Skylar Payne
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Services
  • Presentations
  • Newsletter

Services

I’m not a career consultant. I’m a builder.

I’ve helped teams move from 30% churn to under 3%. From sleepless nights to confident board presentations. From “guessing” to knowing exactly why, what, and how to improve next.

I’ve spent the last decade in the trenches at companies like Google, LinkedIn, and startups, developing the systematic evaluation processes that transform AI from a “black box” liability into your most predictable strategic advantage.

Read more about my background ›

Build AI That Actually Works

Choose the engagement model that fits your team’s needs and timeline.

Strategic Advisory

DIY with Expert Guidance

Get expert AI guidance without losing team autonomy. Perfect for strong engineering teams who need strategic direction, not more developers.

How It Works:

  • Weekly Strategy Calls: 1-hour focused sessions on your biggest AI challenges
  • Email Access: Direct line for urgent technical decisions
  • Framework Sharing: Proven evaluation methodologies from companies like Google and LinkedIn
  • You Execute: Your team implements with my strategic guidance

Perfect For:

  • Teams with strong technical capability who need expert direction
  • Engineering leaders who want to build internal AI expertise
  • Organizations that prefer to maintain full control of implementation

Timeline: 3+ months (ongoing monthly retainer)
Investment: $5,000/month

Get Strategic Guidance

Embedded Partnership

RECOMMENDED: Done With You

Build AI systems that work while your team masters the process. Work side-by-side until your team owns every piece of the solution.

How It Works:

  • Integrated Into Your Process: I become part of your team temporarily
  • Hands-On Building: We build the solution together, step by step
  • Continuous Knowledge Transfer: Your team learns every aspect as we go
  • Gradual Handoff: You progressively own more until full ownership

Perfect For:

  • Teams who want both results AND deep internal capability
  • Organizations under pressure to deliver while building expertise
  • Engineering leaders who learn best by doing alongside experts

Timeline: 6-8 weeks intensive collaboration
Investment: Starting at $20,000 (project-based)

Partner With Me

Complete Delivery

Done For You

From broken AI to production-ready system with minimal team disruption. Complete solution delivery with comprehensive handoff documentation.

How It Works:

  • Independent Execution: I build the entire solution with minimal meetings
  • Comprehensive Documentation: Complete system documentation and runbooks
  • Clean Handoff: Your team receives a working system they can maintain
  • Light Integration: Minimal disruption to your current team processes

Perfect For:

  • Teams under extreme time pressure with limited bandwidth
  • Organizations that need results without draining internal resources
  • Companies where speed to value is the highest priority

Timeline: 3-4 weeks independent delivery
Investment: Starting at $40,000 (project-based)

Get It Done

Proven Results

Recent win: Frigade saw 40% better responses and 75% faster latency, enabling them to ship faster and more confidently with their AI-powered user onboarding. Recent win: Sidecar Data saw 35% better response quality with their data agent.


Ready to Build AI That Actually Works?

No pressure. No sales pitch.
Just a free consultation to see if we’re a good fit.

Schedule Discovery Call

 
Cookie Preferences