Job Titles Don’t Explain Work. Tasks Do.
👉 AI is changing the task mix inside every role, which means hiring needs to shift from job labels to task clarity.
Traditional job descriptions bundle dozens of activities under a single title. But in reality, people don’t perform “jobs”; they perform tasks, each with its own complexity, frequency, and value.
This is why the future of hiring and team design is shifting from job-centred thinking to task-centred work design.
Let's look into the QA role to dive deeper into what it means.
1️⃣ Tasks with high AI capability overlap.
These are tasks where today’s systems already perform strongly.
In QA, this includes:
• generating and expanding test cases
• running large-scale regression suites
• detecting repetitive or known issue patterns
• producing structured logs and summaries
2️⃣ Tasks in the human, AI collaboration zone.
These are tasks where humans and AI each contribute in different ways.
In QA, this is where the real transformation is happening:
• interpreting which flagged failures truly affect users
• reviewing and correcting AI-generated test logic
• prioritising defects based on context and business risk
• guiding automated systems toward more meaningful coverage
Automation speeds up the mechanics.
Human judgment shapes the outcome.
3️⃣ Tasks with low AI exposure, the distinctly human work.
These are tasks that rely on context, creativity, and nuanced understanding.
In QA, this means:
• exploratory testing driven by curiosity
• assessing the quality of user experience
• influencing release and product decisions
• identifying subtle inconsistencies that don’t match the product’s mental model
• bringing empathy into conversations about risk and customer impact
These tasks become increasingly important as automation expands around them.
𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙞𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙤𝙡𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙣?
Once you view work task-by-task, it becomes clear why many job descriptions no longer reflect reality.
A job ad centred on “manual test execution” simply doesn’t describe the modern role. That task category is now largely automated or augmented.
𝘈 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘘𝘈 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘴𝘦:
• orchestration of AI-supported test workflows
• analysis of complex signals and anomalies
• scenario design based on domain understanding
• cross-functional collaboration around quality strategy
• the ability to work fluidly across different task-exposure levels
It’s about aligning the role with how modern work is actually structured, task by task.
When we design roles this way, we attract people who can operate confidently in an environment where some tasks are automated, some are shared, and others rely on distinctly human strengths.
Inspired by MIT’s “Project Iceberg” report (2025), which analyses work at the task level and introduces new ways to measure AI–human capability overlap.