Hire a fractional CTO
A fractional CTO owns technical direction without being the person writing most of the code. They decide architecture, hire and manage engineers, and translate between the product you want and what it will actually take to build.
What a fractional CTO owns
- Architecture and the technology choices you will live with for years
- Hiring engineers, and telling you honestly whether an agency is the better answer
- Security, reliability and the risks nobody raises until they happen
- Roadmap feasibility: what can ship by when, and what that will cost
- Managing an outsourced development team so somebody senior is checking the work
Signs you need one
- You are a non-technical founder relying entirely on an agency you cannot evaluate
- Your product works but every change takes longer than the last one
- You are about to raise and investors will ask who owns the technology
- Two engineers are making architecture decisions with nobody above them
What it costs in the UK
Higher end for regulated sectors, AI systems and technical due diligence.
Rates are set by the operator and paid to them directly. We are not in the payment path, and the operator never pays us a fee.
How this compares
A development agency builds what you ask for and has no incentive to tell you the request is wrong. A senior engineer is excellent at building and rarely wants to hire, manage and sit with investors. A full-time CTO is £130k to £190k plus meaningful equity. A fractional CTO gives you the judgement layer and can manage whoever is already building.
What to look for
- They should be comfortable saying an idea is not worth building
- Ask about a system they inherited and had to fix, not just ones they started
- Whether they have hired engineers, since that is often the real work
- Someone who explains trade-offs in business terms rather than tooling
Common questions
- What does a fractional CTO cost in the UK?
- Typically £800 to £1,400 a day. Many companies use one to two days a week, roughly £3,500 to £11,000 a month. Regulated sectors, AI systems and technical due diligence work sit at the higher end.
- Can a fractional CTO work with my existing development agency?
- Yes, and it is one of the most common reasons to hire one. They give you somebody senior and independent reviewing the agency's work, scope and estimates, which usually pays for itself quickly.
- Do fractional CTOs write code?
- Some do, most do not do it as the main job. You are buying architecture, hiring and judgement. If what you actually need is someone to build the product, you want senior engineers, and a good fractional CTO will tell you that.
- When does a startup need a fractional CTO?
- Usually when technical decisions start having commercial consequences and there is nobody senior making them: a non-technical founder with an agency, a small team with no technical leadership, or a raise where investors will ask who owns the technology.
- Do I pay getoperators anything to book one?
- No. Browsing the bench and booking direct costs nothing, and we take no commission on what you pay them. We only charge if you ask us to run the search for you.
Operator Search: £999 to run, £2,500 if you hire
Can't find the right CTO, or haven't got the time to look? We run the search and put three vetted operators in front of you in five business days. Both numbers agreed before anything starts, and the operator pays nothing either way.
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