A monthly advisory retainer that brings senior AI judgment into your operating cadence without the cost of a full-time hire.
For finance firms with an AI program in flight that need ongoing senior review of vendor decisions, governance questions, and build sequencing. $5,000–$10,000 per month, three-month minimum.
The problem this service solves
After an assessment or a strategy engagement, most firms hit the same problem: the build is happening, but the day-to-day decisions are getting made without senior AI judgment in the room. A vendor wants to demo. A second-line reviewer flags a model risk concern. The CFO wants to know whether the budget is on track. The engineering team has a build/buy question on data integration. Internally, the firm has the operating leaders and the build team. What it does not have is someone who has seen these decisions across other finance firms and can call the question quickly. The advisory retainer fills that seat.
What we deliver
Review
Monthly review of the AI program — what shipped, what slipped, what changed in vendor landscape, what changed in regulator guidance. Written one-pager plus a 60-minute working session.
Advise
Inbound vendor and build/buy questions answered within one business day. Vendor demo joint review (we sit in on up to two vendor calls per month).
Brief
Quarterly briefings for the executive committee or the board's risk/audit committee on the AI program, including regulator-stance changes and peer-firm benchmarks.
Audit
Light-touch quarterly audit of model risk documentation, governance committee minutes, and rollout phase-gate compliance. Flag-and-fix, not formal model validation.
How we work
Onboarding
Weeks 1-2Two onboarding sessions with the executive sponsor and the program owner. Output: a shared dashboard with the current state of every priority workflow and the open vendor and governance decisions.
Monthly cadence
Every 4 weeksOne 60-minute working session per month with the program owner. One written program review one-pager per month. Inbound questions answered async within one business day.
Quarterly briefings
Every 12 weeksOne 60-minute executive committee or board committee briefing per quarter. Materials drafted by us, refined with the program owner, presented jointly or solo per your preference.
What this is not
- ×We do not build, host, or resell tools.
- ×We do not act as your AI engineering team. Build execution stays with your team or your chosen build partner.
- ×We do not do formal model validation. The audit deliverable is flag-and-fix, not a SR 11-7 model validation report.
- ×We do not staff vendor procurement on your behalf. We advise; you negotiate.
Pricing
$5,000 – $10,000 per month
$5,000/mo covers a firm with one priority AI workflow in build and a quarterly board cadence. Async question access plus monthly working session plus quarterly briefing.
$10,000/mo covers a firm with 3+ priority workflows, monthly executive committee participation, and joint vendor calls.
3-month minimum commitment. Month-to-month after that, 30-day notice on either side. Paid monthly in advance. No retainer overage charges — if your usage exceeds the tier, we discuss tier change at the next monthly review.
Recent representative work
Engagements anonymized for confidentiality. Marked cases are illustrative composites; unmarked cases are live engagements.
Multi-family office
$2.4B AUM MFO with internal investment armIllustrativeSituation: MFO had completed a strategy engagement six months prior. Build was in flight on three priority workflows but each had stalled in vendor or governance review. The investment principal wanted a senior outside voice in the monthly program review.
Delivered: Monthly program review one-pager flagged two governance decisions that had been deferred and surfaced a vendor whose pricing model had changed since the original strategy work. Quarterly briefing materials for the family principals.
Outcome: Two of the three stalled workflows shipped to production within 90 days of the retainer starting. Quarterly principal briefing reduced from a 4-hour ad-hoc working session to a structured 60-minute meeting.
Common questions
How quickly do we get answers between sessions?
Inbound questions are answered within one business day, usually faster. The retainer includes async messaging access via the channel of your choice (email, Slack, or a shared workspace).
Can we cancel after 3 months?
Yes. The minimum is three months. After that, the retainer is month-to-month with 30-day notice on either side. No cancellation fee, no auto-renew clause that traps you.
What happens if we need more than the monthly time block?
We discuss tier change at the next monthly review. We do not charge hourly overage; the retainer is bounded so neither side has to track time. If your usage genuinely outgrows the tier, we move you up or scope a discrete project alongside.
Does this replace our internal AI program owner?
No. The retainer adds senior outside judgment to your existing program; it does not substitute for a named internal owner. If you do not yet have an internal owner, the strategy engagement is the better first step — or, at scale, the fractional Chief AI Officer offering.
Want senior AI judgment in your monthly cadence?
Send a one-page program brief to pat@clearhaven.ai or book a 30-minute discovery call. We will respond within one business day with a fit assessment.