Fractional Chief AI Officer for mid-market companies.
Senior AI operating leadership without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire. Strategic direction, programme management, vendor and governance oversight, and capability building inside your team. Founder-led from first contact to handoff.
When you need a Chief AI Officer.
A Fractional Chief AI Officer fits companies that have AI activity already in motion but no senior operating leadership in the seat. The function is needed before the company is ready to hire it full-time. Bragi runs that function on a one-day-per-week cadence with full operating accountability.
- AI activity is already in motion (tools bought, pilots running, vendors signed).
- Leadership wants a Chief AI Officer in the seat now, before they are ready to hire full-time.
- The CEO, COO, or CFO is the active sponsor, not the IT director.
- There are measurable outcomes attached (revenue, cost, speed, risk, capability).
- There is openness to having pilots killed when the case is not commercial.
What a Fractional Chief AI Officer actually does.
Five concrete responsibilities. Operating accountability, not strategy decks.
Strategic clarity
Where AI should improve the business across revenue, cost, speed, risk, and capability. A prioritised opportunity map tied to commercial outcomes, not a vendor-curated wish list.
Programme management
Active workflows are sequenced, scoped, measured, and reviewed. Pilots either become production or get killed. No zombie projects accumulating on a slide deck.
Vendor and governance oversight
Every tool in the AI stack has a documented purpose, risk classification, and review cadence. Procurement is informed by operating reality, not theatrical.
Capability building inside the team
The internal team uses, reviews, and eventually leads the work. Dependency on the advisor decreases over time, on purpose.
Board and executive communication
Quarterly read-outs that the CFO and the board read once, not three times. Plain operating language.
How an engagement runs.
Four rhythms. Each calibrated to where commercial decisions need senior AI ownership.
| Rhythm | What happens | Cadence |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly operating | Senior advisor in the seat. Decisions made. Workflows reviewed. Blockers cleared. | Once per week |
| Monthly programme review | Status of every active workflow. Wins, blockers, killed pilots. | Once per month |
| Quarterly board read-out | One-page narrative plus scored update for the executive team and board. | Once per quarter |
| Always-on governance | Vendor decisions, EU AI Act exposure changes, policy updates. | As needed |
Engagements are designed to make themselves smaller over time. As internal capability grows, the time commitment from Bragi reduces. The goal is not permanent dependency.
Who this engagement fits.
Bragi Fractional Chief AI Officer engagements run with ambitious mid-market companies that want AI to be their operating edge. Most live in US West Coast and Nordic markets, where AI activity is already in motion but operating clarity has not yet caught up.
Mid-market scaleups. Series B to D B2B SaaS, vertical SaaS, AI-native, healthtech, fintech. Established commercial operations, scaling AI activity beyond pilots.
Mid-market traditional. Manufacturing, distribution, retail, logistics. Often PE-backed with a 100-day plan, often with EU customer exposure that creates EU AI Act exposure.
PE-backed portfolios. Operating partners running 100-day or 12-month plans where AI is a value-creation lever. Fractional CAIO sits across two to three portfolio companies.
Regulator-pressured. Healthcare, financial services, defence, energy, and any organisation operating under EU AI Act, NIS2, or sector-specific obligations.
Conversations happen at CEO, COO, CFO, board, or founder level.
Three situations where the honest answer is no.
- You are pre-AI-activity.Hire a fractional CAIO when you have AI activity to bring under operating control, not before. The right first step is internal exploration with one curious operator, not a fractional executive.
- You are ready for a full-time hire.If the company is at scale where a full-time CAIO has clear ROI, hire one. A fractional engagement at that stage is a bridge, not a destination. Bragi can run that bridge for six to nine months while you search.
- You are looking for vendor selection.Fractional Chief AI Officer engagements include vendor oversight, but they are not vendor-selection engagements. If the problem is which AI tool should we buy, a more focused advisor or RFP process is a better spend.
