Courtesy of Jiaona Zhang
- Stanford lecturer Jiaona Zhang says every new grad should look for an "AI workflows" job.
- The role she described involves implementing AI-optimization strategies within companies.
- Zhang said the role is "the new Biz Ops."
Biz Ops jobs are so yesterday. Now, it's all about AI Ops.
Jiaona Zhang, the chief product officer for the AI time-keeping platform Laurel, which announced a $100 million Series C funding round last year, told Business Insider that though AI has been disrupting entry-level work, one role will become increasingly prevalent for new grads.
She calls it the "AI workflows" role.
The role involves identifying areas within an organization that could be optimized using AI, and then putting those changes into action.
Zhang, who's also an adjunct lecturer in product management at Stanford and has worked at WeWork, Airbnb, and Dropbox, said the AI workflows role can be done across every department in a company. In sales, for example, an employee could identify and build automation solutions for cold emailing and demo calls. Zhang said Laurel hired a new grad for this role, who went on to design an agent to serve as a personal chief of staff for the company's salespeople.
"He's the most celebrated person at this company," she said, adding that the company has since expanded their "AI Ops" team.
"I think every company should be hiring for this AI workflows role. It's the new Biz Ops," Zhang said, adding, "that's the role I'd really push every single new grad to be going into." Even though the role isn't all that common yet, she said graduates can create this role at the companies they work for.
If you work in sales, take the initiative to automate workflows using AI, she said. "Instead of being the single salesperson hitting your quota, you're able to scale your impact across the entire sales team."
She added: "If you could start proving to everyone in the world that you've saved a group of people this much time and you created this much leverage, that is the way to scream your worth to every employer out there."
Earlier this month, the CEO of the cloud company Box announced it was hiring for a similar-sounding role, called "AI business automation engineer," with a salary of up to $183,000. Box's CEO said on X at the time that the role is "akin to a forward-deployed engineer for internal functions," adding, "I expect most companies will have many flavors of this going forward."
Zhang's advice comes as AI transforms the way people work and undercuts many entry-level opportunities, leaving people across industries grappling with how to get ahead and how to AI-proof their jobs. Leaders from Jensen Huang to Scott Galloway have weighed in with their opinions on what kids should study and the skills people should build to remain employable.
Do you have a story to share about landing a hot AI job? Contact this reporter at ccheong@businessinsider.com
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