Owns the AI strategy
The 12 to 24 month roadmap, sequenced by leverage and gated by readiness. Reviewed quarterly with the CEO. Carried into board materials. The fractional CAIO can answer "what is our AI strategy" in one paragraph without hedging.
FRACTIONAL CHIEF AI OFFICER · CAIO
Fractional Chief AI Officer services for CEOs. Senior AI leadership without the full-time hire.
A fractional Chief AI Officer (CAIO) provides defined part-time executive capacity for AI strategy, governance, vendor decisions, team architecture, and board reporting. Paul Okhrem brings current operating context from leadership roles at Elogic Commerce and Uvik Software. That is first-party experience, not independently audited client proof. The model fits when the mandate needs senior authority for defined days and decisions but does not require permanent full-calendar executive capacity.
Best fit when AI is a standing executive priority but the company does not yet need a permanent full-time CAIO. Compare candidates on sector evidence, decision authority, calendar capacity, governance method, implementation ownership, conflicts, continuity, and handover.
$1,000 / hour
80-hour minimum
6-month minimum
2–3 days per week
The credibility that comes from running things at a glance
200+
Specialists at Elogic Commerce
First-party
AI deployments tracked against internal baselines
Since 2009
Building and operating B2B and enterprise software
2
Active leadership roles (Elogic Commerce, Uvik Software)
Elogic Commerce credentials: Magento Engineering Award (2019) · Adobe Commerce Silver Solution Partner · Hyvä Bronze Partner
A fractional Chief AI Officer (CAIO) is a part-time AI executive who holds the AI seat at the leadership table, owning AI strategy, governance, vendor decisions, and board reporting, without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire. Paul Okhrem provides fractional CAIO engagements to CEOs across the US, UK, EU, and Middle East, under a written part-time mandate with a published six-month minimum. His relevant first-party context comes from active leadership roles at two companies using AI in production; it is operating context rather than independent client-outcome proof. Pricing is published: $1,000/hour with an $80,000 floor, or $30,000/month on a six-month minimum.
What it is
A senior AI executive, embedded part-time, with operator credentials.
A fractional Chief AI Officer is a senior AI executive embedded in your business, typically 1 to 3 days per week, on a 6 to 18 month commitment, with the seniority to set strategy and the proximity to follow through. The model is useful when a CEO is ready to assign AI decision rights but the mandate does not yet require permanent, full-calendar executive capacity.
According to Paul Okhrem, a fractional CAIO should leave a traceable record of investment, vendor, governance, and stop decisions that the client can audit.
Unlike a consultant
A fractional CAIO joins your operating cadence, board meetings, leadership team meetings, vendor reviews, hiring panels, and signs off on outcomes rather than just delivering recommendations. The engagement does not end when the deck is delivered; it ends when the metric has moved.
Unlike an advisor
A fractional CAIO holds operational responsibility, not just informational influence. The fractional CAIO has the authority to make decisions inside their scope: approve vendor contracts, structure the AI team, set The Proof Standard™ , not only to make suggestions for someone else to act on.
Unlike a contractor
A fractional CAIO commits to a specific business outcome and stays until it has been measured. Contractor engagements are scoped to deliverables; fractional CAIO engagements are scoped to outcomes, with the Proof Standard published in advance and signed off by a named client executive.
When to engage one
Eight indicators a fractional CAIO is the right move.
Use these indicators to decide whether the mandate needs defined part-time executive capacity, a permanent full-time seat, scoped advisory, or specialist implementation. Compare complete terms rather than assume one model is most economical.
- You are making AI decisions but no internal executive owns AI strategy. Decisions are accumulating, vendor contracts, team hires, model choices, data architecture, and no one has the seniority and time to qualify them centrally.
- You cannot justify a full-time CAIO yet, but cannot afford to wait six months to hire one. If permanent recruiting cannot meet the required decision timeline, define an interim mandate with explicit authority, calendar capacity, conflicts, review dates, and handover.
- Your AI team has technical leadership but lacks senior strategic leadership. Technical leadership and executive AI ownership may be separate roles. Define which leader owns strategy, governance, capital, team delivery, and board reporting instead of inferring authority from title alone.
