At a recent panel hosted by Baringa, Salesforce, and Terranoha in Geneva, the message was clear: AI isn’t coming. It’s here.
And while the headlines focused on automation, augmentation, and agents, what stood out most to us was the human impact. Because behind every AI rollout is a hiring decision, a team restructure, or a skills gap waiting to be filled.
Here’s what we took away, with a talent lens:
AI agents don’t just automate, they change the rules of the game.
-
They scale operations without adding headcount.
-
They handle complex tasks 24/7 in environments too volatile for hardcoded rules.
-
But they don’t work alone.
Talent implication: You need fewer process-followers. You need more exception managers, data translators, and AI-literate business leaders who understand how to work with machines, not compete against them.
Humans + AI: A new working model.
-
Humans focus on innovation, judgment, and nuance.
-
AI handles context-based decisions and triggers autonomous actions.
-
AI isn’t RPA, it’s adaptive, but not perfect. Mistakes happen.
Talent implication: New roles are emerging. Think Prompt Engineers, AI Ops Leads, and Control Tower Analysts. But equally important, existing roles need reskilling. From trade support to scheduling, from middle office to risk ,AI fluency will become a core competency.
Culture eats AI strategy for breakfast.
-
Siloed data, Excel dependency, and change resistance are the real blockers.
-
Security and governance concerns are real, but solvable.
-
The firms moving fastest are those that start small, learn fast, and build momentum.
Talent implication: Your AI roadmap is only as strong as your people change plan. The hiring challenge isn’t just technical — it’s cultural. It’s about who leads transformation, who drives adoption, and who brings credibility to both business and tech teams.
The real message?
We’re not talking about hypotheticals anymore. AI is reshaping how commodity trading firms operate today. And the smartest firms are already reshaping their teams accordingly.
At Ocean Red, we’re seeing the shift up close, from platform vendors building embedded intelligence, to trading firms rethinking middle office roles, to SaaS vendors hiring AI-native product teams.
If you’re navigating these changes, whether hiring, reskilling, or just trying to plan ahead, let’s talk.