# Fractional technical leadership when you need senior judgement, not a full-time executive

I provide ongoing technical leadership in a fractional capacity when a company needs architecture, AI, and delivery judgement without hiring a full-time CTO. This is not a title I collect. It is the engagement model: retained access to a senior engineer who has owned products, run a small software company, and operated inside larger delivery organisations. I join planning, make and document the expensive calls, unblock the team, and stay out of theatre. If you need a manager of managers, you need a different hire. If you need a principal-level partner a few days a month, this is the path.

## Who this is for
- Early product companies whose founder is still the de facto CTO and is becoming the bottleneck.
- Teams with capable builders who need someone to set the technical sequence.
- Companies adopting AI who need continuity, not a one-week workshop.

## When you actually need a full-time CTO
Fractional leadership is a bridge. It is the wrong destination if these are true.
### Team size and people problems
Once you need career paths, performance management, and multiple squads, you need a manager who is present. I will say when that line is crossed.

### Regulatory or on-call estate
If someone must own incidents around the clock as an executive, that is not a retainer.

### Fundraising narrative
Hiring a logo CTO for a deck is not an engineering engagement. I will not play that part.


Canonical: https://ihar-ivaniuk.com/en/services/fractional-cto