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Consortia
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Engineering

Fractional CTO and Engineering Leadership

Specialist fractional CTO and engineering leadership recruiters working across the US, UK, EU and UAE.

Trusted by tech teams from start-ups to globally recognised brands

  • eBay
  • Ocado
  • Sainsbury's
  • Bose
  • LexisNexis
  • Entain
  • babylon
  • Paymentsense
  • FNZ
  • Auto1
  • Synthace
  • PokerStars
  • eConsult
  • Lloyds Pharmacy
Five-star review
“Every candidate they sourced was an exact match, which saved us real time. More of a trusted partner now than a recruiter.”

Mark T. · Director of Engineering, HR-tech platform

5.0 on Google from 200+ reviews

Overview

How fractional CTO and engineering leadership works

The technical decisions a business makes early are often the hardest to change later, and many have to make them before they can justify a full-time CTO. A fractional CTO, or an interim VP or head of engineering, can make those calls with you: setting technical direction, raising standards and building the team.

Start-ups often need that credibility early, while architecture choices are being made. Businesses between leaders need it too, as do teams in the middle of a scale-up, a migration or a turnaround. The work usually covers the key architecture calls, how the team works day to day and the next engineering hires, with the aim of a function that stands on its own.

We look at the engagement before the CV: the number of days, the length, and whether the job is architecture, delivery or hiring. Fractional CTO work is part of our wider Fractional Leadership service. When a full-time hire becomes the right move, our permanent engineering leadership network means we can go straight to that search. We place engineering leaders in the UK, Europe, the US and the UAE.

Customer Stories

How we've helped

View all case studies

Rates

What a fractional CTO costs

Fractional CTO is one of the broadest titles in tech. It can mean a few hours a month advising a founder, or two days a week running an engineering team. The rate follows the work, so we don't publish a single figure.

What shapes the rate

  • Scope. Overseeing an outsourced development agency is priced differently from leading an in-house team and its hiring.
  • Accountability. Some roles carry named responsibility, such as fronting technical due diligence in a funding round.
  • Specialism. Security, heavily regulated sectors and AI experience all narrow the pool of people available.
  • Time commitment. One to three days a week covers most engagements. The budget and the work decide where in that range.
  • Company stage. Some early-stage businesses pay a lower day rate and add equity.
  • The person. Rates are set by the leader, and often reflect the other businesses they work with.

A rate range for your brief

Tell us what you need the role to cover. We'll come back with a realistic rate range from today's market, and an honest view on whether a fractional CTO is the right model at all.

Share Your Brief

No job description needed. Prefer to talk it through? Speak to a consultant.

Fractional engineering leader looking for your next engagement? Get in touch with the engineering team.

Live jobs

Live Engineering jobs

View all jobs

Candidates

Engineering candidates available now

Anonymous profiles of people we represent today. Ask about one and a specialist consultant will come back to you with the full picture.

  • PermanentActive

    Senior Product Engineer

    Media, publishing and broadcast

    United Kingdom · Hybrid · £120,000

    Senior Product Engineer (Backend & Platform focussed) with 9+ years’ experience across MarTech, Media and SaaS, combining hands-on development with architecture and technical leadership. Strong in TypeScript, Node.js, Python, AWS, Docker and Terraform, with experience building multi-tenant analytics platforms, backend APIs and cloud-based processing systems end-to-end. Has led engineering teams, owned cloud architecture and delivered infrastructure modernisation projects that improved performance, reliability and reduced costs. Previously managed a 9-person engineering team as a hands-on Technology Director, remaining actively involved in coding, system design and product delivery.

    Ask about this candidate
  • ContractActive

    Senior Product Engineer

    Technology and software

    United Kingdom · Hybrid · £750 a day

    Senior Product Engineer / Forward Deployed Engineer with 11+ years’ experience building end-to-end products across eCommerce, automotive, logistics and AI. Frontend-leaning Full Stack Engineer with strong hands-on, AI-native development experience, working with TypeScript, JavaScript, Node.js, Vue, React, SQL and PostgreSQL. Has architected and built large-scale eCommerce platforms, logistics and operational management systems, improving business efficiency, scalability and customer experience. More recently focused on building AI-powered customer-facing products and multi-agent development workflows, combining strong technical ownership with a commercial product mindset and experience delivering solutions from concept through to production.