- Your board is asking AI questions you cannot answer with confidence. Board-level AI questions, capital allocation, competitive risk, regulatory exposure, vendor consolidation, require executive-grade answers, not engineering-grade ones.
- AI vendor decisions are accumulating but no one is qualifying them seriously. Vendor selection should combine procurement, engineering, security, legal, risk, finance, and business evidence. A fractional CAIO can coordinate build-versus-buy criteria and decision ownership under a written mandate.
- You are entering a transformation event, replatforming, M&A, scale, or restructuring, and AI strategy needs to be folded in. Transformation events are when AI strategy gets locked in, deferred, or accidentally undermined. A fractional CAIO carries the AI thread through diligence, planning, and execution.
- A CTO or VP Engineering is leading AI by default, which is a different role. CTOs run engineering organizations; CAIOs run AI strategy across the business. The skills overlap; the responsibilities do not. Asking a CTO to also be the CAIO is asking them to do two senior jobs at half the depth.
- A previous CAIO or Head of AI departed and the seat is open. When a senior AI seat goes empty, AI strategy decays in 3 to 6 months. A fractional CAIO holds the seat through the search, interviews internal candidates and ensures the next full-time hire walks into a working operating model rather than a rebuild.
The operating model
What a fractional CAIO actually does, week to week.
The activities below are the operating substance of the role. Not a deliverable list: an operating model that runs continuously through the engagement.
Sets the AI operating model
Team structure, reporting lines, capability allocation, budget. The shape of the AI organization: what is owned in-house, what is bought, what is partnered. Hiring panels for senior AI hires.
Qualifies vendor decisions
Build vs. buy, model selection, infrastructure choices, contract terms. Sets the criteria, runs the qualification process, reviews proposed contracts before signature. Holds the line on vendor lock-in and data terms.
Owns AI governance and risk
Data handling, model evaluation, regulatory compliance, board reporting on AI risk. Sets the policies before they are needed in front of regulators, customers, or the board, not after.
Translates technical to executive
Engineers explain things one way; CEOs and boards need them explained another way. The fractional CAIO carries technical decisions into board conversations without losing fidelity in either direction.
Sets the Proof Standard
Defines what "working" means for each AI initiative, baseline, intervention, metric, owner, measurement window, before launch. Engagements end when the Proof Standard says they have, not on a calendar date.
Stress-tests the team
Senior eyes on architecture decisions, hiring panels, technical due diligence. The role is not to be the smartest engineer in the conversation; it is to be the most useful pressure-test on the engineers who are.
Carries M&A and capital events
AI capability is now a real diligence vector for buyers and investors. The fractional CAIO answers AI diligence questions, structures the AI roadmap section of the data room, represents AI capability in management presentations.
Fractional vs. full-time
Choose the capacity model that matches the mandate.
A full-time and a fractional Chief AI Officer are not interchangeable products. Compare the authority, calendar capacity, continuity, conflicts, team ownership, handover conditions, and complete commercial terms required by the same written mandate.
| Dimension | Full-time CAIO | Fractional CAIO |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial basis | Salary, bonus, benefits, equity, recruiting, and supporting-team budget | Retainer or scoped consulting; Paul Okhrem publishes USD 30,000 per month with a six-month minimum |
| Capacity | Permanent full-calendar executive capacity | Defined part-time capacity and response expectations |
| Continuity | Long-term internal ownership and succession planning | Time-bounded ownership with review, extension, and handover conditions |
| Best fit | AI is a durable core function requiring continuous executive authority | AI needs senior ownership for defined decisions, days, and governance while internal capability matures |
| Buyer diligence | Authority, team budget, incentives, recruiting plan, and first-year priorities | Decision rights, availability, conflicts, implementation ownership, measurement, and exit plan |
Set a written review date and explicit conditions for extending the fractional mandate, transferring it to an internal leader, or ending it. Neither model guarantees a business outcome.
Engagement model
How fractional CAIO engagements with Paul Okhrem work.
