--- title: "Fractional Chief AI Officer (CAIO) for UK businesses | Anyway Ventures" description: "A fractional Chief AI Officer for UK mid-market businesses: owns AI on your leadership team two to four days a month, and puts working systems live." url: https://anywayventures.com/fractional-chief-ai-officer updated: 2026-10-04 --- FRACTIONAL CHIEF AI OFFICER · PART TIME · UK-WIDE LAST UPDATED OCT 2026 # A fractional Chief AI Officer who puts AI into production. A fractional Chief AI Officer (CAIO) is a senior executive who owns AI for your business part time: what to build first, what not to buy, the rules for using it safely and the numbers that go to the board. This one sits on your leadership team two to four days a month and is measured on systems in production and hours returned, not on strategy documents. It is for CEOs and owner-managers of UK businesses with 50 to 1,000 people who want one person accountable for AI, without a full-time hire. [Book 30 minutes](https://calendly.com/brannan-anywayventures/30min) See the first 90 days 2 TO 4 DAYS A MONTH · ON SITE AND REMOTE · MONTHLY BOARD REPORT THE PROBLEM ## Do you need a chief AI officer? If three or more of these are true, someone senior needs to own AI. If only one is, you probably need a single well-chosen build instead, and we will say so. → You bought Copilot or ChatGPT licences and the work looks the same. → Several teams are trying AI tools, and nobody owns the result. → The board, your fund or a large customer has asked for an AI plan. → Vendors keep pitching AI add-ons and nobody inside can judge them. → Staff are putting company data into personal AI accounts. → A full-time AI hire is hard to justify, or hard to find. WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYS 82% of CEOs said their AI transformation was under-delivering, blamed on scattered experiments and nobody clearly owning the result. [Bain, 2026](https://www.bain.com/insights/getting-past-the-ai-value-paradox-in-private-equity/) 10% of UK businesses using AI use it extensively. Most have licences without a change in the work. [ONS, July 2026](https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/business/businessservices/articles/artificialintelligenceinukbusinesses/2023to2026) 76% of organisations in IBM's global survey of 2,000 CEOs now have a chief AI officer, up from 26% a year earlier. Most are large; mid-market firms rarely need the role full time. [IBM, May 2026](https://newsroom.ibm.com/2026-05-04-ibm-study-ceos-are-reshaping-c-suite-roles-for-the-ai-era) ## What a fractional CAIO does Six responsibilities, held by one senior person with a seat on your leadership team. Brannan holds the role personally, with a small senior bench for build work. ### One ranked, costed AI plan Where the hours and errors go, which processes to fix first, what each will cost and return, and what not to do. Short enough for the board to read and specific enough for your team to act on. ### Systems in production The first builds are done or directly overseen by the CAIO, inside the software you already use, with a named owner and a measured baseline. This is the part most fractional roles leave out. ### Safe use and governance An AI use policy your people will follow: which tools, which data, who signs off. Written for UK GDPR, your sector and, if you sell into the EU, the EU AI Act. ### Vendors and licences A straight view on which AI add-ons are worth paying for, which licences nobody uses, and when to build rather than buy. No referral fees and no preferred suppliers. ### People and adoption Owners for every system, training where it is needed and a handful of people inside the business who can build the next thing without outside help. ### Board reporting One page a month: hours returned, systems live, spend, risks and what comes next. The same numbers every month, so the board can see whether AI is paying. ## The first 90 days A fractional chief AI officer who has nothing running by day 90 is a strategy consultant on a retainer. This is the plan we hold ourselves to. 001 ### Diagnose Sessions with the leadership team and the people who do the work. A map of where hours and errors go, an audit of the AI tools, licences and data already in the business, and an honest read on the shadow AI already in use. WEEKS 1 TO 2 002 ### Plan and set the rules The ranked, costed plan and an AI use policy, agreed with the CEO and taken to the board. One process chosen to go first, with its baseline measured before anything is built. WEEKS 3 TO 4 003 ### First system live The first build goes into production with your team, in your own systems, with an owner and documentation. Unused licences are cut and vendor decisions made. WEEKS 5 TO 12 004 ### Report, then run the rhythm Hours returned against the baseline, reported to the board. From here the role settles into a monthly rhythm: leadership meeting, build reviews, board report and the next priority. DAY 90 ONWARDS ## Fractional CAIO, fractional CTO or AI consultant? These roles get blurred, and the blurring costs money. Here is how they differ. ### A fractional chief AI officer Owns how AI changes the way the business runs, which in most mid-market companies is finance, operations, sales and service rather than the codebase. Accountable for results, not only advice. ### A fractional CTO Owns your technology: architecture, engineers, security, hosting and the product roadmap. If AI is going to change your product, a CTO with AI experience may come first. If it is going to change your cost base, the AI role usually does. ### An AI consultant Answers one