Senior technology leadership, without the senior salary.
Most growing firms don't need a full-time CTO. They need someone senior in the room four to eight days a quarter — to translate business goals into a tech plan, sit with the board, and own the decisions nobody else is qualified to make.
Why mid-sized firms need this.
The CEO is making tech decisions alone.
Vendor pitches, architecture choices, hiring — all flowing to someone who shouldn't be deciding the depth of Kubernetes.
Engineering team has no senior voice.
Smart juniors making big calls. No one mentoring or pushing back. Tech debt piling up.
Board asks for an IT roadmap. Nobody has one.
Annual planning happens. Nobody owns the technology line.
Considering acquisition, no technical diligence capacity.
Need someone senior to evaluate a target's stack in two weeks. Don't have that person.
What a fractional CTO does.
- 01
Named senior leader
One person — 15+ years of senior engineering or CTO experience — assigned to your account. Same person across the engagement.
- 02
Quarterly board attendance
Half-day prep + presence at your quarterly board or leadership meeting. Translates technology into business language.
- 03
Engineering leadership coaching
1:1s with your senior engineers or VP Engineering. Pattern recognition from many similar firms.
- 04
Roadmap + budget
Rolling 12-month technology roadmap. Tied to business goals. Costed. Reviewed quarterly.
- 05
Hire support
Helps recruit, interview, and onboard senior engineering or technology leadership hires.
- 06
Crisis support
On call for the big decisions — production incidents, partner negotiations, vendor disputes, M&A diligence.
The first 90 days.
- Days 1–14
Listen + map
Interviews with leadership, engineering, product, finance. Current state of technology, team, and decision-making documented.
- Days 15–30
Diagnose
Where the technology function helps the business. Where it hurts. Where the next 12 months should focus. Written diagnosis delivered.
- Days 31–60
Plan
Roadmap built collaboratively with leadership. Initiatives sized, sequenced, costed. Reviewed and approved.
- Days 61–90
Embed
First board attendance. First engineering leadership coaching cycle. Cadence established.
- Onward
Quarterly rhythm
Same advisor, same cadence. Roadmap refreshed quarterly. Board attendance every quarter. Available between for the big calls.
Three ways to fill the leadership gap.
| No one (status quo) | Full-time CTO hire | Senator Fractional CTO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fully-loaded annual cost | $0 | $350k–$500k+ | $80k–$160k |
| Time to hire | N/A | 4–9 months | 2 weeks to start |
| Senior board attendance | CEO covers | Yes | Yes, quarterly |
| Pattern recognition | Limited | From one prior firm | From dozens of similar firms |
| Coaching engineering team | Ad-hoc | Daily | Monthly 1:1s |
| M&A diligence support | Outsource | Yes | Yes |
| Flexibility to scale up/down | N/A | Hard | Easy — quarterly changes |
What this engagement looks like.
Most clients run between 4 and 12 days per quarter. Adjustable each cycle.
Quarterly board or leadership-team attendance, with prep.
Same advisor every quarter. Backup partner for continuity if needed.
We don't take equity. Cash retainer, no hidden ownership stake.
“We were burning weeks on architecture debates. Our fractional CTO came in, listened for two weeks, then cut through it in one Friday session. Six months later, we'd shipped two of the three big initiatives. The CFO has tried to put him on the payroll twice.”
Who needs this.
- Growing firms with a senior gap that's too big to ignore and too small to fully hire.
- Pre-Series B SaaS where the CEO is also the de facto CTO.
- Mid-market professional services firms whose IT function has outgrown the manager-of-IT role.
- Firms in M&A — acquirer or target — needing senior technical due diligence.
Q01Can the fractional CTO eventually go full-time?
Can the fractional CTO eventually go full-time?
Sometimes, by mutual agreement. Most clients don't take that step — the fractional model is the destination, not a stopgap.
Q02How is this different from a board advisor?
How is this different from a board advisor?
Hands deeper. Attends operating reviews, coaches engineering, owns the roadmap. A board advisor offers perspective; a fractional CTO drives execution.
Q03Do you replace our VP Engineering?
Do you replace our VP Engineering?
No. We work with them — coach, partner, sometimes push back. The VP Engineering still runs the day-to-day team.
Q04What if we don't click with the advisor assigned?
What if we don't click with the advisor assigned?
We swap. We have multiple senior advisors. Match is critical.
Free 60-minute intro call.
Meet a senior advisor. Tell us about your firm, your team, the decisions you're wrestling with. We'll tell you honestly whether a fractional CTO fits.