How AI may reshape high-skilled corporate work - is the future part-time?

As AI weaves itself deeper into the fabric of our work lives, it's doing more than just automating tasks, it’s changing the nature of what it means to be employed.

We often hear about jobs being "replaced" by AI, especially those involving repetitive or predictable tasks. But what if the shift is subtler than mass layoffs or dramatic career pivots? What if AI’s most transformative effect is in resizing and reshaping the jobs we already have?

This is a trend that we picked up in via our recent research project considering the use of AI in corporate environments (we formed three blogs looking at the use of AI in hiring, training and in enhancing productivity)… It was also raised at our launch event for the research, hosted at our office in Notting Hill in late March. 

Anyway, back to it! 

From doers to strategists

One trend that’s becoming clearer is the elevation of human workers into more strategic roles. As AI systems become more capable - handling everything from spreadsheet reconciliation to customer segmentation - human employees are being repositioned as orchestrators. Their value lies not in execution, but in judgment: deciding how to deploy AI, what tools to trust, and when to intervene.

This shift, while empowering, introduces a paradox: strategy cannot be sustained endlessly. People need mental breaks, routine, and immersion in the details to make informed decisions. If the “grunt work” is fully automated, do strategists risk becoming detached? Can effective leadership be exercised from a purely high-level vantage point?

The FTE compression effect

Here’s where things could get interesting. As roles become more efficient, the time required to fulfill them shrinks. A job that once filled 40 hours a week may now take 20, particularly possible in domains like finance, customer success, marketing ops, or software QA, where repeatable workflows are ripe for automation.

This introduces a conundrum: will companies continue to pay for full-time talent when much of their week could be considered “idle” or non-essential? Or will the concept of full-time employment begin to fragment?

A new normal: the fractional expert

We're already seeing signs of an emerging alternative. Highly skilled professionals- marketers, finance leads, engineers, strategists- are working fractionally across multiple organisations, often on high-impact projects that require deep domain knowledge but not continuous presence.

Fractional work isn’t new, but the growing influence of AI might accelerate its normalisation. When tools can handle the mechanics, organisations become more willing to share expertise, treating top-tier talent like consultants embedded across portfolios.

Ironically, early predictions of AI replacing consultants may have got the direction right but the subject wrong. It may not be consulting that disappears, but employment in its traditional form. 

Sector-specific impact

This evolution won’t hit all sectors or functions equally.

Variation by function:

We have mentioned fields where tasks are structured, repeatable, and rule-based being more susceptible - finance, support, sales ops, engineering. Creative and relational roles may be more resistant, at least for now, since context and nuance remain harder to automate.

Given that there is much chatter around content creation being ‘solved’, we thought to flesh out what we mean by ‘creative’ in the context above. 

Although AI is capable of generating content, from text to images to music, it still struggles with intentionality, taste, and original context.

In creative fields, like branding, copywriting, product design, storytelling, or art direction, nuance matters. The best ideas aren’t just outputs, but reflections of culture, timing, emotion, and human insight. While AI can assist and augment the creative process, most organisations still want a person behind the final call, especially in high-stakes or brand-sensitive work.

Moreover, creative professionals often draw from lived experience, experimentation, and unique perspective- qualities not easily replicated by pattern-based systems. So while creative functions may shift, they are less likely to be compressed to half-time roles or replaced outright.

Variation by sector:

While AI’s influence is undeniable across nearly every industry, the magnitude and nature of the impact will vary significantly by sector. The degree of automation, risk tolerance, regulatory complexity, and reliance on physical infrastructure all play key roles in shaping how industries evolve.

What determines a sector’s exposure? A few factors:

• The predictability of workflows

• The digitisation of the function

• Regulatory requirements for human oversight

• The importance of interpersonal or client-facing work

For example:

• Technology and SaaS companies are among the first to embrace AI-enhanced workflows, largely because their products, teams, and cultures are already digitally native. These companies are often early adopters of fractional talent, especially in areas like engineering, growth, and product strategy.

• Financial services, while highly automated in certain back-office functions (like compliance, reconciliation, or reporting), still operate under heavy regulatory scrutiny. This creates tension: AI offers efficiency, but full automation may be constrained by the need for auditable, human-in-the-loop processes.

