Interim CTO
An accountable CTO.
For a defined window.
Senior technology leadership embedded in your company for a fixed window. Roadmap, hiring, governance, handoff. The exit is in the contract from day one.
What this is
A seat at the table, not a slide deck.
Interim CTO is a role, not a retainer. We sit on the executive team, take the technology decisions that need to land, and document them so the next person can pick up cleanly. The handoff is the deliverable.
- Embedded, not advisory. We run steerings, sign off on architecture, manage the engineering team, and own the roadmap. Accountability sits with the role.
- Decision log from week one. Every material technology decision (architecture, hiring, vendor, security) gets an ADR-style entry: context, options, decision, consequences. The successor inherits a paper trail, not folklore.
- Time-bound, with exit baked in. The contract names the end date. The last four weeks are a structured handoff phase. We do not convert the engagement into a permanent placement.
- Independent from delivery. No body-shop conversion. If we hire engineers under your contract, they are your engineers. If we recommend external delivery, you choose the partner.
Interim CTO sits next to two services people confuse it with.
Governance Audit reports what the system is, in writing, then leaves. Interim CTO takes the seat and runs it for a quarter or three.
A mentor or advisor guides your existing CTO from the side. Interim CTO fills the seat when the seat is empty, contested, or outgrown.
If you have a CTO in place and they want a sparring partner, you do not need this service. If you do not have one, or the one you have is leaving, you do.
How a window runs
Four phases. Same shape every time.
A standard engagement is six months. Twelve at the long end, three at the short. The phase boundaries shift with duration; the shape stays the same. The fourth phase is non-negotiable: every engagement closes with a structured handoff.
Onboarding
- Stakeholder map & 1:1s
- Decision audit (last 6 months)
- Steering & review inventory
- First 90-day plan signed
Stabilization
- Roadmap baseline + quarterly plan
- Steering & design-review cadence set live
- Risk register opened
- Key-role hiring brief drafted
Execution
- Quarterly delivery against roadmap
- Hiring runs (offers signed or kept open)
- Decision log live, board-readable
- Vendor & architecture sign-offs
Handoff
- Successor brief drafted
- Runbooks & on-call doc finalized
- Open-items register transferred
- Two-week overlap if successor in place
Deliverables
What lands while the role runs.
Technology roadmap, board-readable
Quarterly plan with named decision-owners, dependency view, and a board summary. Updated every steering. Not a wishlist: items are scoped, sequenced, and cost-banded.
Governance cadences, live
Steering committee, architecture review, security review, and decision-log forum running on a known cadence. Each meeting has a charter, an owner, and minutes that survive the engagement.
Hiring decisions, documented
Key roles either filled or scoped with an open brief. Every offer or rejection has a written rationale. The successor inherits a team they know how it was built.
Handoff packet
Successor brief, decision log export, open-items register, key-person risk map, runbooks, and on-call documentation. A new CTO walks in on day one and knows where the wires are.
Who calls us for this
Three trigger moments.
CTO gap
Your CTO has resigned, been promoted out, or you have not hired one yet. The board needs a seat filled while the search runs. The team needs a decision-maker, not a placeholder.
Scale-up at the inflection
Sub-Series A or just past. The founder-CTO is being asked to govern, hire, and budget at a level that has stopped being the work they love. A defined window lets them step sideways without it being a crisis.
Post-acquisition tech rationalization
M&A closed, two technology stacks, two cultures, one new CEO. A short interim window stabilizes the decision rhythm and produces the brief the eventual permanent CTO will hire against.
Pricing
Three engagement models.
Monthly fee, fixed for the engagement. Scoping call and proposal are not billable. Travel billed at cost where applicable.
Board prep, roadmap reset, steering rhythm. Right when you have a delivery org but the executive layer is thin. 3 months minimum.
Roadmap ownership, delivery oversight, active hiring run, vendor and architecture sign-off. The middle case, and the most common. 6 months minimum.
Role replacement while the permanent search runs. Fundraise, post-acquisition integration, or full CTO gap. 6-12 months, exit clause included.
Engagement model can be resized once during the window. Governance Audit available as a 3-week prelude when scope is unclear at the start.
Common questions
Six things buyers ask first.
Fractional, embedded, or full-time. How do we choose?
Use the trigger. Board-prep, roadmap reset, or steering rhythm? Fractional 1-2 days a week. Delivery oversight plus a hiring run? Embedded 3-4 days. Outright role-fill while you recruit? Full-time. We propose a model after the scoping call; the contract reflects it but allows one in-flight resize.
Do you have hire-and-fire authority over the engineering team?
Hiring authority is normal in this role. Firing is collaborative: we surface the case in writing, the CEO or the board signs. We document the rationale either way. Performance management of existing team members is in scope; HR procedure and legal compliance stay with your people function.
Can you make hiring offers on our behalf?
Yes when delegated. Embedded and full-time engagements typically include hiring authority for key engineering roles up to a salary band you set. Fractional engagements usually advise the panel without final sign-off. Either way every offer goes through your standard HR workflow.
What is the minimum commitment and exit clause?
Three months minimum on fractional, six on embedded and full-time. Either side can exit on 30 days written notice after the minimum. If you find your permanent hire earlier we accelerate the handoff phase and prorate the final month; we do not bill out the unused window.
Confidentiality, IP, and tooling.
Standard NDA before scoping, master services agreement before kickoff. IP created during the engagement is yours by default. We use your tooling: email, identity provider, code repos, communication platform. No data leaves your tenancy without explicit approval.
What if we want you to take the role permanent?
We do not convert interim engagements into permanent placements. The window is the window. We can extend in 3-month blocks up to twelve months if the search runs long, but the engagement remains time-bound with handoff in the contract. The point of the role is the handoff, not the seat.
Ready to scope
One scoping call.
Proposed engagement model in 48h.
Email us a few lines about the trigger. We reply within 24h, Monday to Friday.
- Org size, sector, stage
- What prompted the call (departure, scale, M&A)
- Best-guess time horizon and engagement model