defined question or delivers one defined piece of work, then leaves. Useful when the question is clear. Less useful when the real problem is that nobody owns AI. ### A full-time chief AI officer Makes sense once AI is central to the product or a large share of the cost base and there is a data team to lead. Before that, it is a senior salary for one person with no bench and a long search. The longer comparison, with costs and red flags, is in [fractional chief AI officer: do you need one, and what for?](https://anywayventures.com/insights/fractional-chief-ai-officer) HOW IT'S PRICED ## A monthly retainer, measured monthly A fixed monthly fee for two to four days a month, agreed up front, with a six-month minimum and then one month's notice. The first builds in the 90-day plan are part of the role. Larger pieces of work are quoted separately as fixed-price [embedded AI delivery](https://anywayventures.com/embedded-ai-delivery) , so you always know what a build costs before it starts. If you are PE-backed, ask your fund first: it may already retain us as its [AI operating partner](https://anywayventures.com/ai-operating-partner) and be able to deploy that time into your business. ### Hours returned per month Measured against the baseline taken before each build. ### Systems in production Each with a named owner and still running unattended. ### AI spend against use Licences and tools paid for versus actually used. ### Policy incidents Data put where it should not go, and how fast it was caught. The four numbers on every monthly report. Indicative prices are on [how we work and pricing](https://anywayventures.com/how-we-work) . WHO HOLDS THE ROLE ## An operator who has sat in the chair Brannan Coady co-founded and ran Netsells, a York software consultancy whose clients included Trainline, Uber and the BBC, for over a decade, then was Chief Product Officer, COO and CEO of YourParkingSpace. He has sat on leadership teams and boards, and knows what a CEO needs from the person who owns a function. Today he puts AI into production inside mid-market and PE-backed companies. [About Brannan →](https://anywayventures.com/brannan-coady) ## Questions about a fractional CAIO ### What is a fractional chief AI officer? A fractional chief AI officer (CAIO) is a senior executive who owns AI for a business part time, usually two to four days a month, instead of as a full-time hire. The role decides where AI should change how the business runs, gets the first systems into production, sets the rules for safe use and reports results to the board. ### What does a fractional CAIO do day to day? In a typical month: a leadership meeting, reviews of the builds in progress, time with the teams whose work is changing, vendor and licence decisions, and a one-page board report on hours returned, systems live, spend and risk. In the first 90 days the focus is a diagnosis, a ranked plan, an AI use policy and one system in production. ### How much does a fractional chief AI officer cost in the UK? Ours is a fixed monthly retainer for two to four days a month, with a six-month minimum; current indicative bands are on our pricing page. Published UK rates vary widely, from a few thousand pounds a month for a day of advice to considerably more for several days with delivery. Compare quotes on what is included, especially whether anything gets built, rather than on the day rate. ### What is the difference between a fractional CTO and a chief AI officer? A fractional CTO owns your technology: architecture, engineers, security and the product roadmap. A chief AI officer owns where AI changes how the business operates, which is mostly in finance, operations, sales and service rather than in the codebase. A software company may need the CTO first. A services, distribution or manufacturing business with a large back office usually needs the AI role first. ### When should we hire a full-time chief AI officer instead? When AI is central to your product or a large share of your cost base, and there is a data or engineering team for the role to lead. Below that point a full-time CAIO is a senior salary for one person with no bench. A fractional role is often how businesses find out what the permanent job should be, and can help write the brief and run the hire. ### Is a fractional CAIO the same as an AI consultant? No. A consultant answers a defined question or delivers a defined piece of work, then leaves. A fractional CAIO sits on the leadership team, owns AI on a continuing basis and is accountable for what runs in production month after month. ### Do you build things, or only advise? Both. The first builds in the 90-day plan are part of the role, done or directly overseen by Brannan with a small senior bench, inside the software you already use. Larger pieces of work are quoted separately as fixed-price embedded delivery, so the cost of each build is known before it starts. ### We are PE-backed. Should the fund or the company hire this? Either works. If your fund already retains us as its AI operating partner, it may deploy that time into your business. If not, the company can retain a fractional CAIO directly. The usual rule is that whoever holds the benefit pays, so agree that with your fund before the first build. ### Where do you work? We are based in York and work with businesses across the UK, including Yorkshire, Manchester and the North, and London. The role is a mix of days on site with your leadership team and remote work between them. [Book 30 minutes](https://calendly.com/brannan-anywayventures/30min) [Or send a short brief →](https://anywayventures.com/contact)