Considering 1–2 engagements for Q3 2026

iOS engineering meets AI infrastructure.

Four ways in, ranked from briefest to deepest. Strategy session for a senior outside read on what to build. Audit for a structured 3-week assessment. Retainer for recurring eyes on your AI roadmap. Fractional CTO for the leadership seat itself. For growth-stage and mid-market teams that need someone who's already shipped AI in production, not someone learning on your codebase.

Service ladder

Four tiers, priced for the senior buyer

Strategy fee credits against any deeper engagement. Pilots are fixed-price. Retainer and fractional are recurring with a defined exit.

First time? A free 15-minute intro call is the softest front door — book at cal.com/joseph-mattiello/intro. We figure out fit, recommended tier, and whether the paid Strategy session is worth your time before you book it.

Rush fee: +50% on any tier for engagements that need to start within 2 weeks of signing. One-day-a-week constraint applies while at Wayfair.

Mobile AI Launch Readiness Audit · in detail · 3 weeks · $25,000–$35,000 fixed · Remote

An honest read on whether your iOS app is ready to ship AI features — and what'll burn you in App Store review if it isn't.

Teams shipping AI iOS features run into three intersecting risks: on-device performance under MLX / Core ML inference, App Store review policies on AI content, and the architectural debt that surfaces when agents get bolted onto an app that wasn't built for them. The audit covers all three in three weeks, with a written report your leadership can read, a prioritized fix list your team can execute, and a 60-minute readout for the room.

Engagement length
3 weeks
Price (fixed)
$25K – $35K
Format
Async + 4 sessions
Deliverable
Report + readout
Inquire about availability → or mail@joemattiello.com
How it works

The 3-week audit, step by step

No discovery-call scope creep. No mystery hours. Three weeks, four sessions, one report.

WEEK 1 · DAYS 1–5

Codebase + architecture review

Async access to your repo, profiling builds, and AI integration points. Focus areas: build system, dependency graph, native vs JS-bridge boundaries, AI/ML pipeline architecture, model loading patterns, observability gaps. One 60-minute kickoff.

WEEK 2 · DAYS 6–10

Performance + on-device inference

Cold start, hot path profiling (Instruments, Datadog RUM if available), bootup time, memory pressure under inference. MLX / Core ML model performance on real devices. SwiftUI hot-path identification. Two 30-minute working sessions.

WEEK 3 · DAYS 11–15

App Store review + report delivery

Audit AI feature surfaces against App Store Review Guidelines (sections 4.7, 5.1.5, 5.5), App Privacy disclosures, ATT compliance, and on-device-vs-server inference policy implications. Final written report (typically 25–40 pages) and 60-minute readout.

What you walk away with

Every deliverable, named

  • Written audit report (25–40 pages PDF). Every finding, with severity, code references, and a recommended fix path.
  • Prioritized fix list. Top 10 items by impact-to-effort, with size estimates so your team can plan.
  • Architecture diagram of your current AI integration surface and a proposed target state.
  • App Store review risk register. Every AI feature surface mapped to relevant Apple review guidelines, with concrete language to use in your privacy declarations and review notes.
  • Performance baseline: cold-start, time-to-interactive, inference latency, memory ceiling on your top 3 supported devices.
  • 60-minute live readout. Q&A with engineering and product leadership, recorded for your team.
  • Two follow-up sessions within 30 days post-delivery, for clarifying questions as your team executes.
Fit check

Be honest about what you need

If you're outside this fit, I'll tell you upfront and recommend someone else. The work is too specific to fake a match.

This works if

  • You're shipping (or about to ship) AI features in a native iOS / iPadOS / tvOS app
  • You have a real codebase, not greenfield, not a prototype
  • You have at least 2 mobile engineers on staff to execute the fixes
  • You're past Series A; budget for a fixed-fee audit isn't a stretch
  • You want a written deliverable you can share with leadership / board

Not a fit if

  • You want me to write the code (this is an audit, not a build engagement; see specialty offers below)
  • You're pre-product / pre-launch with no AI features yet planned
  • Your stack is fully React Native or web-only (the audit specifically covers native iOS depth)
  • You need an open-ended fractional CTO arrangement (also see below)
  • You're looking for the cheapest possible quote (this is a premium specialist engagement)
Why me

The track record this practice draws from

Every recommendation comes from production work, not pitch-deck claims.

~$2M
/year bandwidth savings shipped at Wayfair via MP4 compression + caching strategy. Focused engagement, recurring outcome year-over-year.
388k+
Provenance EMU downloads. 6.3k stars, 79 contributors, App Store launch Jan 2025. Created and led from 2013–present.
6+
AI agents and models orchestrated in production CI across libretro emulator cores, Provenance EMU, Young Basilisk / OpenClaw, and personal-automation infra. Claude, Cursor, Kimi, and others routed by static diff analysis with one shared dispatch vocabulary.
8
Regions led as Director of iOS Platform at NewsCorp. Took iOS from trailing Android to surpassing on every metric.
3
US patents as named inventor (Sense Networks). Portfolio acquired twice: first by YP, then by Verve.
17+
Years iOS experience. Started before Apple released the SDK. iOS, tvOS, macOS, watchOS, every layer.

→ Full case studies on the main site

Specialty engagements

Project shapes outside the standard ladder

Specific engagements when the four-tier ladder doesn't match the actual work. Priced separately, scoped on a 30-minute call before any commitment.

Common questions

Answers to the questions every prospect asks

  • Where do most engagements start? Either a free 15-min intro call (cal.com/joseph-mattiello/intro) for first-fit checks, or directly at the Strategy session ($1,800) once fit is clear. Strategy produces a written 1-2 page memo with a recommended next step; the fee credits against any deeper engagement booked within 30 days.
  • How is this priced? Strategy is flat-fee. Audit is fixed-fee, 50% upfront / 50% on delivery. Retainer and fractional are billed monthly. Standard MSA + SOW for any engagement above the Strategy tier.
  • What if my codebase is huge? The $25K–$35K Audit range covers up to ~250k LoC of in-scope code. Above that we scope a custom engagement on a 30-minute call.
  • Do you sign NDAs? Yes. Standard mutual NDA before any code access. I can sign yours or send mine.
  • Will you sub-contract? No. I do the work personally. The only deliverable is mine.
  • Can you work in our timezone? Based in NYC (UTC-5/-4). Comfortable across US, EU, and APAC; have led 8-region teams across all three.
  • Can you give a discount? No. Fixed fees mean fixed fees, and the Strategy fee credits forward when you book deeper.
  • What happens after the Audit? Most clients implement findings themselves with quarterly check-ins. A handful convert into the senior retainer or a fractional engagement. I don't push you toward more work, only when it's the right next step.
  • Are you available right now? Considering 1–2 engagements for Q3 2026. Reach out and I'll tell you my next opening honestly.
  • Why these prices? They're priced for the senior buyer who's already evaluated cheaper options and concluded that "AI consultant who shows up via Upwork" doesn't have the engineering-leadership profile their problem requires. Joe ships production iOS at scale (Provenance EMU, 388k+ App Store downloads, 6.3k stars), holds three US patents, and ran iOS Platform at NewsCorp across eight regions. The pricing reflects that profile.

Want to talk?

Most engagements start with a Strategy session ($1,800, 90 minutes, written memo). Send a short note about your team, the AI question you're trying to answer, and any timing constraints. Reply within 48 hours with the right tier of engagement and the next opening on the calendar.

Email mail@joemattiello.com →