Fractional CTO:
Technical Leadership in Dubai
Senior technical leadership without the $300K+ salary. I bring 20+ years of production engineering experience to your team — scaled to exactly what your stage requires.
Technical audit first · Flexible engagement · Knowledge transfer
Without Technical Leadership
These problems compound silently until they become expensive emergencies. The cost of a bad architectural decision made in month three shows up in month eighteen.
Wrong database choices, tightly coupled systems, shortcuts that seemed fine at first. A single bad architecture decision made in month three shows up as a $50K–$200K rewrite in month eighteen. By then, the team has built on top of it.
Without someone who knows what good engineering looks like, you're trusting that the code being written is maintainable, secure, and scalable. Most founders discover too late — when the product breaks, when a developer quits, or when a potential acquirer's technical review returns a list of problems.
Features that took a day now take a week. Bugs multiply faster than they get fixed. Developers get frustrated and leave. By the time it surfaces at the leadership level, the problem is already severe and expensive.
A bad hire costs 6–12 months of lost productivity. Without someone who knows what great engineering looks like in practice, you can't evaluate candidates accurately, set standards, or build a culture where quality is the default.
Getting it wrong in month 3 shows up in month 18 as a rewrite, a migration, or a platform lock-in that costs more to escape than it would have cost to get right the first time.
What's Included
Everything a full-time CTO would cover — available on the schedule that fits your business and stage.
Stack selection, system design, scalability planning, and avoiding the shortcuts that compound into costly rewrites. Every major technical decision backed by experience across 10+ industries.
Job descriptions, interview process design, technical rounds, and onboarding. A second technical eye on every hire catches problems before the offer goes out.
Clean, maintainable code from your team and contractors. Set standards, catch issues early, build a culture where quality is the default rather than the exception.
Align technical decisions with business goals. Plan quarters ahead, identify risks early, communicate technical progress to stakeholders in terms they can act on.
Build vs. buy decisions, SaaS evaluation, contractor assessment. Stop paying for tools and external teams that deliver less than promised.
Data protection, access controls, and audit readiness. Address these before they become blockers — not after a security incident or investor due diligence.
How It Works
From initial audit to ongoing leadership — here's the process.
Technical audit
I review the full technical landscape: codebase quality, architecture, infrastructure, team skills, processes, and security. You get a clear report of strengths, risks, and a prioritized list of what to address first.
Strategy & roadmap
Based on the audit, I create a prioritized action plan: quick wins to address immediately, medium-term improvements, and long-term architecture goals — all aligned to your business objectives and actual budget.
Ongoing leadership (monthly)
Regular check-ins, code reviews, architecture guidance, and team support. I attend standups, review PRs, participate in planning, and keep the technical direction on track. Format and cadence scale to your engagement tier.
Growth support (as needed)
When you need to hire, scale, raise funding, or make a major technical decision — architect for scale, prepare investor-facing technical documentation, evaluate acquisition targets. Available when it matters.
Why This Model Works
Built on 20+ years leading technical work across FinTech, blockchain, PropTech, and SaaS — including products I shipped, products I handed off, and one I watched outgrow its team.
I've worn every hat at once at early-stage startups: developer, product manager, data analyst, customer support. I know what it costs — to the team, to the product, to the founder — when technical leadership is stretched thin or absent. That experience is where the judgment comes from, not a management consulting background.
I build processes, document decisions, and run code reviews that transfer the standard — not just the output. When the engagement ends, the quality of decisions should continue without me in the room. That is an explicit goal, not a nice-to-have.
Start with advisory during a key decision period. Ramp up for a hiring sprint or architecture review. Reduce when things stabilize. The engagement fits what your business actually needs month to month — not a scope you're paying for regardless of what's happening.
What to Expect
From day one, the engagement starts delivering. Here is the typical trajectory.
Full technical audit completed, quick wins identified and addressed
Strategy in place, team aligned, processes visibly improving
Measurable velocity improvements, better hiring, reduced technical risk
Pricing
Monthly retainer. Minimum 3 months recommended.
Strategic guidance and async support
Hands-on technical leadership
Dedicated technical leader
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a fractional CTO actually do?
Architecture decisions, hiring and evaluating engineers, code reviews, vendor selection, security planning, and aligning technical strategy with business goals. The specific mix depends on your stage and engagement tier.
How is this different from hiring a full-time CTO?
A full-time CTO costs $200K–$400K/year in salary alone, plus equity. A fractional CTO provides the same strategic value at $3,000–$20,000/month depending on engagement level — without equity dilution, long-term commitment, or the risk of a bad hire at the leadership level.
What is the minimum engagement?
The Advisory tier starts at $3,000–$5,000/month for 8–10 hours. I recommend a minimum 3-month engagement to see real impact — one month is rarely enough time for the technical audit plus meaningful change. That said, I can structure something specific for a single high-stakes decision if needed.
What is the notice period to end the engagement?
30 days written notice ends any ongoing retainer. No lock-in beyond the current month. The engagement should earn itself month to month — a 30-day exit is how I make sure both sides stay honest about whether it is still working.
When is the right time to bring in a fractional CTO?
When technical decisions are getting made without someone qualified to make them. When you're about to hire developers and don't know how to evaluate them. When something in the codebase feels wrong but you can't diagnose it. When you're approaching a fundraise and expect technical scrutiny.
How do I know if I need a Fractional CTO vs. something else?
My background is as an actual CTO — not someone who came up through the fractional model. That experience is what I bring to these engagements. The fractional model fits best when you need ongoing technical leadership over months: someone embedded in your team's decisions as they happen. If the problem is more specific — a workflow that software should have already fixed, a discrete system to build and hand off — my Forward Deployed Engineering engagement is usually the better fit. Worth a call if you're not sure which applies.
Do you write code yourself, or only advise?
Both, depending on the engagement tier and what's needed. At the Advisory level, most of my time goes into reviews, decisions, and guidance — I'm not in the codebase daily. At Active CTO and Full Engagement tiers, I do code reviews on every meaningful PR, get hands-on during architecture decisions, and write code directly when it's the fastest way to unblock the team or demonstrate the standard. I'm not an advisor who talks about code without reading it.
Can you sign an NDA before seeing the codebase?
Yes, always. An NDA is standard before I review any codebase, architecture documentation, or proprietary technical material. I treat everything I see as confidential regardless of paperwork — but if you need a signed agreement before sharing anything, that's the first step, not a negotiation.
Can you work alongside our existing development team or agency?
Yes — that's the most common situation. Most clients come in with a team or contractor relationship already in place. My role is to provide the technical leadership layer that team is missing: setting standards, reviewing their work, making architecture decisions, running hiring, and escalating when something is going wrong. I'm not a replacement for your developers — I make them more effective and accountable.
Where are your clients based?
I work with startups globally — remote by default, in-person in Dubai when it makes sense. UAE-based clients receive a proper UAE tax invoice monthly.
Ready for technical leadership?
Tell me what your technical situation looks like — the team, the product, where things feel uncertain. One conversation can clarify what kind of support actually makes sense.
Technical audit first · Flexible engagement · Knowledge transfer
Have a specific operational problem to fix rather than an ongoing leadership need? Forward Deployed Engineering covers that. Also available: AI Solutions for custom AI development and MVP Development for founders going from concept to shipped product. Not ready for ongoing engagement? Founder Consultation is the one-time entry point.