UNI 11621-8:2026: the 12 professional profiles in artificial intelligence
UNI 11621-8:2026 is the Italian technical standard that defines 12 professional profiles in artificial intelligence, from Chief AI Officer to AI Research Scientist. It was published on 30 April 2026, it is voluntary, and it gives companies, public administrations and certification bodies a common language to describe, recruit for and certify AI skills.
In brief
- Who wrote it: Technical Committee UNI/CT 526 – UNINFO, under the coordination of the Department for Digital Transformation.
- What it contains: 12 profiles, each with mission, tasks, expected outcomes, competences, knowledge, skills and KPIs.
- Methodological basis: UNI 11621-1 and the European e-Competence Framework (UNI EN 16234-1).
- It is not mandatory: it becomes binding only if a contract or tender specification refers to it.
- Why it matters now: it gives concrete content to the skills obligation in Art. 4 of the AI Act and to the training and certification goals of Law 132/2025.
What UNI 11621-8 is
UNI published the standard on 30 April 2026. It was drawn up by Technical Committee UNI/CT 526 – UNINFO, with input from UNI Technical Committee 533 "AI" and under the coordination of the Department for Digital Transformation of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers (PuntoSicuro, in Italian).
It belongs to the UNI 11621 family on ICT professional profiles. Each profile follows the UNI 11621-1 methodology and is aligned with the European e-Competence Framework, adopted in Italy as UNI EN 16234-1. According to the Department for Digital Transformation, it is the first national standard in Europe to define AI professional profiles systematically (Dottrina Lavoro, in Italian).
It is aimed at companies that want to structure AI teams, public administrations, universities, ITS Academies and training providers. It also concerns certification bodies and ICT professionals who want to gain a qualification or move into AI.
The 12 profiles
For each profile the standard sets out mission, main tasks, expected outcomes, competences, knowledge, skills and key performance indicators.
| No. | Profile | Italian name |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chief AI Officer | Responsabile dell'IA |
| 2 | AI Consultant | Consulente di IA |
| 3 | AI Product Manager | Responsabile di prodotto IA |
| 4 | AI Prompt Engineer | Ingegnere prompt IA |
| 5 | AI Algorithm Engineer | Ingegnere di algoritmi IA |
| 6 | AI Deep Learning Engineer | Ingegnere di deep learning IA |
| 7 | AI Data Engineer | Ingegnere dei dati IA |
| 8 | AI Data Scientist | Data scientist IA |
| 9 | AI Security Specialist | Specialista di sicurezza IA |
| 10 | AI Machine Learning Engineer | Ingegnere di machine learning IA |
| 11 | AI Natural Language Processing Engineer | Ingegnere di elaborazione del linguaggio naturale IA |
| 12 | AI Research Scientist | Ricercatore scientifico IA |
List and names from Dottrina Lavoro (in Italian). The full text of the standard is available for purchase on the UNI website.
Two profiles up close
AI Consultant. Helps the organisation identify use cases and assess their costs, benefits and risks. Looks after regulatory alignment and change management. Usually external to the organisation, but works closely with senior management (Agenda Digitale, in Italian).
AI Security Specialist. Protects AI systems from specific threats such as evasion, poisoning, model inversion and jailbreaks, with reference to ISO/IEC 27001 and the NIS2 Directive. According to the same analysis, it is a profile that high-risk systems cannot do without.
Is it mandatory?
No. UNI 11621-8 is a voluntary technical standard. It does not replace the obligations of the AI Act or those of Law 132/2025 (Agenda Digitale, in Italian).
A voluntary standard has binding effects when the market and institutions adopt it. This happens, for example, if a contract or tender specification requires staff who conform to one of the profiles (Filodiritto, in Italian).
The link with the AI Act and Law 132/2025
Article 4 of the AI Act requires providers and deployers of AI systems to ensure that their staff have sufficient skills for the tasks assigned to them. The obligation, however, is generic: it does not say which skills are needed or how to demonstrate them. UNI 11621-8 offers a concrete reference for doing so, for people who design, develop and govern AI systems.
Law no. 132 of 23 September 2025 transposes these principles into Italian law and promotes literacy, training and certification of AI skills. The UNI standard is an operational tool for it.
One limitation to bear in mind: the standard excludes the so-called power user, that is, someone who uses existing AI tools without designing or developing them. The literacy required by the AI Act, by contrast, concerns all staff, and must be addressed outside the 12 profiles as well.
