Salesforce just created a role worth up to $216,000 that will shape the future of AI in the workforcegettyThe job didn’t exist before.But now that it’s been created, the future of the workforce depends on it. And it pays up to $216,000 a year.This is Salesforce’s job posting for a senior manager, AI and workforce intelligence — trust and infrastructure operations. The job title may sound complex, but what it really means is that you’re shaping the future of AI in hiring across a 5,000-strong organization. While this is a first for Salesforce, it is not the first or only role of its kind.(The role is live at the time of writing.)Employers spent the first few years of the AI boom experimenting with AI, adopting tools, and initiating mass rollouts and layoffs amid the excitement of the AI revolution.Now, these employers are realizing that implementing AI without having a solid people strategy is counterproductive. Plus, they’re seeing new regulations like those from New York and California that demand transparency around AI in hiring.So, companies have resorted to creating a new job title that can be summed up as AI workforce implementation leader.It’s not enough to heap the responsibility on HR execs. Companies are creating brand-new roles for this in-demand AI skill: augmenting, automating, and redesigning work.When we talk about AI creating new jobs, we often think about the rise in blue-collar work associated with data centers, AI-augmented jobs like AI software engineers and product leads, or roles at AI start-ups. But this new AI job may be the most critical development of all, because this type of role is exactly what will shape the future of work in this new AI era, and will have a lasting impact on an organization, its employees, leadership and hiring pipelines, and the roles that will define society in the next 10 years.What Companies Are Hiring Now For This $200,000+ AI Job?Other companies hiring for this role include:Under ArmourUnder Armour recently listed a job posting for the role of director, workforce architecture, with the advertised salary range of $165,000 to $220,000, which requires, amongst other things:12+ years of experience in HR strategy, workforce planning, org design, or consulting.Experience in organization effectiveness, organizational development, organizational design, transformation, workforce planning, operating model design, and/or human resources.Experience in product management, applied AI, or technical solutions is an advantage.Experience building things with AI: you have used LLM APIs, prompt engineering, agent frameworks, and AI-native tools to create working prototypes without heavy engineering support.(The job bullet points listed above and in the other roles below are taken directly from the job posting page, which is live at the time of writing.)UnitedHealth GroupThe health insurance and healthcare company is hiring for a remote role — senior director, enterprise AI modernization and workforce strategy — with a salary band up to $273,000 annually.In addition to asking for skills like enterprise and systems thinking, strategic foresight and workforce intelligence, curiosity and continuous learning agility, executive influence and storytelling, and AI fluency and future-of-work expertise, they require a candidate who holds:15+ years of leadership experience in workforce strategy, strategic workforce planning, organizational reimagination, consulting, HR strategy, or enterprise strategyExperience building enterprise frameworks, operating models, and strategic planning capabilitiesSolid understanding of AI, automation, workforce modernization, and the future of workDemonstrated success leading enterprise-wide workforce planning or workforce reimagination initiatives within large, matrixed organizationsMedtronicMedtronic is also hiring for a similar role, which, although it doesn’t come with a senior leadership title, sounds quite futuristic: work and workforce evolution consultant.The salary range is $145,600 to $218,400 and requires 10 or more years of relevant experience. If you’re considering applying, Medtronic posted the job on August 23, and it closes August 30.The role description, requirements, and responsibilities sit very close to a senior HRBP role, with the major exception being that they require the post-holder to be AI-forward:Demonstrate practical application of AI tools to improve productivity, analysis, content development, and project delivery.Explore emerging AI capabilities and assess opportunities to apply them to workforce and work design challenges.Help identify and scale successful examples of Human-Led, AI-Forward Work across the enterprise.This might be the new expectation for HRBPs and senior HR professionals anyway. In fact, I see this as an ironic redesign of the traditional HR role itself.Organizational redesign, reimagining work with AI, and reskilling and redeployment strategies are competencies that large legacy employers are hiring for right nowgettyWhy Are Companies Paying $200,000+ For This AI Job?But why the high salaries?Roles like these, upon which weighty legacy consequences depend, and which shape an entire organization and redefine its direction at scale, come with considerable pressure, scope, and responsibility. These jobs demand experts who are not only fluent in workforce transformation and HR policy but also are passionate about, and experienced in, using AI to redesign and reimagine work.That’s a tall order, especially since we are still in the early days of AI implementation.But companies are willing to pay the price.Do you think you’d qualify for a role like this?How To Qualify For This High-Paying AI JobHere are some questions to ask yourself:Do I have experience implementing workforce transformation, planning, and organizational design at scale?Do I already know how to identify the most efficient AI use cases that deliver long-term value to an organization?What are the tangible metrics of success as a result?How do I already think about measuring productivity, workforce value, and skills value? Where have I held ownership of defining these success metrics in the past?Where have I held budgetary control for, or led, AI investments related to workforce and hiring decisions, including determining how and where employees should be reskilled, redeployed, or replaced?Do I hold strong executive influence across senior stakeholders? Can I lead decision-making and gain buy-in even without a direct line of authority?If you can answer yes to these questions and point to specific examples of these competencies in practice, you might be just what these conglomerates and multinational companies need right now.