Chief AI Officer as a Service for the decisions that outlast the roadmap.
We provide Chief AI Officer as a Service for companies with an ongoing AI agenda. A fractional Chief AI Officer owns strategy, governance and delivery review alongside your leadership, with participation and decision authority agreed for the mandate.
- 120+Projects delivered across 12 countries since 2012
- 100+Senior in-house engineers, six countries
- 5.0Unified rating across 61 client reviews on Clutch
- ISO 27001Certified security practice, audited by Quay Audit UK
- ISO 9001Certified quality management, audited by Quay Audit UK
01Overview
A fractional Chief AI Officer across quarters
The standing mandate keeps AI priorities, governance and delivery decisions connected as the programme evolves. Your executive sponsor sets its scope and authority, and the CAIO works with your CTO, product and data leaders.
- Company experience operating AIOur owned AI product and call-intelligence product experience informs decisions about engineering and operation. The proposed leader's individual experience is part of your selection process.
- The decisions the seat takesThe mandate defines responsibility for use-case priorities, build-or-buy choices, delivery review and output accountability. Funding and release authority are agreed with your sponsor.
- Governance before scaleThe CAIO defines accountability, data-access requirements and human review with your technical, domain and legal owners. Those requirements inform the decisions about deployment and scale.
- The scope for a different leadership needAI consulting hands over a scoped decision, AI integration implements a chosen workflow, and a fractional CTO takes broader technical leadership responsibilities.
02Proof
AI engineering and operating experience behind the mandate
Continuing AI decisions need an understanding of what a feature requires in production. unicrew brings client engineering and owned-product operating experience to that judgment.
- meinUnterricht's measured search featuresIn Daniel Siebenson's 2026 review, meinUnterricht reported search features live in production and AI tagging and embeddings work that prepared its move to vector search. The search-success result came from a controlled experiment.~9%higher search success in a controlled experiment on the AI work we built
- Company-owned AI products in operationunicrew owns Snaplore, a revenue-generating AI product with active users, using Whisper, GPT models and AssemblyAI. Talkmetry is our revenue-generating call-intelligence product for HubSpot, using GPT and AssemblyAI.Up to 60%less time on documentation, reported by Snaplore's clients
- Company security and quality credentialsunicrew's security and quality certifications are renewed through a multi-stage audit with Quay Audit UK. The CAIO mandate defines AI governance responsibilities with you; your domain and legal owners confirm the obligations for the intended use.ISO 27001:2022 and ISO 9001:2015, both audited by Quay Audit UK
03Compare
Fractional CAIO, full-time hire, or a consulting engagement?
Choose the leadership arrangement around the decisions, authority and participation your AI agenda needs. An internal CTO or data leader can own that agenda with an adequate mandate. Scoped AI consulting fits a bounded recommendation that your team will act on after handover.
| Fractional CAIOunicrew | Full-time CAIO hireHire | Scoped AI consultingAdvise |
|---|---|---|
| Best forA continuing AI agenda with priorities, governance and delivery decisions suited to a defined fractional mandate. | Best forAn organization that needs daily executive participation, decision authority and management capacity for its AI function. | Best forA defined funding, readiness or build-or-buy decision, with an internal owner for the recommendation after handover. |
| What it asks of youA sponsor, agreed participation and authority, and product, engineering and data counterparts who carry the implementation responsibilities. | What it asks of youAn executive hiring process and a permanent role with defined authority, reporting relationships and organizational responsibilities. | What it asks of youBusiness and technical input for the assessment, plus a team or partner to commission the subsequent work. |
| You end up owningContinuing AI accountability and the roadmap, governance records and delivery review defined in the mandate. | You end up owningA full-time AI leadership function with the authority, reporting relationships and organizational responsibilities you define. | You end up owningThe agreed written recommendation and its assumptions, with implementation commissioned separately. |
Quick self-check
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Start with a scoped engagement
For a bounded recommendation, AI consulting provides a scoped decision. An AI Readiness Assessment can assess data and system prerequisites. A continuing leadership mandate fits when decisions and review responsibilities extend beyond that handover.
Talk it throughDefine the recurring decision
One recurring responsibility gives mandate scoping a starting point. We identify the sponsor, technical counterparts and authority needed, then assess whether a bounded engagement or continuing ownership fits.
Ask us about itMap the decisions and their prerequisites
Related AI decisions may depend on the same systems, data owners or governance requirements. We assess those dependencies and define which responsibilities belong in the mandate.
Book a discovery callA standing mandate is the right shape
A continuing AI agenda can benefit from one mandate connecting priorities, governance and delivery review. Your sponsor agrees its scope, participation and authority alongside the existing leadership roles.
