Most companies don't need another AI vendor. They need one person, on the payroll, who can actually build the thing. CAO Partners finds and assesses AI operators for Australian businesses — then places them as employees, not consultants.
No retainers. No consulting scope. Based in Brisbane, hiring Australia-wide.
The problem
The skill is roughly three years old. There is no degree for it, no certification worth trusting, and the best operators are frequently self-taught — which makes a conventional keyword-matched CV search close to useless.
Someone who has shipped a working AI system and someone who has read about them describe themselves identically on paper. The difference only surfaces in a structured conversation.
The same capability sits under "automation lead", "AI engineer", "ops manager" or no title at all. Searching by title filters out most of the market.
Agencies and consultancies are incentivised to retain the knowledge. Every engagement that ends takes the capability with it.
What we place
We recruit for what we call the Chief Agent Officer function — the person responsible for identifying where AI creates leverage in a business, then building and running the systems that deliver it. Depending on the size of the business that sits at anywhere from a hands-on operator to an executive hire.
In practice, the work looks like automating sales follow-up, reconciling finance data, triaging support, generating internal reporting, and removing the manual handling that quietly consumes a team's week. It is operational, measurable and owned by an employee who is accountable for the outcome.
How it works
We map where AI should create leverage first in your business, and what the role genuinely needs to solve. That defines the brief.
We search our assessed talent pool. Every candidate has been interviewed and scored against a consistent rubric before they reach you.
You receive vetted operators matched to your brief, ready to interview — with the reasoning behind each match.
Questions
AI recruitment is the sourcing and assessment of people who can build, deploy and operate artificial intelligence systems inside a business. It differs from general technology recruitment because the capability is new and largely self-taught, so a candidate's track record of shipped, working AI systems matters more than formal credentials.
Every candidate goes through a structured interview that is recorded, transcribed and scored against a defined rubric covering practical AI capability, business judgement and communication. Scores are stored against the candidate record, so a shortlist reflects consistent assessment rather than a recruiter's impression on the day.
Yes. We are based in Milton, Brisbane and recruit across Australia — including Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Canberra — for on-site, hybrid and remote roles.
Recruitment. We place a person who is employed by your business. There is no ongoing consulting scope and no retainer, so the capability stays in-house rather than leaving when an engagement ends.
Any business with enough repetitive operational work to justify a dedicated hire. Smaller companies typically start with one operator across the whole business; larger ones scope the role to a single function such as sales, finance or support.
Tell us where AI should create leverage first. We'll run a discovery call and come back with a shortlist.