How Bragi engages differently.
| Dimension | Consulting firm | AI agency | Bragi |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who delivers | Junior consultants on the file | Rotating delivery team | Founder-led from first contact to handoff |
| What you get | Strategy deck and handover | AI tool deployments | Operating clarity plus delivery accountability |
| Where the work sits | Slide-led, advisory-only | Build-led, no governance | Operating-led, decisions made in the room |
| Engagement shape | Multi-month phased project | Tool deployments | Ongoing operating cadence |
| What scales down | Engagement extends and grows | Stays the same scope | Designed to shrink as capability transfers |
Operating proof, not slides.
Founder operating credentials.25+ years across Accenture (Senior Manager, Digital Transformation, Nordics), Microsoft, and GN Group, where roles moved from Program Manager to Digital Transformation Director to Director Commercial AI and Engagement. Selected proof: developed a digital strategy for a global jewellery brand demonstrating potential to add approximately $1B USD in topline; contributed to a pharmaceutical post-merger integration that enabled approximately 40 percent IT staff reduction; formed a cloud platform that enabled a national IT services partner to generate a $6M USD revenue stream; and currently leading an AI programme at a global direct-to-consumer brand that identified $25 to $30M USD in P&L impact opportunity, approximately 6 percent of annual revenue.
Founder-led delivery. Every engagement is founder-led from first contact to handoff. No junior consultants on the file, no rotating delivery teams, no slide decks without operating substance behind them. For a longer view of what the role looks like in practice, read what a Fractional Chief AI Officer actually does.
Methodology IP. The BRAGI operating methodology (Baseline, Revenue, Adoption, Governance, Intelligence) is the scoring framework used inside every assessment. Workflow patterns, vendor intelligence, and governance templates compound across engagements.
Two ways to start.
Start with the four-week BRAGI Assessment. Scored baseline, prioritised opportunity map, recommendation for what to build first. Most engagements start here.
Take the BRAGI AssessmentAlready clear you want the retainer engagement. Request a partner conversation to discuss the engagement directly. Useful when leadership is decided and wants to compress the discovery.
Request a partner conversationQuestions leaders ask first.
How is a Fractional Chief AI Officer different from an AI consultant?
A Fractional Chief AI Officer holds operating accountability, not just advisory. Consultants advise on strategy and leave. A fractional CAIO sits in the seat, makes decisions inside your governance, runs your AI programme cadence, and is measured against the same outcomes the CEO and CFO are measured against. Most engagements run on a one-day-per-week cadence plus monthly programme reviews.
What does a Fractional Chief AI Officer cost?
Pricing varies by scope and scale, but Bragi engagements price into the cost of an experienced fractional executive, well below the loaded cost of a full-time Chief AI Officer at the same level of seniority. The right anchor is to compare the engagement against the cost of one mid-sized stalled AI programme. That comparison usually closes the conversation.
How long do engagements typically run?
Ongoing, with a quarterly review cadence. Most engagements start with a four-week BRAGI Assessment and convert into a retainer that runs nine to eighteen months. Engagements are designed to make themselves smaller over time as internal capability grows. The goal is not permanent dependency.
Do you replace our existing AI team?
No. The Fractional Chief AI Officer engagement is designed to give your internal team a senior operating layer above them. The internal team continues to run the work. The fractional advisor provides the strategic direction, programme cadence, governance discipline, and board-facing communication that the team needs to operate effectively.
Can a Fractional Chief AI Officer cover EU AI Act compliance?
Yes. Bragi engagements include EU AI Act exposure mapping through a vendor exposure heatmap that classifies risk against the Act categories. For US companies with European customer exposure, this is often the first practical work the engagement does. It is operating governance, not compliance theatre.
Start with a scored baseline.
The four-week BRAGI Assessment produces a baseline, an opportunity map, and a recommendation. Most Fractional Chief AI Officer engagements start here.
Or request a partner conversation directly.