Jimmy is responsible for the Engineering and Design functions at Airtable. Before joining Airtable in 2019, he led teams at Dropbox improving collaboration for millions of users. At Airtable he’s grown our product development team from 30 engineers to the hundreds of talented individuals we have today with a focus on solving our deep customer problems with high quality and reliability.
Upcoming Talks
13 May 2025
AI is transforming what product teams build. Airtable's engineering team has embraced this transformation while navigating the unique challenges of building AI capabilities that empower users to create their own dynamic workflows. In this session, Jimmy Hillis shares practical insights from Airtable's journey integrating AI into their platform. Key topics will include:
- Understanding changing user needs: How Airtable is building AI-native use cases while keeping workflows intuitive and accessible across different use cases
- Rethinking prototyping for AI: Why teams must show actual AI-generated results rather than static mockups to effectively design, test, and get meaningful feedback on AI features
- Cultivating technical understanding: Strategies for encouraging teams to actively use AI tools, creating a culture where everyone from designers to engineers can contribute effectively
- Balancing automation and control: How to ensure AI enhances productivity without adding unnecessary complexity, particularly within enterprise environments with unique security and compliance needs
- New collaboration patterns: New motions for product, design, and engineering teams when developing AI-powered workflows