What the Surge of AI-First Roles Means for Business and Talent

New technology has always presented a corresponding need for human discovery and implementation to determine its viability. While the AI boom pushes industries to weigh the value of AI and how it can best serve their organizations, wading through a sea of tools and techniques presents a unique challenge for growing companies.

This shift has led to a sharp increase in demand for AI skills, as well as an AI-forward mindset as a qualifying factor for top candidates. While AI-willingness is already an expectation within certain functions like engineering, we're also working on a host of greenfield AI-enablement roles where using AI to build intelligent systems and capabilities is deeply tied to the deliverables of the role.

We’re taking a closer look at the driving factors behind AI-enabled roles, what makes them different than just using AI tools on the job, and their potential impact on companies and tech professionals.

How are AI-enablement roles changing the job market?

Steering AI innovation from a high-level, our clients are asking broad questions on how they can embed automation and intelligence into roles and functions that have never had them before, as well as ‘where do we find the right talent to help us achieve our ideal outcomes?’

For many, the first step is to develop net-new roles that open up the opportunity for hungry professionals to translate concepts into AI-powered bots, products, and systems that function with little oversight and long-term maintenance. Especially for functions like engineering, IT, and HR, leaders are eager to optimize their team’s efficiency and their vision is clear – that AI can deliver the competitive edge they need.

A key aspect to this approach is not AI for the sake of AI, but instead a conscious effort to reduce friction, streamline workflows and team communication, as well as help human beings focus on work that only people can accomplish.

This mindset has already jostled the trajectory of the job market this year. More than ever, job descriptions across levels and departments now include AI-deliverables or language referencing growth via AI.

While the compass continues to sway towards AI, the real question we’ve yet to answer is, is it our true North or just another tech trend that’s grown too big for its britches?

What are Companies Hoping to Accomplish with AI-Enabled Roles?

In short, automating repeatable tasks and building a more robust, self-serving environment where information is readily available for team members to make data-driven decisions. So far, the AI-enabled roles we’ve worked have a common thread; leveraging existing AI capabilities to create data-rich environments where teams can better document process, support growth, and free up leadership to focus on business drivers over business maintenance.

One standout example comes from a robotics client who’s searching for a People Operations Manager. On paper, the title might sound familiar, but the actual responsibilities tell a different story. Instead of ‘HR-as-usual,’ the role is about building an intelligent, tech-driven People Ops function from scratch. In practice, the task is to build a nearly autonomous system that runs with the efficiency of a product team and the adaptability of a startup as the company continues to scale.

Deliverables of this role include:

• AI-driven automation: Eliminating manual workflows in recruiting, onboarding, and performance management by leveraging AI agents, no-code platforms, and LLMs.
  
  
• Employee experience as a product: Creating a self-service HR platform that feels like an internal app, complete with AI-powered FAQs, dynamic onboarding, and frictionless performance reviews.
  
  
• Scalable systems over headcount: Designing repeatable processes that reduce reliance on people power and grow with the company.
  
  
• Metrics-first operations: Using AI tools to support the People Ops function with KPIs and dashboards including time-to-hire, engagement scores, and retention, similar to how a product team tracks performance.
  
  

The biggest takeaway? AI is becoming an enabler across every function of business from HR to finance to customer success. Clients are looking for professionals who don’t just know how to use AI tools, but who can reimagine their function with AI at its core.

What this shift means for companies

For many leaders we work with, embracing AI goes beyond staying relevant in the market (although it’s a top priority); it’s also based in a core belief that AI has enormous potential to deliver outcomes that work in sync with people and grow their businesses at the same time.

As a result, we’re seeing clients allocate more budget and urgency to roles that can implement AI quickly and show measurable impact. More than experimental “innovation” hires, they’re business-critical positions designed to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and unlock scale. These are the most critical aspects for our customers hiring for this kind of position, and we expect to see more AI-enablement roles moving forward.

What else does it mean for companies? We've seen it before — as the demand for AI talent increases, so will the competition for that talent, as demand has already outpaced availability.

In a recent poll, managers reported increasing the salaries of those with AI and Machine Learning, cloud, specialized software development, and database management skills the most to attract top talent. This year, AI roles boasted some of the fastest-growing salaries in tech, emphasizing that organizations will pay a premium for professionals who can build out cutting-edge initiatives using AI and data analytics.

For our clients, offering competitive salaries is considered a wise investment, as they weigh the substantial opportunity to expand capabilities and achieve goals by bringing future-forward talent onto their teams in the coming years.

What It means for tech professionals

On the flip side, this creates a tremendous opportunity for talent. Professionals who can bridge their domain expertise with AI enablement are already in high demand. Whether you’re in engineering, operations, HR, or product, the ability to evaluate, onboard, and champion AI tools is becoming a differentiator that sets candidates apart.

For job seekers, this means:

• Building AI fluency in your current role signals adaptability.
  
  
• Demonstrating how you’ve used AI to drive results makes you more competitive.
  
  
• Experimenting with tools increases your comfort level and creative approach to problem-solving using AI
  
  
• Positioning yourself as a leader in AI adoption can accelerate career growth.

Focus on developing your AI skills to tap into this growing opportunity. From just playing around with available tools to AI augmentation classes and meetups, there are a variety of ways to start adapting to the growing prevalence of AI.

For our team, a recent AI & Product Meetup event we hosted in July, 'The Vibe Games,' produced phenomenal examples of how creativity and experimentation can make 'AI dream scenarios' into actual working, productive applications (and this was within an intentional time crunch of 45 minutes). Anything is possible!

In this lies the key, companies are looking for people who not only believe AI advancement and innovation is possible, but are eager and excited to be a part of building where it goes next. As companies race to adapt to an overflow of AI capabilities and determine what tools will stick, professionals who can meet them at the intersection of skills and strategy are in the driver’s seat and will receive the most competitive offers.

We’ll continue to share what we’re seeing in these AI-enablement roles, but one thing is clear: the people who move first to embrace this shift will gain a serious edge in productivity, innovation, and retention.

At BWBacon Group, we know and live what you are experiencing as an employer or job seeker in tech. We believe great recruiting starts and ends with understanding people.

If you're building a team or seeking a job in tech, please contact us. We are happy to help. Seize the day, every day!