← Joe Niland

Fractional CTO

Senior technical leadership embedded in your team.

Need technical leadership but not ready for a full-time hire?

You have a development team, but nobody senior setting the technical direction or taking responsibility for the roadmap. Architectural decisions get made by whoever's loudest, while security, infrastructure and hiring decisions are missed or left to you.

I'll work as your technical leader, taking responsibility for the architecture, development process, infrastructure strategy and technical hiring. Your team will have someone to set direction and explain the decisions to you.

What does a Fractional CTO actually do?

We'll agree on the responsibilities your business needs me to take on. Typically, I'll:

  • Own the technical strategy and roadmap
  • Make architecture and infrastructure decisions
  • Set up development processes, CI/CD, and deployment
  • Guide hiring for technical roles
  • Handle security, compliance, and vendor evaluation
  • Represent the technical side to your board, investors, or partners
  • Attend meetings with your team or on your behalf
  • Identify and fix the things slowing your team down

How it works

We'll start with a discovery call to discuss the issues you need help with and where you need someone to take responsibility.

After the call, I'll send you my brief assessment of what I'd focus on first. If that looks right to you, we'll get started.

Engagements typically run over three to six months. That's enough time to understand your business, establish the right processes, and implement changes to make a real difference.

I recommend a review at six months to check that your team is ready to take over the responsibilities I've been handling. The aim is for your team to manage the work independently.

Most clients move to Backchannel after the intensive phase, for ongoing advice on technical decisions.

I'm typically involved an average of 1-2 days per week, depending on what's needed. I'll work directly with your team over Slack and video calls.

How much does this cost?

The fee is AUD $15,000/mo ex GST.

The agreement can be cancelled by either party with 30 days' notice. If this occurs in the first month, I'll refund your first month's fee.

Who is this designed for?

  • You have a development team but no senior technical leadership
  • Your stack is Laravel on AWS (or you're open to it)
  • You need someone to take responsibility for technical direction
  • You want your technical leader in the room for important meetings

This is probably not for you if:

  • You need someone available on a daily basis
  • You just need advice, not leadership. Backchannel or Advice & Unblocking are better options
  • You need hands-on development. This service covers technical leadership rather than writing production code

Currently sold out

I only take on a small number of Fractional CTO clients at a time so I can give each one proper attention. Slots open up when engagements reach a natural conclusion.

Apply now and I'll be in touch when a spot opens. In the meantime, you might find one of these helpful:

  • Technical Assessment: a thorough investigation of a specific concern, with a written report and recommendations.
  • Backchannel: ongoing async access to me for strategic and technical questions.
  • Advice & Unblocking: a single call to work through a specific decision.