AI TRAINING
How to Hire Your First AI Person in an SME
Walk away with a role brief, interview kit, and 90-day plan to hire your first AI hire confidently.
What it covers
This one-day workshop guides founders and general managers through the end-to-end process of making a first AI hire in a small or mid-size business. Participants learn how to choose between AI ops, AI product, and fractional profiles; write a job description that attracts the right candidates; run a structured interview process with red-flag detection; and design a 90-day onboarding plan with clear reporting lines and budget framing. The format combines short input sessions with working group exercises so participants leave with draft artefacts ready to use.
What you'll be able to do
- Decide whether to hire an AI ops specialist, AI product manager, or engage a fractional AI lead — with a documented rationale
- Write a job description for an AI role that accurately reflects scope, seniority, and success metrics
- Run a structured two-round interview process using a ready-made scoring rubric
- Identify at least five concrete red flags during candidate screening and interviews
- Produce a 90-day onboarding plan with milestones, budget allocation, and a reporting line proposal
Topics covered
- Choosing the right AI role type: ops, product, or fractional
- Writing a job description that sets realistic expectations
- Structuring the interview process and scoring candidates
- Spotting red flags: over-promised skills and role mismatches
- Setting the reporting line and team integration model
- Defining a realistic budget for salary, tools, and experiments
- Designing a 90-day onboarding and success plan
- Measuring early value from your AI hire
Delivery
Delivered in person or virtually as a single full-day session. Participants receive a pre-work worksheet (current AI tool inventory and hiring constraints) to complete before the day. The session is roughly 40% instructor-led content and 60% structured exercises, including a live job-description drafting session and a mock interview roleplay. All templates — JD, interview scorecard, 90-day plan — are provided in editable format. Remote delivery uses breakout rooms for group exercises; in-person delivery works best with tables of 4.
What makes it work
- Agree on two or three concrete problems the AI hire must solve in their first quarter before posting the role
- Involve the future team lead in the interview process to assess cultural and workflow fit
- Allocate a dedicated tool and experimentation budget separate from the salary line
- Schedule a formal 30- and 60-day check-in with predefined success criteria
Common mistakes
- Hiring a senior AI engineer when an AI ops generalist or fractional lead would deliver faster value at lower cost
- Writing a JD that lists every AI buzzword, attracting consultants rather than operators
- Skipping the 90-day plan and leaving the new hire to self-define their scope, causing drift
- Underestimating tooling and compute budget, forcing the AI hire to work without adequate resources
When NOT to take this
This workshop is not the right fit if the company already has two or more AI practitioners on staff and needs to level up their technical capabilities — in that case a practitioner-level programme on MLOps or AI product management is more appropriate.
Providers to consider
Sources
This training is part of a Data & AI catalog built for leaders serious about execution. Take the free diagnostic to see which trainings your team needs.