How a person is certified
AI professions are not regulated: there are no professional registers, state examinations or mandatory licences. Certification takes place within the framework of Law 4/2013 on non-regulated professions. It is issued by bodies accredited by Accredia under UNI CEI EN ISO/IEC 17024, the scheme for the certification of persons.
Certification does not grant a licence to practise an activity. It does, however, serve as evidence: it shows clients and contracting parties that a person has the competences described by a recognised profile (Filodiritto, in Italian).
What changes for companies and public administrations
In tenders
Contracting authorities can use the profiles to define the staff required in contracts for IT services and AI systems. They can do so as a participation requirement or as an evaluation criterion. It is not a general obligation: it depends on what the individual tender specification says. For suppliers, however, being able to show staff already aligned with the profiles becomes an advantage.
Within the organisation
For a company the standard is above all a common vocabulary. It helps write role descriptions that people understand, compare internal skills with those of suppliers and set up targeted rather than generic training paths.
A possible path
- Map who already works on AI, internally and at suppliers, and match them to the closest profiles.
- Identify the missing profiles relative to current projects, in particular AI governance and security.
- Decide where certification is needed and where training is enough, taking into account tenders, clients and high-risk systems.
- Use the profiles in contracts with suppliers, to ask for verifiable skills.
- Do not forget literacy for everyone else, which the AI Act also requires for those outside the 12 profiles.
Hyperion supports companies on exactly these topics through its AI strategy consulting: use cases, roadmap, governance and skills. For the banking sector, the Mythos Ready practice works on security, the field of the AI Security Specialist. To discuss it: info@hyperionsrl.cloud.
This article summarises public sources and is no substitute for reading the text of the standard or for legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
What is UNI 11621-8:2026?
It is the Italian technical standard that defines the professional role profiles operating in the field of artificial intelligence. It was published by UNI on 30 April 2026, drawn up by Technical Committee UNI/CT 526 – UNINFO under the coordination of the Department for Digital Transformation of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, and defines 12 profiles, from Chief AI Officer to AI Research Scientist.
What are the 12 profiles in UNI 11621-8?
Chief AI Officer, AI Consultant, AI Product Manager, AI Prompt Engineer, AI Algorithm Engineer, AI Deep Learning Engineer, AI Data Engineer, AI Data Scientist, AI Security Specialist, AI Machine Learning Engineer, AI Natural Language Processing Engineer and AI Research Scientist. For each one the standard sets out mission, main tasks, expected outcomes, competences, knowledge, skills and KPIs.
Is UNI 11621-8 mandatory?
No. It is a voluntary technical standard and does not replace the obligations of the AI Act or of Law 132/2025. It becomes binding only when a contract or tender specification refers to it, for example by requiring staff who conform to one of the profiles.
How do you obtain certification against the UNI 11621-8 profiles?
Through certification bodies accredited by Accredia under UNI CEI EN ISO/IEC 17024, within the framework of Law 4/2013 on non-regulated professions. AI professions have no professional registers or state examinations: certification does not grant a licence to practise, but it serves as evidence of competence towards clients and contracting parties.
How does it relate to the AI Act?
Article 4 of the AI Act requires providers and deployers to ensure that their staff have AI skills sufficient for the tasks assigned to them, but does not say which. UNI 11621-8 offers a concrete reference for describing and demonstrating those skills for people who design, develop and govern AI systems; it does not cover those who simply use existing tools.
Does the standard count in public tenders?
It can. Contracting authorities can use the profiles to describe the staff required in contracts for IT services and AI systems, as a participation requirement or as an evaluation criterion. It is not a general obligation: it depends on what the individual tender specification provides.
Sources
- Dottrina Lavoro, Governo: Intelligenza Artificiale – pubblicata la norma UNI 11621-8 (in Italian), 4 May 2026
- PuntoSicuro, Intelligenza artificiale: pubblicata la norma UNI 11621-8 (in Italian), 8 May 2026
- Agenda Digitale, UNI 11621-8, l'Italia mappa i profili professionali dell'AI: cosa cambia per PA e imprese (in Italian), 8 May 2026
- Filodiritto, La norma UNI 11621-8:2026 e i profili professionali dell'intelligenza artificiale (in Italian), 15 May 2026