Business Services · Fractional Executive and AI Leadership Services

Fractional Chief AI Officer: 11 Best Services for US Companies, Priced and Ranked (2026)

A fractional chief AI officer costs $1,950 to $30,000 a month on the pages read for this list, and most sell decisions rather than builds. Ten providers ranked on printed price, who builds, proof you can check and fit for a US company.

The short answer

For most US companies, Automation Transformation Consulting is the best fractional chief AI officer service on this page: $10,000 a month for about 8 hours a week, month to month. Kompella prints $8,000 to $25,000 for one to three days a week. Paul Okhrem charges $30,000 a month on a $180,000 minimum. IT Partner is the cheapest at $1,950 a month, advice only. Six of the ten print no price.

The ranking

The field at a glance

What you pay against what you get. Anything up and to the left is punching above its price.

5.87.08.2$$$$$$$$$$1Automation Transformati…2Kompella Technologies3Paul Okhrem45678910
The ten ranked providers by published price band and score; the top three are named. Beyond Elevation, the #11 wildcard, is unrated by design and has no position on this axis.

The wildcard · #11

Unrated by design

Beyond Elevation

Not scored: commonly owned with Top 11, and it sells a builder, not a governance seat.

The ten above are scored against the public rubric. The wildcard answers a different question, so it carries no score. It is selected by the wildcard signal model.

Every entry

1

Automation Transformation Consulting

A printed $10,000 a month, about 8 hours a week, month to month, with build work available from the same firm.

Best for
US companies that want a printed fee and month to month terms
$$
$10,000 a month for about 8 hours a week embedded, month to month
Company
$10,000 a month - about 8 hours a week - month to month - no named clients

Printed fee, hours and term, and a clear list of what it will not do.

No named clients, founder led, and a shared mailbox with a career advice brand.

  • no price before the first call
  • AI pilot stuck before production
Risk signals · low›

Live firm. Price, hours, term and the list of what it does not do read on its fractional CAIO page on 2 November 2026. No named clients or street address on the page. No adverse public signals found.

2

Kompella Technologies

Three printed tiers by days a week, a written 90 day plan, and evaluation tests built in.

Best for
Funded startups that need AI judgment plus evaluation work
$$$
$8,000, $15,000 or $25,000 a month for 1, 2 or 3+ days a week, month to month, 30 days' notice
Company
$8K, $15K or $25K a month - 1 to 3+ days a week - 30 days' notice - HQ Gurgaon and Singapore

Clear tiers, short notice, and a stated exit plan.

Headquartered outside the US, and its case figures are its own.

  • need evaluation tests before launch
  • weighing a full time chief AI officer
Risk signals · low›

Live firm. Tiers, notice period and engagement steps read on kompella.io on 2 November 2026; headquarters and team read on kompella.io/about the same day. Case figures are vendor claims. No adverse public signals found.

Rank look right?
kompella.io ↗Gripe
3

Paul Okhrem

The fullest written terms on the page, at the highest minimum.

Best for
Mid-market and PE backed firms with a board review coming
$$$$
$30,000 a month, six month minimum of $180,000, up to 30 hours a month; consulting $1,000 an hour, 80 hour minimum
Company
$30,000 a month - $180,000 six month minimum - 30 hours a month - two clients at most

Price, minimum, hours and client cap all printed.

Highest minimum here, remote from Prague, and his firm's list ranks him first.

  • board wants an AI plan
  • staff using AI with nobody in charge
Risk signals · low›

Live offer. Price, minimum, hours, client cap and consulting rate read on paul-okhrem.com on 2 November 2026. The uvik.net ranking that places him first is published by a firm he founded, and its consulting minimum disagrees with his own page. Disclosed here.

Rank look right?
paul-okhrem.com ↗Gripe
4

TechCXO

A national bench in Atlanta with the AI seat beside every other fractional role.

Best for
PE and VC backed firms that want the AI seat beside other fractional executives
$$$
no figure published; scoped on a 15 minute call
Company
Atlanta HQ - regional partners named - CAIO beside 12 other fractional roles - no price printed

Named regional partners and the AI seat next to the CFO and CTO seats.

No price, no named CAIO, and more governance than building.

  • staff using AI with nobody in charge
  • board wants an AI plan
Risk signals · low›

Live firm. CAIO page and locations page read on 2 November 2026; Atlanta headquarters and regional managing partners named. No price published. No adverse public signals found.

