AI Governance & Enablement Consultant — Enterprise GenAI Rollout (Fractional/Advisory)

Overview We're a small-to-mid-sized publicly traded technology company standing up a company-wide generative AI program. We've already done the heavy lifting internally — what we need now is an experienced practitioner to pressure-test our work, close gaps against current best practice, and help us run a clean, secure rollout. The internal framework is built and moving through executive review: AI acceptable use policy (multi-section, drafted conservatively on purpose so leadership can calibrate) A lightweight, IT-owned governance model Rollout and deployment plan ROI model and a department-level use-case catalog Executive-facing materials and an operational playbook This is an advisory engagement, not a build-from-scratch project. You'll be reacting to and improving real artifacts, not generating them from a blank page. The strongest applicants will be people who've personally written and deployed an enterprise AI program before and can tell us, quickly and specifically, where ours is too restrictive, too loose, or missing something. Who this is (and isn't) for We're looking for an individual practitioner, not an agency. If your proposal is a generic capabilities pitch, we'll pass. We want someone who has been hands-on with the actual decisions: which tools get approved, how data is protected, how policy translates into something employees will actually follow, and how a rollout lands without breaking trust across the org. What you'll do 1. Data security and risk (our highest priority) Advise on how we keep confidential and proprietary information out of public/consumer AI tools Help us evaluate vendor data-handling, retention, and model-training practices, and the difference between consumer and enterprise tool tiers Recommend the right access controls, data-loss-prevention posture, and guardrails for the tools we're approving Identify where our current policy and controls leave exposure we haven't accounted for 2. Policy and governance review Stress-test our drafted acceptable use policy section by section Tell us where it's overly conservative and where it's too permissive Evaluate whether our governance model (lightweight, IT-owned, with Legal/HR/Finance as consulted parties) is right-sized for a company of our scale Flag anything a company our size typically gets wrong 3. Rollout, change management, and enablement Advise on rollout sequencing — which functions go first, how to phase it, how to avoid stranding early adopters Help design the employee enablement and training approach Guidance on communicating the program so it lands as support, not surveillance 4. Tooling and licensing strategy Provide guidance on our approved stack: Microsoft 365 Copilot, Azure AI Foundry, and general-purpose GenAI tools Help us think through licensing tiers, exception handling, and cost vs. value Sanity-check our build-vs-buy thinking for custom agents 5. Role-specific use cases (plus) Help shape practical, function-specific use cases — for example, distinguishing analytical roles from operational ones in finance/accounting Deliverables We're flexible on format, but expect outputs like: A written gap analysis / red-team of our current policy and controls Prioritized recommendations (what to fix before launch vs. what can wait) A short benchmarking summary against comparable mid-market deployments Working-session input on rollout sequencing and enablement Ad hoc advisory as questions come up through our review and launch cycle Ideal background Must-haves Strong grounding in data security and vendor risk for AI tools — DLP, data residency and retention, and keeping sensitive information out of model training Has led at least one enterprise GenAI governance + rollout, ideally at a company under ~250 employees Has actually written and deployed an AI acceptable use policy, not just studied them Can translate technical controls into plain business language for a non-technical executive audience Familiar with the Microsoft Copilot / Azure AI ecosystem Nice-to-haves Experience advising lean IT organizations where one or two people carry the load Comfort working inside a Microsoft 365 / Azure tenant A track record of rollouts that stuck — adoption, not just policy on paper How we'll work together Asynchronous by default, with scheduled working sessions for the higher-stakes reviews We move quickly and decisively — clear directives, fast turnarounds, candid feedback in both directions You'll work directly with our internal program lead; some sessions will include executive stakeholders We value plain language over jargon and consultant-speak Engagement details Fractional / part-time advisory, roughly 5 hours/week to start (flexible) Estimated 6–8 weeks with potential for an ongoing relationship (flexible) Hourly — please include your rate Our environment: Microsoft 365 / Azure tenant; lean IT org; governance intentionally lightweight Confidentiality Specific company and program details will be shared under NDA. Please be comfortable signing one before we get into specifics. We'll keep early conversations high-level until that's in place. To be considered, please include How you keep confidential and proprietary data protected when rolling out GenAI tools across an organization A brief summary of a comparable GenAI program you advised on or led — company size and your specific role Your overall approach to AI governance and acceptable-use policy Your experience with Microsoft Copilot and/or Azure AI Foundry Your availability and hourly rate Generic proposals will not be reviewed. We're reading for specifics.