The things people actually ask.
Who pays Sentient Staff?
The organisation hiring or engaging an ethicist pays the fee. Practitioners never pay Sentient Staff, at any stage, for any reason.
Do you rank AI ethicists?
No. There is no leaderboard, no public ranking, and no open profile directory. We make curated introductions with the practitioner's consent, one role at a time.
What is a fractional AI ethicist?
A seasoned AI ethicist embedded a few days a month rather than full-time, operationalising ethics for AI day to day: adding real judgement to your ethics reviews, product launches, and the awkward escalations, for a fraction of a full-time cost.
How is an ethicist’s competence assessed?
Against our own competence framework, developed independently and informed by the wider AI ethics standards landscape, with the reasoning shown to the hiring organisation, not just asserted.
How quickly can you place someone?
Fractional engagements often start within a few weeks. Permanent placements vary with the seniority and the market. We will give you a realistic timeline in the first reply.
What is pupillage?
Supervised practice for people entering the profession: earning real hours under an accredited mentor, in an approved practice environment. It grows the pipeline rather than just drawing on it.
Can you certify me as an AI ethicist?
No. Sentient Staff places people; it does not certify them. We evidence your competence against our own framework for a specific role, informed by the wider AI ethics standards landscape, with the reasoning shown.
What frameworks do your ethicists actually work from?
The wider AI ethics landscape shapes the work day to day: the UNESCO Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, a genuinely global reference point, the OECD AI Principles, EN 18274 (the CEN competence standard for the profession), and whichever national or regional regulation is actually in scope, the EU AI Act most often today, alongside a growing list of frameworks as other jurisdictions catch up. [We are not affiliated with UNESCO, the OECD, CEN, or any regulator; these are simply the frameworks the profession is built on] If you want a sense of where the profession stands more broadly, Ethics Directive is building an annual, cross-sector report on exactly that, worth watching: the state of the AI ethicist.
Does the ethicist you place make the final ethical call?
No. We place every ethicist as an advisor, not a final decision-maker. That decision sits with an internal committee, not with one ethicist, or even a handful of them, deciding alone. The ethicists we place identify the considerations, run the assessment, and show their reasoning. The decision, and accountability for it, stays with your organisation's leadership.
Why is it called Sentient Staff?
Not because we build sentient AI, we don't, and we're not trying to. The model doesn't need to be sentient if the people around it are doing the values work: real judgement, and honesty about what it's actually doing. Staff is the other half of the bet: people doing that work.
How do I get in touch, outside a form?
hello@sentientstaff.com reaches the same person the forms do. For a data request specifically, use privacy@sentientstaff.com.
Does it matter if a candidate already holds AIGP or ISO/IEC 42001?
AIGP, yes: it's a real, sittable certification, and we weigh it as strong evidence alongside our own competence evidencing. ISO/IEC 42001 is different, it certifies an organisation's AI management system, not a person, so it's relevant when the hiring organisation is working toward it. We're not affiliated with IAPP or ISO.
Can you evidence a candidate we found ourselves, without a placement?
Yes, that's vetting-as-a-service. If you already have the candidate, sourced by your own team or another agency, we'll run the same evidencing process we use on our own placements and hand you a written report, for a fixed fee, no introduction and no placement fee involved.
Do I need to be able to code to work as an AI ethicist?
No. Technical literacy matters, understanding roughly how a model is built, trained, and where risk actually enters it, but that's different from being able to build one yourself. What the role needs is the judgement to ask the right question of the people who can code, and the standing to make sure it gets answered. We evidence that judgement, not a programming portfolio.
Isn’t Sentient Staff paid by the same organisations an ethicist is meant to hold to account?
Yes, and it's a fair question to ask of any fee-for-service arrangement, not just this one. The organisation pays us, not the practitioner, so the same pressure that can affect any paid oversight role is present here too. What we do about it is written down, not just promised: the independence charter's integrity clause covers our own conflicts of interest, not only the practitioner's, and a practitioner's route to raise something does not run through the account holding the commercial relationship. We've written up the longer version of this separately.
Is “AI ethicist” the only job title this covers?
No. In our experience the role appears under several titles, among them AI Ethics Officer, AI Ethics Consultant, Ethical AI Strategist, AI Ethics Researcher, and AI Ethics and Compliance Manager. Responsible AI Specialist and similar titles fall under the same umbrella, since responsibility is inherently an ethical concept. We place against the competence, whatever the job title on the door.
What can I expect to be paid?
Day rate or salary is scoped by seniority, sector, and cadence, the same factors that set what the organisation pays, not a fixed rate card. We give you a real number on the first call, before you decide whether a role's worth pursuing, not after you've already said yes.
What happens after I register my interest?
We hold your details privately and get in touch only when a specific role, fractional client, or rotation cohort genuinely fits what you're after. There's no CV blast, and nothing about your profile reaches an employer without your say-so.
Do I need to already hold EN 18274 or AIGP to register?
No. We run the competence evidencing ourselves as part of matching you to a role. If you're still building the evidence rather than the belief, pupillage is a structured route in, not a reason to wait.