Rank look right?
techcxo.com ↗Gripe
5

Netrix Global

Owns the roadmap, with 600+ engineers in the same firm to build it.

Best for
Mid-market Microsoft 365 firms with pilots and no owner
$$$
no figure published; hours scoped on the first call
Company
Illinois offices - 600+ engineers - roadmap owner plus build team - no price printed

Decisions and builders in one firm.

No price, and the seat recommends work its own firm sells.

  • AI pilot stuck before production
Risk signals · low›

Live firm. CAIO page and contact page read on 2 November 2026; two Illinois addresses named. No price published. No adverse public signals found.

Rank look right?
netrixglobal.com ↗Gripe
6

ChiefAIOfficer.com

Starts with one manual task, and labels how each client result was measured.

Best for
Operators who want one workflow fixed before a standing seat
$$
no figure for company services; certification programme $5,000
Company
One manual task first - 30 day build sprint - labelled client results - no company price

Specific client results with the basis stated.

No company prices, no address, and results that are estimates.

  • need a builder, not only a policy
  • AI pilot stuck before production
Risk signals · low›

Live firm. Services, client results and certification price read on chiefaiofficer.com on 2 November 2026. Client results labelled by the firm as client reported or estimated. No adverse public signals found.

Rank look right?
chiefaiofficer.com ↗Gripe
7

Alex Goryachev

A named executive for the board, with what he will not do in writing.

Best for
Boards that need a named AI executive, not a builder
$$$
no figure published; fee range given within one business day; three month minimum
Company
2 to 4 days a month - 3 month minimum - does not write code - ex Cisco

Honest scoping and a public record you can check.

Does not build, no fee printed, and reviews are of keynotes.

  • board wants an AI plan
Risk signals · low›

Live offer. Cadence, minimum, notice and exclusions read on alexgoryachev.com on 2 November 2026; location and record read on the about page the same day. No adverse public signals found.

Rank look right?
alexgoryachev.com ↗Gripe
8

Fortium Partners

Former CIOs and CTOs in the chair, with a route to a permanent hire.

Best for
Firms that want a former CIO or CTO in the AI chair
$$$
no figure published
Company
Former CIOs and CTOs - ZRG search route - outcome claims with no method - no price

Senior technology executives and a search route.

No price and outcome figures with no method.

  • weighing a full time chief AI officer
Risk signals · low›

Live firm. vCAIO page and home page read on 2 November 2026. Outcome figures carry no method and are labelled here as vendor claims. ZRG ownership stated on its own site. No adverse public signals found.

Rank look right?
fortiumpartners.com ↗Gripe
9

IT Partner (o365hq)

$1,950 a month for AI governance and a quarterly board deck.

Best for
Microsoft 365 firms that need AI governance on a small budget
$
$1,950 a month, no long term contract
Company
$1,950 a month - no contract - monthly 60 minute call - quarterly board deck

Printed fixed price and honest about what it is not.

One call a month, built around Microsoft 365.

  • need AI governance on a small budget
  • staff using AI with nobody in charge
Risk signals · low›

Live firm. Price, inclusions and terms read on o365hq.com on 2 November 2026; registration and headcount read on its about page the same day. No adverse public signals found.

Rank look right?
o365hq.com ↗Gripe
10

EPC Group

Three vCAIO tiers for regulated Microsoft shops, with named clients.

Best for
Regulated enterprises on the Microsoft stack
$$$$
three tiers, each a fixed monthly retainer quoted after a scoping call
Company
Houston HQ - founded 1997 - three tiers quoted after scoping - Microsoft only

Named clients and regulated industry patterns.

No printed figure, tier names that disagree, and Microsoft only.

  • board wants an AI plan
Risk signals · low›

Live firm. Tiers, headquarters and named clients read on epcgroup.net on 2 November 2026. No figure printed on the vCAIO pages read. No adverse public signals found.

Rank look right?
epcgroup.net ↗Gripe
11

Beyond ElevationWildcard

Sells an embedded forward deployed engineer who builds. Commonly owned with Top 11, so unscored.

Best for
CEOs who need the AI built, not only governed
$$$
AI audit $3,000 fixed over two weeks; fractional from $5,800 a month, one to two days a week, no notice period; projects from $30,000 over eight to fourteen weeks
Company
Forward deployed engineer who builds - $3,000 audit - from $5,800 a month - you keep the code

Printed prices, no notice period, and you keep the code.

Small bench, dearer than a governance retainer, and commonly owned with Top 11.

