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5h / week
Light-touch
$5,000 / mo
- Weekly 1:1 with founder / CEO
- Async architecture review of major decisions
- Hiring panel for senior engineers
- Vendor evaluation & technical due diligence
Fractional CTO · From $5K / month
Senior engineering leadership without the $250K full-time hire.
A named senior engineer backed by 25+ years of engineering experience embeds with your team for 5, 10, or 20 hours per week. Architecture, hiring, vendor selection, board reporting. 30-day notice on both sides.
Book a Free 30-Min CallPricing tiers
10h / week
Embedded
$9,000 / mo
- Everything in Light-touch
- Weekly engineering team standup attendance
- Roadmap planning + quarterly OKR setting
- Direct involvement in critical incidents
20h / week
Hands-on
$17,000 / mo
- Everything in Embedded
- Direct contribution to architecture & code review
- Investor / board engineering updates
- Cross-functional leadership (product, design, eng)
When do you need one?
First-time founder, no CTO
You've raised seed or are pre-seed. You need senior engineering judgment for hiring, architecture, and vendor decisions — without paying for a $250K+ full-time hire.
Series A, head of eng overloaded
Your eng lead is great at building but stretched thin on strategy. A fractional CTO covers architecture, hiring, and exec-level technical communication.
Between full-time CTOs
Your CTO left. You need a senior hand on the wheel for 3–9 months while you run a proper search instead of panic-hiring.
Fractional vs full-time CTO
| Fractional (us) | Full-time hire | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost (annual) | $60K–$200K | $250K–$450K |
| Time to start | 2 weeks | 3–6 months |
| Equity | None | 0.5–2% |
| Recruiter / hiring fees | None | $30K–$60K |
| Severance risk | 30-day notice | 3–6 months |
| Senior engineering experience | 25+ years of engineering experience | Variable |
FAQ
Advisors give 1–2 hours / month and stock options. A fractional CTO is in the trenches 5–20 hours / week, paid in cash, accountable for outcomes. We attend standups, run hiring panels, ship architecture documents.
Funding stage and pace. Pre-seed / seed = Light-touch. Series A with active eng team = Embedded. Series B+ in transition or rapid scale = Hands-on. We adjust quarterly based on what's working.
Yes. 30-day notice on either side after the first month. We don't believe in long lock-ins — if we're not adding value, we should both be free to move on.
Yes. You get one named senior engineer with executive experience, without hand-offs. We assign the right person at kick-off based on stack and stage.
Yes, separate engagement. 3–6 month fixed-term, 4 days / week on site or remote. Quote on request — typically $25K–$40K / month plus relocation costs if applicable.