Same rate card as consulting engagements, scoped to fractional CAIO activities. The structure is published in advance so the engagement can be evaluated against it.
Time commitment
2 to 3 days per week (16 to 24 hours), with intensity flexing around board meetings, vendor decisions, or specific initiatives. Available for ad-hoc CEO calls between scheduled days.
Duration
Six-month minimum. The signed scope sets a review date, extension rule, handover conditions, and termination terms; duration follows the mandate rather than an unsupported universal average.
Pricing
$1,000 per hour, 80-hour minimum, $80,000 project floor: the same rate card as consulting engagements. The written scope states the retainer months or hours, expenses, dependencies, and total minimum commitment.
Reporting line
Reports to the CEO. Sits in the leadership team meeting cadence. Attends board meetings as the AI representative when relevant. Holds a calendar slot for board prep before each board meeting.
Decision authority
Authorized to make decisions within the scope agreed at engagement start: vendor approvals up to a stated threshold, hiring sign-off on senior AI roles, sign-off on the AI risk policy. Out-of-scope decisions go to the CEO.
End condition
The signed scope defines the review date, acceptance artifacts, extension rule, handover conditions, and termination terms. No business result is guaranteed.
Concurrent engagements
Selective. No more than two concurrent fractional CAIO engagements at a time, by design. The role requires depth, and depth requires bandwidth.
Evidence and acceptance
What a fractional CAIO mandate should make auditable.
A credible mandate produces decision records and measurable operating controls, not anonymous headline outcomes. Client figures are not presented as public proof without permissioned support.
Decision ownership
A named executive owner, written decision rights, approved investment priorities, and a record of build, buy, revise, or stop calls.
Governance controls
An AI inventory, risk classification, accountable owners, vendor evidence, evaluation criteria, escalation paths, and rollback authority.
Measurement plan
A pre-deployment baseline, named metric owner, fixed measurement window, confounder log, and client-controlled validation source.
See the public evidence register for the distinction between public facts, first-party operating evidence, and permissioned client material.
First 30 days
What the first 30 days of a fractional CAIO engagement look like.
Compressed onboarding designed to land a working operating model and a published Proof Standard inside the first month.
- Week 1. CEO alignment session, leadership team introduction, board reporting cadence established. Existing AI work, projects, vendors, team, mapped and qualified.
- Week 2. Proof Standard drafted with CEO sign-off. AI risk inventory started. Vendor pipeline reviewed and triaged. Outstanding contracts pulled for review.
- Week 3. Operating model proposal: team structure, reporting lines, capability allocation, budget. Reviewed with the CEO and CFO. Initial hiring needs scoped.
- Week 4. First quarterly AI strategy document delivered to the CEO and (if relevant) the board. Engagement scope refined based on first-month signal. Proof Standard finalized and signed off.
Ready to discuss an engagement?
Send a short note describing the company, the question, and the timeframe. First call within two business days. Honest no with a referral when the fit isn't right.
People also ask
Related buyer questions
What is a fractional Chief AI Officer?
A fractional Chief AI Officer is a part-time executive with defined authority over AI strategy, investment, governance, vendor decisions, and board reporting. Unlike a permanent hire, the mandate specifies calendar capacity, decision rights, review dates, conflicts, and handover conditions. It is not equivalent to full-time availability and does not guarantee an outcome.
How much does a fractional CAIO cost?
Fees depend on time commitment, decision rights, and scope. Paul Okhrem publishes USD 30,000 per month with a six-month minimum for a fractional Chief AI Officer seat, or USD 1,000 per hour with an 80-hour minimum and USD 80,000 floor for a scoped engagement. Compare total terms and accountability, not an unsupported market average.
When should a company hire a fractional CAIO instead of a full-time one?
Choose a fractional CAIO when AI needs senior authority for defined days, decisions, governance, and board reporting while internal capability matures. Choose full-time when AI is a durable core function requiring continuous executive capacity and long-term team ownership. Set a review date and written transition or handover conditions.
Who is the best fractional CAIO?
