You don’t have an AI strategy problem. You have an execution problem.
Every executive team has been to the AI strategy offsite. Everyone agrees AI is important. Everyone has read the McKinsey report. The deck is beautiful. Twelve months later, what’s actually running in production? A ChatGPT subscription and a few half-finished pilots.
The gap isn’t strategy. It’s that strategy and execution sit in two different buildings — your consultants don’t write code, your engineers don’t sit in the C-suite, and nobody owns the journey from whiteboard to revenue.
A Fractional CAIO closes that gap. You get an embedded AI leader who sets the roadmap and ships the systems against it. Same person in the executive meeting and in the GitHub repo.
What a Fractional CAIO actually does
This isn’t an advisor with calendar holds. It’s an embedded operator with commit access. The work spans four lanes — running concurrently every month:
1. Strategy & roadmap
- Quarterly AI roadmap aligned to revenue/cost-saving outcomes (not “AI adoption %”)
- AI opportunity scoring across functions: top 10 use cases, ranked by ROI and feasibility
- Build-vs-buy decisions on every initiative (no vendor kickbacks; we don’t resell)
- Board-ready monthly updates with shipped systems, blocked items, and what’s next
2. Architecture & build oversight
- Reference architectures for agents, RAG, automation, and multi-agent orchestration
- Code review on AI-touching pull requests (yes, actual code review)
- Production guardrails: budgets, sandboxing, observability, cost metering
- Model selection and provider routing — frontier vs. cost-optimized vs. local
3. Vendor & stack governance
- AI vendor evaluation and contract review (we kill bad deals — we’ve seen the inflated SOWs)
- LLM provider strategy: Claude, GPT, Qwen, Llama; multi-provider routing for cost + redundancy
- Tool & MCP integration roadmap
- Compliance posture: SOC 2, HIPAA, EU AI Act, data residency
4. Team enablement
- Internal AI literacy program for execs and senior ICs
- “AI-fluent engineer” onboarding for your dev team
- Hiring rubric and interview kits for AI engineering roles
- Knowledge transfer — by month 12 your team can run the program without us
How we actually work together — the 6 steps
We’ve run this engagement enough times to know exactly how it goes. Here’s the sequence:
Step 1 — Strategy Call (free, 45 min)
You tell me where the company is, what’s already in flight, and what’s broken. I tell you whether a Fractional CAIO is the right fit — sometimes the honest answer is “you need a full-time hire” or “you need a specific build, not an embedded leader.” If we move forward, I send a fixed-scope proposal within 48 hours.
Step 2 — AI Readiness Audit (2–4 weeks, fixed fee)
Before any retainer starts, we run a paid readiness audit. We map your data, systems, vendor stack, current AI initiatives, team capabilities, and compliance posture. Output: a written AI roadmap, prioritized opportunity map, and recommended engagement structure. If you decide not to continue, you keep the audit — it’s yours.
Step 3 — Engagement kickoff (week 1 of retainer)
First week is intensive. Stakeholder interviews, repo access, system access, joining your Slack/Teams. We define the first 90-day sprint plan, lock the monthly cadence, and identify the first 2–3 systems we’ll ship in quarter one.
Step 4 — Embedded operating cadence (months 1–6+)
- Weekly: 60-min working session with you (the CEO/CTO/sponsor)
- Bi-weekly: Engineering sync — code review, architecture decisions
- Monthly: Board-ready status — what shipped, what’s blocked, what’s next
- Always-on: Async on Slack/Teams, PRs, and design reviews
- Quarterly: Roadmap reset against business outcomes
Step 5 — Build, ship, and harden
This is where most consultancies hand it off. We don’t. The Fractional CAIO is the same person reviewing the PR, debugging the prod incident, and presenting to the board. Systems get built on Titanium Edge AIOS (our platform) where it accelerates delivery, or on your existing stack where that’s the right call. Every shipped system has budgets, observability, and a written runbook before we move on.
Step 6 — Hand-off & ramp-down (months 9–18)
By design, the engagement ramps down. We hire and onboard your internal AI lead, run knowledge transfer, and step back to advisor cadence. Goal is for your team to operate independently — the opposite of a perpetual retainer.
What you get every month
- Embedded AI leadership (we’re in your Slack, your standups, your repos)
- Roadmap ownership and board reporting
- Code review and architecture authority on AI work
- Vendor governance and contract review
- Direct access to the Titanium Labs build team for custom AI projects (at retainer-discounted rates)
- Optional licensed access to Titanium Edge AIOS for your internal workflows
- Written monthly summary suitable for board distribution
Pricing
Fixed-fee, no surprises, no time-and-materials change orders. Three tiers:
Strategic Advisor — $5,000/month
- 1 weekly 60-min strategy session
- Monthly board-ready written update
- Async availability for roadmap and vendor questions
- Best for: CEOs who have an internal AI lead and want a senior sounding board
Embedded CAIO — $12,000/month (most common)
- Everything in Strategic Advisor, plus:
- Bi-weekly engineering sync with your dev team
- Hands-on code review and architecture authority
- Vendor contract review and AI procurement governance
- 4 hours/week of direct build oversight on shipped systems
- Best for: Companies $5M–$100M revenue without an internal AI leader
Embedded CAIO + Build — $25,000/month
- Everything in Embedded CAIO, plus:
- Dedicated Titanium Labs senior engineer for 20 hrs/week on your priority builds
- Titanium Edge AIOS platform access for your team (multi-seat)
- Monthly working session with extended engineering team
- Best for: Companies that need both AI leadership and ongoing build velocity in one relationship
Engagement terms
- Minimum: 6 months. We don’t do month-to-month — meaningful AI work needs a quarter to land.
- Maximum: 18 months. We will not be your perpetual AI consultant. By month 18 your internal team is running the program.
- AI Readiness Audit: $15,000 fixed fee, paid before the retainer starts. Counts against the first month’s retainer if you continue.
- Custom builds: Quoted separately at fixed-fee per milestone. No time and materials.
Travel and on-site (if needed) billed at cost. No retainer fee escalators. No vendor kickbacks — ever.
Who this isn’t for
- Pre-seed startups that haven’t found product-market fit (you don’t need a CAIO yet)
- Companies looking for AI-washed slide decks to satisfy a board mandate (we’ll politely decline)
- Anyone who wants “co-piloting only” without code review or build oversight
- F500 with an existing CAIO — we’ll happily slot in as a build partner instead
Ready to talk?
Book a free 45-minute strategy call. I’ll tell you within 30 minutes whether a Fractional CAIO is the right fit for your company — and if it’s not, I’ll tell you what is.