Fractional CTO
A senior technology leader runs your plan, then hands it over.
When your plan needs a senior technology leader every week, a fractional CTO leads execution with your team and vendors, then hands over to your permanent organisation.
When a fractional CTO is the right answer
- Discovery shows a leadership gap, but not a full-time job.
- Your CTO left, and the search will take months.
- The founder still runs technology and can’t keep up.
- A plan is agreed, and someone senior must make it happen.
When it isn’t
- You mainly need more developers.
- You need a full-time CTO now. We’ll tell you, and help define the role.
- The real problem is product-market fit, not technology.
What your fractional CTO leads
- Architecture and platform decisions
- Delivery and engineering process
- Team structure and hiring
- AI and data decisions
- Technology roadmap and priorities
- Reporting to management and the board
You pay for a mandate with a goal and a planned end.
Every engagement starts from a diagnosis, ours or one you already have. We agree in writing:
Example mandate
- Goal
- [Goal]
- Decision rights
- Architecture, engineering hiring, delivery process
- Reporting
- Every two weeks to the CEO, monthly to the board
- Day-90 outcome
- [Outcome]
- End
- Handover to your team or a permanent CTO
How we compare
| Criterion | Full-time CTO | Freelance CTO | Dev agency | Chiefmate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diagnosis before commitment | Hire first | Depends on the person | Part of the sale | Always |
| Earns from what it recommends | No | Sometimes | Yes | No |
| Accountability beyond one person | Your company | No | Yes | Yes |
| Planned end and handover | No | Depends | No | Yes |
The job ends with your team in charge.
When the job is done, you keep documented architecture decisions, a working delivery process, a stronger team, a roadmap and, if needed, a profile for your permanent CTO.
Questions
- Is this consulting?
- Only in part. A consultant advises from outside. A fractional CTO leads inside your company, with decision rights and a reporting schedule.
- Will the CTO manage our developers?
- If the mandate says so. We agree reporting lines before the start.
- Can they work with our development agency?
- Yes. Often that’s the point: someone senior on your side of the table.
- What if we hire a permanent CTO?
- Then we help define the role and hand over to them.