I run engineering the way founders actually need it: close to the code, close to the decisions, without the org chart it usually comes wrapped in.
Architecture reviews, hiring calls, vendor decisions, technical strategy. Weekly or biweekly, ongoing — a second opinion you can actually trust.
I take the seat for a fixed stretch — usually 3 to 6 months. Same accountability as a full-time CTO, without the full-time commitment.
A scoped technical problem with a defined end: platform migration, AI integration, technical due diligence, a rebuild.
Running engineering for a UK-based B2B SaaS market research and analytics platform — architecture, delivery, and the team, end to end.
Owned digital strategy, infrastructure, and software architecture as CTO of this Johannesburg media intelligence company — the same seat this site is pitching, already held once.
Led a Dubai-based team through a migration off Magento onto a Go and React microservices architecture for a high-growth eyewear e-commerce business — improving scalability and performance under real traffic.
Ran IT and operations across a multi-site electronics retail and wholesale business — owned the ERP, built the e-commerce strategy, and drove cost and efficiency reporting that shaped company decisions. The longest single proof point that this works in small and mid-sized companies, not just SaaS.
No procurement committee. If something needs to change, it changes this week, not next quarter.
Smaller companies don't carry enterprise governance weight at the executive level. You get a builder, not a layer of process.
I still write code, review pull requests, and sit in incident channels — not just slide decks and steering committees.
Active member of CTO Academy's fractional CTO community, part of a global network of operating technical leaders — including its newly established South Africa chapter.
Custom AI code review tooling, an internal LLM council for technical decisions, and agent-friendly repos with MCP servers. The fastest way to evaluate a fractional CTO is what they've built recently — not what they built ten years ago.
Twenty minutes, no deck, no pitch. If it's not a fit, I'll say so and point you somewhere better.
I'll get back to you within a day or two.