Goldman Sachs’ new hires will manage AI agents from day one

What Goldman is Changing

At Goldman Sachs, the first job title for a fresh hire may soon effectively be 'manager.' The catch is that the direct reports are software. Kevin Sneader, who heads the bank's Asia Pacific business, said new finance hires will oversee AI agents from the very start of their careers.

The Middle Manager Problem

The source reporting points directly to a reduced need for current middle managers. If a junior hire can assign work to an agent, review the output, and move on, some of that coordination layer becomes harder to justify.

The Training Risk

There is a training risk, though. Junior years have traditionally doubled as an apprenticeship. If agents do the grinding, juniors need another way to build that intuition. Supervising an AI's work is only useful if the supervisor knows what good work looks like.

The Future of Banking

The research on Goldman's strategy suggests the approach may attract a more tech-savvy class of employees and push financial firms toward skill-based roles rather than seniority-based ones.

The Next Steps

There is a need to monitor the productivity claims and how the bank's headcount mix shifts between junior, middle, and senior ranks over the next few hiring cycles.