AI Is Creating New Jobs — Decision Designers, AI Experience Officers and Digital Ethics Advisors to Watch

As organizations accelerate AI adoption, new job categories are appearing that blend technical skills with human-centered design, ethics and organisational strategy. Experts say roles such as decision designer, AI experience officer and digital ethics advisor will shape how people and AI work together, keep humans in the loop for high-stakes outcomes, and build safety and trust into automated systems.

Why these roles are emerging

Early AI adoption often meant bolting tools onto existing jobs or repackaging engineering roles. Now, as firms move from pilots to production, companies need specialists who understand both human behaviour and AI systems — their strengths, failure modes and uncertainties. These roles focus on governance, human-AI collaboration, experience design and ethical safeguards.

Decision designer

Decision designers create the frameworks that govern algorithmic choices and ensure accountability as automation scales. When AI makes consequential calls — such as detecting fraud, approving loans or influencing credit scores — this role sits between models and outcomes to determine where human judgment should intervene and how decisions are audited and explained.

“This role would be a way to keep the human in the loop and at the center,” said Marinela Profi, global AI and generative AI market strategy lead at SAS.

Typical responsibilities include mapping decision workflows, defining escalation points, designing human review checkpoints, and collaborating with data scientists, product teams and compliance functions.

AI experience officer

Different from a chief AI officer focused on development and implementation, an AI experience officer is responsible for how AI behaves and feels in real human interactions. This role prioritises trust, empathy and ease of use in customer and employee touchpoints, translating company values into the day-to-day experience of AI systems.

“It shifts the conversation from, 'Are we using AI?' to 'How are people living and working with AI?'” said Marinela Profi.

Industries such as healthcare — where digital assistants interact directly with patients — and education — where AI can reshape learning and teaching — are likely early adopters of this role. Responsibilities include user research, conversational design, UX testing, and cross-functional governance to keep AI aligned with user needs and company values.

Digital ethics advisor

Building ethical, safe AI systems is complex and ongoing. Digital ethics advisors design safety systems, implement checkpoints and feedback loops, and monitor evolving standards and regulations. They help organisations anticipate harms, embed guardrails into deployments, and respond to incidents.

“Building ethical AI is messy and complicated,” said Shahab Samimi, CEO of Humanoid Global. “When you have machines interacting with humans, something is bound to go wrong. Companies need someone focused on safety.”

This role often liaises with legal, compliance, product and engineering teams and tracks standards bodies such as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and emerging regulatory guidance.

Putting people at the center of AI adoption

Experts emphasise that adopting AI is a workforce transformation, not just an IT project. Organisations should rethink workflows, management structures and skills development to integrate human oversight and design thinking alongside technical capability.

“Most don't yet realize the scale of what's coming and the changes we'll see to workflows, skill sets, and management structures. It's a complete reconfiguration,” said Sabari Raja, managing partner at JFFVentures.

As companies scale AI, these new roles can help ensure systems are effective, responsible and aligned with human needs — keeping people, not just models, central to the process.