UK-based fractional CTO for founders who need senior technical leadership without a full-time hire.
Architecture decisions, hiring, engineering culture, and hands-on delivery - for startups and scale-ups across London, Manchester, and remotely UK-wide.
Already built something and want to know if it's solid first? That's an audit, not a hire - I do both.
Four situations where a fractional CTO earns its cost.
Pre-hire
You need technical direction now, before you can justify - or find - a full-time CTO.
Founding team gap
The founding technical team is strong on delivery but needs a senior partner for architecture and hiring calls.
At a crossroads
A platform rewrite, cloud migration, or new product line - decisions that are expensive to get wrong.
CTO gone commercial
Your technical co-founder moved into a business role and the technical side needs someone hands-on again.
What a fractional CTO from me actually does.
Senior technical leadership without the full-time hire. I work with your team to set technical direction, make architecture decisions, hire and grow engineers, and build the systems that let you scale. A CTO who still writes the code and understands what your team is actually dealing with.
- →Startups needing technical leadership before hiring a full-time CTO
- →Scale-ups where the founding technical team needs a senior partner
- →Companies at a crossroads - platform rewrite, cloud migration, or a new product line
- →Businesses where the CTO has moved into a business role and the technical side needs someone hands-on
Priced by how many days a week you actually need me.
Structured the way most UK fractional CTO engagements are actually scoped - by days per week, or as a fixed-term project.
| Type | Timeline | From |
|---|---|---|
| 1 day/week | Ongoing retainer | From £3,500/month |
| 2 days/week | Ongoing retainer | From £6,500/month |
| 3 days/week | Ongoing retainer | From £9,500/month |
| Project / fixed-term | Scoped per project | From £1,500/day |
Retainer pricing reflects ongoing weekly access and continuity, not a flat per-day rate - project work with no ongoing commitment is priced separately at the day rate. Every engagement starts with a free 30-minute call to work out which shape fits - retainer or fixed-term. For complex situations, a paid discovery session (£500) gets you a written assessment of the landscape within 1-2 working days, credited against the project if we proceed.
Recent engagement.
Led an early-stage SaaS startup from zero to pre-seed - architecture, stack decisions, MVP build, engineering culture - as sole technical leader. Also rescued a stalled .NET migration at Lancom Technology - six months overdue, back to billable within a month.
Full background, timeline, and client list on the About page.
Not sure if this is fractional leadership or an audit?
Book the same 30-minute call either way. No pitch, no deck - I'll tell you honestly which one actually helps, and what it would cost.