Jason Mantell

I work as a Fractional CIO and AI advisor for Australian businesses that need senior technology leadership but aren’t ready — or shouldn’t be paying — for a full-time executive.

Typical engagements look like:

· AI strategy & implementation — from board-level “what should we be doing with AI?” to production RAG systems, LLM workflows, and automation that actually delivers ROI.

· Fractional CIO services — technology strategy, vendor selection, architecture decisions, and team direction, on a part-time retainer that scales with the business.

· AI adoption programs — helping teams move from AI curiosity to confident daily use through hackathons, training, and hands-on coaching.

· Cloud & data strategy — vendor-neutral advice on cloud, hybrid, and on-prem architectures, grounded in two decades at NetApp, Pure Storage, Nutanix, and Cloudian.

Ideal Customer Profile: founders, CEOs, and leadership teams in Australian SMB and mid-market organisations who want enterprise-grade thinking without enterprise overhead.

Hands-on AI expertise — production RAG systems, LLM workflows, and AI automation that delivers measurable business impact.

Strategic technology leadership at the level of a CIO, on a fractional model that fits SMB and mid-market budgets.

Two decades of enterprise experience across NetApp, Pure Storage, Nutanix, and Cloudian — including Director-level roles leading APAC technical teams.

Vendor-neutral advice — aligned to your business outcomes, not a product catalogue or commission plan.

AI adoption at the team level — established hackathon programs and coaching frameworks that move organisations from curiosity to production.

Translates technical complexity into board-ready decisions and business cases.

Bachelor’s degree in Cloud Technology with modern AI engineering certifications — current with the tools, not just the slideware.

A recent client outcome

I architected and deployed an enterprise RAG-powered automation system on Azure OpenAI that reduced proposal development time by 70% — turning a multi-day process into hours and freeing the team to focus on higher-value work. This is the kind of outcome I help clients achieve: taking AI from boardroom interest to production reality, with measurable business impact.

Alongside the build, I established team hackathon programs to accelerate AI adoption across the organisation — helping technical and non-technical staff alike move from curiosity to confident, daily use of AI tools. Strategy, hands-on engineering, and culture-building all sit on the same desk.

Where I’ve come from

Two decades of enterprise technology leadership across NetApp, Pure Storage, Nutanix, and Cloudian — including Director-level roles building and leading high-performing technical teams across APAC markets. My background spans cloud-native, hybrid, and on-premises environments, with a Bachelor’s degree in Cloud Technology and modern AI engineering certifications.

That mix — deep enterprise infrastructure experience plus hands-on AI engineering — is unusual, and it’s what lets me give clients advice that actually works in production rather than just on a slide.