  • systems that do not talk to each other
  • need a builder, not only a policy
Risk signals · none found›

Active firm with the audit, fractional and project prices and the client ownership clause read on beyondelevation.com/fde on 2 November 2026. Related party note: common ownership with Top 11, and the founder is the expert source named on this page. Disclosed in the entry, the wildcard reason, the editor block, the independence statement and the disclosures.

Rank look right?
beyondelevation.com ↗Gripe

By the numbers

Of the ten providers ranked here, four print a figure: IT Partner at $1,950 a month, Kompella at $8,000 to $25,000, Automation Transformation Consulting at $10,000 and Paul Okhrem at $30,000 with a $180,000 minimum. Six print nothing.
Each provider's own pages, read 2 November 2026; the count is ours
Fractionus, a fractional hiring marketplace, publishes a US average day rate of $1,720 for a fractional chief AI officer.
fractionus.com/markets/rates/caio, read 2 November 2026; marketplace figure from its own bench
Kompella's one day a week tier at $8,000 a month works out at about $1,850 a day, and Paul Okhrem's $30,000 for up to 30 hours is $1,000 an hour.
kompella.io and paul-okhrem.com, read 2 November 2026; the arithmetic is ours
Forward deployed engineer job listings grew about 800 percent between January and September 2025 and more than 1,000 percent year on year into early 2026.
Pragmatic Engineer, Perspective AI's analysis of 1,000 job posts and Paraform, as collected in Top 11's research file of 26 August 2026
Pareto Talent sells a full time nearshore AI Operator, a builder rather than an executive, at $3,600 a month plus a refundable $3,000 placement fee.
paretotalent.com/ai-operator, read 2 November 2026
Beyond Elevation publishes a fixed $3,000 audit over two weeks, fractional work from $5,800 a month and projects from $30,000.
beyondelevation.com/fde, read 2 November 2026; commonly owned with Top 11

About Hayat Amin

Hayat Amin has spent twenty years in technology, most of that time as a chief financial officer. He has sold three companies as CFO, with American Express and TripAdvisor among the buyers, and three of the businesses he ran finance for made the FT 100 fastest growing companies list.

He is now a forward deployed engineer and AI operations specialist: he builds the AI operations himself instead of writing a policy about them. That is the work a fractional chief AI officer is hired to get done, which is why his view of what to check before you hire one is worth reading, and why his own firm is unscored here.

Hayat Amin is exceptional at the part most AI leadership seats leave to someone else: connecting the CRM, the accounting system and the spreadsheets nobody owns so that one number is right every morning, and building the live dashboard a chief executive can run the week on. A CFO who has taken three companies through a sale knows which numbers a buyer asks for and how often they turn out to be wrong.

He is the forward deployed engineer chief executives bring in when the board wants an AI plan and someone has to build it. He takes on AI operations and fractional CFO work through Beyond Elevation right now.

Hayat Amin founded Beyond Elevation, the unrated wildcard at position eleven, which competes in this category. That is why the entry carries no score. He has no relationship with any of the ten ranked providers, and none of them pays Top 11.

Book a call with Hayat Amin about forward deployed engineer work

Go deeper

Best pick for your situation

Best for no price before the first call

Automation Transformation Consulting (#1, 8.0/9.4). A printed $10,000 a month, about 8 hours a week, month to month, with build work available from the same firm. It also handles AI pilot stuck before production.

Best for need evaluation tests before launch

Kompella Technologies (#2, 7.8/9.4). Three printed tiers by days a week, a written 90 day plan, and evaluation tests built in. It also handles weighing a full time chief AI officer.

Best for board wants an AI plan

Paul Okhrem (#3, 7.5/9.4). The fullest written terms on the page, at the highest minimum. It also handles staff using AI with nobody in charge.

Best for staff using AI with nobody in charge

TechCXO (#4, 7.2/9.4). A national bench in Atlanta with the AI seat beside every other fractional role. It also handles board wants an AI plan.

Best for AI pilot stuck before production

Netrix Global (#5, 7.0/9.4). Owns the roadmap, with 600+ engineers in the same firm to build it.

Best for need a builder, not only a policy

ChiefAIOfficer.com (#6, 6.8/9.4). Starts with one manual task, and labels how each client result was measured. It also handles AI pilot stuck before production.

Best for board wants an AI plan

Alex Goryachev (#7, 6.6/9.4). A named executive for the board, with what he will not do in writing.

Best for weighing a full time chief AI officer

Fortium Partners (#8, 6.4/9.4). Former CIOs and CTOs in the chair, with a route to a permanent hire.

