What does a Fractional AI Officer cost?
The engagement model, explained.
A Fractional AI Officer engagement is a fixed fee, not an hourly meter. It starts with a short paid diagnostic, $5,000 for two weeks, that credits toward a ninety-day engagement at $30,000 on Founders’ Edition terms. Continuation after that is optional and month-to-month. You know the number before you commit to anything.
A fixed fee, not a meter
A Fractional AI Officer engagement is priced as a fixed fee, not billed against an hourly meter that climbs with every scope change and every meeting that runs long. The work is defined, the price is defined, and neither moves once the engagement is signed. That is deliberate. A founder deciding whether to install this function should be able to weigh a single figure against a single outcome, not brace each month for an invoice that grew while they weren’t looking.
The diagnostic
It starts small, on purpose. The first two weeks are a paid diagnostic: $5,000 for stakeholder interviews, a full workflow audit, and an ROI-ranked roadmap of what to build and in what order. You keep that roadmap either way. If you continue into the engagement, the $5,000 credits toward it in full, so the diagnostic is never a sunk cost. It is a way to test the working relationship, on real work, before either of us commits to ninety days.
The diagnostic is never a sunk cost. You keep the roadmap, and it credits in full if you continue.”
The engagement
The engagement is $30,000 on Founders’ Edition terms, the rate held for the first three firms; it moves to $50,000 Standard once those seats are placed. For that fixed fee you get ninety days and roughly three production systems shipped on your stack. Payment splits evenly: $15,000 on signature and $15,000 at Day 45, so the cost tracks the work as it lands rather than falling due all at once up front. The plan behind those ninety days is public, phase by phase, in the 90-day AI implementation roadmap.
Continuation is optional
Here is the part most engagements bury: continuation is optional. After Day 30 the arrangement becomes month-to-month, cancellable on thirty days’ notice, so you are never carrying a long tail you have stopped needing. If you do want an ongoing presence, it is $7,000 a month on Founders’ Edition, a rate locked for life, or $10,000 Standard. Lighter tiers exist too: $5,000 a month for optimization, or $2,000 a month for an advisory council seat. None of it is required. The ninety days stand on their own.
What the price includes
The price is not only the build. From Day One the intellectual property is yours: every system transfers to you outright, documented in a runbook, wired with observability and an evaluation suite so quality cannot silently regress, and fitted with a kill switch you control. After each system deploys, there is a thirty-day post-deploy stability commitment. What you get back is a working system under warranty, not a folder of code and a wish of good luck.
How it compares
Set the figure against the alternatives. A full-time Head of AI or CTO runs about $250,000 a year plus benefits, and roughly six months to find and land. A consultancy runs around $30,000 a month; a build agency around $15,000 a month. Both of those leave you a deck or a hand-off when they go, not systems your team owns and operates. The fixed ninety-day fee buys the outcome without the permanent salary line or the six-month search. And if the role you are actually weighing this against is a fractional CTO, that comparison has its own note: Fractional CTO vs. Fractional AI Officer.
The engagement in one page
Every figure, laid out plainly:
Common questions
Is the diagnostic fee wasted if I don’t continue?
No. You keep the ROI-ranked roadmap whichever way you decide, so the two weeks produce something usable on their own. If you do continue, the $5,000 credits toward the engagement in full, so it is never paid twice.
Is the monthly continuation required?
No. The ninety-day engagement stands on its own. Continuation is optional and month-to-month after Day 30, cancellable on thirty days’ notice; only the first thirty days are non-cancellable. You add ongoing presence if you want it, not because the model forces it.
How does $30,000 compare to hiring a Head of AI or CTO?
A full-time Head of AI or CTO runs about $250,000 a year plus benefits, and roughly six months to hire. The engagement is a fixed $30,000 for ninety days, with systems shipped and owned at the end, and no permanent salary line to carry.