When to Use
- Build or scale vertical AI product engineering (domain squads, not central platform only)
- Prioritize vertical backlog with PM, GTM, and domain SMEs
- Staff and develop AI engineers, fullstack, and tech leads on vertical lines
- Run launch governance for customer-facing AI (eval, risk tier, kill switch)
- Resolve platform vs vertical build conflicts and shared component roadmaps
- Set team KPIs (ship cadence, eval regression, incidents, cost per vertical)
- Escalate vertical-specific compliance or data-boundary issues
When NOT to Use
- AI solution architecture and multi-tenant ADRs →
applied-ai-architect-commercial-enterprise - Implement RAG, agents, eval code →
ai-engineer - AI production ops, vendor SLOs, org-wide model release process →
ai-lead-ops - AI policy registers and regulatory mapping →
ai-risk-governance - Analytics engineering and dbt marts →
analytics-data-engineering-manager-product - Company-wide non-AI programs →
technical-program-manager - UX research and interaction design →
product-designer
Related skills
| Need | Skill |
|---|---|
| Commercial/enterprise AI architecture | applied-ai-architect-commercial-enterprise |
| Build and ship AI features | ai-engineer |
| AI ops, incidents, rollout governance | ai-lead-ops |
| Risk tiering and policy | ai-risk-governance |
| Red-team before major launch | ai-redteam |
| Token/cost improvement program | ai-token-improvement-plan-engineer |
| Vertical fullstack delivery | senior-fullstack-developer |
| Product analytics data | analytics-data-engineering-manager-product |
Core Workflows
1. Vertical squad org design
Hub platform vs vertical pods; domain SME interfaces; ratios.
See references/vertical_team_org.md.
2. Roadmap and vertical bets
Platform leverage vs bespoke vertical logic; capacity and bet sizing.
See references/vertical_roadmap_prioritization.md.
3. AI feature launch governance
Eval gates, risk tier, rollback, hypercare — coordinate with ops and risk.
See references/ai_feature_launch_governance.md.
4. Stakeholder partnerships
PM, sales, solutions, legal, horizontal AI platform.
See references/stakeholder_vertical_partnerships.md.
5. Hiring and development
IC/lead levels for vertical AI product engineering.
See references/hiring_development_vertical.md.
6. Team metrics and accountability
Delivery, quality, safety, unit economics by vertical.
See references/team_metrics_vertical_ai.md.
Output standards
- Roadmap items: vertical outcome, AI capability, platform dependency, owner
- No GA without signed eval/risk checklist for customer-facing AI
- Escalations include trade-offs (scope, date, platform build vs fork)
- Architecture changes route through
applied-ai-architect-commercial-enterprise
When to load references
- Org →
references/vertical_team_org.md - Roadmap →
references/vertical_roadmap_prioritization.md - Launch →
references/ai_feature_launch_governance.md - Stakeholders →
references/stakeholder_vertical_partnerships.md - People →
references/hiring_development_vertical.md - KPIs →
references/team_metrics_vertical_ai.md