Where I'm useful
I take on a small number of serious engagements at a time. The pattern that works: I'm the architect-on-call for a leadership team building AI capability that has to actually ship, not just demo.
For enterprises
- Architecture review of an in-flight AI program: what's structurally sound, what's going to break in the second year, what to stop building now.
- Fractional CTO / Chief AI Architect for a 6 to 12 month transformation, embedded with the executive team.
- Workshops for leadership teams: how to think about model choice, build vs. buy, governance, hiring, and the unglamorous adoption layer.
- Due diligence for acquirers and investors on AI-claiming targets.
For founders (early-stage)
I keep a small mentorship cohort (typically 3 to 5 founders at a time). This is unpaid for founders pre-Series A and is intentionally selective.
- AI product architecture and model strategy
- Technical hiring for the first 5 to 25 engineers
- Avoiding the standard scaling mistakes I've made at every prior stage
- Investor-facing technical narrative
How I work
- Written before spoken. I'd rather read a one-pager than sit through a forty-minute deck. Whatever we discuss, expect me to write back.
- Deep over wide. I do my best work when I'm engaged seriously with a few teams, not casually with many. I won't take on an engagement I can't be useful inside.
- Decisions, not status. Engagements produce decisions and architecture artifacts, not slide decks of observations.
- I write under my own name. Anything I produce for you stays with you. Anything I publish publicly, whether essays, frameworks or talks, is mine and on this site.
What proves I can do this
- Chief Technology and AI Officer, Zettamine: leading its transformation into an AI product and services company (DigiHire.ai, GuildTrek, cognitive ERP, industrial AI).
- DXC Distinguished Engineer (2018): the company's highest technical distinction, for sustained technical leadership.
- Managing Partner & Head of Engineering, Brane Enterprises (2019 to 2025): built and led an engineering org of 280+, including 42 in AI and NextGen.
- Account CTO for AT&T and Zurich Insurance during my DXC years.
- Shipped AI products: real-time audio-video human-interaction agents, DigiHire.ai recruitment platform, enterprise digital twin, no-code AI platform, custom LLM fine-tuning with RAG. See Work.
Who I work with best
- Leadership teams that have already decided to build AI seriously and want someone who's been through the second-year problems.
- Founders building AI-native products who want an architect, not a coach.
- Boards and investors who need a second opinion on AI-heavy investments.
Who I'm probably not the right fit for
- "AI strategy" engagements that don't intend to ship anything.
- Hourly consulting at scale.
- Engagements where I can't be in the room with the people doing the work.
How to engage
Email me directly: sankar.vema@gmail.com, or use the contact form and pick the intent that matches.
I'll respond within a few days. If we're a fit, the first conversation is a free 30-minute call to see if there's a real engagement here. I won't sell; I'll diagnose.