Ongoing partnership
A small AI team, embedded in your operations, by the month.
Most businesses under 200 people can't justify hiring a full AI team. They also can't afford to stop improving. Embedded AI Ops is the fractional version: we're on a monthly retainer, we build new automations each quarter, we maintain the ones already running, and we raise your team's AI literacy as a matter of routine.
Prices shown are in USD and exclude applicable taxes. The written scope controls the final fee, deliverables, and timing.
Who it's for
Is this the right engagement for you?
You've already shipped at least one meaningful automation (with us or somebody else) and now you have a backlog, three more things to build, a handful to optimize, and nobody internal who can own it.
Your team is small enough that a full-time AI hire is premature, but big enough that a trickle of 5–10 hours a week from an external team changes the slope of what's possible.
You want predictable monthly billing, predictable output, and a partner who actually remembers how your systems are wired together six months from now.
Good fit / not a fit
Fit is about readiness, not persuasion.
A bounded workflow with access to the people who run it.
You can name the operational problem, provide a responsible decision-maker, and evaluate a written recommendation against a real business measure.
An undefined mandate to “add AI everywhere.”
We are not the right choice for speculative transformation programs, unsupported compliance shortcuts, or work without an owner who can validate the workflow.
What you get
Deliverables.
- A standing monthly cadence: one written planning note at the start of each month, one written summary at the end, and weekly async updates.
- One new automation built and deployed per quarter (scope varies with complexity; defined month-by-month).
- Ongoing maintenance of existing automations built with us, monitoring, fixes, small improvements, model updates.
- A shared project board so you can see what's being worked on, what's blocked, and what's scheduled.
- Monthly AI literacy sessions for your team, 45 minutes, video or recorded, practical topics only.
- A single named point of contact on our end. You always know who to email.
- A 30-day exit clause, no termination fees, full handoff documentation at exit if you leave.
Embedded AI Ops deliverable excerpt
A standing monthly cadence: one written planning note at the start of each month, one written summary at the end, and weekly async updates.
Format: Written, scope-specific, and usable without a presentation.How it runs
Timeline.
Month 1
Onboarding
We inventory everything already automated, everything on the backlog, and everything the team wishes would go away. First quarterly plan drafted together by the end of week three.
Months 2 – 3
First quarter in motion
First new automation shipped, existing ones monitored, first AI literacy session delivered. Monthly review at end of month 3, retainer auto-renews unless either side says otherwise.
Ongoing
Quarterly cadence
Every 90 days we set the next quarter's plan with you in writing. No surprises, no scope drift. If your backlog thins out, we'll tell you, and suggest you pause the retainer rather than waste the budget.
Questions
Common concerns.
How is this different from hiring a consultant hourly?
Hourly consultants optimize for billable hours. Retainer-based partnership optimizes for your outcomes. We price in the continuity, because we remember how your stack is wired, we're 2–3x as efficient in month 6 as a new hourly engagement would be. That efficiency is the whole point.
What counts as 'one new automation per quarter'?
It's a planning baseline, not a hard quota. Some quarters you'll want two smaller automations; others you'll want one big one. The monthly retainer reflects roughly 30–50 hours of engineering capacity and a standing slot of advisory time; we size the plan to fit that.
What if we don't have enough work to justify the retainer?
Then pause it. We'd rather you pause for a quarter and resume than pay for empty capacity. We've recommended pauses to long-standing clients before and it has never ended the relationship, usually the opposite.
Can we scale it up?
Yes. Retainer tiers scale in blocks. A 'double' tier is roughly $15,500/month and buys proportionally more capacity. If you regularly need more than that, you probably need to start thinking about an in-house hire, and we'll help you structure that role if you want.
Do you work with other consultants we already have?
Often. We'll integrate with your IT managed services provider, your fractional CFO, your bookkeeper, whoever. Collaboration in writing, clear boundaries, no turf battles.
Is there a minimum commitment?
Three months minimum to start (it takes about that long for the onboarding investment to pay off on both sides). After that, rolling monthly with a 30-day exit clause. We will never lock you into a year-long contract.
Tell us what the next 12 months of AI work looks like in your business.
We'll write back within two business days with whether Embedded AI Ops fits, whether a single Implementation Sprint is smarter, or whether the honest answer is 'not yet.'
Send us your situationAlso