A4 · Advisory
Fractional AI Governance Lead
Two to four days a month. Someone accountable for AI governance, on the org chart, without a $250,000 hire for a role that is two days a week.
The role is real. The headcount is not.
A mid-market company that has just had an assessment usually knows exactly what it needs to do and has nobody whose job it is to do it. The remediation plan sits with a GC who has a day job, or a CIO who has a different one.
The role is genuinely two or three days a month at this size — enough to keep the inventory current, chair a committee, review the vendors coming through procurement, and write the board update. Not enough to justify a permanent hire, which is why it usually goes unfilled and the plan quietly stalls.
This is the role, filled, with an explicit plan to hand it back. Six months in, the question is not whether to renew but which parts your own people have taken over.
What you get
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Owns the AI inventory
Keeps it current, chases new systems as they appear, and is the person who can answer what you run when the board or an insurer asks.
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Chairs the governance committee
Or sits on it, and writes the charter if there is not one. Agendas, decisions, and a record of both.
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Signs off vendor due diligence
Reviews AI purchases before they close, so procurement has somewhere to send them rather than guessing.
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Drafts the quarterly board update
Written for the audit committee, reviewed by the GC before it goes.
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Named contact for outside questions
Regulators, auditors, insurers and customers asking AI questions get a person rather than a forwarded email.
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One leadership training session per quarter
So the executive team can answer their own board's questions between visits.
Scope
Fixed on both sides. Anything outside it is a separate engagement, quoted separately.
Included
- Weekly 30-minute call with the GC or CEO
- Monthly committee meeting and inventory review
- Vendor reviews as they arise
- Quarterly board update and leadership session
- Named contact for external AI questions
- A written handover plan from month one
Not included
- Building or operating AI systems
- Writing code or managing engineering
- Day-to-day vendor management
- A fiduciary or officer role — the engagement is advisory and says so
- Availability outside the contracted days
- Legal advice
How it runs
| Month 1 | Inventory taken over. Committee charter written or reviewed. Handover plan agreed — what internal staff should own by month six. |
|---|---|
| Months 2–5 | Committee runs monthly. Vendors reviewed as they arrive. Quarterly board update and leadership session. |
| Month 6 | Renewal review: what has been handed over, what still needs the role, and whether it should now be an internal hire. |
Common questions
Is this an officer role?
No, and the contract says so explicitly. The engagement is advisory. A titled officer role can carry duties that neither side intends, so the title used externally is deliberately "AI Governance Lead" rather than anything with "Chief" and "Officer" in it. Professional indemnity is in place.
What stops us becoming dependent on you?
A written handover plan from month one, and a renewal review that asks what has moved internally rather than whether to continue. If nothing has been handed over by month six, that is a failure of the engagement and we will say so.
Why the cap on concurrent engagements?
Because two four-day months is eight days, and three is most of a calendar. A fractional lead who cannot attend your committee is not a fractional lead. The cap is three and it is not negotiable.
Can you cover several portfolio companies?
Yes, and PE operating partners often want exactly that — one person applying the same framework across four or five portcos. It is priced as a portfolio engagement and the cap applies to the portfolio, not each company.
What if we want to hire permanently?
Good. That is the intended ending. We will help write the job description and sit on the interview panel if it is useful, and the handover is part of the engagement rather than an exit fee.
The engagement is advisory and does not constitute the appointment of an officer or fiduciary of the client, nor the provision of legal advice. No attorney–client relationship is created. Professional indemnity insurance is maintained.
Is the role two days or five?
A short call usually settles it, and sometimes the answer is that you should hire rather than contract.