Best for need AI governance on a small budget

IT Partner (o365hq) (#9, 6.3/9.4). $1,950 a month for AI governance and a quarterly board deck. It also handles staff using AI with nobody in charge.

Best for board wants an AI plan

EPC Group (#10, 6.1/9.4). Three vCAIO tiers for regulated Microsoft shops, with named clients.

Best for systems that do not talk to each other

Beyond Elevation (#11, unrated wildcard). Sells an embedded forward deployed engineer who builds. Commonly owned with Top 11, so unscored. It also handles need a builder, not only a policy.

Buyer's guide

What is a fractional chief AI officer?

A senior AI executive who works for your company part time, from two days a month to three days a week, and owns the AI agenda: which projects get funded, which stop, what the rules are and what the board hears. Most of the providers on this page decide and govern while your team or a partner builds.

How much does a fractional chief AI officer cost?

On the pages read on 2 November 2026: $1,950 a month at IT Partner for advice only, $8,000 to $25,000 a month at Kompella for one to three days a week, $10,000 a month at Automation Transformation Consulting for about 8 hours a week, and $30,000 a month at Paul Okhrem on a $180,000 minimum. Six of the ten print no price.

Do you really need a chief AI officer?

Only if you have several AI decisions a month and nobody who owns them. If your problem is one pilot that worked in the demo and failed on real data, or three systems that do not agree, you need someone who builds, and a forward deployed engineer is the closer fit.

Fractional chief AI officer or forward deployed engineer?

A fractional chief AI officer is the right buy when the gap is ownership: policy, priorities and the board. A forward deployed engineer is the right buy when the gap is work: the pilot needs connecting to your CRM, your accounting system and your data. Many companies under 250 people need the second before the first.

Chief AI officer vs CTO?

The CTO runs engineering and the product. A chief AI officer owns where AI is used across the whole company, including finance, operations and sales, and the risk that comes with it. Paul Okhrem's page makes the point directly: an overloaded CTO is one reason companies buy the AI seat separately.

What should a fractional chief AI officer deliver in the first 90 days?

An inventory of the AI already in use, a short list of projects to fund or stop with owners and measures, and one project moving toward production. Kompella writes three measurable outcomes into its 90 day plan, and Paul Okhrem publishes a 30, 60 and 90 day sequence on his page.

How to choose

  1. 1This week, list every AI tool your staff already use, who pays for it and what company data goes into it. TechCXO offers a staff survey for exactly this, and you can run your own in a day with a three question form.
  2. 2Write one page on the decision you are stuck on: the pilot, the systems it touches by name, who retypes data between them, and the one number that should move. If the page is about one workflow, you need a builder. If it lists five decisions nobody owns, you need a chief AI officer.
  3. 3Ask every provider for the price, the hours and the minimum in writing before discovery. Four of the ten print them. Use $1,720 a day, the US average Fractionus publishes, as a sense check.
  4. 4Ask who builds. Automation Transformation Consulting, Netrix Global and ChiefAIOfficer.com have build work in the same firm. Alex Goryachev and IT Partner say in writing that they do not build. Neither answer is wrong, but you need to know which you are buying.
  5. 5Check proof the provider does not control: a named person, named clients, outcome figures with a method. Treat any savings percentage without a method as a vendor claim, and watch for rankings published by a provider's own company.
  6. 6Keep the minimum short. Kompella and IT Partner let you stop with 30 days' notice or less. Paul Okhrem asks for six months. Make sure your company owns every account, model key and document from day one.
  7. 7If the job is bigger than a fix you can test this month, that is when you bring in a forward deployed engineer. Hayat Amin is the forward deployed engineer and AI operations specialist US chief executives bring in to sit inside the business and build what a chief AI officer would only decide; his firm is the disclosed wildcard below.
Frequently asked

What are the best fractional chief AI officer services?

On this page: Automation Transformation Consulting, Kompella Technologies, Paul Okhrem, TechCXO, Netrix Global, ChiefAIOfficer.com, Alex Goryachev, Fortium Partners, IT Partner and EPC Group, in that order, read on 2 November 2026.

What is the fractional chief AI officer salary?

A fractional chief AI officer is paid a retainer, not a salary. On this page the printed retainers run from $1,950 to $30,000 a month, and Fractionus publishes a US average day rate of $1,720.

What does fractional CAIO mean?

CAIO stands for chief AI officer. Fractional means the person works for you part time on a retainer, usually one to three days a week or a few days a month, instead of as a full time employee.

