Fractional & Interim CTO for FinTech, Payments & AI/ML
Senior technical leadership that ships - without the cost of a full-time hire. For FinTech founders building under regulatory pressure who need CTO-level decisions made now, not deferred.
CTO consulting, or a CTO? They are not the same engagement
Most searches for CTO consulting are looking for one of two things, and the difference decides whether the engagement works.
Advisory CTO consulting
An outside expert reviews the architecture, the roadmap, or a vendor decision and writes up what they find. Bounded, useful, and it ends with a document. Right when the question is specific and someone internal will act on the answer.
Fractional or interim CTO
Someone carries the function. They sit in the vendor calls, run the engineering cadence, and own decisions rather than recommending them. Right when the gap is ongoing judgment or an empty seat, not a single question.
We do both, and we will say which one your situation calls for on the first call. Buying advisory consulting when the real gap is an unowned function is the most common and most expensive mismatch in this market. If you are a bank or credit union rather than a FinTech, the same distinction is covered on technology leadership for credit unions.
When to call us
Fractional CTO work is most useful at specific inflection points. If you recognize yourself below, we can probably help.
You're pre-Series A
You need CTO-level voice in product, hiring, and architecture decisions before bringing on a full-time CTO. Wrong calls now compound for years.
You're scaling past your founders
Engineering is outgrowing the founding team's bandwidth. You need senior coverage on hiring, architecture, and process - without diluting more equity.
You're between CTOs
Your CTO left or moved on. You need an interim CTO to run engineering for 3-6 months while you search, without losing momentum or context.
Investor DD is coming
You have a fundraise ahead and need someone who can speak to architecture, security, and scaling decisions in front of technical investors and acquirers.
What you actually get
Outcomes, not a list of capabilities. These are the things that usually move within the first 30-60 days of a Fractional CTO engagement.
- Architecture decisions made (not deferred): payment rails, ledger design, multi-tenancy, data residency
- Hiring help: filtered candidate pipeline, technical interview rubrics, onboarding plans
- Vendor selection: sponsor banks, KYC/AML providers, card issuers, observability and security stack
- Investor-ready technical due diligence answers - architecture, security, compliance, team
- Engineering cadence: code review, on-call, deployment, security reviews, post-mortem culture
- Compliance posture: PCI DSS scope, SOC 2 readiness, FINTRAC/BSA-AML alignment, GDPR for cross-border
Named proof
Engagements where we shipped, not just advised.
HelloHive
New York, NYModernized a legacy monolith into TypeScript microservices, scaled team to 5 engineers, cut cloud costs 70%.
Netspend
Austin, TXShipped a credit-building feature for a mobile banking platform end-to-end in 3.5 months. Zero post-launch criticals.
Latent Sciences
Boston, MABuilt serverless ML infrastructure connecting experiments to on-demand GPUs - cut idle infra cost 98%.
How we work
30-min discovery call
Free. We discuss where you are, what is on fire, and whether we are a fit. Honest answers, no pitch.
Initial assessment
1-2 weeks. We dig into the codebase, team, vendors, and roadmap, then deliver a written assessment with prioritized recommendations.
Ongoing engagement
Typical retainer is 2-3 days per week for 6+ months. We embed in your engineering org - standups, hiring panels, architecture reviews.
Frequently asked
What is the difference between a fractional CTO and a technical advisor?
An advisor reviews and recommends. A fractional CTO ships and decides. We embed in your team - running architecture reviews, sitting on hiring panels, making vendor calls, and owning outcomes alongside your founders.
How does pricing work?
Monthly retainers based on time commitment (typically 2-3 days per week). See the pricing page for current packages. We do not take equity by default but can structure it for early-stage teams where it makes sense.
How do you handle confidentiality across multiple FinTech clients?
NDAs on every engagement, hard separation of client data and code, no advisory work for direct competitors. If a conflict appears, we surface it immediately.
Can a fractional CTO replace a full-time CTO long-term?
Sometimes - for smaller teams (≤15 engineers) under 18 months from product-market fit, yes. Beyond that scale, you usually need a full-time CTO. We help you decide when, and often help you hire your replacement.
Do you only work with FinTechs?
FinTech, payments, BaaS, and adjacent regulated finance is the core. We also take AI/ML and infrastructure-heavy work in healthcare, ad-tech, and enterprise SaaS where the engineering profile matches.
Are you available in our timezone?
Toronto-based, working primarily across North American business hours. Most engagements are remote with periodic on-site visits as needed.
Ready to talk?
30 minutes, free, no pitch. We will tell you honestly whether we are the right fit.