It’s a deliberate choice to pursue fulfilment in craft, collaboration, and influence without sacrificing what you love most about design.

Final Thoughts

Cliff’s talk is more than career advice; it’s an invitation to rethink what it means to grow. For too long, the IC path has been seen as second-class, a waiting room for “real” leadership. Cliff shows it can be a destination in itself. One that offers both influence and satisfaction.

So, whether you’re a new designer feeling the pull of polished outputs, a mid-career IC debating management, or a seasoned contributor navigating complex systems, Cliff’s message is clear:

You can thrive without managing people. You can lead without the title. And you can find fulfilment by balancing skill with trust, outcomes with empathy, and craft with influence.

In a world that celebrates constant upward mobility, that perspective feels not just refreshing but necessary.