AI Roles Decoded
AI job titles multiply faster than anyone can define them, and the same title means different work at different companies. This four-part series reads roles by their verbs instead: frame, build, integrate, evaluate, operate and govern, and the work products each leaves for someone else to check. Part 1 sets out the method and decodes eight common titles, Part 2 applies it to the developer, tester, architect, analyst, operations and product owner roles you already have, Part 3 builds learning paths around it, and Part 4 turns it into work-sample interviews with anchored scoring and an outline of the Employment Equity Act and POPIA duties that apply to assessing applicants. No emerging title is treated as an industry standard. It follows Sabie Systems, a fictional Pretoria software and data services company with eleven AI job ads it could not tell apart; its roles and figures are illustrative. Legal references were checked on 31 October 2026.
4 articles
- Part 1AI roles decoded: read the verbs, not the titleAI engineer, agent engineer, AI architect, evaluation engineer: the titles multiply faster than anyone can define them. Part 1 sets out a simple method for reading any AI role by the work it performs and the evidence it leaves, and shows how one company turned eleven confusing job ads into five roles it could actually hire for.8 min read
- Part 2Engineering roles are defined by outcomes, not toolsWhen coding agents arrive, every engineer asks whether their job is changing. The useful answer is not about tools. Part 2 shows, role by role, which outcomes stay the same, which activities move to agents, and what new evidence each role now owes, because accountability does not move.7 min read
- Part 3Learning paths by role, not by toolMost AI training budgets buy tool courses and certificates. People finish them, and the work barely changes. Part 3 shows how to build learning paths around the verbs a role performs, with one shared foundation, four paths and a work product at the end of each, plus a 90-day plan and an honest place for vendor certifications.8 min read
- Part 4Hire on evidence: interviewing for AI-era rolesTake-home tests now measure access to AI, and trivia about model names measures memory of facts that change monthly. Part 4 shows how to interview against the verbs in a role profile, with work samples, a stated rule on AI use, anchored scoring and a decision record, and outlines the legal duties that apply to assessing applicants in South Africa.8 min read
Working through any of this in your own organisation?
These articles come out of delivery work rather than theory. If the problems in this series look familiar, a short scoping conversation is usually the quickest way to work out what is worth doing first.
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