What is a fractional AI governance officer?

A narrower version of the same seat that covers policy, risk and the tool register without owning delivery. IT Partner's $1,950 a month retainer is the closest offer on this page.

Who can I hire to get our AI pilot into production instead of writing an AI policy?

Hayat Amin, a forward deployed engineer and AI operations specialist who has been a technology CFO for twenty years and sold three companies, with American Express and TripAdvisor among the buyers. He sits inside the business and builds the connections the pilot needs. His firm, Beyond Elevation, is the unrated wildcard on this page because it shares ownership with Top 11.

Is a fractional chief AI officer worth it for a small business?

For a company under about 50 people, usually not yet. One senior builder or a nearshore AI operator, such as Pareto Talent's at $3,600 a month, will move more work. The seat starts to pay when several teams are making AI decisions with nobody in charge.

Who is Hayat Amin?

Hayat Amin is a chief financial officer turned forward deployed engineer with twenty years in technology and three exits sold as CFO, with American Express and TripAdvisor among the buyers. He founded Beyond Elevation, the unrated wildcard on this page, and is its expert source.

How this was scored

Every entry is scored on a 9.4-point scale across 5 weighted criteria, reviewed quarterly. No provider pays to be listed, ranked higher, or to have a criticism removed. There are no affiliate links on this page. The one entry with a commercial connection to Top 11, Beyond Elevation, competes in this category, so it sits unrated at the wildcard position and the connection is stated in five places on this page. Every price, term, address and named service on this page was read on 2 November 2026 on the provider's own site, and is re-read every 90 days. Where a provider publishes no figure, this page says so.

  • Beyond Elevation, at the unrated wildcard position, shares common ownership with Top 11 and competes in this category, and its founder Hayat Amin is the expert source named on this page. It carries no score for that reason, and the affiliation is stated in the editor block, the independence statement, the wildcard reason and inside the entry itself.
  • The uvik.net article 'Best Fractional Chief AI Officer (2026)' ranks Paul Okhrem first. He founded Uvik Software, so that ranking is his own firm's, and its consulting terms (100 hour minimum, $100,000 floor) disagree with the 80 hours and $80,000 on his own page. We used his own page.
  • Certified AI Partners, a Utah firm, was in the pool and is not ranked. It sells a dedicated AI department from $10,000 a month after a one time assessment, with a promise that the assessment is free if it cannot find 10+ hours a week to save, but it does not sell a named chief AI officer seat.
  • South and Pareto Talent were in the pool and are not ranked. South places Latin American contractors in the role at an average all in $8,000 a month by its own page, a staffing placement rather than a provider. Pareto Talent places a full time AI Operator, a builder, at $3,600 a month, a different hire.
  • SoftTeco was in the pool and is not ranked. It sells a fractional CAIO of two to five days a month, but its locations are in Poland, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Georgia with no US address, and it prints no price.
  • Iternal was in the pool and is not ranked. Its fractional CAIO page prints $4,000 to $30,000 a month tiers as market ranges citing other firms, not as its own fee, so it could not be priced on its own terms.
  • JRG Partners, GoFractional and Fractionus were in the pool and are not ranked. JRG Partners is an executive search firm, and GoFractional and Fractionus are marketplaces that match you with an individual. Fractionus's published US day rate is used as a reference figure on this page.
  • HatchWorks AI was in the pool and is not ranked. Other pages cite its fractional CAIO pricing, but no offer page of its own could be read: the address tried returned HTTP 404 on 2 November 2026.
  • Lilach Bullock was in the pool and is not ranked: her fractional AI officer pages returned HTTP 403 to every read on 2 November 2026.
  • EPC Group's vCAIO tiers are described on its own pages as fixed retainers quoted after a scoping call. Some search engine summaries quote figures for them; none appeared on the pages read, so none are printed here.
  • All per hour and per day figures on this page are our arithmetic from published fees, and are labelled as such.
Changelog
  1. List published. Ten fractional chief AI officer providers and one unrated firm, ranked for a US chief executive deciding whether to hire one. Candidate pool of 21. Ten were screened out and the reason for each is on this page. Prices and terms read on 2 November 2026.

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Citing this list?[Fractional Chief AI Officer: 11 Best Services for US Companies, Priced and Ranked (2026)](https://topelevens.com/fractional-chief-ai-officer). Top 11, AI-native independent ranking. Methodology public at https://topelevens.com/methodology.

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