This page explains what fractional AI talent is, who it's for, how it works, and how it compares to full-time hiring and traditional agencies. It also explains how Rafiki Works sources and manages fractional AI talent for global clients.
Rafiki Works is a managed fractional talent platform. We source, vet, and place senior AI engineers, automation specialists, and growth operators with startups, agencies, and mid-market businesses worldwide — handling contracts, compliance, and payments through Petl Pay.
What is fractional AI talent?
Fractional AI talent refers to senior AI engineers, automation specialists, and technical operators who work with a business on a part-time or project basis — providing expert capability without the commitment of a full-time role.
The word "fractional" describes the engagement model: you're hiring a fraction of someone's time rather than all of it. The specialist typically works with two or three clients simultaneously, each receiving 10–20 hours per week of focused, senior-level work.
What makes this distinct from traditional freelancing is depth and continuity. A fractional AI engineer isn't completing a one-off task — they embed in your team, build systems that run inside your product or operations, and iterate on them over time.
The core idea: You get the output of a senior AI hire — agents built, automations running, LLM features shipped — without the salary, benefits, hiring lag, or long-term commitment that comes with a full-time employee.
What roles fall under fractional AI talent?
The category spans several specialisms that businesses commonly need but rarely justify as full-time roles:
Fractional AI talent compared: models side by side
All four models can deliver AI implementation work. The differences are in cost, speed, ongoing ownership, and how embedded the specialist is in your team.
| Model | Speed to start | Cost | Ongoing iteration | Team integration | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full-time hire | 8–16 weeks | $120k–$200k/yr | ✓ Deep | ✓ Fully embedded | Core, sustained AI engineering at scale |
| AI Agency | 2–4 weeks | $10k–$100k project | ✗ Extra scope | ✗ External | Defined, time-bound builds with clear spec |
| Freelance marketplace | 1–3 days | Variable | ✗ Transactional | ✗ None | Simple, clearly scoped one-off tasks |
| Fractional (managed) | Under 1 week | $1.5k–$8k/month | ✓ Ongoing | ✓ Embedded part-time | Ongoing AI implementation, iteration, embedded support |
Who uses fractional AI talent?
Startups and scale-ups (5–100 people)
Early-stage companies need AI in their product and operations but can't justify a full-time senior AI engineer. Fractional gives them the capability to ship AI features, automate internal workflows, and build agents without a $150k+ annual commitment.
Agencies adding AI delivery capacity
Digital, creative, and marketing agencies increasingly need to deliver AI-powered work to clients but don't have internal engineering capability. Fractional AI talent lets them take on these projects without hiring full-time — keeping the delivery model lean.
Mid-market businesses with specific automation needs
Operations or RevOps leads at 50–200 person companies often have a clear problem — a manual workflow, a reporting nightmare — but no internal resource to fix it and no appetite for a large agency retainer. A fractional automation specialist can solve this in weeks.
What it costs
Fractional AI talent costs significantly less than a full-time equivalent. Senior fractional AI engineers and automation specialists from South Africa working with global clients typically sit in the $40–120/hour range depending on role and seniority.
At 20 hours/week, that's roughly $1,500–$8,000/month — compared to $10,000–$16,000/month for a full-time senior AI engineer in the US or UK, before benefits, equity, and recruiting costs.
Worth noting: The value of fractional isn't just cost. It's speed, flexibility, and the ability to scale a specialism up or down based on what the business actually needs at any given time.
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