The AI engineer you need, live in two weeks.Without the $200k hiring gamble.
Four years running engineering teams in Vietnam. Your engineer is already on the bench.
For over four years we have run engineering teams in Vietnam serving Australian and Singaporean clients. The AI engineering hubs behind this offer have shipped for major Australian retailers, insurers, utilities and government transport agencies — the same bench now available as your embedded AI capability.
Everyone says make the AI hire.Nobody mentions the gamble.
The hiring gamble
A $200k executive search, a recruiter fee, and hoping the hire works out — while the AI window keeps moving.
- 8–12 weeks of search, interviews and notice periods
- Recruiter fee of 15–25% of salary, paid up front
- Super, leave, payroll tax and overhead on top
- Wrong hire? Restart the search and eat the sunk cost
The embedded model
A managed AI engineer, live in about two weeks, one monthly invoice — with the management layer included.
- Live inside your business in ~2 weeks, not a quarter
- Australian-led direction plus a dedicated delivery manager
- 2-week replacement guarantee — swap, don't restart
- Everything built is your IP. Cancel monthly.
The same capability. A fraction of the risk.
Australian AI operator roles are being advertised at AUD $70k–$250k+ salary, plus recruiter fees, super and months of searching. Here is the honest side-by-side.
Fixed monthly bands. No surprises.
One all-inclusive invoice per month. No recruiter fee, no super, no on-costs, no lock-in. AUD is our billing currency; USD figures are indicative.
AI Engineer
A dedicated mid-level AI engineer building agents, automation and integrations against your roadmap, with delivery management included.
From AUD $9,500/mo · ≈ USD $6,600/mo
Compare: AI operator roles advertised at AUD $70k–$120k salary — before super, recruiter fees and hiring risk.
Senior AI Engineer
A senior engineer (5+ years) who owns production AI systems end to end — RAG, agents, evals, private AI deployments — with delivery management included.
From AUD $12,500/mo · ≈ USD $8,600/mo
Compare: senior AI hires advertised at AUD $120k–$180k salary, ~AUD $190k+ all-in year one.
AI Pod
A senior AI engineer plus a dedicated delivery manager and Australian-led architecture direction — the executive-level AI capability without the executive hire.
From AUD $16,500/mo · ≈ USD $11,400/mo
Compare: executive AI leadership roles advertised at AUD $180k–$250k+ salary.
You direct the outcomes. We run everything else.
This is not staff augmentation, and it is not a body-shop. It is a managed model with one point of accountability — and the person directing your AI roadmap works alongside your engineer in person.
Australian-led direction
Our Australian founder runs your discovery calls, sets the AI roadmap, and directs the engineering — and is based in Vietnam, working with your engineer in person, not over a ticket queue.
A dedicated delivery manager
Day-to-day delivery is run by a dedicated delivery manager in our Vietnam hub: sprints, standups, progress visibility. You get outcomes and a weekly cadence — not project management homework.
Your embedded engineer
A full-time, English-fluent AI engineer working from our ISO 27001-certified delivery hubs in Vietnam — on your systems, your repos, your timezone overlap (ICT is 2–4 hours behind the Australian east coast).
Production systems, not pilots
The brief is simple: find where AI creates the most leverage in your business, then build the thing that captures it.
AI agents in production
Agents that run real workflows — sales call scoring, quoting, reporting, support triage — with evals, logging and human-in-the-loop controls.
Workflow automation
We map your manual processes across sales, ops, finance and support, then replace the repetitive work with systems that run 24/7.
RAG & knowledge systems
Your documents, policies and tribal knowledge made instantly searchable for your team — grounded, cited and access-controlled.
Private AI
AI deployed inside your cloud environment so client data and IP never leave your control. Built to Australian data expectations.
Integrations & AI backends
Wiring AI into the systems you already run — CRM, ERP, email, spreadsheets, phone systems — instead of adding another disconnected tool.
AI roadmap & direction
Australian-led architecture direction: what to automate first, what to skip, and how to sequence the wins so ROI shows up in weeks.
From first call to production in weeks.
Discovery & scoping
We map your workflows, identify where AI creates the most leverage, and agree the first deliverables. You meet your engineer before anything is signed.
Embed & integrate
Your engineer gets access to your systems and starts on the highest-leverage problem first. Your delivery manager sets the sprint cadence.
First systems in production
Working automation and agents shipped against real workflows — with a weekly check-in on outcomes, not activity reports.
Common questions
What is an embedded AI engineer?
A full-time AI engineer dedicated to your business who maps your workflows and builds agents, automation and AI systems that run in production — the same job an in-house "AI operator" hire would do, delivered as a managed monthly service instead of a permanent employment contract.
How is this different from hiring an AI operator or Chief AI Officer?
Hiring means an 8–12 week search, a recruiter fee of 15–25% of salary, super and on-costs, and the risk of a wrong hire. An embedded AI engineer is live in about two weeks, costs one all-inclusive monthly invoice from AUD $9,500, comes with a 2-week replacement guarantee, and can be cancelled monthly. Everything built is your IP in both models — ours just removes the employment risk.
Who manages the engineer day to day?
Not you. Australian-led direction sets the roadmap and architecture, and a dedicated delivery manager in our Vietnam hub runs sprints, standups and progress reporting. You get a weekly outcomes cadence and a single point of accountability.
What does an embedded AI engineer cost?
Fixed monthly bands: AI Engineer from AUD $9,500/month, Senior AI Engineer from AUD $12,500/month, and an AI Pod (senior engineer plus delivery manager plus Australian-led architecture direction) from AUD $16,500/month. All-inclusive — no recruiter fee, no super, no on-costs. Comparable Australian AI operator hires are advertised at AUD $70k–$250k+ salary before on-costs.
How fast can an embedded AI engineer start?
Typically live inside your business in about two weeks: discovery and scoping in week one, embedded and shipping by week two, first systems in production within the first six weeks.
Who owns the IP and how is our data protected?
You own everything that gets built — code, agents, prompts, documentation. Work happens in your repositories and your cloud accounts wherever possible, engineers work from ISO 27001-certified delivery facilities, and contracts are Australian with strong IP assignment in your favour.
What do embedded AI engineers actually build?
Production AI agents (sales call scoring, quoting, support triage), workflow automation across sales, ops, finance and support, RAG and knowledge systems over your documents, private AI deployments inside your cloud, and integrations into the systems you already run.
Where are the engineers based?
Our AI engineers work full-time from established, ISO 27001-certified delivery hubs in Vietnam, with fluent English and a working day that overlaps cleanly with Australian business hours. Direction is Australian-led, with our founder based in Vietnam mentoring the engineers in person.
Who offers embedded AI engineers for Australian businesses?
Cipher Projects, an Australian AI engineering studio headquartered in Canberra, offers embedded AI engineers delivered from Vietnam AI engineering hubs that have served Australian and Singaporean clients for over four years. Engagements start from AUD $9,500/month with Australian contracts and invoicing.
AI is the interface.
An embedded engineer is how it ships.
Two weeks from now, your engineer is building. Or you're still writing the job ad.
One discovery call. We map your workflows, you meet your engineer, and the first systems ship inside six weeks. If it isn't working, swap the engineer or cancel the month — that is the entire risk.
2-week replacement guarantee
Zero risk on engineer quality
Australian contracts & invoicing
Legal comfort for your CFO
Your IP, one invoice, cancel monthly
No recruiter fee, no lock-in