Fractional CTO
One to three days a week over months. Strategy, architecture, hiring, vendor and board conversations, and a steady hand for the engineering leads.
Consulting
Technical leadership and AI judgement for SaaS and platform companies, in the shape you need it: a few days a month, a few months full-time, or for good.
Four ways to work together
Interim CTO
Full-time for a defined period: a gap between leaders, a turnaround, a raise or an acquisition where the technology story has to hold up.
Full-time CTO
For the right company I will join properly. Talk to me about the stage, the team and what the next three years look like.
Technical due diligence
A fixed-scope review of code, architecture, team and operations with a plain-language report for investors, acquirers and boards.
What I can help with
The problems that land on my desk
- Building and leading engineering teams: hiring, structure, rituals, retention
- Architecture and platform decisions you will still be happy with in five years
- AWS and cloud: cost, reliability, security and the ISO 27001 paperwork
- Generative AI strategy and delivery: where it pays, where it does not, and how to ship it safely
- Data and analytics pipelines that answer the questions the business actually asks
- Technical due diligence and post-acquisition integration
How I work
Straight talk, then hands on
I consult as a freelance CTO and developer, on everything from building teams and architecture, to AWS engineering and data analytics. I also specialise in technical due diligence to give you a general overview of strengths and weaknesses, and can then dive in and problem solve where necessary.
With 2 decades of CTO experience building and scaling SaaS startups, and wearing all the hats from product manager to devops engineer; I’m well-suited to digging into any difficult problems you have and untangling them with a mix of technical wizardry and empathy.
My focus is on SaaS and cloud, but I’ve worked in so many systems and domains I can adapt my knowledge and skills easily to your company.
Happy to talk things over; and if I can’t help, I’ll introduce you to someone who can.
Recent work and thinking
2022–2026 · CTO
Public Sector Network platform
The community, events, learning and marketplace platform behind Public Sector Network, a free government-only network across Australia, New Zealand and North America. Built from the first commit in 2022 and run end to end as CTO.
2026 · Design, code and launch
Flappycar
A one-button browser game: a sports car on cold-gas thrusters, a daily course everyone shares, and ghost races sent to friends as a URL with no backend at all.
The Gotcha Game That Drives Great Engineers Away
Most tech interviews are a game of gotcha that makes the interviewer feel clever and loses solid builders. The best interviewers are great conversationalists who listen.
How will we train junior developers in a world of generative AI?
Generative AI is delegation, not just abstraction. How do juniors build the judgement to use it well, and what should teams and employers change?
Start with a conversation
Tell me what is going on and what you are hoping for. I will say honestly whether I can help, and if I can’t, I’ll introduce you to someone who can.
Cape Town · UTC+2 · remote. Happy to work across timezones.