FlyWheel Consultancy

Fractional Chief AI Officer

A fractional Chief AI Officer
who actually ships.

A fractional Chief AI Officer is senior AI leadership, part-time. We set where AI goes in your business, pick the tools, run the build, and make sure it ships — without the cost of a full-time executive hire.

5

questions to know if you need one

90 days

to one process live in production

100%

human review before anything sends

The enterprise AI partners won't take your call.This seat is built for you.

Anthropic's Claude Partner Network certifies firms built for large rollouts and deep single-vendor commitments. A growing company needs the same senior judgment, from a partner whose only loyalty is to your outcome.

Vendor-neutral, part-time, and accountable for the run.

The role

What does a fractional Chief AI Officer do?

It owns two things: where AI goes in your business, and whether it actually ships. Strategy without deployment is a slide deck; deployment without strategy is a pile of disconnected tools. We hold both, scoped to the hours you actually need.

Picks the roadmap

Which processes get automated, in what order, and why.

Owns the vendor choices

Which models and tools you use — and where a spreadsheet already does the job.

Runs the build

Agents wired into the systems your team already works in.

Keeps a human in the loop

Review gates so nothing reaches a customer unchecked.

Reports on ROI

Hours saved and cycle time, not vibes.

Does your company need a fractional Chief AI Officer?

Probably, if AI keeps landing on your plate and nobody owns it end to end. Answer yes to three or more of these five questions and the role earns its keep. If not, you may only need a project.

Read the full test
  1. 1Has an AI project stalled after a promising demo?
  2. 2Are teams buying their own AI tools with no plan connecting them?
  3. 3Can you measure the ROI of anything you've already tried?
  4. 4Do you want AI across functions, not just one chatbot?
  5. 5Is a full-time AI executive out of budget for now?

The first 90 days

What should the first 90 days produce?

One process automated and running in production, not a strategy document. We front-load a fast audit, pick the highest-toil, lowest-risk process, ship it behind a review gate, and measure what changed. That first win is what earns the trust to expand.

0Phase 0

A fast audit

We map your functions, data, and the AI tools teams already bought. You get a roadmap before anything is installed.

1Phase 1

Pick one process

The highest-toil, lowest-risk workflow goes first. One process, chosen on purpose — not a company-wide rollout.

2By day 90

Ship it behind a review gate

The process runs in production, with a human approval step on anything customer-facing.

3Ongoing

Measure, then expand

We report what changed, own the run when it drifts, and expand to the next function once the first win is proven.

How do you hire a fractional Chief AI Officer?

Test for three things: a live system they can show you, independence from any single vendor, and a scope tied to outcomes instead of hours. Weight vendor-neutrality heaviest, because it is the trait that keeps the advice honest.

We don't describe the system. We open it on the call.

Every discovery call includes a live audit of your own business.

The hiring checklist

Questions buyers ask

What is a fractional Chief AI Officer?+

A senior AI leader who works with your company part-time, setting the AI strategy and running the actual deployment without the cost of a full-time executive hire. You get the judgment of someone who has done this before, scoped to the hours you actually need.

Fractional, full-time, or a consultant: which do I need?+

Choose fractional when you need senior ownership but not 40 hours of it. Choose full-time when AI is core to your product and you can justify the executive seat. Choose a one-off consultant only when you have a team ready to run what they recommend. Most growing companies sit in the fractional lane.

What does a fractional Chief AI Officer cost?+

Less than a full-time executive, because you buy the hours you need instead of a salary. We scope every engagement to outcomes — the first process, the review cadence, and what success looks like at 90 days — and price to that. Our current plans are on the pricing page.

Are you vendor-neutral, or will you just sell me Claude?+

Vendor-neutral. We implement a lot of Claude because it is often the right answer, but we will tell you when an existing tool already does the job, and when the honest move is to do nothing yet. A partner tied to one vendor's stack always finds that stack is the answer.

What should the first 90 days produce?+

One process automated and running in production, not a strategy document. Roughly 88% of AI pilots never reach production, and most die from scope, so proving a single thing works is what earns the trust to expand.

How is this different from your Claude implementation service?+

Same team, same system, different door. Claude implementation is framed around the project: standing Claude up inside your business. The fractional Chief AI Officer is framed around the role: someone who owns AI strategy and delivery across the business, with Claude as one of the tools.

See our pricing, or the project-framed version of this work: Claude implementation.

Senior AI leadership, without the full-time hire.

One call. We run a live audit on your business and tell you honestly whether the role fits — and which process would go first.

Book a Discovery Call