Why Kyndryl introduced a new AI role

There’s a new kid on the already-busy AI block.

IT infrastructure services provider Kyndryl is experimenting with a new role to help humans and AI operate better together.

Introducing the HSA. The gig (which is unique to Kyndryl) is known as a human systems architect (HSA). Kyndryl describes this professional as responsible for designing “the collaboration layer between people and AI agents as a system is being created.”

Maria Hatherell, Kyndryl’s first HSA, said the company saw a need for the new role when it noticed clients struggling to successfully launch AI initiatives due to the complexities associated with operational integration.

“The execs all understand that they need to adopt AI [and that] they need to embed it into their business,” Hatherell said. “However, the question of how people will actually work with AI and work alongside AI gets addressed much later.”

Hatherell works alongside Kyndryl’s forward-deployed engineers (FDEs) and consultant partners. Part of her job entails documenting human processes occurring in the enterprise to later feed to AI.

“A lot of the processes that are on paper are not 100% the process that happens in real life,” Hatherell said. “Humans will do a lot of other additional checks that are not recorded anywhere.”

She added HSAs are also responsible for creating human-agent collaboration models and redesigning roles so that they can work better alongside AI.

“They’ll be the ones who clarify decision rights, autonomy boundaries, which means where the agent can operate autonomously, where the human needs to retain oversight,” Hatherell said.

Welcome to the club. The HSA is one of many new roles that have emerged as a result of AI. IT Brew previously reported on the rise of the chief AI officer, FDE, and AI orchestrator roles.

Breakout role? IT Brew caught up with a couple of career experts to discuss whether or not the HSA role will be the next breakout AI role. JC Christian, president of executive recruiting firm Christian & Timbers, told IT Brew the HSA position’s focus on change management overlaps with a significant aspect of the FDE role.

“To me, [HSA] actually isn’t that new. It sounds cool and I think it’s a rebranding of what has already existed,” Christian said. “It doesn’t change the game that much.”

However, Hatherell said the HSA role differs from the FDE position in that the latter typically take a solely technical approach when working with customers.

“It’s very unlikely that FDEs, or forward-deployed engineers, will actually sit with the humans and understand grandly what they do at each stage of the journey, and part of the human system architect is to do just that,” Hatherell said.

Gregory Summers, CEO of recruitment firm Orion Talent, also told IT Brew that the HSA position sounded similar to previous roles in the industry, with an added responsibility of “understanding who actually makes decisions” when it comes to AI. Despite its similarities, Summers said the role is likely to gain traction as it helps to address some of the nervousness around AI displacing jobs: “I think that’s why a role like this in its current construct actually is very useful.”

So far, so good. So far, Hatherell said the HSA has received positive feedback from clients. Kyndryl currently has HSAs in five different markets, with plans to expand.

“We are already looking at expanding the role,” Hatherell said. “First, we will train internal people who are suitable for this role, but we will also look outside the market to hire into this role very soon.”