Your fractional
Head of AI.
Senior AI ownership for UK SMEs. We choose the right work, manage governance, brief the board, and ship useful AI systems — without the cost of a full-time AI hire.
You do not have an AI problem.
You have a decision problem.
AI ideas are everywhere. Most are distractions. Some are risky. A few are worth building now. A Fractional Head of AI is the senior person who decides which is which — and ships the ones worth shipping.
A consultant gives you a deck. We sit in your leadership team, own the decisions, and ship the work. The proof shows up in your business — not in a slide.
The four AI jobs most SMEs need owned.
One senior person who decides what gets built, manages the risk, keeps the board clear, and ships real systems — every month.
Not every AI idea is worth the hours. We rank what your team and your vendors propose, kill the distractions, and choose the few worth building this quarter.
Policies, vendor risk reviews, GDPR, ISO, SRA, FCA, ICO. Your auditors have someone to call. Your board has someone to point at.
One monthly page. What we shipped, what is next, what we paused and why. Plain English. Read in five minutes.
Your business intelligence layer reviewed weekly. One working AI system shipped each quarter. No slide-only quarters. The output is the proof.
A practical monthly AI function.
Decisions made. Risks managed. Systems shipped. Your leadership team kept clear on what matters next.
- Four senior days a month.Across calls, async work, and live sessions with your leadership team.
- Weekly Pulse review.Your business intelligence layer reviewed every week: market signals, internal trends, missed opportunities, risks, and what to act on next.
- One Agent shipped each quarter.A working AI system for a real business workflow — scoped with you, built by Nerdster engineering, owned by you, connected to your tools.
- A monthly briefing for your board.One page. Plain English. Read in five minutes. What we shipped, what is next, what we paused and why.
- Escalation channel to Nerdster engineering.When something needs building or fixing fast, you have a senior engineering team behind the retainer.
- Vendor reviews and contracts read.Before you sign. Honest takes, including “do not buy this”. A grown-up filter for every AI pitch that lands in your inbox.
- Your AI policy maintained.As SRA, FCA, ICO, ISO and the EU AI Act move, your policy moves with them. Your team always knows the current rules.
- Knowledge transfer to your team.Each quarter, your team runs more of this themselves. The goal is internal capability, not lock-in.
Day one to day ninety.
A typical first quarter. Concrete, sequenced, written down before we start.
- AI policy and vendor-risk process in place.Drafted with your leadership. Signed off. Used.
- Weekly Pulse running.Across cash, pipeline, client risk, operations and market signals. Reviewed every Monday.
- First internal Agent shipped.Scoped together. Built by Nerdster engineering. Live on your data. Owned by you.
- Board-level AI briefing cadence established.One page each month. Plain English. Decisions, risks, what is shipping next.
- Build / buy / pause decisions made.Every AI idea your team has raised, ranked and decided. No more open loops.
Three steps. Then a monthly cadence.
The first month settles the question. After that, the rhythm just runs.
Shadow.
One week alongside your leadership team. We see how decisions get made and where AI fits.
Plan.
A thirty-day roadmap. What we build first. What we leave. What governance you need this quarter.
Run.
The monthly cadence. The work gets shipped. The governance gets maintained. You keep your week back.
Stated. Boring on purpose.
No hidden setup. No tiered grid. One number band, six-month minimum, thirty days’ notice. If you outgrow it, we quote separately.
Fractional Head of AI
Four senior days · weekly Pulse review · one Agent shipped each quarter · monthly board brief · escalation to Nerdster engineering · vendor reviews · AI policy maintained · team knowledge transfer.
Thirty days’ notice to pause or stop. No setup fee.
If you need more — full Build, full Run — we quote that as a separate engagement.
This is probably right if…
- Your leadership team knows AI matters, but no one owns it.
- Staff are already using AI tools and the governance is unclear.
- Vendors are pitching AI into the business and you need a grown-up filter.
- You want useful systems shipped, not another strategy deck.
- You are not ready to hire a full-time AI exec yet.
UK based, 10 to 200 people, professional services or regulated firms is the sweet spot. Other shapes welcome — we will tell you up front if we are not the right fit.
Where Fractional sits.
Audit settles the question. Fractional runs the function. Build & Run is when you need code shipped and run.
One-shot diagnosis.
A written readiness review. Costed first move. You leave with a plan whether or not you continue.
Read about the audit →Fractional Head of AI.
Ongoing senior ownership. The work picked, governed and shipped — every month.
This page.Project plus managed.
For when the scope is larger than a Fractional retainer can carry. Engineered, deployed, run for you.
Read about build →Quick answers.
What exactly is the Monday Pulse?
Your business intelligence layer. A weekly read across cash, pipeline, client risk, operations and market signals — pulled from your existing systems, summarised in one page, with the actions worth taking this week.
What kind of Agent gets shipped each quarter?
A working AI system for a real workflow — overdue invoice chasing, client onboarding packs, contract review, lead triage, month-end packs, board-pack drafting, and so on. We pick the one with the highest payback for your business. You own it. It runs on your data, in your tools.
What if we already have a CTO?
Good. We work alongside them. The CTO owns systems and uptime. We own AI strategy and AI delivery. We meet weekly so nothing falls between the two.
Can you specialise in law, accountancy or finance?
Yes. We have direct experience with SRA, ICAEW and FCA contexts. We will tell you up front if your sector is outside what we can credibly cover.
Do you train our team?
Yes. Knowledge transfer is part of the retainer. The goal is your team able to run more of this internally each quarter — not lock-in.
What happens at the end of six months?
You decide. Continue, pause, or switch to a smaller Pulse-only retainer. Thirty days’ notice. No clawback.
Why £3,500 to £6,000?
The lower end suits most professional-services firms. The higher end is when there are multiple departments, multiple data sources, or a regulator we need to brief monthly.