Via Tiago Forte

“The key role is the AI operator, which we define as the operationally-minded, process-minded person who is going to be the shepherd of AI coming into a business, defining the processes with the team, and running the execution of getting AI to start doing that work.”

— The High-Paying AI Job Nobody Knows About (Yet) ft. Rachel Woods, at 11:12

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Rachel Woods identifies three essential roles for AI adoption: the AI Visionary (executive-level strategy setter), the AI Implementer (technical person handling the “technical underpants”), and the AI Operator (process-minded shepherd of AI implementation).

• AI Operator is the bottleneck. While most companies focus on finding technical talent, the AI Operator role is actually the bottleneck. This person doesn’t need to be technical—they need to excel at breaking down complex workflows into clear, step-by-step processes that AI can execute.
• Don’t make the Technical Implementer the AI Operator. The most common pitfall Rachel sees is companies having their technical implementer also play the operator role: “Most likely your implementation person is going to be so in the technical weeds and details that they might miss out on the process.”

Why this matters: Companies that clearly define and staff the AI Operator role can implement AI 10x faster across their entire organization. This role acts as a “tiger team” that can move from department to department (marketing, sales, finance) applying the same AI operations methodology to different business functions.