Shopify's COO says her ideal employee is an 'X-shaped' person

Shopify's COO says she is looking for X-shaped employees.

Bloomberg/Getty Images Shopify COO Jess Hertz says that her ideal employee in the AI era is "X-shaped." She said these employees have "multiple spikes of expertise" rather than depth in only one area.

Shopify has previously said that using AI is mandatory and will be used to measure performance.

Shopify's chief operating officer has one word to describe employees that will thrive in the AI era: "X-shaped." On an episode of the "Rapid Response" podcast released on Wednesday, Jess Hertz said that Shopify previously embraced the idea of a "T-shaped person" — someone with broad capabilities but deep expertise in one area.

AI is changing that model.

"What I think we're starting to see is AI is really pushing towards what I'm calling X-shaped people," Hertz said.

"You have different vectors of expertise , and you're really moving away from just the expectation that you have to have depth in this one area." She said these employees have "multiple spikes of expertise" — they can absorb complex concepts and learn new skills quickly.

She added: "You have multiple spikes of expertise, much faster, being able to absorb complexity, being able to learn new spaces, being able to you know be a seven out of 10 designer if you want to be." Hertz joined Shopify in 2021 as general counsel after serving in the Biden administration, including as White House staff secretary.

She became the e-commerce company's COO in 2025.

The shift may also change how companies assemble teams, Hertz said.

"The other part is really how do those different shaped people actually intersect with each other," she said.

"The idea of team composition and the different constellation of people will only become more and more important as we enter this AI world." Last year, Shopify's CEO, Tobi Lütke , went viral for mandating AI use at the company and said that questions about AI use would be gauged at performance reviews.

"Before asking for more head count and resources , teams must demonstrate why they cannot get what they want done using AI," Lütke wrote in an April memo that he posted on X after it was leaked. 'Learn your EQ' Hertz joins a group of tech leaders who have been saying that AI is changing what they are looking for in an ideal employee.

In a February TV interview, Anthropic president Daniela Amodei said she thinks people with a humanities background are as important as ever, since AI models are very good at STEM.