Owns the AI roadmap
Keeps a ranked list of AI work with costs and expected results, and brings decisions to your leadership team.
Fractional chief AI officer
A fractional chief AI officer, with a team that builds and runs the work
A fractional chief AI officer is a part-time AI executive who owns your AI roadmap and is accountable to your leadership team for results. At Fixed Labs the role comes with a team that builds, runs and improves the work, on a monthly retainer. It suits established businesses doing $5M+ in revenue with more AI work than one project, but not yet enough to hire a full AI department.
For established businesses doing $5M+ in revenue.
- How it is priced
- Monthly retainer
- Scoped to the work in your roadmap.
- Who leads it
- A fractional chief AI officer
- Accountable to your CEO or COO for results.
- When it ends
- When you are ready to hire
- We help define the roles and hand the work over.
What the team does every month
One team owns AI across the business, from deciding what to build to keeping it running.
Builds and ships
Turns the next items on the roadmap into working systems inside your software.
Runs what is live
Monitors every workflow, fixes failures and keeps integrations current as your systems change.
Reports results
A monthly review of what ran, what it saved, what broke and what comes next, in numbers.
Sets the rules
AI usage policy, vendor reviews and access decisions, made with your IT lead.
Trains your people
Shows each team how to work with the new systems and where human judgment stays.
What a fractional chief AI officer does
What does a fractional chief AI officer do in the first 90 days?
Takes stock, ships, then reports. The first month is an inventory: the AI tools the company already pays for, where the hours go, what the owners or board expect, and which two or three workflows to take on first. The second month ships them, with approvals and a baseline in place. By the third month there is a monthly review with leadership: what ran, what it saved, what broke and what is next on the ranked roadmap.
What a fractional chief AI officer is not
It is not a part-time strategist who leaves you with a document, and it is not staff augmentation for an AI team you already have. The fractional chief AI officer is accountable for results, and the team that comes with the role does the building and the running.
When should you hire a full-time chief AI officer instead?
When AI is a permanent function with its own budget, several people working on it full time and a roadmap measured in years. Until then, a fractional lead with a team usually moves faster than an executive search plus the team that executive would need to hire. When you get there, we help define the role and hand the work over with documentation.
The first 90 days with a fractional AI team
A typical start, adjusted to what your leadership team needs first:
Days 1–30
An inventory of AI tools and spend, interviews with each department, and a ranked roadmap with the first two or three workflows chosen.
Days 31–60
The first workflows built and live under supervision, an AI usage policy agreed with your IT lead, and a baseline for each workflow.
Days 61–90
The first monthly results review with leadership, the next workflows in build and the roadmap re-ranked on real numbers.
Every month after
The team keeps shipping, running and reporting; the roadmap is re-ranked each month as results come in.
The Fixed Labs Method
Discover, build, run, staff.
- 01
Discover
We meet your leadership team, review current AI spending and tools, and agree on the first quarter’s priorities.
- 02
Build
The team ships the first workflows on the roadmap and sets up the monthly review.
- 03
Run
Everything live is monitored and improved; the roadmap is re-ranked each month as results come in.
- 04
Staff
When you are ready for full-time hires, we help define the roles, recruit and hand over the systems.
Fractional chief AI officer or a full-time hire?
A full-time executive makes sense once AI is a permanent function. Before that, a fractional lead with a team usually moves faster.
| Fractional chief AI officer | Full-time chief AI officer | |
|---|---|---|
| Start | Within weeks | After an executive search |
| Team | Comes with people who build and run the work | Needs budget to hire a team |
| Cost | A monthly retainer | Executive salary, equity and benefits, plus the team |
| Best for | Proving AI value across a few departments | Companies where AI is a core, permanent function |
A good fit
- Established businesses doing $5M+ in revenue, with AI work in more than one department
- CEOs and COOs who want one accountable owner for AI instead of scattered tools
- Firms that finished a first implementation and want to keep shipping
- Private-equity portfolio companies following a value-creation plan
Not the right fit
- A single, one-off automation (an implementation project fits better)
- Companies that only need staff augmentation for an existing AI team
- Teams that want advice without anyone building
Fractional Chief AI Officer questions
What is a fractional chief AI officer?
A fractional chief AI officer is a part-time AI executive who sets your AI strategy, prioritizes the work, manages vendors and risk, and is accountable for results, without the cost of a full-time executive. At Fixed Labs the role comes with a team that also builds and runs the systems.
How much does a fractional chief AI officer cost?
Fixed Labs prices the fractional AI team as a monthly retainer scoped to the work in your roadmap. We quote it after a discovery call and an assessment, so the fee matches the problems you need solved.
Fractional chief AI officer or fractional CTO?
A fractional CTO owns your technology overall: architecture, product engineering and infrastructure. A fractional chief AI officer focuses on where AI changes how the business runs: which processes to automate, what to buy or build and how to measure it. Many mid-market companies need the second one first.
What results should we expect?
Results you can measure against a baseline: hours returned to the team, turnaround time, backlog or errors on the workflows in scope. We agree the measures for each workflow before it is built and report them every month.
What does the team need from us?
An executive sponsor, a process owner for each workflow, access to the systems involved and a monthly review meeting with your leadership team.
Can we move from a fractional team to in-house staff later?
Yes. When the work is steady enough to justify hires, we help you define the roles, recruit through our technical staffing service and hand over the systems with documentation.
How is a fractional AI team different from AI implementation?
Implementation is scoped to specific workflows with a build fee. A fractional AI team is ongoing: it owns the roadmap and keeps shipping. Many clients start with implementation and move to a retainer once the first workflows are live.
An AI department, without building one first.
A 30-minute discovery call. We learn what your leadership team wants from AI this year and tell you whether a fractional team is the right shape for it.
Book a discovery callPartner programs
- Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program
- Google Cloud Partner Advantage