We’ve seen how quickly artificial intelligence has completely transformed the way we work, so it’s not surprising that many job descriptions require some working knowledge of AI. Google is even making it clear they expect candidates to use it during interviews beginning later this year.
And while AI is wreaking havoc on employment across industries — compelling some to argue in favour of a compute tax — it’s also spawning new roles that didn’t exist even a few months ago.
Must Read
Case in point: Stripe, the financial infrastructure platform for businesses, recently posted an opening for the role of a “forward deployed AI accelerator (1)” to join its 20-person marketing team — essentially as an embedded AI coach.
“Every company is going to need this role,” said professor of London School of Economics professor Luis Garicano on X (2).
Here’s a bit more about the role and what skills it calls on.
The forward deployed model
While a “Forward Deployed AI Accelerator” is the first role of its kind, the forward deployed model was coined by Palantir, in the 2010s as a way to call out the prioritization of speed and efficiency, while working directly with clients to adapt tech to individual client’s needs; here, imperfect but deployed models are preferred to perfect theoretical ones.
Unlike consultants, Forward Deployed Engineers are expected to come up with workable solutions for their clients, rather than just make recommendations. The model empowers forward deployed engineers to “move fast and break things” in order to succeed. And the position has a proven track record as an incubator of startup talent (3).
“Forward Deployed Engineers will actually build software themselves and parse signal to noise what a customer is saying and figure out what’s doable and reasonable,” said Gary Lin, former Palantir employee and co-founder/CEO of startup Explo. “The exposure they get to the business side teaches you the tradeoffs between business development and product development, and as a founder you lean when it’s okay to cut corners from an engineering perspective and vice versa.”
Kanav Bhatnagar, 24, another FDE at the HR tech company Rippling, put it in even simpler terms (4): “I’m a customer-facing engineer who tailors our product to each client. They describe their challenges and needs, and I build solutions and customizations. My primary job is listening to customers.” The Forward Deployed Engineer skillset
Bhatnagar says that the role requires an understanding of business as well as of engineering. As a result, he says context-switching and communication are requisite skills for FDEs.
“You could go from talking to a customer to debugging something to jumping onto another customer call shortly after,” he says.
And as products become easier than ever to build, FDEs with this understanding will be needed to adapt them for large clients. “Even if AI turns out to be unprofitable, I think FDEs will still have a place because of the demand for customer software,” says Bhatnagar.
Read More: Get rich from rising US property values with as little as $100 — and without the stress of angry tenants
Forward Deployed AI Accelerator
This next iteration of the FDE model directly embeds the forward deployed model — not with an external client — but with an internal team.
In this case, the role calls for a Forward Deployed AI Accelerator who will work with the marketing team — a team of about 20 — to make AI their “default operating mode” and setting up the foundation for how every marketer at Stripe executes (1).
The employee will be measured against the number of workflows permanently transformed and the extent to which those on the team start any task with an AI tool. Additionally, the Forward Deployed AI Accelerator will teach the team to “build and iterate on their own tools over time, creating independence.”
The goal is to prep marketers for an agentic future, “not just prompt writing, but designing, building and overseeing autonomous, multi-agent workflows.”
The Forward Deployed elements come through in the ideal candidate’s “bias towards action.”
“You’d rather show someone a working proof-of-concept on their own deliverable today than present a polished deck about what’s theoretically possible next quarter,” reads the job post.
Still, the skills the ideal candidate would have are human-centric. These include:
Being an exceptional coach and communicator.
Being able to meet people wherever they are.
Being able to create desire for progress, adapting approaches to each person.
Having a track record of coaching, teaching, or enabling others — formally or informally
What’s more, professor of London School of Economics professor Luis Garicano believes the need for this role will extend beyond Stripe and its marketing team. “Every company is going to need this role,” he said.
And there are other novel careers AI is introducing to the landscape that will be in demand in the coming years.
Beyond prompt engineering
Some new in-demand roles resulting from the AI boom include:
Chief AI Ethics Officer and AI Ethicist: As organizations integrate AI into their workflows, the ethical issues that arise will introduce ethical risks and complexities. For this reason, it’s important to have experts in the field to offer a guiding light on how to navigate this new terrain on issues such as AI bias and more in a way that remains very much human-centric. Deloitte writes this individual would have technical knowledge, regulatory knowledge, a business acumen, communication skills and the ability to work across organizational boundaries (5).
AI Emerging Risk Analyst: In another iteration of the risk assessment role, OpenAI posted a position for an AI Emerging Risk Analyst (6). The role requires the individual to “spot early warning signs, pull threads on potentially concerning behavior and turn weak signals into clear, prioritized risk calls.” The employee will also “design and maintain harm taxonomies that provide foresight and warning about how AI harms and misuse may manifest over the next 0-24 months and beyond.
Mis- and Disinformation Analyst: It’s no secret that as AI improves, mis- and disinformation become increasingly more convincing. This flood of potentially misleading information also obscures any legitimate intelligence. Knowing how to sift through this info-sludge is critical and for this reason, a Mis- and Disinformation Analysts (7) will be in demand.
You May Also Like
Join 250,000+ readers and get Moneywise’s best stories and exclusive interviews first — clear insights curated and delivered weekly. Subscribe now.
Article Sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our ethics and guidelines.
Stripe (1); X (2); Business Insider (3), (4); Deloitte (5); OpenAI (6); Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (7)
This article originally appeared on Moneywise.com under the title: Stripe just created a new role for the AI era and will pay up to $198K a year for a ‘forward deployed AI accelerator’
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
