Fractional CTO
Experienced technical judgement, part-time.
An experienced engineer and architect works with you part-time, typically a few days a month. Architecture decisions, oversight of an outside development supplier, technical due diligence, help with hiring, and a straight answer on what is being built and whether it is any good. They work for you, not for the team they oversee.
- You already have developers, in-house or through a supplier, and need someone experienced on your side.
- You are about to choose a supplier or an architecture and want an independent view first.
- You want technical leadership without hiring a full-time CTO.
We take on a small number of these engagements at a time, because they depend on a few people with the right experience. If we can't staff yours well, we will tell you in the first conversation.
Lead engineer
When there is no team to act on the advice.
Part-time judgement works when someone acts on it between visits. When there is no team, the advice waits. Founders end up hiring developers they can't assess, or handing the work to an agency that works through a ticket list.
With a Core70 dedicated team, your Account Owner is an engineer, full-time on your system. They lead the engineers building it, make the day-to-day technical calls within the scope you've agreed, bring anything that changes architecture, cost or scope to you to decide, and answer for the system in production.
- Talks to you directly. No account manager in between.
- Builds, not just advises. The person making the technical call writes and reviews the code.
- Stays. Our longest engagements have run for ten and eighteen years with the same core people. See the case studies →
- Starts as one engineer. A team grows from one person as the work needs it.
Which one fits
Judgement over a team, or the team itself.
If you have engineers and need experienced judgement over their work, start with a fractional CTO. If you need the system built and run, start with a lead engineer. If you are not sure, tell us what you have today and we will say which one we would choose in your place.
Price
What it costs.
Fractional CTO engagements are quoted individually, by the hour or as a monthly retainer, and sit above our standard range because the role needs a lead architect. Lead engineer and dedicated team engagements run $40–$50 per hour, about $6,400–$8,000 per engineer per month; in the UK, £32–£40 per hour plus VAT, invoiced in GBP by Shinetech Europe Ltd, our London company, under English law. See the full breakdown →