Engagement Options

Work With Me

Every engagement includes both strategic thinking and hands-on involvement — they work best together.

"Strategy and implementation inform each other.Separating them is where projects lose coherence."
Focused assessment

AI Architecture Review

I assess your AI setup at both levels: strategic direction and technical implementation. I review the code, the architecture, and how it aligns with your business goals.

This is for you if:

  • →You've built something but aren't sure if it's on the right track
  • →You need an outside perspective before scaling or expanding
  • →You want honest feedback, not validation

At the strategic level

  • • Is your AI approach aligned with business objectives?
  • • Are you solving the right problems with the right methods?
  • • What's realistic vs. aspirational in your roadmap?
  • • Build vs. buy analysis for your specific situation

At the hands-on level

  • • Code review of AI/ML components
  • • Architecture assessment (is it scalable? maintainable?)
  • • Data pipeline and model evaluation
  • • Technical debt and risk identification

What you get

A comprehensive assessment document with clear findings — what's working, what's not, and why. Actionable roadmap with priorities, presented to leadership in a final walkthrough.

Ongoing, part-time

Embedded AI Architect

Embedded in your team on a part-time basis as AI technical leadership. I participate in Slack, PRs, and architecture discussions — part of the day-to-day.

This is for you if:

  • →You have engineers but lack senior AI technical leadership
  • →You need someone who can operate at both strategy and code level
  • →A full-time hire doesn't make sense (yet), but you need the expertise now

At the strategic level

  • • Architecture decisions and technical direction
  • • AI roadmap planning and prioritization
  • • Leadership advisory and stakeholder communication
  • • Build vs. buy recommendations
  • • Vendor evaluation and technology choices

At the hands-on level

  • • Code reviews and technical guidance
  • • Pairing with engineers on complex problems
  • • Technical mentorship for your team
  • • Hands-on prototyping when needed
  • • Architecture implementation and patterns

What it looks like

I attend standups, participate in planning, review PRs, and join architecture discussions. I also work with leadership on broader AI direction — the same person at both levels.

Intensive engagement

AI Strategy Sprint

Intensive engagement to define your AI direction. Focused work with leadership and the technical team that produces a strategy grounded in what's actually feasible.

This is for you if:

  • →You're at a decision point about AI and need clarity fast
  • →Leadership and technical teams need to align on direction
  • →You want a concrete plan, not vague possibilities

What I focus on:

  • Discovery:Understanding your business context, current capabilities, and what you're trying to achieve
  • Technical assessment:Evaluating data, infrastructure, and technical feasibility with your engineering team
  • Strategic alignment:Getting leadership and technical teams aligned on priorities, trade-offs, and realistic outcomes
  • Roadmap:Clear plan with priorities your team can execute, presented to stakeholders

What you get

  • • Clear AI strategy aligned with business goals
  • • Prioritized roadmap with phases and milestones
  • • Technical architecture recommendations
  • • Build vs. buy analysis for key components
  • • Risk assessment and mitigation plan

I stay available during implementation to answer questions and ensure the strategy translates to action.

Tailored to scope

AI Project Recovery

Your AI project isn't delivering — I figure out why. Strategy and implementation problems are usually intertwined: wrong problem definition leads to architecture issues, scope creep creates technical debt, misaligned expectations drive the wrong technical choices. I work through both layers.

This is for you if:

  • →You've invested in AI but aren't seeing the expected results
  • →The project is over timeline, over budget, or underperforming
  • →You need someone who can diagnose the root cause and help fix it

My approach:

  • Understand:What's actually happening at both the strategy and implementation level
  • Diagnose:Root cause analysis — why it's not working and what needs to change
  • Plan:Concrete steps to get back on track, prioritized by impact
  • Execute:I help implement the recovery alongside your team, not just hand over a plan

Common issues I diagnose

Strategy level:

  • • Wrong problem definition
  • • Misaligned expectations
  • • Scope creep
  • • Missing success criteria

Implementation level:

  • • Architecture issues
  • • Data quality problems
  • • Model performance
  • • Technical debt

The key difference

I stay to help fix what's broken. That might mean working with your team on technical changes, helping reshape the project scope, or guiding the implementation in a new direction. The goal is a working project.

Focused sprint

R&D & Prototyping Sprint

Validate an AI hypothesis before committing. I research the approach, design the architecture, build a working prototype, and deliver a clear go/no-go assessment — backed by technical evidence, not opinions.

