Fractional Head of AI

Heads up: this posting is for future opportunities rather than one specific open role. If you apply, we'll add you to our candidate network and may reach out when relevant roles come up.

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What the market looks like

Over the last six months, we've tracked 1,000+ senior-level postings in AI strategy across the United States, with concentrations in California, New York, and Texas. Demand spans technology, professional services, financial services, healthcare, and manufacturing. Fractional Head of AI roles typically compensate in the $250–$350/hour range, reflecting the advisory and strategic scope of the engagement. The strongest candidates bring hands-on experience translating AI opportunity into measurable business outcomes, plus the credibility to influence C-suite and board-level stakeholders without requiring operational overhead.

Job responsibilities

• Define and communicate the organization's AI strategy, roadmap, and value thesis to executives, the board, and key stakeholders

• Assess current AI maturity, competitive positioning, and capability gaps across the business

• Partner with business units and technical teams to identify high-impact AI use cases and prioritize investment

• Guide decision-making on build vs. buy vs. partner approaches for AI tools, platforms, and talent

• Establish governance frameworks, risk protocols, and ethical guardrails for responsible AI deployment

• Coach internal leaders and teams on AI capability building and organizational readiness

• Track and communicate AI initiative progress, business impact, and ROI to leadership

Candidate requirements

• 10+ years of technology, operations, or business leadership experience, with 3+ years explicitly focused on AI strategy, deployment, or transformation

• Demonstrated track record building and scaling AI initiatives from strategy through operational impact, ideally across multiple business domains

• Fluency in AI and machine learning fundamentals—technical depth sufficient to evaluate feasibility and engage engineering teams credibly, not necessarily hands-on coding

• Proven ability to influence senior executives and boards; comfort translating technical concepts for non-technical audiences

• Experience navigating organizational change, cross-functional alignment, and enterprise-wide capability building