AI engineers are in high demand as consultants, with some earning up to $900 per hour. Companies like PromptQL, an enterprise AI platform, are deploying AI engineers as consultants to help large corporations troubleshoot, adopt, and integrate AI with enterprise data. This trend is shaking up the consulting industry, with traditional consultants often lacking the technical expertise to debug models, build pipelines, or integrate systems into legacy infrastructure.
The demand for AI engineers as consultants stems from their hands-on technical skills, which are essential for keeping pace with rapidly changing technology. Companies are willing to pay top dollar for execution, as strategy alone is no longer enough. In fact, with 95% of AI projects failing to drive fast income growth, companies are essentially buying insurance against joining that statistic.
Compared to traditional management consultants, who charge $400-$600 per hour, AI engineer consultants can charge $700-$900+ per hour. This premium reflects the unique skills and expertise that AI engineers bring to the table, including machine learning, large language models, data integration, and coding.
As AI continues to transform the business landscape, the role of AI engineers as consultants is likely to become increasingly important. By providing working AI models, pipelines, and integrated enterprise tools, AI engineers can help companies drive innovation and growth in a rapidly evolving technological landscape.