This is for you if:

  • →You have an AI idea but need to prove it works before investing further
  • →You want a working prototype, not a feasibility slide deck
  • →You need someone who can research, design, and build — not just advise

What it includes:

  • Research & Design

    Literature review, approach selection, architecture design — grounded in what actually works

  • Prototype Build

    Working proof-of-concept with real data, not a demo with hardcoded results

  • Technical Assessment

    Clear go/no-go recommendation with evidence, cost projections, and scaling path

What you get

A working prototype, a technical feasibility report, and a clear recommendation — build further, pivot, or stop. No ambiguity.

Structured assessment

Technical Due Diligence

Independent AI and technology assessment for investors, acquisitions, or strategic partnerships. I evaluate what's real, what's hype, and what the technical risks are — from architecture to team capability.

This is for you if:

  • →You're evaluating an AI company for investment or acquisition
  • →You need an independent technical opinion before a strategic partnership
  • →You want to understand the real state of an AI system, not the pitch deck version

What I evaluate:

  • • AI/ML architecture quality and scalability
  • • Team technical capability and depth
  • • Technical debt and maintenance burden
  • • Data quality, pipelines, and governance
  • • AI maturity — how production-ready is it, really?
  • • IP and differentiation — is the AI defensible?

What you get

A confidential technical assessment report with clear findings, risk ratings, and recommendations. Written for decision-makers, backed by engineering-level analysis.

Hands-on sessions

AI Training & Workshops

Hands-on training for engineering teams or leadership. Not slides and theory — working sessions built around your actual codebase, your domain, and your problems.

This is for you if:

  • →Your engineering team needs to build AI skills with practical, hands-on training
  • →Your leadership team needs to understand AI capabilities and limitations — without the hype
  • →You want training customized to your domain, not generic courses

Topics include:

  • • AI architecture patterns and best practices
  • • LLM integration, RAG systems, and prompt engineering
  • • Agentic AI systems — design and implementation
  • • AI evaluation, testing, and production monitoring
  • • AI strategy for technical leaders

What it looks like

Sessions built around your real problems. Engineers write code, leaders make decisions on real scenarios. I prepare custom materials for your domain. Not a lecture — a working session.

Ongoing, async

Advisory Retainer

Lightweight, ongoing access to senior AI thinking. Periodic calls, async questions via Slack or email, architecture decisions when they come up. No minimum hours — just access when you need it.

This is for you if:

  • →You don't need a full engagement but want a senior AI perspective available
  • →You have occasional architecture or strategy questions that need expert input
  • →You want continuity — someone who knows your context and can advise quickly

What it includes:

  • • Monthly strategy call (1 hour)
  • • Async access for architecture and strategy questions
  • • Document and architecture reviews on demand
  • • Priority scheduling if you need to escalate to a deeper engagement

What it looks like

Think of it as having a senior AI architect on speed dial. When a decision comes up — build vs. buy, architecture choice, vendor evaluation — you have someone who knows your context and can give a direct, informed answer.

Not sure which engagement fits?

1

Need a second opinion on what you've built? → Architecture Review

2

Need ongoing senior AI leadership? → Embedded Architect

3

Need to define your AI direction quickly? → Strategy Sprint

4

Something's not working and you need help? → Project Recovery

5

Need to validate an AI idea with a working prototype? → R&D Sprint

6

Evaluating an AI company or technology? → Due Diligence

7

Need to upskill your team on AI? → Training & Workshops

8

Want ongoing access without a full engagement? → Advisory Retainer

Still not sure? Let's talk. A 30-minute conversation usually clarifies the right approach.

Deep Expertise

Specialized Services

Beyond general engagements, I offer focused expertise in specific AI domains. Same approach — strategy through implementation — applied to specialized challenges.

Agentic AI Design

Design and build autonomous AI agent systems — from architecture decisions to working implementations. Planning, memory, tool use, and multi-agent orchestration.

  • →Agent architecture design
  • →Tool and API integration
  • →Multi-agent systems

LLM Implementation

Enterprise LLM integration — from model selection and RAG architecture to fine-tuning strategies and production deployment.

  • →RAG system design
  • →Fine-tuning & optimization
  • →Production deployment

AI Agent Security & Evaluation

Secure your AI agents before they reach production. I built Ziran, an open-source framework for agent security testing — tool chain analysis, trust exploitation, multi-agent coordination. The same methodology I apply to client engagements.

These services can be standalone engagements or combined with the general engagement options above.

Let's figure out what would help

I'd like to understand what you're working on and where AI fits in. A conversation to explore whether I can contribute — no obligations.

Get in Touch →

Or email me directly at [email protected]