AI and Emerging Roles
- Lisa Askins
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
A practical guide for navigation.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been writing about how work is changing.
One of the questions I hear most often is:
“What roles are actually emerging because of AI?”
Not in theory.
In practice.
Here are a few patterns I’m seeing:
1. Roles that sit between systems and people
As AI becomes part of how work gets done, there’s growing demand for people who can:
understand how systems operate
interpret outputs
connect that back to teams and decisions
These roles don’t always have consistent titles yet.
They often show up as:
Operations
Program leadership
Transformation roles
2. Roles focused on oversight, risk, and accountability
As systems become more complex, organizations are paying more attention to:
governance
risk management
compliance
decision accountability
This includes:
AI-related risk
data handling
system integrity
3. Roles that align work across functions
AI doesn’t live in one department.
It cuts across:
product
operations
customer
finance
Which means there’s growing demand for people who can:
align teams
connect systems
ensure execution works across the whole organization
4. Roles that don’t have clear names yet
This is the part that makes career navigation harder.
The work is real.The titles are still forming.
Which is why many people feel like:
“My experience doesn’t quite fit anything.”
Often, it does.
It just doesn’t map cleanly to a single title yet.
The question then becomes:
How do you actually prepare for or move into this kind of work?
A few practical ways to start navigating this:
Identify where this work already exists around you
Look at your current organization.
Where are people connecting systems, aligning teams, or translating outputs into decisions?
That’s often where these roles are forming.
Follow the risk
As systems evolve, new risks emerge around data, decisions, and accountability.
Organizations tend to invest quickly in areas where risk is unclear or increasing.
Pay attention to where questions are being asked, where oversight is needed, and where decisions feel high-stakes.That’s often where new roles take shape.
In many technology organizations, there’s an assumption that this work will sit under security or the CISO.
In practice, much of this risk is distributed across the business.
It shows up in:
– operations (process and execution risk)
– product (customer impact and system behavior)
– finance (controls and accountability)
– program and transformation work (alignment and implementation)
Which means these roles are often embedded across teams, not centralized in one function.
You’ll also start to see that different areas of the business signal this kind of work in different ways. Sometimes that’s through certifications tied to controls, risk, or program execution.
Other times, it’s demonstrated through experience leading cross-functional work and owning outcomes across systems.
The key is understanding what kind of risk you’re closest to, and how that’s recognized within your organization.
Focus on capabilities, not titles
Skills still matter, but what’s more important is how those skills show up in real work.
Things like:
– translating complex information
– aligning cross-functional work
– operating across systems
Build visibility through how you communicate your work
When roles aren’t clearly defined, positioning becomes more important.
Being able to describe how your work impacts outcomes, not just tasks, helps others understand where you fit.
This is part of what’s making the job market feel more complex.
And why career navigation today is less about finding the right title……and more about understanding how your capabilities show up in evolving roles.
Let’s talk. You don’t have to navigate changing work environments alone. If you’re exploring what comes next, trying to better position your experience, or looking for more clarity about where you fit in a changing market, I’d be happy to connect.