Fractional Head of AI Operations
A senior technical AI delivery lead on a monthly retainer. We own the operations layer so your AI tools keep working, your backlog keeps moving, and your leadership sees the time saved.
How an engagement runs
Discovery call
30 minutes, no commitment
Scoping workshop
One structured day on your real processes
Written findings
Report, priorities and a clear order of action
Delivery
Fixed price, defined deliverables, governance built in
Handover
Documentation your team can run without us
Ready to talk?
30-minute call. No obligation.
You are already using AI. People in your organisation are in ChatGPT and Copilot most days. If you are honest, you played around and never turned it into anything that stuck. You bought a tool, brought someone in, and your team is still doing half of the work manually. An automation broke and nobody fixed it, because nobody owns this. You cannot justify a full-time AI hire.
A fractional head of AI operations is a senior technical AI delivery lead on a monthly retainer, without a permanent appointment. You get a named lead responsible for making your AI work and keeping it working. Our co-founder Kane Lukassen leads the service, supported by our technical delivery team.
42% of companies abandoned most AI initiatives in 2025, up from 17% in 2024 (S&P Global, 2025). Over 80% of AI projects fail, twice the rate of traditional IT projects (RAND Corporation). 46% of proofs-of-concept fail to scale (Resultsense).
None of those figures is about poor technology. They are about what happens when no named person owns the AI layer after deployment. 75% of AI adopters report improved workforce productivity (DSIT, 2026). The organisations in that group are not using better tools. They are maintaining the ones they have.
| Dimension | Fractional CAIO | Fractional Head of AI Operations |
|---|---|---|
| Primary focus | Governance, policy, and board oversight | Technical delivery, workflow operations, automation, QA |
| The question it answers | Is our AI safe, compliant, and defensible? | Is our AI working, improving, and measured each month? |
| Who it serves | Leadership, board, trustees, compliance leads | Operations teams, technical leads, AI day-to-day owners |
| What you receive | AI policy, risk register, board-ready governance | Working automations, backlog, time-saved tracking, retrieval oversight |
| Best fit | Organisations preparing for board scrutiny or regulatory review | Organisations with AI in use but no named operations owner |
| Commercial value | Reduces regulatory and reputational risk | Delivers measurable monthly time savings and continuity |
The two roles work well in combination. If your organisation needs both board-level governance and day-to-day delivery, both retainers can run simultaneously.
Every month produces eight structured outputs. The outputs are the same every month, which means you can hold the engagement accountable. Nothing drifts.
The tier determines the depth.
Foundation (1 day / month)
Priority issues, three workflow reviews per quarter, email support for agreed AI operations questions, and a quarterly leadership summary.
Active (2 days / month)
Adds fortnightly check-ins, one new workflow area mapped per month, prompt and automation QA, build oversight for internal or Insightful AI delivery, a monthly metrics review, and a leadership decision note.
Embedded (4 days / month)
Adds weekly working sessions, full ownership of the AI operations backlog across multiple workstreams, technical design review, pilot management for automation and knowledge retrieval work, supplier review and tool selection, and an implementation roadmap.
All prices ex VAT. Three-month minimum term. Most clients start with a one-day AI readiness scoping workshop (£1,500 ex VAT).
£1,500 / month
1 day per month
30–150-person organisations beginning implementation, or those who have completed an AI at Work session with clear workflows and no internal owner.
£3,000 / month
2 days per month
100–700-person organisations actively rolling out Copilot, ChatGPT, automation, or knowledge retrieval across departments.
£5,500 / month
4 days per month
200–2,000-person organisations that need a serious part-time AI operations lead without a full-time appointment.
| Included | Priced separately |
|---|---|
| Technical leadership and prioritisation | Full automation builds |
| AI operations backlog ownership | Custom software development |
| Automation maintenance and monitoring | Large-scale knowledge retrieval implementation |
| Workflow and prompt QA | Large data migration |
| Knowledge retrieval scoping and governance | Deep system integrations |
| Monthly time-saved reporting | Ongoing support desks |
| Leadership summaries | Any fixed-price project build |
When the backlog surfaces a build requirement, we scope it, quote it clearly, and manage it as a separate engagement. For larger builds, see AI Automation, Agentic AI Workflow Design, and AI Software Development.
Governance is built into every use case assessment. Before any knowledge retrieval pilot, we review the data, permissions, and sensitivity, and document the position under UK GDPR. If a workflow creates regulatory risk, that surfaces before deployment. You receive documented governance for every live use case, not general assurances.
76% of organisations have one person or fewer responsible for managing data protection compliance (ICO Data Controller Study 2024). Most organisations running AI tools have less clarity still about the data those tools are accessing. The knowledge retrieval work begins with a source review: which documents are in scope, who holds permissions, what personal data they contain, and what the UK GDPR position is for that specific use case.
Knowledge retrieval, also called RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation), is a system that answers questions using your organisation's own documents rather than a model's general training data. Where processing personal data carries significant risk, a Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) is documented. For ongoing data work, this connects to Data Preparation & Advisory and AI Ethics & Governance.
For board-ready ROI reporting, our AI Impact & ROI Auditing service provides the independent measurement and documentation that investment decisions require.
Book a free discovery call. We will talk through where your organisation stands, which workflows have no owner, and whether a monthly retainer would give you the delivery structure you need.
Book a free discovery call