[SINGAPORE] It has been an active market for global roles in the area of artificial intelligence (AI), with several top-level appointments being reported in recent months.
Akshay Mendon, Singapore head for executive search firm EMA Partners, said: “While tech-enabled businesses were first to the post, we are seeing a huge surge in demand (for AI-related jobs) from traditional companies in product manufacturing and energy and logistics.”
Top-level AI-related appointments in the last couple of months include in-flight caterer Sats’ appointment of Sandeep Sakharkar as chief digital officer in May.
The position is a newly established one in Sats, which said in a statement: “The role of the chief digital officer in Sats is to lead the development and execution of Sats’ digital strategy.”
The chief digital officer there is also expected to ensure a seamless integration of advanced data analytics, automation, AI and operational excellence into the company’s global operations, said the company’s spokesperson.
Cheng Wan Hua, head of talent analytics for South-east Asia at professional service firm Aon, noted that the demand for AI-related services is more pronounced in financial services, professional services, logistics, and healthcare.
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She added: “We are expecting a majority of Asia-Pacific organisations to now have roles requiring AI skills, departing from the traditional belief that these roles are primarily in the data science and engineering space.”
These regional or global senior-level appointments come as no surprise. Globally, firms have been announcing senior hires in this area. Semiconductor giant Intel and cosmetics company Estee Lauder are among the latest to set up new leadership positions in AI and digital transformation; even the White House has ordered federal agencies to name chief AI officers.
Another recent appointment in this area was made at Standard Chartered, which announced on Monday (Jun 2) the appointment of Yusuf Demiral as global head in the wealth and retail banking data, analytics and AI department.
Demiral, in this newly created role, will lead the scaling up of the bank’s AI capabilities in the wealth and retail banking arenas, said the spokesperson.
In April, the bank announced the appointment of David Hardoon as global head of AI enablement, another newly created role.
The bank has also adopted SC GPT, a generative AI tool to enhance operations and productivity, and to tailor sales and marketing efforts to boost the bank’s revenue, said the spokesperson.
These appointments involve a global or regional focus over AI and digital operations, observers noted. Apart from the hirings, efforts are underway to build up specialist expertise in AI.
Mendon of EMA Partners said that at least half of the executive search firm’s client base, based in traditional sectors, have already set up an AI Centre of Excellence in the city-state, or are taking steps to do so.
Consulting firm Deloitte announced on Tuesday the launch of its Apac Agentic AI Centre of Excellence, which is to bring together more than 120 AI specialists from the Asia-Pacific and more than 6,000 practitioners from the region.
Agentic AI enables AI agents to work independently, coordinate workflows and learn and adapt over time, said Deloitte.
Deloitte is not the only consulting firm dipping its toes into agentic AI. On Wednesday, EY announced its agentic AI offering, EY Studio+.
A spokesperson for the professional-services firm said the studio, which works with clients from industries ranging from tourism and hospitality to healthcare, combines its organically grown EY businesses with 37 companies it acquired, which bring specialised skills in design, sales, marketing and customer-experience technology to the table.
Cheng from Aon predicted that agentic AI will be the trend in the foreseeable future. “Agentic AI will augment human roles, requiring new job architectures and performance metrics,” she said.
Despite the growth in demand for AI-related jobs across different industries, human-resource firms are wary of the risk of a bloated AI workforce.
Mendon said: “We have seen multiple examples of companies over-hiring based on uptrends.”
His advice: Hire first based on a few critical business-related AI use cases at a country or regional level, and then prudently hire headcount only after that.
Cheng concurred, saying: “Take measured steps, avoiding the extremes of over-centralisation or fragmented experimentation.
“Decisions should be made on the basis of available data such as market benchmarks or past evidence.”
She added that, AI-related experience aside, it is also important for job candidates to have relevant soft skills, such as being able to learn continually and handle changes.
She singled out critical thinking as one of the most important soft skills to possess: “There is a consequent necessity to evaluate the accuracy of AI-generated output and anticipate ethical implications.”
Mendon believes that having strong learning agility is essential to staying relevant in the workforce: “Professionals who can combine their AI knowledge with its application to enhance business cases, will be sought after in the coming years.”
