A CTO in your corner — without the full-time salary or the vendor agenda
Most SMEs don't need a full-time CTO. They need someone senior and independent who owns the technical agenda a few days a month: architecture decisions, agency and vendor oversight, hiring, and an AI strategy grounded in what actually ships.
The old way
Technical advice from the agency that bills you for the answer
The Cipher way
A fractional CTO accountable to you — and only you
The CTO agenda, owned properly
Strategy, architecture, vendors and hiring — with someone senior accountable for all of it.
Technology strategy & roadmap
A realistic technical roadmap tied to the business plan — what to build, what to buy, what to defer, and what it should cost.
Vendor & agency oversight
We review proposals, quotes and delivery from your agencies and consultancies — so you stop being the least-informed person in the room when the invoice arrives.
Architecture & platform decisions
Cloud, ecommerce, CMS and AI platform decisions made with someone accountable to you — not to a vendor partnership target.
Hiring & team building
Job specs, technical interviews and team structure for your first engineers or your next ten — including when not to hire.
How it works
Leadership that scales with you
01
Assess
We start with a review of your systems, vendors, team and roadmap — the same independent lens we bring to architecture reviews.
02
Agree cadence
Typically one to four days a month: standing leadership sessions, vendor checkpoints and decision support when it matters.
03
Lead
We own the technical agenda with you — architecture decisions, agency oversight, hiring and AI strategy — and report in plain language.
04
Scale down or up
As your team matures, the engagement shrinks — or hands over to the full-time CTO we helped you hire. No lock-in.
Questions businesses ask about fractional CTO services
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Get senior technical leadership on your side
A fixed monthly retainer, a clear cadence, and a CTO whose only incentive is your outcome.
Independent by design
No reseller margins, no referral fees, no agency behind us
Grounded in real engineering
Advice from people who build and run production systems
Australian contracts & invoicing
Legal comfort for your CFO and board