Fractional CTO
Chief Technology Officer, part-time
A Fractional CTO is a senior technology leader who works with your company part-time, usually 2 to 8 days a month. They set your technology direction, manage vendors and build the tech team, and they sit in your leadership meetings like any other executive.
What is a Fractional CTO?
Most companies of 200 to 500 people run on dozens of systems: ERP, accounting, CRM, HR and payroll, warehouse or point-of-sale software, cloud services, and spreadsheets filling the gaps between them. Decisions about these systems often fall to an IT manager who is busy keeping things running, or to vendors who have something to sell.
A Fractional CTO looks at the whole picture. They work out what the business needs from technology over the next one to two years, which systems will get you there, what it should cost and who you need on the team, and they answer to you rather than to a vendor.
What a Fractional CTO does
Strategy and roadmap
- Turns business goals into a 12 to 24-month technology roadmap
- Sets the annual tech budget and tracks spend against it
- Decides which projects to fund, pause or stop
Systems and architecture
- Reviews your core systems and how data moves between them
- Plans upgrades and migrations, such as moving to the cloud or replacing an ERP
- Sets standards for reliability, backups and performance
Vendors and spend
- Runs vendor selection and negotiates contracts
- Audits software licences and cancels what nobody uses
- Holds vendors to their service levels
Team and delivery
- Designs the tech team structure and hiring plan
- Interviews and hires senior technical staff
- Coaches your IT manager or engineering lead
- Sets how projects are planned and delivered
Governance and reporting
- Reports to the CEO and board in plain language
- Tracks technology risks with your security lead
- Prepares the technology side of investor or buyer due diligence
How your company benefits
Executive judgement, priced by the day
You pay for the days you use instead of a full executive package, so the decisions that matter still get a senior technology leader.
Better big purchases
Systems like an ERP or warehouse platform are multi-year commitments. An independent CTO checks requirements, compares vendors and negotiates before you sign.
Lower running costs
Unused licences, overlapping tools and oversized cloud resources are common. A licence and cloud review finds what to cut.
A team that knows its priorities
Clear priorities and delivery routines mean your IT staff spend less time firefighting and more time on projects that move the business.
Risks with an owner
Backups, access and disaster recovery become the named responsibility of a senior person, working with your security lead.
A path to a full-time CTO
When technology needs a leader every day, your Fractional CTO writes the role, runs the search and hands over.
Signs you need a Fractional CTO
Tick the ones that sound like your company.
How it works
Your first 90 days
- Days 1 to 30
Understand
Interview leaders and users, map every system, contract and cost, and list quick wins and urgent risks.
- Days 31 to 60
Plan
Agree the roadmap, budget and team plan with you, start on the top risks, and renegotiate or cancel wasteful contracts.
- Days 61 to 90
Run
Start the first roadmap projects, set up delivery routines and monthly reporting, and hand your team a plan it can run.
A typical month
- Week 1Leadership meeting and roadmap check-in
- Week 2Vendor and project reviews
- Week 3Team one-to-ones, hiring and architecture decisions
- Week 4Monthly report to the CEO and board pack
Example for an Embedded CTO at 4 days a month. Between visits, your CTO is reachable for urgent decisions.
What you receive
- Technology roadmap for the next 12 to 24 months
- Map of your systems and how data flows between them
- Register of software and contracts, with renewal dates
- Technology budget and savings plan
- Tech team structure, hiring plan and job descriptions
- Vendor scorecards
- Monthly one-page technology report
- Handover pack when the engagement ends
Ways to engage
Advisory
Strategy, key decisions, vendor reviews and a monthly report.
Best when you have a capable IT manager who needs direction.
Embedded
Runs the tech function with your team: roadmap, delivery, hiring and vendors.
Best when nobody senior owns technology.
Project
A systems and spend review, an ERP or vendor selection, or due diligence support.
Best for one big decision with a clear end.
How success is measured
- Roadmap projects delivered on time and on budget
- Software and cloud spend against budget
- System uptime and incident count
- Time to fill tech roles
- Open issues from audits, clients or investors
When a full-time hire makes more sense
- Technology is your product, for example you sell software or a platform.
- A large in-house engineering team needs daily leadership.
- Several major system projects will run at once for more than a year.
Even then, a Fractional CTO can write the role, run the search and onboard your full-time hire.
What it looks like in practice
- Logistics
Connects the warehouse system, transport management and customer portal so orders stop being typed in three times.
- Manufacturing
Plans an ERP replacement around production schedules, so the switch happens without stopping the line.
- Retail and F&B
Consolidates point-of-sale, inventory and delivery apps across outlets, and cuts overlapping subscriptions.
Typical engagements by industry.
Questions about Fractional CTO
How is a Fractional CTO different from an IT vendor or managed service provider?
A vendor or managed service provider runs systems and sells services. A Fractional CTO works for you: sets direction, judges vendors on your behalf and has nothing to sell you. They often manage your service provider for you.
Will a Fractional CTO write code?
Rarely. Their time goes to decisions, architecture, vendors and people. If you need hands-on development, they scope it and help you hire or contract the right people.
Can they work alongside our IT manager?
Yes, and that's the most common setup. The IT manager runs day-to-day operations; the Fractional CTO sets direction and coaches them.
How do they keep up with only a few days a month?
Through a fixed monthly rhythm of leadership meetings, project reviews and reports, plus phone or chat access for urgent decisions. Your team keeps them updated between visits.
What happens to the knowledge when the engagement ends?
It is documented as you go: the systems map, contract register, roadmap and decision log. You receive a full handover pack.
Can a Fractional CTO help with fundraising or selling the company?
Yes. They prepare the technology section of due diligence and answer investor or buyer questions.
Pairs well with
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