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Fractional Chief AI Officer. Senior AI leadership, part-time.

A fractional Chief AI Officer leads your AI programme part-time: strategy, vendor choices, governance, budget and delivery oversight, reporting to your leadership team.

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30 minutes with a solution architect.

In short

What does a Chief AI Officer do, and what is a fractional one?

A Chief AI Officer owns a company’s AI programme: which use cases to pursue, which vendors to use, how AI is governed and whether the money delivers results. A fractional Chief AI Officer does this part-time, for companies that need senior AI leadership before, or instead of, a full-time hire. Solorai provides one, with the scope agreed in a written proposal.

Written and reviewed by Solorai

for strategy, vendors, governance and budget
1 owner
senior leadership without a full-time hire
Part-time
report to your leadership team
Monthly

What does a fractional Chief AI Officer do?

The responsibilities of the role, with a defined scope and time commitment.

  • Strategy and roadmap

    Priorities, sequence and the measures that matter, kept current as the business changes.

  • Vendor choices

    Platforms and partners chosen against your requirements, with contracts and renewals reviewed.

  • Governance

    AI policy, approval rules, the AI system register and EU AI Act obligations, owned by one person.

  • Budget and value

    Spend tracked against plan, and each initiative measured against its business case.

  • Delivery oversight

    Pilots and rollouts followed week by week, with risks raised early.

  • Leadership and people

    Board updates, sponsor alignment and the training plan for staff.

When it fits

When does a fractional Chief AI Officer make sense?

Three common moments. In each one, AI needs an owner before it needs a department.

  • Starting out
    • AI is on the agenda, no one owns it
    • Pilots run in several teams
    • Vendors pitch every week
  • Scaling up
    • Pilots must become rollouts
    • Budgets need a single owner
    • Governance has to keep pace
  • Before a full-time hire
    • Define the role first
    • Keep momentum while you recruit
    • Hand over a running programme

ISO/IEC 42001 asks top management to assign the roles, responsibilities and authorities for the AI management system (clause 5.3). A Chief AI Officer is one way to do it.

Where to start

How does the engagement start?

Fixed formats with a clear scope. Prices are agreed in a written proposal.

  • Start

    AI readiness assessment

    An analysis of your use cases and the data available for them, ending with a plan and its costs.

    Duration
    About 2 weeks

  • Start

    Executive briefing

    A half-day session for your leadership team.

    Duration
    Half a day
    Group
    Up to 15 executives

FAQ

Chief AI Officer, in short

What does a Chief AI Officer do?

Owns the AI programme: sets priorities, chooses vendors, sets governance, manages the budget and makes sure initiatives deliver what they promised.

What is a fractional Chief AI Officer?

A senior AI leader who works for your company part-time, with the responsibilities of a Chief AI Officer, for a defined scope and period.

When does a company need a Chief AI Officer?

When AI is spread across several teams and vendors, budgets are growing and nobody owns the results or the risks.

Fractional or full-time?

Fractional fits while the programme is taking shape or while you recruit. A full-time Chief AI Officer fits once AI is a large, permanent part of the business.

Who does a fractional Chief AI Officer report to?

Usually to the CEO or the executive sponsor of AI, with regular updates to the leadership team and the board.

How is the engagement set up?

Scope, time commitment and duration are agreed in a written proposal. It often starts with an AI readiness assessment of about 2 weeks.

Related reading

Senior AI leadership, part-time. Start with a 30-minute briefing.

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