Will you be replaced by AI? - The impact of AI in the job market
Deep dive on how AI is reshaping the Job Market across the most “Nova” functions
Hey, we are Ramón Rodrigáñez and Andrea Marino, Co-Founders at Nova, the Global Top Talent Network.
Welcome to Talent First, our newsletter where those who believe that talent is the most important resource in the economy get together.
Every week, we cover a new topic related to attracting, hiring, developing, and retaining talent, as well as the learnings from our journey building Nova.
Summary:
The impact of AI in the job market - This week, we explore how entire job categories are shrinking, yet demand for new, higher-skill roles is surging. Based on the WEF Future of Jobs 2025 and some cool Deep Research we did on the topic, we analyze how AI is impacting jobs across most of the 9 functions where our members work (Sales, Marketing, Data, Product, Software, Legal, Strategy, Finance and Investments).
What leaders and talent teams need to do about it - Success in the AI era means proactively upskilling, redesigning roles, and closing the junior experience gap. Also, we discuss how being transparent about the impact and taking a proactive approach is the only way to avoid the feeling of “threat”.
1. The global job market in 2025
AI is reconfiguring the global economy. According to the World Economic Forum, 92 million jobs will be eliminated by 2030, while 170 million new ones will be created. That’s a net creation of 78 million roles, which is truly good news, but the speed at which this is happening will create big problems. Rather than widespread elimination, what we’re seeing is a radical shift in how work is done. AI is not replacing most roles, but it is changing them: Roughly 23% of jobs are transforming significantly.
And while it seems that only 5% of jobs can be fully automated as they are today, over 30% of tasks across most professions are automatable. That’s the heart of the story: task transformation, not total displacement.
We’re witnessing a seismic shift from "jobs of doing" to "jobs of directing." With AI, it’s not only that we are automating low-skilled jobs, it’s that the abundance of intelligence is changing dramatically how most white-collar individuals need to approach their day to day. We all need to basically raise the bar.
2. Two futures playing out simultaneously
Although we explain this trend as one, the reality is that AI has a very assymetric impact on jobs, which we can categorize in mainly 2:
Roles that will fade out and will be fully or partially automated
Roles that will remain but dramatically change in nature by being augmented with AI
Let’s explore briefly both of them.
2.1. The fade of the routine
Let’s talk first about the roles fading fast. The pattern is clear: jobs composed of rule-based, repetitive work are under siege.
Clerical roles—data entry, payroll clerks, admin assistants—are already disappearing. Retail roles like cashiers are being replaced by kiosks. Even some paralegal and junior financial analyst tasks are increasingly handled by AI, and we will see many more AI agents replacing full “junior white-collar” jobs.
In many cases, it’s not that companies want to reduce headcount—it’s that tech makes it possible to do the same job, faster, cheaper, and without human error.
Routine work is vulnerable precisely because it doesn’t require the very thing humans excel at: nuance.
As Gartner predicts, middle management is next. Not because we don’t need leadership, but because report reading, coordination, and data translation are things AI does instantly. Flattening hierarchies will thus not just a culture shift, but an AI-enabled shift.
2.2. The rise of the augmented role
If routine is being automated, then what's growing?
Creative, strategic, relationship-driven work.
Picture this: a salesperson uses AI to suggest next-best actions based on customer behavior. A marketing lead generates 20 ad variants with AI, then tests them in real time. A product manager gets user insights synthesized in seconds.
These aren’t jobs being replaced. They’re being amplified with a team of AI-agents at the fingertips of each individual in the organization.
For instance, in Finance, 58% of tasks are expected to be AI-augmented by 2025. That frees up time for forward-looking work: forecasting, scenario modeling, advising.
In law, attorneys are using AI to parse case law in seconds, leaving them more time to build arguments, talk to clients or simply serve more clients.
This shift doesn’t reduce the value of humans, it redefines it. Talent becomes less about memorization and more about judgment, storytelling, systems thinking, empathy. Goals and success definition remains a key task that will be (for now) left to humans.
Let’s explore how this transformation plays out across key functions where most of our Nova members work.
3. Impact across 8 of the main job functions within Novas
3.1. Sales: from cold calls to AI co-pilots
Jobs at Risk:
Telemarketers, retail clerks, and customer service agents are being replaced by AI voice agents and chatbots.
In retail, automated checkout systems are replacing human cashiers.
AI tools now handle many inbound customer queries and even outbound meeting generation.
Jobs being augmented:
Enterprise sales reps use AI-driven CRMs to analyze buyer behavior and prioritize outreach.
Sales managers rely on predictive analytics to forecast pipeline health.
Generative AI creates pitch decks, proposal templates, and product messaging.
Sales is becoming more strategic and consultative.
Top performers blend human touch with AI horsepower.
3.2. Marketing: execution shrinks, strategy soars
Jobs at risk:
Routine content roles (basic copywriting, editing, translation) are being automated by GPT models.
Graphic design for standard assets (banners, social posts) is often outsourced to generative image tools.
Media buyers are replaced by programmatic advertising platforms.
Jobs being augmented:
Content marketers use AI to ideate, test, and optimize campaigns at scale.
Marketing strategists deploy AI to segment audiences and personalize experiences.
Creative directors use AI as a brainstorming partner.
Marketing is shifting from execution-heavy to insight-driven. The creatives who can harness AI tools to tell human stories win.
3.3. Data: goodbye to cleaning, hello to curating
Jobs at risk:
Data entry clerks are declining rapidly due to automation tools like OCR and RPA.
Routine reporting and dashboarding are increasingly done by AI.
Junior analysts focused on basic queries are in less demand.
Jobs being augmented:
Data scientists are supercharged with AutoML and AI coding assistants - they turn into “ML Engineers” or “AI Engineers”, spending less time on models.
