Rise of the AI Operating Partner
Here is a recent set of Posts on my LinkedIn.
In my feed there's a new role in private equity that is getting some buzz: the AI Operating Partner. The big search firms are all writing about it, which tells you there's growing demand for the function. Heidrick calls it a strategic imperative. Korn Ferry calls it the newest portfolio value-creation role. ZRG says it's gone from experimental to essential. Acertitude reports a sharp rise in search requests — often from funds that already have a Tech Operating Partner.
Generalizing across them, this is what the role does:
Diligence — what is a target's data and AI upside worth
Value creation — find the margin AI can capture in each portfolio company
Prioritization — which use cases, in what order, across the portfolio
Playbooks — turn the first win into something the next five companies can run
In the middle market this role is also the partner to the portfolio CEOs. Helping them see around the corner, upskill the team, and find the early wins.
Is this just a transitional role, until deeper AI skill becomes a requirement for the CEO seat itself?
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To answer my own question: yes, I think the AI Operating Partner is a transitional role. As AI expertise grows inside an organization and leaders get to dig in and understand what's possible, most of what the role does will merge into existing roles, at least in the middle market.
What we'll see is AI process expertise becoming table stakes for each core business function, as work condenses to fewer, higher-performing orchestrators. These orchestrators will know their workflows and their tooling, and will adapt and integrate both to drive the organization forward. They have one advantage no outside expert can match: they own the specialized domain knowledge the tools are built on.
Some of the heavy-lift work AI Operating Partners are doing is one-time work, enabling the base AI tool infrastructure and knowledge. The tools and team will increasingly improve their own work from there.
The labs are building models that help design their own scaffolding and workflows. Every quarter, the enablement lift gets lighter.
None of this means the role isn't needed now.
Companies need to turn the biggest technological shift in a generation into their greatest lever for growth. The AI Operating Partner is one way to do that fast and now without waiting for the rest of the ecosystem.