Book a discovery callScope the standing AI mandate
We define the decisions, review responsibilities and internal interfaces with your sponsor. You interview the proposed candidates against that mandate and select the leader, with governance and delivery authority recorded.
Book the scoping callOur fractional Chief AI Officer joins your leadership team and owns your AI decisions across quarters. Those decisions range from which use cases get funded to what ships and what waits. The same person holds the roadmap, the governance and the delivery review.
Andrii BurdaSenior Engineering Manager, unicrew04Capabilities
What a fractional Chief AI Officer owns
Your fractional Chief AI Officer owns continuing AI decisions within the mandate granted by your sponsor. Technical and domain owners contribute the evidence needed for those decisions; implementation is separately commissioned.
- AI strategy consulting
AI strategy and roadmap
Value against feasibilityYour CAIO ranks use cases against business value, feasibility and the available data, then updates the roadmap as priorities and evidence change. The sponsor confirms funding decisions within the agreed authority.
- AI readiness assessment
Readiness and data assessment
Data, systems, peopleThe CAIO reviews data sources, system interfaces and team responsibilities. Prerequisites are sequenced before the work that depends on them; independent preparation and delivery work can proceed alongside it.
- AI governance framework
AI governance and compliance
Set at leadership levelYour CAIO defines accountability, data-access requirements and human review points with your legal, domain and technical owners. Governance decisions record who approves the use and who takes responsibility for its output.
- AI build versus buy analysis
Build, buy, or integrate decisions
API model or custom buildThe CAIO compares configured tools, hosted-model integration and custom development against the use case. The decision records fit, data requirements, operating assumptions and the reasons for the chosen approach.
- AI delivery oversight
Delivery oversight for the AI builds
Across your teams and oursYour CAIO reviews progress, evaluation evidence and release readiness with product and engineering counterparts. Delivery decisions follow the roadmap and mandate authority; implementation teams carry out the commissioned builds.
- AI evaluation and QA
Evaluation, guardrails, and AI QA
Evals and regression checksThe CAIO defines evaluation criteria, human review and regression-check responsibilities, then reviews release evidence against that bar. Evaluation implementation and any continuing quality work have their own scope.
- AI agent architecture
Agents and tool-access architecture
Access before autonomyFor agent-driven workflows, the CAIO defines permitted actions, access and approval boundaries against your requirements. Model Context Protocol and connector options are reviewed with the technical leadership before implementation is commissioned.
- AI team design and training
Team design, hiring, and enablement
Capability, not dependencyYour CAIO identifies the skills and roles needed for the roadmap and plans coaching or training with your team leads. Knowledge transfer and any transition to internal AI ownership are defined for the mandate.
05Trust
What the mandate hands over
The mandate maintains a decision record your leadership and delivery teams can use as priorities change. Responsibility for those records and any transition to an internal owner is defined when the leader is appointed.
- One ownerA named leader accountable across quartersThe same person holds the roadmap, the governance and the delivery review
- RankedA use-case roadmap scored before it is fundedBusiness value against feasibility, with the success metric and its baseline defined
- Written downGovernance settled before deploymentAccountability, data access and human review points, under our ISO 27001:2022 practices
06Stack
Technology judgment alongside your engineering team
Technology decisions in the mandate need input from your CTO and delivery teams. Our owned AI products use model and speech APIs; Python, LangChain and AWS Bedrock come from an internal project-management proof of concept.
Python
WebRTC
OpenAI / ChatGPT- Whisper AI
AWS Bedrock
LangChain
07Engagement
Agree the participation and scope of the mandate
The cadence and responsibilities of senior AI leadership are set for the mandate and reviewed as the programme evolves. There is no minimum engagement period.
Steer and govern
Standing seatThe CAIO maintains the roadmap, governs AI decisions and reviews delivery. Your existing teams or separately commissioned partners implement the work, with participation and review cadence agreed for the mandate.
- Best when
- You want continuing AI decision ownership alongside your engineering teams
- You pay
- Billed hourly, quoted per project
- Typical start
- Two to four weeks
Lead an intensive build
Build phaseThe CAIO leads decisions and delivery review for a funded initiative, working with its sponsor and product and engineering leads. Any unicrew implementation team has a separately agreed delivery scope.
- Best when
- A funded initiative needs continuing direction through its build and rollout
- You pay
- Billed monthly, per team member
- Typical start
- Two to four weeks
Assess first, then decide
Decision firstThe named two-week AI Readiness Assessment maps systems and data in scope as keep, rebuild or remove, ranks use cases by return against risk, and produces a costed plan for the top one. Its findings can inform a continuing mandate.
