Retainer Consulting
Fractional AI Architect & Coherence Lead

For teams building systems with real consequences — where “it looked fine in the demo” is not an acceptable risk posture.
I help keep execution authority governed as you ship: identity, boundaries, admissibility, memory, and real-world behavior — not just prompts and opinions.

What You Get Each Month

  • Regular cadence calls (weekly or bi-weekly) to review architecture, incidents, and upcoming build decisions — before they become expensive.
  • Async review of diagrams, specs, and key pull requests so the system doesn't drift while nobody's looking.
  • Help designing and refining your trust stack — entropy, ledger, validation, application, and cognitive layers — so governance is enforceable, not theatrical.
  • Guidance on memory strategy (SQL, vectors, docs) and how to keep identity anchored with ShadowID-style patterns.
  • A direct sounding board for executives and technical leads when you need to translate between "vision" and implementation — without losing control at the decision boundary.

Typical range: $3,000–$6,000/month depending on scope and tempo.

Why a Retainer, Not Just One-Off Calls

Architecture isn't a one-time event. Systems evolve as you ship, bolt on tools, change data, add agents, and respond to real users. A retainer keeps a systems-level adult in the room — so authority and boundaries don't quietly degrade month by month.

  • You avoid "architecture by backlog," where each sprint adds capability but also adds uncontrolled risk.
  • You get continuity — someone who remembers why you made past decisions and when it's time to re-lock invariants.
  • You stop paying different consultants to rediscover the same context every few months.
  • You align messaging, product, and technical reality so what you claim publicly matches what the system can actually enforce.

What a Retainer Engagement Looks Like

  1. Month 0: We do an initial architecture review (or BlueprintPro if needed) so we have a shared map and clear authority surfaces.
  2. Month 1: We lock in cadence calls, comms channels, and the specific parts of the stack I'm responsible for overseeing.
  3. Months 2–3: We iterate on your trust and memory layers, clean up the worst risks, and stabilize the agent behavior under real user pressure.
  4. Ongoing: I stay in the loop on design and key decisions so coherence doesn't get sacrificed every time a deadline looms.

We'll scope the exact hours and responsibilities on a call first — this is not a generic "advisory" label slapped on random check-ins.

See if a retainer makes sense for your team

If you're building systems that can influence access, money, decisions, or outcomes — and you want a standing coherence lens so execution authority stays governed as you scale — let's talk scope and fit.

Schedule a retainer discussion

On the call, we'll align on goals, tempo, and budget — and decide together if a retainer is the right move.