Fractional AI Director — AI-Si.com
Simon Steggles, Fractional AI Director, Birmingham UK
AI governance, AI strategy, and hands-on AI implementation for UK SMEs and local councils. Based in Birmingham. Operating UK-wide.
Simon Steggles is a Fractional AI Director with 35 years of board-level leadership experience and more than five years of hands-on AI implementation. He provides AI governance, AI strategy, ISO 42001 consultancy, and AI risk management to UK SMEs and local government organisations through AI-Si.com, his trading name.
AI-Si.com is the trading name of Simon Steggles, Fractional AI Director, based in Birmingham, UK. Simon specialises in AI governance frameworks, AI strategy development, ISO 42001 implementation, and AI risk management for UK SMEs and local government organisations. Operating UK-wide.
Verified client outcomes: £300K retained for a UK metropolitan council with zero GDPR incidents, 43% operating-cost reduction for a West Midlands manufacturer, and £2.1M of new revenue identified for a regional law firm. Each is documented in an anonymised case study; named references available privately on request.
Board-level AI leadership delivered
UK public sector, NHS, legal, manufacturing, and recruitment
Saved for a UK metropolitan council
GDPR incidents across all client engagements
Why clients retain Simon
Why UK organisations retain Simon Steggles as Fractional AI Director
35 years of board experience across manufacturing, legal, healthcare, financial services, and local government. More than five years of hands-on AI implementation with measurable, client-confirmed outcomes. Simon does not arrive with a predetermined solution. He starts by understanding your organisation's actual constraints, identifies where AI creates real, measurable value, and stays until the results are verified.
Direct engagement — no junior consultants
Every client engagement is run personally by Simon Steggles. There are no account managers, no junior consultants, and no handoffs after the first call. The person you speak to during diligence is the person who does the work.
Implementation included — no strategy-and-exit
Every AI strategy recommendation is followed through to working implementation. The engagement does not end when the strategy document is delivered. Simon stays accountable until the system is live and the results are measurable.
No vendor bias — fully independent AI advice
AI-Si.com holds no referral agreements with AI vendors or technology providers. Every recommendation is based on what delivers the best outcome for the client organisation, assessed hands-on before it is advised.
Monthly rolling — no long contracts
Retainer engagements run monthly with a 30-day exit clause. No minimum term. No penalty for ending the engagement. The contract continues as long as it is delivering value.
Fast deployment. Measurable milestones.
AI projects are scoped tightly with measurable milestones and a board-ready progress report from the first month. No six-month discovery phases. No scope creep that delays delivery.
UK-based. Public sector security cleared.
Simon holds current NPPV3 (Non-Police Personnel Vetting Level 3) clearance for council and public sector engagements. All AI governance work is UK GDPR compliant from day one. All client communication is in plain English. No technical jargon.
Professional background and AI credentials
Years of board-level leadership
Simon has served as Finance Director, Non-Executive Director, and Chairman across technology, manufacturing, and professional services organisations. He has built and scaled businesses, managed board-level P&L accountability, and governed organisations through periods of significant change.
Years of hands-on AI implementation
Simon builds, tests, and deploys AI solutions in live client environments. He evaluates AI tools hands-on before recommending them and works directly with client teams to solve real operational problems. Every case study on this site reflects a live engagement, not a hypothetical.
Hands-on AI builder
Simon builds working AI prototypes inside client meetings. Technical feasibility and solution fit are assessed first-hand, not delegated to a third party or taken on trust from a vendor demo. This means AI recommendations are grounded in what works in your environment.
Accountable through delivery
Simon remains accountable for every recommendation going live. He works alongside your team until the AI system is in production and staff can operate it without him. The engagement does not close when the strategy is written.
What makes Simon Steggles different as a Fractional AI Director
35 years of board-level experience
Simon speaks the language of CEOs, CFOs, and boards. He understands governance, risk, regulatory compliance, and P&L accountability at the highest level. Every recommendation is presented in commercial language your board can act on — not technical jargon that requires translation.
Personal technical capability
Simon codes AI solutions personally. He evaluates tools hands-on and assesses feasibility directly, not through second-hand vendor briefings. He knows what works, what does not, and why. He identifies AI vendor claims that do not hold up under technical scrutiny.
Stays through implementation
Engagements run all the way through delivery. Simon works alongside your team to translate AI strategy into working systems, stays accountable for outcomes, and adapts the approach when real-world conditions require it. The engagement does not end at the strategy document.
