A fractional AI engineering partner, without the full-time hire.
The Monthly AI Retainer is for companies who've shipped an AI system and want it to keep improving. Dedicated senior engineering hours each month, priority support, and a monthly strategy review, at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire.
Retainers typically start after an AI MVP Build or when an existing production system needs ongoing engineering attention.
Why a retainer rather than hiring
- No recruiting, no 3-6 month hiring cycle, no £80-120k salary plus benefits
- Senior-level engineering from month one, no onboarding tax
- Flexible capacity, scale hours up in launch months and down in quieter ones
- Institutional knowledge from the team that built the system
- No equity, no HR overhead, no management load
What's Included
Five things every retainer covers
Dedicated AI engineering hours
A fixed allocation of senior AI engineering hours every month, reserved for you. Used for features, fixes, iteration, or whatever the month needs most.
Priority response and Slack access
Questions answered same business day. Shared Slack channel for quick decisions between scheduled work sessions.
Ongoing development
New features, integrations, and refinements to the AI system we've built you. The system gets better over time rather than frozen at handover.
System monitoring and upkeep
Model version updates, dependency patches, cost monitoring, error tracking. We watch the system so you don't have to remember to.
Monthly strategy review
60-minute session each month to review what's working, what's not, and what to tackle next. A quarterly review looks at the bigger roadmap.
Retainer Tiers
Three tiers, scoped by hours per month
Every tier has the same service standards. What changes is how much of our time is reserved for you each month.
Core Retainer
10 hours per month
Companies with a live AI system that needs steady upkeep and occasional feature work.
- 10 senior AI engineering hours per month
- Same-business-day response on Slack
- System monitoring and upkeep
- Monthly strategy review
- Quarterly roadmap session
Growth Retainer
20 hours per month
Companies building out a live AI system, adding features regularly, or running multiple AI workflows in parallel.
- 20 senior AI engineering hours per month
- Same-business-day response on Slack
- System monitoring and upkeep
- Monthly strategy review
- Quarterly roadmap session
- Priority scheduling for new feature work
Partner Retainer
30+ hours per month
Scale-ups treating us as their fractional AI team, or founders who want a named AI engineering partner on the cap table of their time.
- 30+ senior AI engineering hours per month
- Weekly sync included
- Direct involvement in product and hiring decisions
- Named as AI engineering partner where useful
- Everything in Core and Growth
On the 3-month minimum: retainers take a month to warm up, a month to deliver, and a month to compound. Anything shorter doesn't give the relationship time to produce value. If you want a single piece of work, book a Workflow Automation Sprint or an LLM Integration Package instead.
How Hours Work
Simple and flexible, within sensible rules
What counts as an hour?
Any engineering, architecture, review, or strategy time spent on your project. Synchronous calls, written feedback, code, and documentation all count. Admin overhead and invoicing don't.
Do unused hours roll over?
Up to 50% of unused hours roll over to the next month, so a light month doesn't disappear. We don't encourage banking large surpluses, because the point of the retainer is steady momentum.
What if we need more hours in a given month?
Additional hours beyond your tier are available at a flat overage rate, agreed up front. For sustained higher usage, we move you up a tier rather than rack up overages.
What happens at the end of 3 months?
You can continue month to month, pause the retainer, or wind it down. No long lock-ins. Most clients continue for 6-12 months.
Can we pause for a month?
Yes, for up to 30 days at a time. Useful during quiet periods, board cycles, or team holidays. Just give 14 days' notice.
Want us as your fractional AI team?
Book a free 30-minute discovery call. We'll look at your current system, what needs ongoing attention, and whether a retainer is the right fit.
3-month minimum. Pause or end with 14 days' notice.