Verified once. Trusted everywhere.
Gradstack, where I'm a founding engineer, measures and verifies what early career people can do, including how well they work with AI, so hiring runs on proof instead of application piles and gut feel.
Natalia founded Gradstack and leads it as CEO. I joined her founding team in November 2025.
I came in as an intern, and I now lead the engineering team and the AI fellowship team. The systems themselves aren't public, so the rest of this page shows what Gradstack does rather than how it's built.
The role on ExperienceAI and machine learning
Agents, the harnesses and automation around them, classification models, and the models behind the matching engine.
Full-stack and system design
Building the platform end to end from first principles, and owning its architecture as it grows.
AI fluency research
Researching how people actually work with AI, and building the systems behind GAFI® that measure it.
It isn't a skills gap. It's a trust gap.
Applications go unanswered
75%of applications get no reply from the employer. The Interview Guys, 2025
Resumes are self-reported, so employers face piles of claims they can't check, and most applications never hear back.
Credentials go stale
39%of core job skills are expected to change by 2030. WEF Future of Jobs Report, 2025
A degree records what someone studied. It can't tell you what they're able to do today.
Nobody checks the AI
1 in 4applicants could be AI-generated by 2028. Gartner, 2024
AI can now draft the application, the cover letter and even the interview answers. Nothing confirms who did the work.
There's no shared standard
75%of employers can't find the talent they need. OECD
Every employer and every university measures capability its own way, so even good candidates are hard to find and compare.
Figures as cited on gradstack.ai.
A skill starts as a claim.
Job boards reward whoever applies fastest and loudest. Gradstack calls itself the Workforce Activation Layer instead. It checks each skill against evidence in a Digital Human Profile (DHP®), a person's record of verified skills. Then it matches only proven skills to a Workforce Seat®, a role described by the skills it needs.
That way the vocational graduate, the career changer and the self-taught builder get seen on what they can do. Gradstack has signed the NSW Government's 20% Alternative Pathways Pledge, which backs hiring on proof rather than background.
- AnalysisClaimed
- PromptingClaimed
- TeamworkClaimed
The candidate builds skills
At uni, at TAFE, on the job or on their own. Until it's checked, a skill is only a claim.
For candidates: retire the resume
- One portable skills profile, verified once and usable anywhere.
- A clear view of verified capability, so you can see what you're able to do.
- Matches to roles you actually suit, instead of applying everywhere.
- AI literacy and fluency, benchmarked.
AI fluency, measured.
Demand for AI-skilled workers has tripled since 2015, yet almost nobody can prove they have the skill. GAFI®, the Gradstack AI Fluency Index®, is live now. It scores how well someone works alongside AI on five dimensions, through scenarios rather than trivia. It isn't a detector and it isn't a self-rating.
Demand figure: National AI Plan, citing Bratanova et al. 2025.
- L1AwareKnows what AI is and where it fits.
- L2PractitionerUses AI tools in everyday work.
- L3IntegratorUses AI with judgement across real work.
- L4StrategistPlans how a team or project uses AI.
- L5ArchitectBuilds and shapes AI systems and standards.
AI Awareness
How AI works, where it falls short, and the context around it.
AI Application
Using AI day to day in tasks, prompts and workflows.
AI Ethics
Privacy, bias, disclosure and using AI responsibly.
Human Collaboration
Delegating to AI, augmenting work and bringing agents into it.
AI Adaptation
Picking up new tools, carrying skills across, and learning for life.
- L1 Aware:
- Knows what AI is and where it fits.
- L2 Practitioner:
- Uses AI tools in everyday work.
- L3 Integrator:
- Uses AI with judgement across real work.
- L4 Strategist:
- Plans how a team or project uses AI.
- L5 Architect:
- Builds and shapes AI systems and standards.
- 8 weeks
- between re-benchmarks, so progress shows
- 12 months
- that a result stays valid
Organisations run it through their own GAFI® portal to baseline a workforce or cohort, see gaps by dimension, and show progress to a board, a funder or the employers hiring their graduates.
About GAFI® on gradstack.ai (opens gradstack.ai)What partners say
“Gradstack understands something we believe deeply: people should be understood by what they're capable of, not simply by what's on their CV.”
“Natalia's symposium presentation provided practical and innovative approaches to measuring and validating AI literacy.”
Quoted from gradstack.ai, some shortened.
Opportunity should follow ability, not background.
Gradstack lines up with the National AI Plan and supports UN Sustainable Development Goals 8 and 10: decent work and economic growth, and reduced inequalities. Partners, employers and institutions are joining ahead of the 2027 launch.
Gradstack, GAFI®, DHP® and Workforce Seat® belong to Gradstack.