The career ladder has never been wobblier. Thanks to AI’s impact on job roles and responsibilities, what once seemed like a challenging but progressive climb to the top is a lot more complicated. Defined rungs on the career ladder, such as moving from junior into more senior positions, are now less clear.

Take the IT profession, where generative and agentic AI are helping to automate increasing elements of the software development lifecycle. From coding to testing and onto deployment and maintenance, AI agents are fulfilling parts of the traditional IT professional role, with a commensurate impact on the career ladder.

These emerging technologies are automating routine, entry-level tasks and compressing lower rungs of the ladder. As these rungs disappear, so do the opportunities for junior staff members to prove their capabilities and move into more senior positions, according to research from Harvard University.

If you’re going to climb the ladder, it’s more important than ever to stand out from your competitors. And the good news, according to the experts who have spoken with , is that professionals with the right blend of skills can still reach the top in the AI age.

“If you think about yourself in a narrow sense, then I think AI is likely to displace you,” says Joel Hron, CTO at content and technology specialist Thomson Reuters.

“But if you view yourself as a higher-order value add to a company – and your job is to solve problems, and you can avoid putting yourself in a box as a certain type of employee – then the sky's the limit for you, especially with AI.”

Find ways to join the dots

The message is clear: yes, AI brings an existential threat to some professional roles, but its impact doesn’t have to be terminal. Smart people embrace the challenge of automation. For Hron, a promotion-worthy professional understands that tomorrow won’t look like today.

“I think adaptability is now one of the most important things, especially as the job of software engineering is changing,” he says, referring to transformations in IT roles and responsibilities.

“If you believe that the value that you bring to an organization is through the code you write, then you know you are going to be frustrated in the future.”

Career ladder changes are not confined to the IT sector. Employees in all sectors, from public sector organizations to blue-chip enterprises, are seeing labor market flux. In these fast-changing conditions, managers look for up-and-coming staff who can work across functions.

Thierry Martin, head of enterprise data and analytics at automotive giant Toyota Motor Europe, says he’s impressed when people can join the dots, particularly if they bring a new take to an established way of working.

“Success is about going beyond the obvious,” he says.

“It’s great if someone can say, ‘Hey, we have the sales data, we have this quality data, we have this manufacturing data, and look, this is what we can do with it.’ I might think, ‘Wow, I never thought about this.’”

That sentiment resonates with Bernhard Seiser, VP of digital, data and IT at AOP Health, who says the people who impress him are hungry for change. The pharmaceuticals sector is characterized by the opportunity to turn small ideas into life-changing transformations. The best professionals look to exploit their knowledge.

“Great people want to learn,” he says.

“They want to understand not just the technical parts, but also the business. That capability is critical for my business and how I see digitalization within a pharmaceutical organization. My team needs to understand how the organization operates, sometimes even better than the people in the business, ideally.”

Crucially, Seiser says, great ideas aren’t put into production in isolation. Professionals who move up the career ladder understand a challenge before others and then work to deliver ambitious solutions on time and to budget as part of an integrated approach.

“Always keeping in mind that we are part of a family is key,” he says.

“Managing our portfolio is often stressful. We have a lot that needs to be delivered, but this work also needs to be seen in a broader context – we're here as a family to serve our patients, and that's what the professionals need to keep in mind.”

Enable change for the business

The characteristics of next-generation leaders that business leaders like Seiser identify are focused squarely on high-quality delivery. For Tal Carmi, CIO at technology specialist WalkMe, AI might change the shape of the career ladder, but that impact doesn’t mean the best people transform their approach.

“In general, impressing the boss is about taking ownership,” he said.

“It’s caring about being a good partner to the business; trying to be an enabler, not a naysayer. And it’s about working pleasantly. Collaboration doesn't have to be centered on corporate-style language. Being a good partner means being someone people like to speak to.”

Encouragingly, Carmi says professionals who excel in these areas – taking ownership, enabling change, and collaborating effectively – will have plentiful opportunities to be promoted, particularly in IT. People who see your strengths will be receptive to your ideas, rather than thinking you’re just interfering.

“You will find yourself at the forefront because you will try to adopt new tools, concepts, or whatever the latest thing is to try and give the business you’re working with the best solution that you can,” he says.

Ankur Anand, group CIO at recruiter Harvey Nash, also says key characteristics define impressive professionals. First, they have a robust understanding of the business problem. Second, they explain their solution without using technical jargon.

“This structured approach is not just about technology,” he says.

“It’s about technology, governance, control, and people, which is training and learning and everything together. And the final piece is about understanding what role they play in making their solution successful, and knowing what data helps.”

In short, great would-be leaders measure and assess risks that inform decisions. Anand gives the example of software testing. Rather than testing endlessly to try and make things work, a great professional approaches their boss and explains the cost, in clear financial terms, of not getting a system up and running.

“Then the executive understands the issue and says, ‘Okay, now I get the impact, and we need to figure out why things are not working,’” he says.

“There’s a big difference between a person who understands the context and risk, and those who can then articulate those concerns in a business-focused way.”