What a fractional AI lead does in the first 90 days

Many companies have reached the same point. Teams are experimenting with AI, vendors are calling every week, and nobody owns the question of what the company should do about it. The obvious fix is to hire a head of AI. For most mid sized companies that is too much, too soon.

A fractional AI lead is the same seniority for part of the week. This is what the first 90 days look like.

Weeks 1 and 2: find out what is really happening

The first job is to listen. We sit with each team and map the work that repeats: what comes in, what people do with it, where it waits. We also find the tasks nobody owns, because those are usually where time leaks.

The output is a shortlist of workflows where AI could save real time, each with a rough cost today.

Weeks 3 to 6: answer the why

A list of ideas is not a plan. For each workflow on the shortlist we make the case in plain terms: what it costs now, what would change, what it would take, and whether to build or buy. Leadership chooses two to four to try.

This is also when governance gets settled: which tools are approved, what data they may touch, and who signs off.

Weeks 7 to 12: prove it with the teams

The chosen workflows become live pilots. The people who do the work are involved from the first day, because a pilot built without them is a pilot they will not use. We measure the time saved with real numbers and report it.

How this differs from the alternatives

• A full-time head of AI brings the same thinking, after months of hiring and at the cost of a senior salary.
• A traditional consultant delivers recommendations and leaves the doing to you.
• A fractional AI lead stays accountable for the result, for as long as you need and no longer.