---
title: "Discussion on \"Your First AI Hire: A Hiring Playbook for European SMEs (10-50 Employees)\" | Hashnode"
description: "Discussion on \"Your First AI Hire: A Hiring Playbook for European SMEs (10-50 Employees)\". Which AI role to hire first, EU salary benchmarks, and a vetting framework for founders and ops leaders who lack a technical background."
url: "https://hashnode.com/posts/ai-team-hiring-playbook-european-smes-2026/69e30619ee190bfb7b682b00"
---

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Discussion

# [Your First AI Hire: A Hiring Playbook for European SMEs (10-50 Employees)](https://radar.firstaimovers.com/ai-team-hiring-playbook-european-smes-2026?utm_source=hashnode&utm_medium=feed)

Which AI role to hire first, EU salary benchmarks, and a vetting framework for founders and ops leaders who lack a technical background.

Apr 18 · 10 min read · radar.firstaimovers.com  
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-   [#ai-team-building](https://hashnode.com/tag/ai-team-building)
-   [#hiring-playbook](https://hashnode.com/tag/hiring-playbook)
-   [#ai-hiring](https://hashnode.com/tag/ai-hiring)
-   [#european-smes](https://hashnode.com/tag/european-smes)
-   [#fractional-cto](https://hashnode.com/tag/fractional-cto)

## Written by

[Dr Hernani Costa](https://hashnode.com/@drhernanicosta)

@drhernanicosta · Amsterdam, Netherlands

  
[View profile](https://hashnode.com/@drhernanicosta)

Architecting Responsible AI & Automation

PhD in Computational Linguistics. I build the operating systems for responsible AI. Founder of First AI Movers, helping companies move from "experimentation" to "governance and scale." Writing about the intersection of code, policy (EU AI Act), and automation.

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