Who this is for

  • CEOs bridging leadership gaps during CTO transitions or founder exits.
  • Investors needing operator-grade execution immediately post-acquisition.
  • Founding teams scaling past product-market fit without delivery discipline.
  • Boards addressing regulatory findings or audit remediation timelines.

Typical triggers

  • Missed roadmap commitments across consecutive quarters with slipping credibility.
  • SOC2 or ISO auditor observations requiring an accountable owner to close gaps.
  • Escalating cloud costs without a cost-allocation or optimisation model.
  • Leadership churn or a failed CTO hire leaving teams without direction.
  • Enterprise customer deferrals pending evidence of security and reliability.

Scope

  • Product and architecture: backlog triage, roadmap prioritisation, architecture guardrails.
  • Security and information systems: access governance, policy implementation, audit prep.
  • Delivery and reliability: observability upgrades, incident management, SLO rollout.
  • Team and process: org design, hiring plan, coaching and succession of engineering leads.
  • Cost and scale: FinOps rituals, vendor negotiations, capacity planning checkpoints.
  • Stakeholder management: board communications, customer reassurance, GTM alignment.

Deliverables

  • 90-day operating plan with milestones, owners, and success metrics.
  • RAG health dashboard refreshed weekly across product, security, delivery, and cost.
  • FinOps action register including bill-of-cloud baseline and savings targets.
  • Governance binder capturing cadences, decision logs, and policy updates.
  • Talent plan covering hiring roadmap, succession chart, and vendor strategy.

Timeline and cadence

Week 0 intake secures access, defines mandate, and stabilises incidents. Weeks 1-2 focus on daily standups, immediate risk closures, and finalising the operating plan. Weeks 3-10 deliver 1-2 days per week of embedded leadership with weekly executive syncs and board-ready updates every four weeks. Weeks 11-12 complete transition, KPI handoff, and permanent leadership onboarding.

What we need from you

  • Sponsor alignment on mandate, authority boundaries, and success metrics.
  • Access to leadership cadence, engineering tooling, and financial dashboards.
  • Prior board decks, audit findings, and key customer commitments.
  • HR policies, compensation bands, and current hiring pipeline details.
  • Agreement on investor and board communication rhythm.

Pricing anchors

12-week fractional CTO programs are scoped to the footprint (1 or 2 days per week). We confirm the retainer after aligning authority, backlog, and success metrics.

Mini-FAQs

How embedded do you become?

We take operational responsibility 1-2 days per week, chair key ceremonies, and carry commitments in board updates while elevating existing leaders rather than replacing them.

Do you hire permanent replacements?

We design the hiring plan, screen candidates, and support onboarding. Final hiring decisions remain with you, and we stay through the first operating cycles.

What if compliance deadlines move?

We adapt the plan but keep trade-offs visible. Regulatory risks stay red on the dashboard until evidence confirms closure, even if timelines shift.

CTA

Close the leadership gap without pausing execution. We stabilise delivery, restore governance, and prepare the organisation for its next permanent CTO.

Get in touch

Related services & resources

Need a fast diagnostic before committing to 12 weeks? Start with the Tech Sanity Check. Align investors and lenders with findings from the Technical Due Diligence program. Share our operator cadence to keep stakeholders informed.