Strategy
Which AI to adopt, which to skip, and why. A living plan kept current as the tools change, reviewed with your leadership.
Fractional Chief AI Officer
The executive seatfor AI in your business.
A Fractional Chief AI Officer (CAIO): executive-level AI ownership, sized between an outside advisor and a full-time hire.
Talk to Joey
$9,000/mo · capped at 2 clients
Who you'd work with
Joey Miller
Founder, RidgeXAI · B.S. Cybersecurity, M.S. Eng. Mgmt
A decade building software and leading enterprise architecture — now driving AI strategy alongside your leadership team.
01Where it sits
Hands-on AI leadership, without a full-time hire.
These are the four ways businesses put AI leadership in place — the first three fractional, the last a full-time hire. What differs is who owns the decisions, how hands-on they are, and what they cost.
Advisory
An outside advisor who sets the strategy, then hands off the work.
5–25 hrs/mo$4–8K/moRidgeXAI CAIO
An AI executive who owns outcomes and guides the technical work firsthand.
16–20 hrs/mo$9,000/moEmbedded CAIO
An AI executive who owns outcomes and joins your leadership team's routine.
24–32 hrs/mo$8–15K/moFull-time hire
An AI executive on staff and payroll, after a three-to-six month search.
Full-time$250K–$350K/yr all-in
02The role
What the role delivers.
Six responsibilities, delivered in a standing weekly session.
Transformation
Real AI progress every month — something built, replaced, piloted, or retired — with change your leadership can see.
Education
Your team learns to work with AI as it arrives, gaining practical skill that builds over time and stays theirs to keep.
Oversight
Vendors, cost, and return kept honest as the bills and claims add up. A steady watch on spending that creeps and tools that stop earning their keep.
Accountability
What AI handles, what stays human, and who owns each decision. All settled clearly, so nothing falls between the teams.
Roadmap
Your AI direction reset each quarter against where the tools have actually moved, so the plan stays worth following.
03Compare
The same need, four ways to cover it.
What it costs, what you get for the hours, who owns the decisions, and how soon they can start.
| AdvisoryStrategy only | RidgeXAI CAIOExecutive, fractional | Embedded CAIOExecutive, embedded | Full-time hireOn staff | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price & hours | $4–8K/mo5–25 hrs/mo | $9,000/mo16–20 hrs/mo | $8–15K/mo24–32 hrs/mo | $250K–$350K/yrfull-time |
| Owns the AI decisions | Recommends only | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hands-on technical depth | Strategy only | Guides it firsthand | Yes | Varies by candidate |
| Owns vendor choices and spend | Advisory input | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Starts in weeks, not months | Yes | Yes | Yes | 3–6 month search |
| Month-to-month once started | 3-month minimum | After 3 months | 6-month minimum | A permanent role |
04The math
What you're paying for.
Experience at scale
A decade building software, the last four leading enterprise architecture for a $10B+ health and research organization of nearly 40,000 people.
More than just the AI
The real value lives in the structure around the AI: the guardrails, the security, and the systems that govern what it can see and do.
Hands-on, and staying that way
Two clients at a time, by design, so each gets my honest attention. Because I keep building every week, my judgment on what works stays current.
One person, accountable
You work with me directly, never a rotating account team. I report to your CEO or ops lead and stay answerable for every AI decision made.
Access & terms
$9,000/mo
3-month minimum, then month-to-month
Capped at 2 active clients, by design
- Direct line
- Call, Slack, Teams, email or Zoom, most often within hours, always within a business day
- Reports to
- Your CEO or ops lead
- Alongside IT
- With your team, never around it
05FAQ
Common questions.
- What if I just need one thing built?
- That's a great place to start. A single Connect, Streamline, or Full Build is scoped and fixed-fee. The Fractional Chief AI Officer is for ongoing leadership, and you can add builds alongside the role whenever you need them.
- Will you work with our existing IT?
- Always. I report to your CEO or ops lead and work alongside your IT team, never around it. Much of the value is getting the tools and people you already have moving in one direction.
- What if it isn't working?
- A fair thing to ask up front. After the three-month minimum, the engagement is month-to-month, so you continue only while it's delivering. Everything is built on your own accounts and infrastructure, so the tools and work stay with you even if we part ways.
- Why cap it at two clients?
- So each client gets my honest attention. Limiting it to two protects your weekly time, and leaves room for the occasional build engagement alongside the role, which keeps my hands in the work and my judgment current.
06Get in touch
Start with a conversation.
Bring me the problems on your plate and the tools you already run. We'll work out together where AI can carry the most weight for your business, and whether a Fractional Chief AI Officer is the right way to get there.
Prefer a one-time build?
Connect, Streamline, and Full Build are scoped, fixed-fee engagements with a clean hand-off, no retainer required.
See build engagements