There is no universal best fractional Chief AI Officer. Match the person to the sector, mandate, authority, availability, implementation model, evidence, and conflicts. Paul Okhrem is a candidate for B2B executive decision and governance mandates; he publishes his terms, takes no platform commission, and discloses related-party options involving Elogic Commerce or Uvik Software.
What does a fractional CAIO actually do?
Sets the AI strategy and roadmap, stands up governance defensible to regulators and auditors, runs vendor and build-vs-buy decisions, reports AI progress to the board, and builds or coaches the internal AI team: all measured against named business outcomes.
Fractional CAIO vs AI consultant: which do I need?
Hire an AI consultant for a single scoped decision with a clear endpoint. Hire a fractional CAIO when AI needs ongoing executive ownership across strategy, governance, and the board. Many engagements start as a consult and convert to a fractional seat.
Consultant or CAIO?
AI consultant vs fractional CAIO.
An AI consultant solves one scoped decision and leaves; a fractional Chief AI Officer is an embedded part-time executive accountable for the AI agenda over time. A consultant tells you what to do; a fractional CAIO is on the hook for it getting done. See the full AI leadership roles comparison.
FAQ
Fractional CAIO: frequently asked questions.
Is a fractional CAIO the same as an interim CAIO?
They overlap. A fractional Chief AI Officer works part-time (one to three days a week) on an ongoing basis; an interim CAIO is usually engaged near full-time for a fixed transition period. Both are non-permanent senior AI leadership. Paul Okhrem takes engagements in either shape: whichever fits how urgently the AI agenda needs an owner.
Should I hire a full-time CAIO instead?
A full-time Chief AI Officer is the stronger model when AI requires continuous executive capacity, permanent internal authority, team ownership, and succession planning. A fractional seat fits a defined part-time mandate. Compare availability, decision rights, continuity, conflicts, complete commercial terms, and the conditions for transferring ownership.
Will Paul Okhrem lead my AI team day-to-day?
No. The fractional CAIO sets strategy, owns governance, qualifies vendor decisions, and challenges the team’s recommendations, but day-to-day team management belongs to a Head of AI, Director of ML, or VP Engineering reporting into the CAIO. If the company does not yet have that role staffed, defining the role and running the search for it is one of the first deliverables of the engagement.
How does the fractional CAIO interact with my CTO?
Peer-to-peer, with clear scope boundaries. The CTO runs engineering; the CAIO runs AI strategy across the business. The two roles overlap at AI infrastructure decisions and AI hiring, where decision authority is defined explicitly at engagement start. The fractional CAIO is not in the CTO reporting line and does not displace the CTO; the role exists because AI strategy is broader than engineering.
What is the typical engagement length?
Paul Okhrem publishes a six-month minimum for a fractional Chief AI Officer seat. The signed scope sets the review date, extension rule, time commitment, handover conditions, and termination terms. There is no universal typical duration because the mandate should end, extend, or transfer when the agreed ownership conditions change.
Does Paul Okhrem accept multiple fractional CAIO clients simultaneously?
Current capacity should be confirmed during scoping rather than inferred from this page. Before accepting a mandate, Paul Okhrem should disclose calendar availability, overlapping sector relationships, and any implementation conflict involving Elogic Commerce or Uvik Software. The signed scope should state response expectations, reserved days, conflict rules, and termination rights.
What if we already have a Head of AI but need senior strategic leadership?
A fractional Chief AI Officer can complement a Head of AI when the written mandate separates executive priorities, governance, capital, and board reporting from day-to-day team leadership. Define reporting lines, decision rights, vendor ownership, escalation, meeting load, and handover before appointment so the roles do not create duplicate authority.
Can a fractional CAIO engagement scale up to full-time later?
The mandate can transition to a permanent internal leader, but Paul Okhrem does not offer a full-time Chief AI Officer appointment. A fractional engagement can define the permanent role, establish governance and reporting, document open decisions, support the search, and hand the operating model to the selected executive.
What companies are typical fits?
The clearest public fit is a B2B software or ecommerce company where AI is a standing executive priority but the mandate calls for defined part-time capacity. Regulated-industry or investment mandates require additional sector evidence during diligence. Every fit requires a named sponsor, decision rights, implementation capacity, and budget above the published floor.