• Healthcare is slower to adopt wholesale automation due to patient safety, ethical concerns, and legal requirements. However, non-clinical roles, like billing, scheduling, or data entry, are increasingly becoming more streamlined with AI assistance. Clinical strategists or fractional advisors may emerge in areas like diagnostics, treatment planning, and hospital operations.

• Manufacturing and logistics are seeing significant transformation through AI, especially in predictive maintenance, supply chain optimisation, and robotics. However, the need for on-site presence in many roles makes full-fractionalisation less likely, at least for now.

• Legal and consulting services face both opportunity and disruption. Document review, precedent analysis, and even contract generation are being automated, pushing lawyers and consultants to focus on bespoke, high-stakes decision-making. This may actually strengthen the case for project-based, fractional models at senior levels.

• Education is in flux. AI tutors, grading assistants, and adaptive content platforms are changing how institutions scale learning. Yet the relational, human aspect of education, particularly in younger age groups, means the teacher’s role is evolving rather than disappearing. However, there’s a growing market for subject-matter experts offering niche, AI-enabled curriculum design or learning analytics support across institutions.

Organisational friction points

Of course, this transition won’t be seamless.

• Monitoring and accountability: With fractional or freelance strategists, who owns risk if something goes wrong? Will smaller monitoring squads emerge to audit and flag issues AI might miss?

• Team cohesion and turnover: High churn could become the norm, and commitment to internal systems or culture may erode if people are no longer fully “inside” any one company.

• B2B perceptions: If AI handles most of the work behind the scenes, how will clients feel about pricing models? Will buyers push back on paying premium fees when human involvement appears minimal?

New roles for a new era

We often hear about “prompt engineers,” but the broader ecosystem is still taking shape. Likely roles include:

• AI auditors: Ensuring outputs meet compliance, safety, and accuracy thresholds.

• Reliability and ops experts: Focused on debugging models and maintaining system integrity.

• Contextual translators: Bridging business strategy with AI capability- part product manager, part strategist, part ethicist.

Rethinking the work week

If jobs are shrinking in scope, what replaces the standard workday? Do we see people working shorter hours daily, or concentrating their efforts into a few intense days per week? Do organisations start compensating by output rather than time?

We don’t have all the answers, but the questions point to a world where work is more fluid, more flexible, and in many cases, more fragmented. 

---

🌍 Global Talent Marketplaces (Freelance & Project-Based)

1. Upwork: global marketplace connecting businesses with freelancers across virtually every skill set.

   
   

2. Fiverr: Quick-access freelance talent for digital services across design, writing, video, marketing, and tech.

   
   

3. Toptal: Elite network of top 3% freelancers; mainly engineers, designers, and finance experts.

   
   

4. Twine: Freelance marketplace focused on creatives, marketers, and tech professionals.

   
   

5. Pangea: Helps startups find top-tier freelance marketers and designers using AI-powered matching.

🚀 Fractional & Executive-Level Talent Platforms

1. Shiny: Specialised in placing fractional C-level executives with startups for 5–25 hours/week.

   
   

2. Go Fractional: Fractional executive hiring within 48 hours—emphasizes strategic leadership roles.

   
   

3. Hyrproz: Talent marketplace for high-impact, fractional work—focused on senior talent.

   
   

4. Fractional Jobs: Dedicated job board for fractional roles—retainer-style engagements across industries.

   
   

5. Activated Scale: US-based platform for fractional and full-time sales talent, tailored for startups.

🇪🇸 European & Vertical-Specific Platforms

1. Shakers (Spain): Curated talent platform focused on the future of work, connecting tech and digital professionals with flexible, project-based roles across innovative European companies.

   
   

2. Passionfruit (UK): Built specifically for startups and scaleups to access vetted freelance marketing talent, from growth experts to brand strategists, on a fractional basis.

   
   

3. The Starters (UK): Freelancer platform that focuses on marketing and creative strategy talent for fast-growing brands.

   
   

4. Studaro (NED): Built for students to connect with corporates for fractional and project-based work, providing good value for money for companies and good work opportunities for students.

   
   

5. Huzzle (UK/Ger): Provides cost-efficient access to sales expertise from a range of geographies.