Cross-sector AI experience
Simon has delivered AI governance and implementation work across manufacturing, legal, healthcare, financial services, UK local government, and NHS organisations. He understands sector-specific constraints, compliance requirements, and risk profiles, and applies lessons from one sector to solve problems in another.
What is a Fractional AI Director and how does the model work?
A Fractional AI Director provides board-level AI leadership on a part-time, retained basis. You receive the same strategic oversight, governance accountability, and implementation expertise as a full-time Chief AI Officer, without the £150,000 to £300,000 annual salary commitment.
Why the fractional AI Director model works for UK SMEs and councils
UK SMEs and local councils need AI strategy, governance, and hands-on implementation. Most cannot justify or fund a full-time Chief AI Officer at £150,000 to £300,000 per year. A Fractional AI Director delivers both the strategic direction and the technical implementation, scaled to your actual needs and budget.
How a Fractional AI Director engagement works in practice
Engagements run on a monthly retainer with clear deliverables and a 30-day exit clause. Typically one to two days per week, adjusted by project phase. You know what you pay and you know what you get. The engagement continues as long as it is delivering value.
What you get
- AI strategy development aligned to your business objectives and commercial reality
- Hands-on technical assessment of AI tools, platforms, and build-vs-buy decisions
- AI implementation oversight with board-level delivery accountability
- AI governance framework development and compliance guidance covering UK GDPR, EU AI Act, and ISO 42001
- AI staff training and internal champion development so your team builds lasting capability
- Board-level judgment on AI risk, investment decisions, and implementation timing
Expertise
AI credentials and regulatory expertise
ISO 42001 AI Management System
ISO 42001 is the international standard for AI management systems. Simon applies ISO 42001-aligned AI governance frameworks to client engagements. This is the standard required by regulated sectors and increasingly expected in large public sector procurement frameworks.
UK GDPR and AI Data Protection
Every AI deployment is UK GDPR compliant from day one. Data handling is designed for auditability and ICO defensibility. Simon has held data protection responsibility at board level and applies that experience directly to client AI governance work.
EU AI Act Compliance for UK Organisations
UK organisations supplying to EU markets or processing EU citizen data are within scope of the EU AI Act. Simon ensures AI systems are correctly classified, documented, and compliant before enforcement action becomes a risk. The general-purpose AI provisions of the Act took effect in August 2025.
AI Governance for UK Local Councils and Public Sector
Every AI governance framework delivered to UK local councils includes Freedom of Information Act defensibility, Public Sector Equality Duty compliance, and democratic accountability documentation built in from the start. Simon holds current NPPV3 public sector security clearance.
AI Board Reporting
Boards and senior leadership teams receive clear, non-technical AI progress briefings each quarter. The reporting format is designed to enable confident governance decisions, not to overwhelm with technical detail.
End-to-end AI implementation delivery
AI strategy does not stop at the document. Every engagement delivers working AI systems, trained staff, and measurable ROI before it closes. Simon remains accountable for outcomes, not just recommendations.
Evidence & verification
How AI-Si.com evidences every claim
Every claim on this site falls into one of four categories. Each category states only what can be independently verified: formal certifications, documented board-level experience, the published engagement framework, or material available privately on request during diligence.
1. Certified
Formal credentials, originals available for inspection: ISACA AI Governance certification; current NPPV3 (Non-Police Personnel Vetting Level 3) police clearance for council and public sector work; Royal Navy service 1984 to 1990, vetted to Category 3 Positive Vetting at the time (note: the PV scheme has since been superseded by Developed Vetting). Where this site references ISO 42001, UK GDPR, EU AI Act, PSED, or FOI, it refers to working knowledge of those standards — not certification against them. Profile verifiable on LinkedIn.
2. Documented experience
Specific delivered client engagements, written up as anonymised case studies with full methodology. The £300K, £480K, £2.1M, 43%, 60%, and 18 hours per week figures each map to one of the four published case studies — council, manufacturer, professional-services firm, and NHS Trust — with governance controls, metrics, and timeline disclosed. Named references and underlying calculations available on request.
3. Advisory framework
The engagement methodology and pricing applied on every AI consultancy engagement are published openly for diligence purposes. See the five-phase approach, three retainer tiers (£3,500–£8,500/month), and 30-day exit clause. Sector breadth — technology, manufacturing, professional services, public sector — is drawn from 35 years of board-level roles.
4. Available on request
Named client references, signed certificates and security clearance evidence, the underlying calculation packs behind every quoted saving, copies of the AI governance and GDPR documents delivered, and original source URLs. All are available privately as part of engagement diligence on request. Request the evidence pack
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