Hire AI Consultantsin 2 weeks
BearPlex AI consultants combine senior technical depth with executive-grade communication: leading AI strategy work, technical due diligence, vendor selection, AI governance, and the architecture decisions that determine whether AI investments pay back. Engineers, not deck-makers.
What a AI Consultant actually does at BearPlex
An AI consultant at BearPlex bridges executive strategy and engineering execution. The role spans: AI strategy and roadmap development (where to invest, what to build vs buy, how to sequence), AI vendor evaluation (model providers, vector databases, agent platforms, MLOps tooling), technical due diligence on AI products (for investors, acquirers, partners), AI governance framework design (NIST AI RMF, EU AI Act, ISO 42001), build-vs-buy decision support, prompt engineering and architecture review, and the executive-facing communication that translates technical decisions into business outcomes. Our consultants are senior engineers who can also produce the kind of analysis that survives board-level scrutiny: they've shipped production AI themselves and bring those scars to advisory work. Standard engagements include Discovery Sprints (1-2 weeks, intensive scoping for new initiatives), Technical Due Diligence (focused investor / acquirer audits), AI Strategy Engagements (4-8 weeks producing roadmap + governance + execution plan), and Fractional CTO arrangements for clients without senior in-house AI leadership.
Sample engineer profiles
Anonymized to respect engineer privacy. Full bios shared under NDA during scoping.
Led AI strategy engagement for a $400M private equity portfolio company: identified 3 build vs buy decisions that saved $2.4M annually and accelerated their AI roadmap by 9 months.
Designed AI governance framework for a top-20 US bank: passed first-line and second-line MRM review on the first submission, model: 14 production AI initiatives.
Performed technical due diligence on 8 AI startup acquisitions for a Series D scale-up: identified critical risks in 3 deals that materially adjusted purchase price.
Advised a healthcare AI startup through FDA SaMD clearance + Series B raise: strategy and architecture work directly contributed to $42M raise and successful FDA submission.
Skills matrix
The capabilities every BearPlex AI Consultant brings on day one.
| Skill | Proficiency | Typical tools |
|---|---|---|
| AI strategy and roadmap development | Expert | Strategy frameworks · Discovery Sprint methodology · Roadmap design |
| Technical due diligence (investor / acquirer) | Expert | Code review at scale · Architecture review · Risk assessment frameworks |
| AI vendor evaluation (LLM providers, vector DBs, agent platforms) | Expert | Benchmark design · TCO modeling · Procurement analysis |
| Build vs buy decision frameworks | Expert | TCO modeling · Strategic analysis · Risk frameworks |
| AI governance (NIST AI RMF, EU AI Act, ISO 42001) | Expert | Framework documentation · Risk register design · Policy templates |
| Model risk management (OCC 2011-12, SR 11-7) | Expert | MRM documentation · Validation frameworks · Examiner-readiness |
| Prompt engineering and architecture review | Expert | System prompt design · Eval harness review · Production patterns |
| Executive communication and board presentation | Expert | Strategic narratives · Investment cases · Board-grade analysis |
| Fractional CTO / advisory | Advanced | Senior leadership advisory · Team coaching · Hiring support |
| Sector-specific expertise (healthcare, financial services, government) | Expert | Sector regulation knowledge · Compliance frameworks |
| AI procurement support | Advanced | RFP design · Vendor scoring · Contract negotiation support |
| Cost modeling and unit economics for AI products | Expert | Inference cost modeling · Per-customer economics · Pricing design |
How we vet AI consultants
Senior interview
60-minute deep-dive on past advisory and strategy work. We probe: did the consultant produce decisions that aged well? Did they push back on bad ideas with rigor? Can they translate technical depth into executive communication? We screen out advisors whose 'consulting' was selling someone else's product.
Live case exercise
We give the candidate a realistic strategic problem (build vs buy, vendor selection, M&A due diligence) with provided materials and 90 minutes. They must structure the analysis, identify the key decisions, and produce written recommendations. We're looking for: rigor, executive-grade output, and judgment under uncertainty.
Reference deep-dive
Three reference checks with previous clients: focused on whether the consultant's recommendations actually played out as predicted. Past advisors who were wrong often is a red flag; past advisors whose recommendations look smart in retrospect is the green flag.
Hamad-led trial engagement
Trial engagement on a real client problem, supervised directly by Hamad Pervaiz. AI consulting requires senior judgment that's hard to test in interview; the trial proves it.
What clients say
“Their AI consultant ran a 6-week strategy engagement that genuinely changed how we thought about our AI roadmap. Specifically: he killed two projects we were about to fund and identified a third we hadn't considered. ROI from that single engagement was 8-figures.”
“Best technical due diligence I've worked with. Their consultant identified a fundamental flaw in our acquisition target's AI architecture that the prior diligence missed. We adjusted the deal terms based on his findings.”
“Their consultant brought senior engineering depth to our board AI committee: neither pure technical nor pure strategy, but the rare combination that actually drives good decisions.”
Hiring AI consultants: questions answered
Yes: common engagement type. We've performed technical due diligence on 30+ AI startups for venture capital, private equity, and strategic acquirers. Standard scope: code review at scale, architecture assessment, AI risk identification, team and capability evaluation, IP and licensing analysis, recommendations on deal terms and post-close priorities.
Our 1-2 week intensive scoping engagement for new AI initiatives. Output: a written deliverable covering use case validation, architecture recommendations, build vs buy analysis, vendor selection, risk assessment, and a fixed-price proposal for the actual implementation work. Discovery Sprints typically cost $25K-$50K and prevent much larger downstream missteps.
Yes: for select engagements. Hamad Pervaiz personally takes on a small number of Fractional CTO arrangements per year, typically for AI startups or AI-heavy product teams that need senior technical leadership without full-time hire. We also have a small bench of senior consultants who do similar arrangements.
Yes: increasingly common. We work with: NIST AI Risk Management Framework, EU AI Act compliance, ISO 42001 certification preparation, OCC 2011-12 / SR 11-7 model risk management for financial services, FDA SaMD frameworks for healthcare AI, sector-specific compliance for regulated industries.
Discovery Sprint: $25K-$50K (1-2 weeks). Technical due diligence: $30K-$120K depending on scope. AI Strategy engagement: $80K-$250K (4-8 weeks). Fractional CTO: monthly retainer typically $20K-$40K. We bill on outcomes, not hours; we'd rather do focused high-impact work than long-running advisory.
Hamad Pervaiz (Founder & CEO) is based in Lahore, Pakistan with regular travel to Tokyo and the US. Our broader consultant team is globally distributed. Time zone overlap with US clients is 5-9 hours; we structure engagements with daily 2-3 hour overlap windows for synchronous work, async handoff for the rest. For US-based engagements requiring more synchronous work, we have consultants in PST / EST time zones.
Yes: deepest expertise in healthcare (FDA SaMD, HIPAA, clinical workflow), financial services (banking, asset management, fintech, MRM), government (FedRAMP, sovereign deployment), and B2B SaaS (multi-tenant architecture, enterprise procurement). For other sectors, we staff engagements with consultants who have direct sector experience.
Related services
Featured case studies
Get matched with a AI Consultant in 14 days
21-day risk-free trial. We've placed engineers at Fortune 500s and high-growth scale-ups.