Senior cover without a senior hire
Fractional leadership, managed platform teams and compliance readiness for organisations that need the seniority before they can justify the salary.
The problem
The engineering team is capable and busy, and nobody is deciding what they should be building. Or the enterprise deal in the pipeline needs SOC 2 and the timeline says six months you do not have.
You are probably here if
If three or more of these are true, this pillar is where your constraint lives.
- 01Engineering is delivering fast in the wrong direction
- 02The team has grown past what an informal process can hold
- 03A deal is blocked on a security questionnaire
- 04There is no one to challenge the roadmap
- 05Hiring for a senior role has been open more than four months
What we actually do
Fractional CTO
Architecture, hiring, roadmap and vendor decisions. Two to three days a week.
Fractional CGO
Growth leadership across marketing, sales and product analytics.
Managed platform team
A standing squad with an SLA, on your backlog, reporting into your leadership.
SOC 2 readiness
Gap assessment, remediation plan and evidence collection ahead of the audit.
Enablement
Training your team on the systems we built, or on the practice they are missing.
How it runs, and where you can stop
Each phase ends with something you own. Stopping after any of them leaves you better off than before it.
- 012w
Assess
Team, systems, roadmap and the gap between them.
- 024-8w
Stabilize
Fix what is actively costing you. Process, architecture or hiring.
- 033-12mo
Operate
Run the function. Weekly cadence, monthly board reporting.
- 044-8w
Transition
Recruit and hand over to the permanent hire.
What you receive
Artifacts, not a slide deck. Each one is usable by your team without us in the room.
- Assessment with a ranked gap list
- Technology and hiring roadmap
- Operating cadence and reporting pack
- Architecture decision records
- Compliance evidence set where in scope
- Transition plan and permanent hire brief
What this is usually built on
One engagement from this pillar
Three engineers, no leadership, always firefighting
A capable small team shipping constantly in the wrong direction, with founder attention as the only architecture.
Read the full case- Unplanned work
- 28%6%
- Engineers
- 37
- Incidents
- 91.4
Month six against month zero. Source: Linear and Sentry, November 2024
Not a fit if
We would rather lose the engagement on this page than at week six.
- You want a permanent CTO and this is a way to delay the decision indefinitely
- The role has no authority to change the roadmap or the team
- The compliance deadline is closer than the shortest honest path to it
Asked on almost every first call
How many days a week?
Two or three for a fractional CTO. Less than two is a consultant, not a leader, and the team will treat it that way.
Do you hire your own replacement?
Yes. Writing the brief and running the process is part of the engagement.
Can you get us SOC 2 in three months?
Type I possibly. Type II requires an observation window, so no. We will tell you the real date at the assessment rather than at month four.
Will you manage our existing team?
Yes, if they report through the role. Advising a team without authority over it does not work.
What is the minimum engagement?
Three months. Anything shorter is assessment work, which we sell separately.
Bring the constraint, not the brief
The first call is 45 minutes and free. If leadership and assurance is the wrong pillar for your problem we will say so and point you at the right one.