AI consulting · St. Louis and remote
AI thatholds upunder scrutiny.
Most organizations know they should be using AI but not where it actually helps. I find the places it does, build the first version with your team, and leave them able to run it without me.
- Est.
- 2026
- Based
- St. Louis
- Reach
- Remote
- Scope
- Any sector
The difference
Most AI advice comes from people who learned the tools last year.
I am a working scientist who runs AI systems in production, ships open-source software used by research groups worldwide, and trains teams across the world on agentic methods.
I do the work, then I teach the work. You get rigor, hands-on building, and a team that can keep going, not a dependency on me.
Services
How we work together
Start with a workshop or an audit, then grow into the build work and ongoing advisory. Real prices, listed, set to your scope.
Start
Two ways in, depending on where you are.Workshop & Working Session
The fastest way to start. A hands-on session where your team builds with the actual tools on your real problems, with me in the room. Most teams leave with working examples and a clear next step.
$6k-$15k
half to full day
AI Readiness Audit
For organizations not sure where AI fits. A structured read on where it genuinely helps, what it would take, and what to do first, ending in a prioritized roadmap.
$12k-$18k
3 to 4 days · fixed fee
Build
Where the real work happens, once we know what to build.Claude Code Adoption Sprint
Hands-on adoption of Claude Code and agentic coding, fitted to your codebase and your team, with the patterns and guardrails to keep going.
$18k-$30k
4 to 6 days
Agentic Workflow Build
Take one real process in research, operations, or product, and build a working agentic workflow for it, with your people involved so they can run and extend it.
from $25k
scoped project
Knowledgebase Build
Turn scattered documents, SOPs, and institutional memory into a system your own AI and agents can actually use, wired into the tools your team already works in.
$20k-$50k
3 to 6 weeks
Sustain
For a team steering its own AI effort.Advisory Retainer
Ongoing senior advice for a leadership or technical team. Scheduled time, review of your plans and work, and direct access between sessions.
$6k-$12k / mo
3 to 6 month minimum
Private AI
For data that cannot leave the building
Some of your most valuable work cannot touch an outside service: privileged, regulated, or proprietary data that has to stay inside your control. Private AI runs on isolated or fully air-gapped infrastructure, on open-weight models, so you get the gains without sending the data anywhere. I help you decide what is safe to build, design the system, and leave your team able to run it. Independent and vendor-neutral, with no product to resell and no lock-in. The hardware and uptime are handled by a specialist infrastructure partner, so you keep one honest advisor for the judgment that matters.
Private AI Readiness Audit
A structured read on where private AI genuinely helps, where the data boundary has to sit, what the liability posture is for high-stakes work, and which model and stack fit. Ends in a prioritized roadmap and a recommended first project.
$18k-$28k
3 to 4 weeks · fixed fee
Private Workflow Build
Take one real process and build a working private workflow for it. I architect and oversee, an infrastructure partner runs the hardware, and your people are involved throughout so they can run and extend it.
from $35k
scoped · with a delivery partner
Once it is running, an advisory retainer keeps a senior set of eyes on the system as it grows.
Approach
Every engagement follows the same arc
Scope
A short conversation to decide whether the fit is real and what the first piece of work should be.
Assess
Understand the current state: what your team does, where the data lives, what you have tried, and where AI would genuinely help.
Build or advise
Produce a concrete deliverable, an audit, a working workflow, a knowledge system, or provide ongoing senior advisory.
Transfer
Leave your people able to operate and extend what was built. Training is part of delivery, not an upsell.
Who you work with
Scott A. Handley, Ph.D.
A working scientist who builds and teaches AI systems.
I have spent more than a decade running computational research at a level where the results have to hold up, and the last several years building agentic AI systems and teaching them to teams around the world. The consultancy brings that to organizations in any sector.
- Builds and runs agentic AI pipelines in production, not as demos
- Author of open-source software with a global user base
- Has directed and taught technical workshops on five continents for over a decade
- Has advised pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and technology companies
Advisory is offered in a personal capacity. The practice is independent and is not endorsed by or affiliated with any university.
Start here
Let us find out whether AI is worth it for you.
Send a note about what you are working on. The first step is a short scoping call, and if a use case is not ready, I will tell you. That honesty is the point.