- Best when
- You want assessed priorities and prerequisites before defining the mandate
- You pay
- Outcome based, quoted per project
- Typical start
- Two to four weeks
Assess the programme before defining continuing ownership
We review existing use cases, priorities, data prerequisites and decision responsibilities, then recommend the scope of continuing AI ownership. Broader technical leadership has its own mandate through a fractional CTO.
08Industries
AI leadership decisions in their industry context
For each AI use case in your sector, identify the decisions your CAIO should continue to own after implementation.
Logistics and transportation
Your CAIO reviews routing, forecasting and exception-handling priorities with operational owners. The roadmap records how outputs will support dispatcher decisions, where human review is needed and which data prerequisites precede delivery.
Hospitality and leisure
Your CAIO reviews forecasting and personalization priorities across booking, membership and venue workflows. The mandate defines who provides the data and who approves how features affect the operation.
EdTech and learning platforms
For EdTech search and discovery, the CAIO agrees relevance criteria and delivery review with product owners. Search quality and content-tagging work are defined against user queries and the available content.
Fintech
Your CAIO connects document-processing and risk-scoring priorities with data-use, audit and review requirements from financial owners. In accounting workflows, the mandate records who approves outputs and the actions they may support.
Healthcare
Your CAIO reviews clinical-document assistance and patient-facing feature candidates with domain and data owners. For health monitoring workflows, data sharing, deployment and human review conditions are defined for the intended use.
E-commerce
Your CAIO reviews personalization, search and support automation as product investments. For commerce workflows, priorities account for data ownership, interfaces and the evaluation criteria your product and operational teams need.
Scope the continuing AI mandate
Tell us which AI decisions recur, what you want the role to achieve and how it should work with your leadership team. We discuss the responsibilities, participation and authority needed for that mandate.
What happens after you contact us
- We reply within one business dayWe respond to the mandate you described and identify any context needed for the discussion.
- A call about the mandate, not the technologyWe discuss recurring decisions, the executive sponsor and the internal leadership responsibilities the role will work alongside.
- A written mandate, and named candidatesFor a proposed mandate, we define responsibilities, participation, authority and evaluation criteria, then put forward candidates for interview.
- You decide, with a clear recommendationWe recommend a continuing mandate or a bounded first assessment against the scope discussed. Most engagements start within two to four weeks.
09Delivery
How the CAIO engagement works
The engagement starts by agreeing the mandate and selecting the leader. Readiness findings shape the roadmap and governance, followed by continuing delivery review and team enablement under the agreed cadence.
- Select the right CAIOWe put forward candidates for interview against the mandate. Your sponsor confirms objectives, participation, reporting relationships and delegated authority, then selects the fit.You getA written mandate, a named leader, an agreed cadence and the outcomes used to assess the engagement.
- Readiness and data assessmentYour CAIO reviews data sources, interfaces and ownership with technical and data contacts. For assessments and audits, an NDA precedes access; read-only, least-privilege access is agreed with the technical contact before work starts. You provide the inventory and domain context.You getA written readiness assessment with data and system prerequisites and the responsible owners.
- Strategy and prioritised roadmapThe CAIO ranks use cases by value and feasibility, recording assumptions, dependencies and baselines with your sponsor. You provide the operating measures, such as handling time, error rate and cost per transaction.You getA roadmap ranked by value and feasibility, with the success metric and baseline defined for the first build.
- Governance before scaleThe CAIO defines output accountability, data-use conditions and review approvals for deployments in scope. Your legal, domain and security owners provide the applicable obligations and decision limits.You getAn accountability model, data-access and privacy rules, and the human review points, written down.
- Direct the rolloutThe CAIO reviews progress and evaluation evidence with product and engineering counterparts, makes decisions within delegated authority and records matters needing sponsor approval. Commissioned delivery teams own implementation.You getDelivery decisions and review records against the roadmap and agreed metrics.
- Enablement and steady stateThe CAIO plans training and knowledge transfer with your team leads and continues the agreed review cadence. You identify the internal owners who will take responsibility for any transition.You getTraining and knowledge transfer in scope, an agreed review cadence and a handover plan.
10Client voices
Client perspectives on judgment and collaboration
The work is ongoing, but the impact that Artelogic has had on our development team has been substantial. They can work on developing other projects while still seeking guidance from Artelogic. Artelogic always provides our team with solutions backed up with the right research and analysis.
We’re one of unicrew’s smaller clients, but they’re always incredibly quick to respond. When we have issues, they treat them as if they’re extremely important. We feel like we have a partner, and that’s been incredible. That’s why we’ll keep them on for as long as we can.