    Ask about this candidate
  • PermanentActive

    Senior Product Engineer

    Technology and software

    United Kingdom · Hybrid · £120,000

    Senior Product Engineer with 10 years’ experience delivering scalable products across cybersecurity, financial services, SaaS and AdTech. Strong in Go, React, TypeScript, Node.js, PostgreSQL and ClickHouse, with experience building real-time integrations, event-driven systems, analytics platforms and customer-facing applications. Has led the development of new products from scratch, improved platform performance and scalability, and delivered commercially successful SaaS features, alongside strengthening automated testing and engineering quality. Brings strong end-to-end product ownership, from technical architecture and backend development through to frontend delivery, with a focus on building reliable products that solve real customer problems.

    Ask about this candidate
  • PermanentActive

    Product Engineer - Backend

    E-commerce and retail

    United Kingdom · £110,000

    Senior Backend-focused Product Engineer with 12+ years’ experience, combining hands-on engineering with a strong product mindset and end-to-end ownership, including experience as a dedicated Technical Product Manager. Strong in Python, FastAPI, PHP/Laravel, PostgreSQL, OpenSearch, AWS and Kubernetes, with experience leading complex search platform migrations, architecting marketplace pricing and automation services, and improving system performance and infrastructure efficiency. Has also built eCommerce subscription platforms from scratch, including payments, APIs and internal tooling. Brings experience in a small marketplace scale-up alongside technical leadership, architecture and delivering products from concept through to production.

    Ask about this candidate
  • PermanentActive

    Senior Product Engineer

    Fintech and payments

    United Kingdom · Hybrid · £120,000

    Senior Product Engineer with 8+ years’ experience building end-to-end products across FinTech, Web3, SaaS and digital marketplaces, alongside startup experience helping early-stage founders take MVPs from concept to production. Strong in TypeScript, Node.js, Next.js, NestJS, Go and AWS, with hands-on experience across frontend, backend, architecture and deployment. Has led the development of blockchain-based platforms, built digital marketplace infrastructure supporting large user bases and delivered complex data migrations and customer-facing SaaS products. More recently focused on banking and payment integrations, with a strong product mindset and experience shaping technical direction, translating business requirements into working products and owning delivery end to end.

    Ask about this candidate

Related roles

Other roles our Engineering recruiters fill

FAQs

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a fractional CTO and a technical adviser?

A technical adviser gives guidance when asked, often a few hours a month. A fractional CTO takes real responsibility: they make technical decisions, lead the engineers and are accountable for delivery, just on a part-time basis. If you need someone to own the outcome, a fractional CTO is usually the better fit.

How can a fractional CTO help before we have an engineering team?

Early decisions are expensive to reverse. A fractional CTO can help choose the architecture and technology, decide what to build versus buy, and assess or manage an agency or outsourced team. They can also plan and run the first engineering hires. That gives founders experienced technical input before a full-time leader is affordable.

Can a fractional engineering leader manage an outsourced or offshore team?

Often, yes. They can set coding standards, review work, agree how delivery is tracked and make sure the business owns and understands what is being built. That oversight matters most when the founders are not technical themselves. It can also make a later move to an in-house team smoother.

Can a fractional CTO help with technical due diligence?

Yes. Before an investment round or acquisition, a fractional CTO can prepare the business for the questions it will face: architecture, security, scalability, technical debt and the strength of the team. They can also give an honest view of the gaps and a credible plan to close them.

How do I start working with Consortia?

Clients can get in touch to discuss a brief, and candidates are welcome to register their interest. The quickest route is our contact page or a call to +44 203 397 4565, and one of our consultants will pick things up from there.

For clients

Need help hiring?

Tell us the role and we'll come back inside a working day with the consultants who know the market.

Get Help Hiring

For candidates

Looking for work?

Browse live tech roles or send us your CV. A specialist consultant reviews every submission.

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