Three layers of human work, and one that operates the machine.
The taxonomy as applied to 24,944 live specifications as at 14 September 2026: 830 canonical skills, each in one of four layers.
Employers ask for the use of the model five times more often than they ask for the governance of it: ai tool use in 8,723 live specifications, ai governance in 1,596.
What is execution
The work a model absorbs first. Technical: building, coding, configuring. Functional: the defined tasks of a role, done. Domain: the knowledge the tasks require. The largest layer by canonical skills, 512 of 830, and the one where AI substitution is most direct.
What is coordination
The work of moving work between people. Internal orchestration: inside the organisation. External orchestration: clients, partners, regulators. Enablement: making others able to do the work. Strategic alignment: connecting work to intent.
What is judgement
The work of deciding. Operational judgement: decisions inside the task. Strategic judgement: decisions about which tasks. Evaluative judgement: deciding whether the output is right, the sub-category a model most needs a human for. Taste: the one a specification almost never asks for by name.
What is AI-adjacent
The work of operating the model. Tool use: using it. Tool building: making it. Governance: deciding who is accountable for it. The governance sub-category is the skills-side mirror of decision architecture.
How the layers relate to the mark
The mark carries the four layers as four shapes on one frame: execution the ring at 3, coordination the ring at 7, judgement the crossing at 9, and AI-adjacent the six leaves that meet at the record. Alone, each shape is the layer's glyph; together they are the mark. The map on the skills hub is the same four shapes, counted by the data.
The map, on the hubHow this is measured
Live basis. Layer shares on the market pages are the average across specifications of the share of each role's work in that layer; the counts here are specifications carrying at least one skill in the sub-category.
Full method at /method