They built the product from start to finish. I appreciated how they thought through the process as well as the input from the business side. It’s not a situation where I tell them to code and they code it. They always give advice on what may come in the future. I’m very satisfied with their project management.
Even though Artelogic didn’t have a background in this area, they learned quickly and repurposed technologies they’d used before in order to solve the business problem. I was very impressed with this ability, as most of the people we contacted before implied that they’d need to spend a lot of time of trying to understand our business logic.
Single point of contact. Very clear in communications and finding solutions as a team. Flexible when requirements changed. They deliver in a highly professional way while being in a volatile and insecure situation.
11Case studies
Owned AI products and internal engineering
Snaplore is unicrew's owned AI product with active users. The project-management agent was an internal proof of concept. Older client reviews name Artelogic, our former brand; unicrew has built software since 2012.
See all case studies
Built by unicrewAI-powered knowledge managementSnaplore is unicrew's own product, built and operated in-house. It uses AI to transform how organizations document, structure, and share information, making meetings, training, and project discussions instantly accessible and actionable.Up to 60%Less time on documentation
Built by unicrewAI-Powered Automation for Project ManagementAn AI bot that enhances operational efficiency by automating a time-consuming internal administrative task.30%Improvement in timely work-time logging compliance
12Questions
About our fractional CAIO service
The AI Readiness Assessment is a separate offer when you need defined data and system evidence before appointing a continuing owner.
A fractional Chief AI Officer provides part-time senior AI leadership under a continuing mandate for AI strategy, governance and delivery decisions. It fits a company with an AI agenda that needs ownership across quarters.
The executive sponsor grants the mandate and its decision authority. Participation, reporting relationships and the interface with existing CTO, product and data leadership are agreed for the role.
The fractional CAIO maintains AI priorities, makes decisions within the mandate and reviews delivery with your leadership and engineering counterparts. Participation follows the agreed cadence.
- Update the roadmap against business value, feasibility and new evidence.
- Review build-or-buy choices, data prerequisites and release readiness.
- Maintain governance responsibilities and output-review requirements.
- Coach internal owners and plan knowledge transfer or a transition.
We quote fractional AI leadership against the mandate's breadth, participation and review responsibilities. Any implementation costs are scoped separately.
- Steering and governance work is billed hourly and quoted per project.
- Team-extension engagements are billed monthly per team member, with roles defined for that work.
- The AI Readiness Assessment is outcome based and quoted per project, as a separate scoped offer.
Most engagements start within two to four weeks. We agree the CAIO's initial outputs, participation and review schedule while scoping the mandate.
The named AI Readiness Assessment is a separate two-week offer. That timebox does not set the duration of a leadership mandate or its commissioned builds.
Production outcomes depend on the selected use case, data prerequisites and implementation scope. The mandate records the baselines and criteria used to review those outcomes.
The CAIO decides per use case how existing systems and data can support the AI work, then sequences the required changes. Implementation is separately commissioned.
Hosted-model integration, configured tools and custom development are assessed against data, access and deployment requirements. Some modernization prerequisites must precede a dependent feature; independent work can proceed alongside them.
Data and security owners confirm permitted use and provider terms. Our enterprise AI integration roadmap explains how data and system prerequisites affect the sequence.
AI consulting hands over a bounded recommendation; a fractional CAIO continues to own AI decisions across quarters. The distinction is continuing responsibility for the agenda.
The CAIO mandate defines ownership of priorities, governance and delivery review alongside your CTO, product and data leadership. Implementation teams carry out separately commissioned work. Choose consulting for a scoped decision, and a continuing mandate for decisions that recur as the programme evolves.
Interview the proposed leader against the decisions and authority your mandate grants. Verify their individual experience separately from the company's portfolio.
- Ask about relevant strategy, governance and delivery leadership, including how funding and release decisions were made.
- Check references for scope, dates and outcomes, distinguishing engineering work from an executive mandate.
- Define participation, the CTO interface, escalation boundaries, records and transition responsibilities.
unicrew holds ISO 27001:2022 and ISO 9001:2015 certifications, renewed through a multi-stage audit with Quay Audit UK. These are company credentials.
A fractional CAIO fits when AI strategy, governance and delivery decisions require continuing ownership at an agreed level of participation. It can work alongside existing technical leadership with authority granted by your sponsor.
An internal CTO or data leader can own the agenda with the required mandate and participation. A full-time executive fits daily leadership needs; scoped consulting fits a bounded recommendation. The AI Readiness Assessment can provide an evidence base before you appoint a continuing AI owner.