AI Hiring
Hiring for Agentic AI: Define the Boundaries First
Identify the engineering and operational experience needed for AI agents that use tools, take actions and work within clear limits.
In this article
Define which actions are allowed
Start by describing the workflow and the actions an agent may take. Reading a document is different from updating a customer record or initiating a payment. Specify which actions require approval, what should happen when the agent is uncertain and who owns recovery. This gives the hiring team a concrete way to discuss responsibility instead of connecting with an ambiguous agent expert.
Choose the experience the workflow needs
An agentic AI engineer may build reasoning and tool-use flows; an AI software engineer may concentrate on integration and application behaviour. An orchestration specialist may coordinate multiple components, while platform engineers support their operation. These responsibilities can overlap. Establish whether the immediate gap is model behaviour, dependable software integration or the environment around the application.
Ask about failure and recovery
Explore a situation in which a tool timed out, returned unexpected information or completed only part of a task. Ask how the specialist traced the sequence, avoided repeating an action and escalated to a person. Discuss permission boundaries, testing and logs in the context of what they actually owned. Relevant evidence can come from reliable workflow engineering as well as from an agent-labelled project.
Discuss a bounded scenario
For a fictional service-desk agent, ask how it would classify an enquiry, retrieve information and draft an update. Then introduce a failed tool call and an instruction requiring approval. Look for explicit limits, understandable hand-offs and a way to inspect what happened. Be cautious about treating a complex multi-agent design as inherently better than a simpler workflow.
Align the specialist requirement with your team
Identify the systems to connect, the actions permitted, the people providing oversight and the support available after launch. Agree who decides that the workflow is ready for wider use. Theseus can then align the specialist requirement on specialists whose software, AI and operational experience matches the work.
Find relevant specialist expertise
Theseus is your lifetime Data & AI resourcing partner. We take time to understand your priorities, the people around the role and the experience your next appointment needs.
Explore the relevant roles
For each engagement, clarify the scope, duration, working arrangements, agreed services and client dependencies. Plan access and handover so the knowledge gained stays with your team. Theseus focuses on UK resourcing and considers European and international requirements individually.
Put the requirement into practice
Build the capability you need.
Discuss your priorities, the experience you need and the team around the role with Theseus.
Discuss your requirement