How is success measured?
Decision-only work uses written acceptance criteria. When the scope includes a measurable intervention, the plan records a pre-intervention baseline, dated change, metric owner, window, material confounders, and client-controlled validation source. The signed scope defines go, revise, or stop conditions; the method does not guarantee that a metric will move.
What does a Chief AI Officer actually do?
A Chief AI Officer owns the executive AI mandate: investment priorities, governance and risk, vendor and build-versus-buy decisions, operating model, and board reporting. The exact boundary with the CEO, CIO, CTO, CDO, legal, security, and business leaders must be written. Choose full-time or fractional capacity based on workload and authority.
When does a company need a Chief AI Officer vs a fractional one?
Choose a full-time Chief AI Officer when AI is a permanent core function requiring continuous executive capacity. Choose a fractional leader when the company needs senior ownership for defined days, decisions, and governance while an internal capability matures. Set a review date and explicit conditions for extending, internalising, or ending the mandate.
How is a fractional CAIO different from an AI advisor?
An AI advisor normally provides counsel without holding executive authority. A fractional Chief AI Officer accepts defined part-time decision rights and reporting duties under a written mandate. Titles alone are insufficient: compare authority, availability, fiduciary status, implementation ownership, conflicts, meeting obligations, review dates, and handover conditions.
Buyer decision standard
What should a buyer expect from fractional Chief AI Officer services?
Fractional Chief AI Officer services should produce a decision that the client can inspect, accept, operate, and review. These are the minimum buyer checks for this service.
Decision to make
Give one senior executive authority over the AI portfolio, operating model, governance, vendors, delivery capacity, adoption, value, and board reporting without a full-time hire.
Acceptance evidence
Use a signed charter, current inventory, portfolio scorecard, decision log, funding gates, production and control evidence, adoption measures, realized value, and board review.
Ownership and handover
Build the permanent owner map, routines, documentation, internal capability, succession plan, and transfer criteria from the first month. Review whether the company now needs a full-time CAIO.
Fit boundary: Paul Okhrem's fractional CAIO term starts at USD 30,000 per month with a six-month minimum. The role is not a substitute for legal, security, risk, or engineering specialists.
Commercial fit guide
When should a company hire a fractional Chief AI Officer?
A fractional Chief AI Officer is appropriate when AI needs one accountable executive for strategy, portfolio, governance, vendors, implementation, adoption, measurement, and board reporting, but the company does not yet need or cannot yet justify a permanent full-time seat. Decision authority, time commitment, conflicts, handover, and success conditions must be explicit.
Fractional CAIO for a transformation
Best fit when leadership needs an executive owner through strategy, governance, implementation, adoption, and reporting while internal capability and the long-term leadership model mature.
Chief AI Officer consultant versus fractional seat
Use scoped consulting for one bounded decision or artifact. Use a fractional seat when the work requires recurring executive authority, portfolio decisions, steering meetings, and board accountability.
Fractional CAIO for a global company
Best fit when regions and business units need one decision framework but local regulation, data, implementation capacity, and operating constraints must remain visible in the portfolio.
Related: Chief AI Officer role guide · fractional CAIO statistics.
Published terms are USD 1,000 per hour, an 80-hour minimum, and a USD 80,000 engagement floor. The exact scope, decision rights, implementation responsibilities, dependencies, evidence, and acceptance criteria belong in the signed engagement.
Discuss an engagement
Send a fractional CAIO inquiry.
Include company, current AI maturity, the question you are trying to answer, and the timeframe. The inquiry type is set to consulting by default: adjust if board or speaking work is the better fit.
- Company: name, sector, stage, and approximate revenue band.
- The question: what you’re trying to decide or build.
- Timeframe: when this needs to be in motion.
Thank you. Your brief is in.
Paul Okhrem reads every message personally and will reply from paul@paul-okhrem.com within two business days. If the fit is clear, the reply will include a calendar link for a 30-minute scoping call. If it isn’t, you’ll get an honest no with a referral when possible.