Do I hire an AI Product Partner, or grow one?
Usually grow one, from someone who already understands the work. The scarce half is judgment, not tools.
Grow one, in most cases. The role rewards range over pedigree: product judgment, enough technical fluency to tell commodity from advantage, real curiosity about how your scientists and operators work, and the humility to discover the original problem was the wrong one. The tool fluency is the easy half to teach. The judgment and the empathy are not.
So look first for someone who already knows a function well enough to see its friction, and whom people trust, then give them the AI fluency and the standing to act. Standing matters more than the reporting line. They need real authority across Permission, People, and Programs, not a seat buried in a backlog taking tickets.
Where do they sit? Close to the work, not off in a central lab. The whole point of the role is to live where capability meets the work, and to change how it happens.
The full role is on The AI Product Partner.
Cheers,
-Titus
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