Which CTO the company needs
| Company | What the seat owns | Who fits |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-product or first version | What gets built and on what | A technical co-founder or a fractional CTO, almost always |
| Ten to thirty engineers | Architecture plus the first managers | A hands-on CTO who has grown a team once before |
| Thirty to a hundred engineers | The engineering organisation | A CTO who has managed managers, often with a VP of Engineering |
| Platform or regulated | Technical direction and risk | A CTO with a security and compliance track record |
What the fully loaded number is
A UK scale-up CTO at £150,000 base costs about £172,000 a year once employer National Insurance and pension are added, before equity. Equity for the seat is commonly larger than for any other C-suite hire at the same stage.
A retained search adds a fee of around a third of first-year earnings, so the first year all in is roughly £220,000 before the option grant.
How to assess technical judgement without an engineer on the board
- Bring in an independent assessor: a former CTO or principal engineer from outside the company who meets the final two and reports on judgement, not trivia.
- Ask the candidate to review something real: the current architecture under NDA, or a decision the team is facing now. Listen for the questions they ask before the answers they give.
- Have the senior engineers meet the final candidates. They will know within an hour, and they are the people who leave if the hire is wrong.
- Reference a chief executive the candidate has worked for and an engineer who worked for them. The two accounts should describe the same person.
When a fractional CTO is the better answer
A company with a capable head of engineering that needs architectural judgement a day or two a week does not need a full-time chief technology officer. A fractional CTO makes the platform decisions and leaves the running to the person already doing it.
A fractional CTO covering the seat while a permanent search runs is also the normal way to avoid six months without technical leadership, since UK engineering leaders carry three-month notice periods.
Common questions
How long does it take to hire a CTO?
Ten to fourteen weeks to an accepted offer with a retained search, plus a notice period that for UK engineering leaders is usually three months. Allow five to six months from decision to desk.
How much equity does a CTO get in a UK startup?
It depends on stage and on whether the person is a founder. A hired CTO joining after a seed round commonly receives a larger option grant than the CFO or CMO hired at the same time, and candidates leaving unvested options behind will ask about a make-whole. Agree the pool and the strike before approaching anyone.
Should I hire a CTO or a VP of Engineering first?
If the hard problem is what to build and on what, a CTO. If the hard problem is shipping reliably with a growing team, a VP of Engineering. Many companies need both by sixty engineers, and the first hire should know the second is coming.
More of them, on hiring, contracts and what a fractional engagement costs, on the fractional executive FAQ.