AI has come a long way from being just a buzzword. These days, it’s playing a real role in how go-to-market strategies get shaped and how GTM teams get things done. At an individual level, AI is helping leaders speed up workflows and make smarter decisions. Whether it’s in sales, marketing, or customer success, AI is starting to show up in meaningful ways across the board.
But as the hype turns into everyday reality, a lot of GTM leaders are asking the same thing: Where does AI actually fit in my org? And how do I hire the right GTM talent to make it work?
Below, you'll find a practical framework to help you identify high-impact AI roles across your GTM org and build a hiring strategy that aligns with your growth goals.
1. Start With a Self-Assessment on AI Adoption
A main challenge with AI adoption in GTM organizations isn’t the technology itself, but the lack of clarity around where AI fits within the team. Without a clear understanding of how AI aligns with team (and company) priorities, it becomes increasingly difficult to define the right roles, responsibilities, and structures.
Your position on the product adoption curve will help inform:
- The AI readiness of your GTM team
- The types of AI skills you might need
- The type of roles and structure that make sense at this moment in your company
2. Define Your Company's "GTM Engineer"
Before jumping into hiring, it’s helpful to first clarify what type of AI leadership and expertise will best align with your team’s goals, existing workflows, and overall GTM strategy.
2 Emerging AI Roles in GTM Teams
- The AI Native Leader: A technical leader responsible for designing and managing AI-driven GTM infrastructure. Builds the engine behind outbound motions, integrating AI tools for prospecting, lead scoring, and market engagement.
Ideal for organizations investing in foundational AI infrastructure or launching AI-first sales motions. - The AI-Augmented Leader: A versatile commercial leader skilled in core GTM functions (Sales, Marketing, RevOps, or Customer Success) who actively leverages AI tools to boost their effectiveness, drive pipeline, close deals, etc.
Ideal for organizations focused on revenue efficiency and faster AI adoption within existing GTM workflows.
3 Questions To Help Determine Which Role You Need
Use these prompts to evaluate where your AI hiring priority should land:
- What business challenges are we looking to solve with AI in our GTM organization?
- What are the primary AI-related outcomes we want to achieve in the next 6–12 months?
- Which areas of our GTM motion would benefit most from AI right now? (Outbound motion, pipeline management, forecasting, customer insights, operational efficiency?)
3. Apply the Bar-to-Brand Barometer
Think about your perfect candidate for either the AI Native Leader, or AI-Augmented Leader. What is your “hiring bar” for their skills, education, prior company experience, and qualities?
Now, think about your company brand in relation to the market. Where would it fall on the product adoption curve? Do you have the brand and story to attract who your business needs?
The Bar-to-Brand barometer has a direct correlation on whether or not you will be successful in recruiting.
Filling the gap
You will have a gap, as top GTM players are in high demand. This is especially true for GTM talent with AI expertise.
But how do you fill the gap so you can achieve parity between your hiring bar and brand?
The art lies in nailing every layer to your value prop (more below) and understanding the total addressable candidate market.
4. Nail Your Value Proposition With a Layered Framework
Going hand-in-hand with a strong employer brand is a well-rounded value proposition that resonates with top talent. Structure your value proposition into three strategic layers starting from top–down: 1) Company impact, 2) GTM team impact, and 3) Role impact.
Develop precise and consistent talking points that are unique to your company across each layer, including why and how AI is critical to your business’s goals.
Layers To Your Value Proposition
COMPANY
- What does your company build, and how will it benefit the greater good/society?
- What is your total addressable market, and where are you on that journey?
- Who are your competitors, and why are you different or better?
- How will AI help you move faster and better toward the company vision?
TEAM
- What experiences do your investors and advisors bring to the table?
- What are the GTM team’s strengths and growth areas? Where do they need to go?
- What is the culture and appetite for risk and innovation versus quicker pragmatic solutions from the team?
ROLE
- What level of autonomy will there be in defining the AI strategy and roadmap?
- How will the company support the role in key areas (e.g., decision-making, moving fast, prototyping, resources, blocking & tackling, etc.)?
5. Identify Early Adopters to Drive AI Integration in GTM Teams
In past major technology eras, the companies and leaders who embraced an early-adopter mindset came out ahead and succeeded. Today is no different.
We’re entering a new era. One that’s evolving fast and reshaping how revenue teams operate. GTM leaders with early adopter traits are key to navigating this shift. These leaders help bridge the gap between AI strategy and execution.
6. Lead the AI Charge From the Top Down
"Get alignment at the leadership level first. Success with AI in GTM teams comes back to the human beings, the leadership, and the culture they build around AI. Leadership sets the tone on how AI works within the culture, rather than trying to replace culture with AI.”
PARTNER AND HEAD OF PLATFORM AT AN EARLY-STAGE VC FUND
Companies are embedding AI capability into their leadership hiring process, screening for specific qualities and experiences that signal readiness to lead in an AI-enabled market. Here are a few examples of how GTM leaders in our network are screening for and evaluating AI readiness in their leadership hires:
- Live prompt engineering: Ask candidates to build or refine a live AI prompt relevant to your business or GTM function (e.g., drafting a sales outreach email/plan or generation pipeline insights).
- Smart delegation of AI expertise: Strong leaders recognize where to lean on experts, product teams, or RevOps partners, and how to ask the right questions to make AI initiatives successful. Ask them to share a moment where they identified a capability gap or lack of expertise, and brought in the right people to get the job done.
- Avoid hot takes on AI: When screening for AI, avoid asking candidates about their personal takes on AI replacing functions overnight. Instead, ask about their pragmantic views on where AI drives value, or where it's overhyped.
Getting AI Hiring Right For GTM Teams
Whether you’re building your first AI-driven revenue role or scaling a full GTM team that will leverage AI, having a clear strategy—and the right talent—makes all the difference.
If you’re looking for experienced operators, builders, or strategic AI leaders to join your GTM organization, we can help. Our executive search team specializes in placing top-tier talent at the intersection of AI and revenue, helping companies hire the leader they need to drive their business forward.