Data engineers use AI to manage pipelines and detect anomalies.
New roles like “Analytics Translators” bridge the business and tech gap.
The data function is exploding in strategic value and the days of manual Excel work are numbered!!
3.4. Product: from surveyors to synthesizers
Jobs at risk:
Market researchers doing basic surveys and user feedback analysis.
Product support agents replaced by AI-driven helpbots.
Jobs being augmented:
Product managers using AI to uncover latent user needs in qualitative feedback.
UX designers prototyping with generative AI tools.
AI- enabled Product Makers are emerging to ship full MVPs as if they were engineers.
AI is becoming embedded in every product lifecycle phase. Product teams must become AI-savvy collaborators.
3.5. Software: senior engineers stay, testers and junior go
Jobs at risk:
Entry-level developers and QA testers doing repetitive work.
Basic troubleshooting in IT support handled by virtual agents.
Jobs being augmented:
Engineers use AI coding tools like Cursor to boost productivity - 1 Sr. Engineer today can do what a team did
DevOps and SRE teams apply AIOps to monitor complex systems.
AI specialists like prompt engineers and model trainers are in demand.
Far from replacing developers, AI is enhancing their velocity. Software teams are leaner, faster, and more strategic.
3.6. Legal: from filing to foresight
Jobs at risk:
Paralegals and legal clerks doing document review or scheduling.
Legal secretaries and assistants who handle form-based tasks.
Junior roles who only generate content.
Jobs being augmented:
Lawyers using AI to research case law and draft briefs.
Compliance teams deploying AI to scan for regulatory risks.
AI is a turbocharged research assistant in law.
Human judgment still reigns, but AI removes the tedium.
3.7. Strategy: analysis is automated, insight isn’t
Jobs at risk:
Junior analysts and consultants who primarily prepare decks and models.
Middle managers whose main task is coordination and reporting.
Jobs being augmented:
Strategy leaders using AI for scenario analysis and forecasting.
Consultants focusing on synthesis, decision-making, and storytelling.
The best strategists are now insight synthesizers, not slide makers.
3.8. Finance and Investment: from processing to advising
Jobs at Risk:
Bookkeepers, bank clerks, and underwriters whose tasks are rules-based.
Basic investment advisors being replaced by robo-advisors.
Junior Finance and Investment roles who primarily prepare decks and models.
Jobs being augmented:
Finance professionals using AI to support strategic planning and budgeting.
Wealth managers leveraging AI insights to offer personalized advice.
CFOs gaining real-time dashboards powered by predictive algorithms.
In finance, AI is replacing rote calculation but empowering forward-looking analysis.
4. What it means for talent leaders
This wave of transformation is a golden opportunity, but also a big challenge.
Leaders need to rethink hiring, upskilling, and how they structure their teams.
4.1. Junior roles are vanishing: how do we ensure the future of the company?
Entry-level jobs have always been the training ground. They gave young professionals time to build intuition and skills through repetition. But what happens when those repetitive tasks are automated?
According to Deloitte, this is creating an "experience gap": early-career employees are expected to take on complex responsibilities faster, without the traditional ramp-up. As we said at the beginning, AI is raising the bar.
The challenge for leaders is thus to reimagine how learning happens. Rotational programs, shadowing, AI training or mentorship becomes mission-critical. Because without thoughtful onboarding into complexity, we risk not ensuring that we have the talent pipeline the company needs.
4.2. Upskilling with AI is everyone’s job now
Across sectors—from marketing to legal to product—one theme repeats: people must learn to work with AI. Not just technically, but strategically.
The fastest-growing roles aren’t necessarily new. They’re existing roles with an AI layer: AI-enhanced designers, data-informed marketers, finance professionals with predictive modeling skills.
This means training is no longer a “nice to have” HR initiative. It’s a core strategy.
Forward-thinking orgs are embedding AI fluency into every function. They’re not asking: “Should we teach the team about AI?” They’re asking: “How do we make AI part of how this team thinks?”.
4.3. Augmentation isn’t optional: it’s also talent magnet
Here’s the kicker: top talent increasingly expects to work with AI.
They don’t want to spend time cleaning spreadsheets or reformatting slides. They want to solve problems, influence strategy, move fast.
Companies that provide those opportunities—by automating the low-level work and empowering people to do the high-level stuff—aren’t just more productive. They’re more attractive to top performers.
We just hired a Head of AI at Nova, and just by having this person in the team and this focus as an organization makes us 2x more alluring to work for.
4.4. From threat to toolkit: how to talk about AI at work
In all this change, one thing becomes clear: AI is only scary if you pretend it’s not happening.
The most successful leaders are proactive. They don’t position AI as a cost-cutting tool—they frame it as a creativity multiplier. They don’t hide the risks, but they pair them with a vision for how talent can grow. Read the memo by the CEO of Shopify if you haven’t: AI is mandatory for all employees.
Some messaging that’s resonating:
“We’re not replacing people with AI. We’re giving people superpowers with AI.”
“If it’s boring, repetitive, and rule-based, let’s automate it. If it’s strategic, creative, and human, let’s invest in it and augment it with AI”
“You’re not being evaluated on what the AI can do. You’re being evaluated on what you do with it.”
The companies that win in the AI era won’t just have better tech. They’ll have better talent narratives.
AI doesn’t replace culture. In fact, it develops a stronger culture: one that values adaptability, curiosity, and tech-human synergy.
At Nova, for instance, we are working now with all our teams and individual contributors to see how we can become an AI-first company. We will tell you more about it soon.
More about the topic
If you want to read more about this:
Download the “Future of Jobs Report 2025” from the World Economic Forum
Download the “Impact of AI in Jobs Report 2025” we did on the topic (using Deep Research of course!) with insights from many other sources.
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