YOUR OBJECTIVE COMES FIRST
An emerging technology label is only the beginning.
Hire for the capability behind your next product decision.
Utah targets aerospace, fintech, technology, life sciences and healthcare, and energy and minerals. A business hiring for AI or fintech needs to explain what the person will build, support and decide. We distinguish application delivery, data work and operational ownership so the search reflects the actual capability gap.
Utah Governor's Office of Economic Opportunity: Targeted Industries ↗01Software with a defined customer problem
Describe the product, architecture and delivery bottleneck. Clarify ownership of quality, reliability and technical debt alongside new features. Ask candidates to explain a decision they made in a comparable system, the tradeoffs involved and how they worked with colleagues responsible for product and customer outcomes.
02Data and AI beyond the demonstration
Separate model experimentation, data engineering, integration and evaluation responsibilities. Identify the source systems and what happens when output is incomplete or incorrect. Assess practical experience with the primary gap rather than assume one specialist can own every stage of an AI product or internal workflow.
03Finance supporting a technology business
Explain revenue reporting, planning, entity structure and the management decisions the role will inform. Distinguish finance leadership from a broad operational catchall. A useful assessment examines how the candidate has interpreted incomplete information, challenged assumptions and communicated financial implications to product and commercial colleagues.
04Leadership for the next stage
A CTO, product head or finance leader needs an explicit mandate and realistic resources. Define what the founder or existing managers will hand over and which decisions remain shared. State location, attendance and collaboration expectations so candidates can evaluate the working arrangement as carefully as the title.