What is a fractional CTO?

A senior technology leader who works with your business part-time — typically a few days a month — owning the decisions a full-time CTO would: architecture, technical hiring, vendor and budget oversight, and how technology serves the business plan. You get the judgement without the full-time cost.

Fractional, interim or part-time CTO — which do I need?

It's mostly duration and cause. An interim CTO covers a gap — a departure, a transition — full-time but short-term. Fractional (or part-time) is ongoing but partial: a few days a month, indefinitely. If you're not replacing anyone and just need senior direction, fractional is usually the answer.

How much does a fractional CTO cost?

It's priced by engagement shape, not salary. The two common shapes are an advisory cadence — regular sessions, decisions reviewed, on call for the big calls — and a hands-on arrangement where the CTO runs your developers, hiring and vendors day to day. Ours start from £3,000 a month for advisory, £8,000 a month hands-on, both rolling.

What is CTO as a service?

Another name for the same idea — senior technical leadership bought as a service rather than a hire. Some providers wrap it in productised tiers; ours is a person with a cadence, because leadership doesn't come in a box.

Do I need a fractional CTO?

Ask what's blocked. If technical decisions are stalling — an architecture nobody will commit to, hires you can't assess, vendors you can't challenge — a few days of senior judgement a month unblocks a lot. If your product simply needs more building, you don't need a CTO; you need hands.

What if we need developers rather than direction?

Then don't hire leadership. Staff augmentation puts vetted engineers inside your team under your management; a dedicated team gives you a whole delivery group managed by us. A fractional CTO pairs well with either — direction from one, delivery from the other — but they're different purchases.

Fractional CTO Services UK

Every step, with a team who's done it before

A fractional CTO earns its keep in the decisions, not the code. We start by reading where your tech, team and roadmap actually are, set the technical direction, and oversee delivery for as long as you need it — then step back to advisory. From £3,000 a month.

Book a free 20-minute consultation

Read the ground

Before any decisions, an honest look at what you've got — the architecture, the team, the roadmap, the vendors and the risks. Reported board-ready, so everyone's working from the same picture.
Set direction

Then the calls a full-time CTO would own: architecture, build-vs-buy, which vendors to challenge, and a plan that ties technology to the business. The most valuable decision is often a build stopped or a purchase avoided.
Oversee delivery

When you need hands on the wheel, the hands-on tier runs it — your developers and vendors managed a few days a month, hiring and technical vetting done, security and delivery risk reviewed as standing items.
Step back

Once things are stable you stop paying for intensity you no longer need — we step down to an advisory cadence, on call for the big decisions, rolling monthly with no long lock-in.

The decisions behind the builds

Leadership is what good projects look like before the code exists: choosing native iPad drawing so NicheCom's app could work with the Apple Pencil, architecting a snagging platform for thousands of defects on live sites, and shaping a market-prediction platform into something the client's team could act on. Those calls are the job.

NicheCom

NicheCom needed to prove that a surveyor could measure a property and produce a finished floorplan during a single site visit, without redrawing it back at a desk. CodeLeap designed and built the iPad app that makes that possible.
Read more
WeSnag

A major UK construction company ran snagging on spreadsheets, paper checklists and manual follow-ups, which could not scale to dozens of contractors, hundreds of units and thousands of defects. CodeLeap built a platform digitising the whole defect lifecycle, replacing hundreds of hours of manual coordination and leading to further work extending it.
Read more
Market prediction platform

A financial analysis firm had a proven chart-reading method that only one analyst could run, taking hours a day and capping how many instruments the firm could cover. CodeLeap turned that method into a machine-learning platform serving daily predictions through an API.
Read more

See more case studies

The ground we cover

A CTO's judgement is only as good as the stacks it's been tested on — here's where ours comes from, shipped-with and works-with kept honest.

AWS & Google Cloud

Infrastructure decisions come from clouds we actually run — your hosting bill reviewed by someone who pays similar ones.
Django, React & React Native

Architecture calls are grounded in stacks we've shipped — which is why the advice includes what each choice costs in year three.
Azure & Microsoft estates

We work with Azure and Microsoft-centred estates — and a CTO whose first advice is 'replatform everything' should worry you.
Salesforce & your vendors

Vendor and quote review covers the Salesforce, ERP and agency contracts you already hold — we integrate with them and resell none of them, so the advice carries no commission.
Security & compliance

Security review is a standing agenda item, not a crisis response — access, backups and data handling checked against where you actually are.
Build-vs-buy

The most valuable technical decision is usually a purchase avoided or a build stopped — we've made those calls fifty times.
And much more

This is what comes up most often, not a limit. Bring us something that isn't on this list and we'll get up to speed on it — working with something new is the job, not an obstacle.

