Vendor operations for AI teams

Operating discipline for AI's human layer.

Every AI product that touches the real world depends on people underneath it. The model gets the credit. This is the layer that decides whether it actually works.

Get the Book Work With Us

Most AI Ops functions don't begin as functions. They begin as a workaround — a spreadsheet, a freelancer, a vendor brought in because hiring was too slow. It works, until the experiment succeeds and the organisation discovers it has production-scale demand running on pilot-scale process.

The Book

The Practical Guide to Scaling AI Ops

Building and managing vendor operations for AI and annotation startups — written from the operating floor, not the boardroom.

Book cover: The Practical Guide to Scaling AI Ops

10 chapters. 15 appendices. One operating system.

Build-vs-buy decisions, vendor vetting, QA that actually scales, onboarding without micromanaging, budgeting for the costs nobody puts in the SOW, and the mistakes that quietly sink AI ops programmes.

  • Vendor scorecards, SOW/SLA templates, RFP question banks — ready to use, not just discussed
  • A full AI Ops maturity model with a 90-day build plan
  • Written for founders and ops leads who can't afford six months of process design before launching
Get the Book — $19
The Toolkit

Five templates, sold separately.

Pulled straight from the book's appendices — for teams who want the working documents without reading cover to cover.

Template

Vendor Scorecard

Weighted scoring across delivery, quality, commercials, and strategic fit.

Template

SOW & SLA

An operating framework for scope, volume, quality, and change control.

Cheat Sheet

Capacity & Workforce Planning

The core formulas and starting ratios for staffing a human-in-the-loop operation.

Template

RFP Question Bank

Questions that surface real vendor operating evidence, not sales-deck answers.

Model

AI Ops Maturity Model

Five stages, from manual-but-visible to adaptive, with a 90-day build plan.

See the Full Toolkit on Gumroad
Work With Us

Building or scaling a human-in-the-loop operation?

We're glad to talk — a short vendor-ops readiness conversation, an introduction to a vetted delivery partner, or a look at the full template toolkit for teams who want the tools without the full engagement.

hello@northfloor.org

No cost, no obligation, first conversation.