Will AI replace junior roles in agencies?
Summary: Entry-level opportunities in agencies are narrowing, and strategy roles are the most exposed. But the more consequential change is what agencies now look for at the point of hire: only 6% recruit for specific AI expertise.
Date: 05.08.2026
Author: Emma Wharton Love
Read length: 3 minutes
Spark AI is the AI performance partner that builds organisation-wide AI capability for creative agencies and brand teams. We take ambitious teams from fragmented experimentation to AI embedded across your people, processes and systems ā so it delivers real commercial impact.
AI is not replacing junior agency roles, but it is narrowing entry-level opportunities and changing what agencies hire for at every level. Research by Spark AI and The Industry Club, covering 149 UK agency leaders, found agencies have largely stopped recruiting for AI skills and started recruiting for aptitude.
What are agencies hiring for now?
Aptitude, not AI expertise.
Spark AI's research with The Industry Club, based on 149 UK agency leaders surveyed in October 2025, found that only 6% of leaders actively recruit for specific AI expertise such as prompt engineering or data analysis. 43% treat AI skills as nice-to-have but not essential at the point of hire, and 22% say they hire for aptitude outright ā curiosity, adaptability and a willingness to learn.
A chief strategy officer at a network agency put the reasoning plainly:
"AI is changing so fast that recruiting for 'AI skills' is almost meaningless. Core capabilities like query forming or thinking agentically will always help, but someone from an 'AI role' elsewhere could be doing something completely different."
Independent agencies have moved furthest. Only 3% consider specific AI expertise very important when hiring, against 8% at networks and in-house teams.
The evidence backs the strategy. When the research compared current employees with new candidates, the skill differences were minimal ā candidates lag slightly on model training and prompting, both by 3 percentage points, while demonstrating stronger awareness of ethics and IP, by the same margin. Screening hard for AI skills buys you very little that structured training wouldn't.
Which aptitudes should agencies look for?
Four come up consistently: curiosity, adaptability, creative problem-solving and a willingness to learn.
A CEO of an independent agency with 100+ staff framed the bar this way: "Talent needs to keep up with the tech ā and often this is more about attitude than knowledge. If you haven't already worked out how AI should influence your role after ten years in the industry, you're already behind."
Laura Jackson, Business Director at Not Actual Size, described what that looks like in an interview room: "We're looking for values around curiosity and openness to technology and new ideas. The kind of people who'll figure it out as they go."
The aptitude you weight depends on the function, and the research found a clear split:
Operations leaders place the highest value on technical AI skills, reflecting their focus on workflows, automation and efficiency.
Strategy leaders prioritise aptitude ā curiosity, empathy and creative problem-solving over tool fluency.
Account and project management sit between the two. Their roles rely on AI-enabled coordination, adaptability and communication, translating technical potential into delivery.
So "hire for aptitude" isn't a single instruction. An operations hire and a strategy hire need different things, and both need the confidence to bring AI into planning, briefing and client work.
What's happening to entry-level roles?
They're narrowing, and strategy is the most exposed discipline.
Just under 10% of leaders said they're already hiring at different seniority levels because of AI. That's a small number, but it points to a real shift in the shape of talent pipelines: fewer entry-level opportunities, and a growing focus on senior hires who can interpret, guide and quality-check AI output.
Strategy takes the sharpest hit because its traditional training ground ā research, data gathering, analysis ā is exactly the work AI handles with ease. The problem isn't that AI took the junior role. It's that AI took the tasks juniors learned on.
A chief strategy officer at a network agency described where that leaves the discipline:
"Strategy is becoming more like a high-end magazine editor ā finding the gold in the torrent of sludge and shaping it with empathy and humanity. AI can supercharge thinking, not automate it. Headcounts will shrink, and experience will matter more than ever ā AI is only good if you know what 'good' looks like."
Which is the argument for hiring juniors rather than against it. If experience is what makes AI output usable, someone has to build that experience, and it doesn't accumulate on its own.
How do you rebuild the apprenticeship?
Pair juniors with experienced mentors and use AI as a co-pilot rather than a replacement for the work they'd have cut their teeth on.
The agencies handling this well are reimagining the apprenticeship rather than defending the old one. AI accelerates the learning, while the focus shifts to the skills it can't supply: creative judgement, strategic thinking, and the ability to guide AI effectively.
In practice that means bringing juniors into client calls earlier than felt comfortable before, giving them a real piece of a pitch to own, and having them review AI output against a brief and defend the call they made. All of it is deliberate. None of it happens by default.
Which is where the middle of the org chart comes in. Deloitte found managers spend nearly 40% of their time on administrative problem-solving and only 13% developing people. The mentors this new apprenticeship depends on are the people currently writing status reports. Free that time and don't direct it, and it refills with more volume.
Does hiring for aptitude work on its own?
No. Aptitude without structure produces enthusiasm and not much else.
Hiring for aptitude works when it's paired with structured training programmes that keep progress consistent. The agencies moving fastest are building cultures where exploration is encouraged and rewarded, where people are trusted to test, apply and share what they learn.
The research bears that out in where the money goes. 53% of agency leaders are building AI capability by upskilling the people they already have, against 23% partnering with external specialists and 21% hiring new talent. And while 71% say AI hasn't yet changed how they hire, 46% have already added or plan to add AI-specific roles within a year ā with the most AI-mature agencies three to four times more likely to be creating roles in data, strategy, operations and creative technology.
Recruitment follows confidence. Aptitude gets you the person; structure is what turns them into capability.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should agencies still hire juniors?
Yes, and the research strengthens the case rather than weakening it. If experience is what makes AI output usable ā knowing what "good" looks like ā then experience has to be built somewhere. The risk isn't that AI removes the junior role. It's that AI removes the tasks juniors learned on, and nobody replaces the apprenticeship.
What should agencies hire for instead of AI skills?
Aptitude: curiosity, adaptability, creative problem-solving and a willingness to learn. Spark AI's research with The Industry Club found only 6% of agency leaders actively recruit for specific AI expertise, while 43% treat AI skills as nice-to-have and 22% hire for aptitude outright.
Which agency roles are most affected by AI?
Junior strategy roles are the most exposed, because research, data gathering and analysis ā the traditional training ground ā is the work AI does most easily. Just under 10% of leaders are already hiring at different seniority levels as a result.
Do different departments need different aptitudes?
Yes. The research found operations leaders place the highest value on technical AI skills, strategy leaders prioritise curiosity, empathy and creative problem-solving, and account and project management sit between the two, relying on adaptability and communication to translate technical potential into delivery.
Is it enough to hire for aptitude?
No. Aptitude works when it's paired with structured training and shared guardrails. 53% of agency leaders are building capability by upskilling existing staff, against 21% hiring new talent ā which suggests most agencies already understand that the answer is developed rather than recruited.
Want the full picture on AI, skills and hiring?
The Future of Skills and Hiring in the Age of AI, from Spark AI and The Industry Club, is based on 149 UK agency leaders plus five in-depth interviews. Download it here.
Want help building this into your team?
Spark AI's programmes take teams from scattered experiments to structured capability. Book a call to talk it through.
Spark AI ā AI training, consultancy and agent building for agencies and brands. Your AI performance partner. https://www.wearespark.ai/