What our clients are saying

Real reviews from clients we have delivered for, on Clutch and elsewhere.

4.9 via Clutch

The enthusiasm, understanding of our mission, and passion from the first few minutes of the call were the deciding factors in choosing CodeLeap. Within 3 months of our app launching, we had over 1,500 downloads, appeared in leading publications from Forbes, The Metro, Marie Claire, Women's Fitness and many more, and started raising further investment.

Charlie CEO, Becon
They are incredibly diligent in the quality of work they produce, and go above and beyond when it comes to solving issues faced within the project, and to ensure we meet strict project deadlines. You never feel like you are one of many clients, and they ensure they are always there to help with any need you have, no matter how big or small.

Amelia Parmiter Marketing Manager, AWS - Marble
CodeLeap made me feel like my options were limitless in terms of what could be achieved, which was critical to me as we were creating something very unique. I'm glad I chose Codeleap over a large corporation as the personable approach resulted in a smooth and pleasant experience.

James CEO, Bearable
Working with CodeLeap was a very good experience from both a professional and personal point of view. These people know what they are doing and are both efficient and clever and made a good partner. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend CodeLeap.

John CEO, Neurometrics-Diab
CodeLeap adds so much value and goes above and beyond what I expected. CodeLeap's team is very flexible with all the different requests we've put in front of them. They've also been great with the whole business side of things, and being able to forecast for this industry is really helpful. Overall, I'm completely satisfied with their work — they've been incredibly helpful.

Johanne CEO, Cherry
Their flexibility and focus on quality were outstanding.

Mike Fenna CTO, Kite Insights
Marcelo has been wonderful throughout the process and we are very happy.

Amrit Director, Energy Company
Absolutely FANTASTIC. This is very much what I had in mind. We're very pleased with your team, thank you all very much.

Rich Director, Legal Company

See all reviews on Clutch

Recognised by the industry

Independent rankings from Clutch, The Manifest, SME News and the National Digital Awards.

Flexible, transparent pricing

Advisory CTO

Per month · advisory cadence
- A senior technical leader on call
- Architecture and build-vs-buy decisions made
- Vendors and quotes reviewed independently
- Board-ready reporting on technical progress
- Rolling monthly — no long lock-in
From £3,000 / mo
Book a free consultation
Hands-on CTO

Per month, hands-on
- Embedded leadership, several days a month
- Your developers and vendors managed day to day
- Hiring plans, interviews and technical vetting run
- Security and delivery risks reviewed regularly
- Step down to advisory cadence when stable
From £8,000 / mo
Book a free consultation
Other infrastructure services

Cloud · DevOps · Support
Contact us

Any questions? We're here to answer

Everything you might want to know before starting a project with us.

A senior technology leader who works with your business part-time — typically a few days a month — owning the decisions a full-time CTO would: architecture, technical hiring, vendor and budget oversight, and how technology serves the business plan. You get the judgement without the full-time cost.
It's mostly duration and cause. An interim CTO covers a gap — a departure, a transition — full-time but short-term. Fractional (or part-time) is ongoing but partial: a few days a month, indefinitely. If you're not replacing anyone and just need senior direction, fractional is usually the answer.
It's priced by engagement shape, not salary. The two common shapes are an advisory cadence — regular sessions, decisions reviewed, on call for the big calls — and a hands-on arrangement where the CTO runs your developers, hiring and vendors day to day. Ours start from £3,000 a month for advisory, £8,000 a month hands-on, both rolling.
Another name for the same idea — senior technical leadership bought as a service rather than a hire. Some providers wrap it in productised tiers; ours is a person with a cadence, because leadership doesn't come in a box.
Ask what's blocked. If technical decisions are stalling — an architecture nobody will commit to, hires you can't assess, vendors you can't challenge — a few days of senior judgement a month unblocks a lot. If your product simply needs more building, you don't need a CTO; you need hands.
Then don't hire leadership. Staff augmentation puts vetted engineers inside your team under your management; a dedicated team gives you a whole delivery group managed by us. A fractional CTO pairs well with either — direction from one, delivery from the other — but they're different purchases.