Month-to-Month · No Long-Term Contract

Fractional AI Officer

Senior AI Leadership. Without the Full-Time Hire.

AI moves faster than any roadmap stays current. Your business needs someone embedded — setting direction, evaluating tools, building working systems, and keeping your team ahead of the curve. Not a report. Ongoing results.

Delivered personally by Chris Short — hands-on AI engineer working in the Anthropic stack daily.

You Need AI Leadership. Not Another Vendor.

A full-time AI Director costs $180K–$250K annually. Most Charlotte SMBs don't need that level of overhead — they need the expertise, without the payroll commitment.

One-time consultants hand you a report and disappear. AI tools and models change monthly. The roadmap you paid for is stale in 90 days, and no one is accountable for making it work.

A Fractional AI Officer stays. Month-to-month. Embedded in your business. Responsible for outcomes, not just outputs.

Full-Time AI Director
$180K–$250K salary + benefits + equity. 6-month hiring cycle. One person, one perspective.
One-Time Consulting Report
Expensive document. No accountability. Stale in 90 days. Execution still falls to you.
Fractional AI Officer
Senior expertise, embedded monthly. Strategy + hands-on builds. Accountable for results. Month-to-month flexibility.

What a Fractional AI Officer Actually Does

This is not advisory from a distance. It is embedded, accountable AI leadership.

01

AI Strategy & Roadmapping

Monthly strategy sessions that adapt to new AI capabilities as they emerge. Prioritized use cases, tool selection, and phased implementation plans — kept current, not frozen in a one-time document.

02

Hands-On AI Engineering

Claude Code pipelines, Anthropic API integrations, agentic workflow design, and custom tooling. Strategy that stays connected to real implementation — built by someone who ships working systems, not just plans.

03

Team Enablement

Practical skills training for your team embedded in the monthly engagement — not a separate purchase. Your people learn to use AI tools confidently, with workflows tailored to their actual roles.

04

Tool & Vendor Evaluation

New AI tools launch weekly. Your Fractional AI Officer evaluates them against your specific workflows so you adopt what actually moves the needle — and skip the expensive experiments that don't.

05

ROI Tracking & Reporting

Monthly reporting on AI initiative performance — time saved, cost reduced, output improved. Clear metrics that connect AI investments to business outcomes, ready for leadership or board review.

06

Anthropic Ecosystem Depth

Specialized expertise in Claude, Claude Code, and the full Anthropic API — not a generic overview of every AI tool on the market. Deep skill in agentic systems, prompt engineering at scale, and workflow orchestration.

Who This Is For

Good Fit

  • 10–250 employee SMB past the AI curiosity stage
  • Leadership wants AI embedded, not just evaluated
  • Need implementation, not another report
  • Budget for ongoing AI leadership ($3.5K–$9.5K/mo)
  • Professional services, healthcare, fintech, ops-heavy industry
  • Open to national/virtual engagement from Davidson NC base

Not the Right Fit

  • Just exploring AI with no implementation intent
  • Looking for a one-time audit or workshop only
  • Need a staff augmentation body, not a strategic officer
  • Requires on-site presence 5 days/week in Charlotte
  • Enterprise with existing AI team and budget for full-time hire

Fractional AI Officer Pricing

All tiers are month-to-month. No long-term contracts. Delivered personally by Chris Short.

AI Advisor

$3,500/mo
~10 hrs/month

Strategic Advisory

Best for businesses with a capable internal team that needs senior AI direction

  • Monthly 2-hour strategy session
  • Async support via email/Slack
  • Tool & model recommendations
  • Monthly AI briefing (what changed, what matters)
  • Prompt & workflow review on request
MOST POPULAR

Fractional AI Officer

$6,500/mo
~25 hrs/month

Embedded Leadership

Best for businesses ready to accelerate AI adoption with hands-on support

  • Weekly strategy & check-in sessions
  • Hands-on AI implementation work
  • Claude Code / Anthropic API builds
  • Team enablement & workflow training
  • Tool evaluation & vendor guidance
  • Monthly ROI reporting
  • Priority async access

Executive AI Officer

$9,500/mo
~40+ hrs/month

Near Full-Time Engagement

Best for businesses treating AI as a core competitive advantage

  • Everything in Fractional AI Officer
  • Deep automation & agent system builds
  • Board-ready AI strategy reporting
  • Department-level AI transformation
  • Vendor contract negotiation support
  • Hiring & AI team buildout guidance

Not sure which tier fits?Start with a free 30-minute strategy call. We'll scope your needs and recommend the right engagement level — no pressure, no obligation.

Book Free Strategy Call

Common Questions

What is a Fractional AI Officer?

A senior AI leader embedded part-time in your business — providing the strategy, implementation oversight, and hands-on engineering of a full-time AI Director without the $200K+ salary. Unlike a one-time consultant who hands you a report and leaves, a Fractional AI Officer stays accountable month-to-month.

How is this different from a one-time consulting engagement?

One-time consulting produces a deliverable — a report, a roadmap, a workshop. A Fractional AI Officer produces ongoing results. The difference is accountability: a consultant leaves after the engagement ends; a Fractional AI Officer stays engaged, adapts to new AI developments as they emerge, and is responsible for your AI outcomes month after month.

What does Chris Short bring that a generalist AI consultant does not?

Chris builds production AI systems daily — agentic workflows, Claude Code pipelines, Anthropic API integrations, and multi-step automation. He is not a theorist. The engagement draws on deep, current expertise in the Anthropic ecosystem, prompt engineering at the systems level, and the architecture of AI agents and workflows. You get someone who ships working AI — not slide decks about it.

Do I have to commit to a long-term contract?

No. All tiers are month-to-month. There is no annual lock-in. Most clients stay because the engagement delivers measurable results — not because they're contractually obligated to. A 30-day notice ends the engagement at any time.

Do you work with businesses outside Charlotte?

Yes. Most strategic and implementation work is virtual. The home base is Davidson, NC, and local Charlotte-area clients are prioritized, but distributed teams across the US are welcome. If your business requires regular on-site presence in a different city, reach out to discuss feasibility.

Ready to Stop Navigating AI Alone?

Book a free 30-minute strategy call. We'll scope your business, identify the highest-leverage AI opportunities, and recommend the right engagement tier — no pressure, no commitment.