How To Build An AI Team From Scratch

AI is transforming the way we work. Technologies are being developed that streamline processes, enhance decision-making, and expand organisations’ service offerings. However, turning AI excitement into real results requires substantial investment and planning.

Hiring internal AI experts has many advantages. An organisation that can actively build an AI team can drive AI initiatives and models that are effective and bespoke to their needs. In a competitive market, leveraging AI is how a business can maintain a strategic advantage.

What should a business do before they build an AI team?

Before hiring AI professionals, an organisation needs to undertake thorough preparation. Moving too quickly when building an AI team can lead to poor hiring decisions, failed projects, and costly mistakes. A 2025 study by MIT found that 95% of corporate AI initiatives fail to reach production or make an impact, often due to poor team composition. Therefore, careful planning when constructing an AI team can help a business increase their chances of implementation success.

Identify their AI vision and goals

First of all, an organisation should be clear about what they plan on using AI tools and technologies for and why. They need to determine what problems or pain points the technology can solve and what outcomes they are looking to achieve.

This will help direct projects and give the AI team a purpose, as well as shape who they will need to hire. Furthermore, by aligning the business goals with their objectives, they make it easier to measure the success of their AI team’s initiatives.

Set clear objectives

By formalising key success metrics for their AI team, an organisation can continuously evaluate if the team are meeting expectations or if they need to pivot. Clear objectives help to align team efforts towards a particular goal and reduce instances of scope creep in the project.

Invest in data

A company that hasn’t previously prioritised cleaning and optimising their data should do so before investing in AI. Data is the foundation for many AI projects; databases filled with unstructured data and an inadequate data infrastructure will only cause problems and significant delays for the AI team.

A company that is data-ready will see faster deployments and larger returns on their AI initiatives.

Signs a business is ready to build an AI team

Not all businesses are ready to invest in an in-house AI team. A company that is well poised to build an AI team will have:

• Executive support – having buy-in from the leadership team is vital
• Strong data infrastructure – an established history of building secure data governance and improving datasets
• A clear vision – understanding why they need an internal AI team and what the success criteria will be helps an organisation shape their teams with purpose

Before investing in their AI team, an organisation should ensure that they are in the best position to succeed.

How to build an AI team

Building an AI team takes extensive planning. Diving headfirst into hiring AI professionals without ensuring coherence across the team, or failing to fill crucial roles, is a recipe for disaster. In order to build an effective AI team, an organisation needs to:

Understand core technical roles

Depending on the size and requirements of the organisation, the skills and roles in their AI team will look different. However, vital skills and professionals include:

• Data engineers who ensure reliable data pipelines and inputs
• ML engineers who specialise in designing, building and deploying AI models
• Software engineers who can integrate the model into user-facing applications
• Software and AI testers who make sure models are not operating in harmful or unintended ways

Establish key support functions

Technical roles are not the only crucial positions within an AI team. Other important roles include:

• AI product managers who can align business goals and outcomes to AI models
• Business analysts who work between the AI team and others in the business
• Project managers who oversee the planning, execution and monitoring of AI projects

Additionally, for a business who is new to building an AI team or needing help with scaling it, engaging AI consultants can allow them to identify the exact skills and professionals their team needs.

Consider leadership positions

When building and scaling an AI team, it’s important to think carefully about seniority levels and leadership structure. At the start, responsibility for the AI team may be under CTOs or tech leads within the business, while projects are in the early stages of production or limited in scope.

However, as AI capabilities grow, so will the team and their responsibilities. When this happens, establishing defined leadership roles within the AI team not only improves focus and delivery but also ensures the team has the authority and vision needed to scale successfully.

Curate an attractive EVP

AI is a lucrative and competitive market. AI professionals are in high demand across organisations globally due to skills shortages, caused by the rapid development of AI, which has far outpaced traditional training and education.

This imbalance between supply and demand means that in order to build an AI team, an organisation needs to benchmark their compensation packages and make sure they are competitive if they want to attract the best.

A compelling Employee Value Proposition (EVP) encapsulates all the benefits and offerings an AI professional will receive when working at a particular organisation. Businesses should review these benefits to make them attractive to the talent they need. For example, high compensation, greater flexibility and continuous training opportunities can help an organisation secure great AI talent.

Prioritise adaptability and curiosity

When hiring AI professionals, a business should look at technical skills, soft skills, and personality.

Rather than hiring solely based on technical ability, a business should look for individuals who have passion, drive, and a willingness to keep up with the latest technological developments.

AI trends and technologies are evolving rapidly. The best AI professionals are consistently learning, adapting and are genuinely excited about the potential of AI.

An organisation may also benefit from upskilling current tech employees into AI roles, especially if they demonstrate the drive and ambition for it. These individuals already understand individual business operations, client needs, and internal culture, allowing them to transition into AI teams effectively. Furthermore, investing in internal talent not only reduces hiring risk but also boosts retention in companies.

Build an AI team that can scale

Scalability is very important when building an AI team, as the function needs to grow and adapt alongside the organisation. As the business evolves and priorities shift, the AI team must be able to match the changing needs of the company.

When hiring AI professionals, it’s important to prioritise individuals with a growth mindset and a desire to develop alongside the organisation. Focusing solely on technical ability is not enough, as personality and soft skills play a key role in building a scalable team.

By mapping out expected new projects over the next year or so, a business can begin planning the mix of permanent and contract AI professionals needed to support and scale the team. Proactive workforce strategies ensure that the AI team remains efficient and agile.

Hiring challenges with building an AI team

AI recruitment can be challenging for several reasons. If an organisation have not invested in AI previously, they may not have hands-on knowledge of the type of roles, skills and outcomes needed in an AI team. This can create limitations when trying to build an effective AI team or being able to assess AI professionals adequately.

Furthermore, AI professionals are in high demand but short in supply, this has raised AI salaries significantly, making recruitment much more challenging, with roles staying open for longer periods of time.

VIQU IT can support hiring for your AI team

AI specialist recruitment agencies have expertise in hiring AI talent, as well as networks of trusted candidates they can approach for roles. They can advise businesses on how to improve EVPs and employer brands to make them more attractive to AI talent. Through undertaking market mapping tasks they can benchmark offerings and help organisations secure the best.

For support in building your AI team, consider contacting VIQU IT. We have a number of specialist AI recruiters who can help you secure the very best talent. Click here to get in touch with our team today.