Fractional CTO · UK
Fractional CTO for UK startups and SMEs.
A fractional CTO is an experienced chief technology officer working with your company part-time rather than as a full-time hire. In the UK that typically means senior judgement on architecture, delivery, hiring, suppliers and spend, on a set cadence, without the salary, equity and search cost of an executive appointment.
Roadmap slipping and no senior technologist accountable for it? Based in Manchester, working with founders and boards in London and across the UK. Former CTO and COO, and founder of my own consultancy for over fifteen years — senior technical leadership on the decisions that matter, without a full-time executive hire.
What a fractional CTO is
A fractional CTO is an experienced chief technology officer working with your company part-time. You get the judgement of someone who has run technology at executive level, applied to the decisions that carry real cost, without the salary, equity and hiring risk of a full-time appointment.
In practice that means architecture and delivery decisions, holding development teams to what they promised, technology spend, security and compliance, and being the person your board or investors can put a technical question to.
I take on a small number of clients at a time, and I have no development team to keep busy and no supplier referrals to protect. If the work is not right for me, I will say so.
When to hire one
The moments UK founders call me
Your outsourced team has no one holding it to account
Someone has to read what the development team promised against what they shipped. Without that, you are approving invoices on trust.
You cannot yet justify a full-time CTO
The technical decisions are already executive-level, but the headcount is not. Fractional covers the judgement without the salary, equity and hiring risk.
You are raising, or being diligenced
Investors put the technology under a spotlight. Knowing what they will find, before they find it, is worth more than a tidy deck.
The board cannot tell if delivery is on track
When progress reporting is filtered through the people doing the work, you need an unfiltered read on the roadmap, the team and the next twelve months of cost.
Where I work
Manchester, London and remote across the UK
Manchester and the North West
My base, and where most of my long-standing client relationships started. On-site time with founders and development teams is straightforward here.
London and the South East
Remote-first with in-person days for board meetings, investor sessions and delivery reviews. A two-hour train makes a monthly on-site rhythm practical without a London price attached to it.
Rest of the UK, remote
Written reports, scheduled calls and availability between them. The work has run this way for years, and the sectors I know well — fintech, digital health, iGaming, SaaS, data and agencies — are distributed anyway.
Case study: scaling a search platform from 250,000 to 5 million keywords
Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm UK time. UK mornings overlap with South East Asia afternoons (GMT+8) and UK afternoons with US East Coast mornings.
What you get
Business audits
An honest read of where your technology stands, written so you and your board can act on it.
Strategy development
A plan with sequence, cost and trade-offs named, not a wish list.
Coaching and mentoring
For CTOs, COOs and their teams, and for founders growing into the technical side of the job.
Project delivery
Steering projects, in-house or outsourced, when a programme needs a steady hand on it.
What UK founders say
“Working with Tim and Scryla was a great experience. The guidance and consultation helped us plan our project and defined our scope. Through a thorough report, Tim helped us understand the phases of work with our outsourced development team. We would recommend any start up looking for a steer to work with Tim and Scryla.”
“I highly recommend Tim Ng and Scryla Consultancy to any company seeking technical analysis or development process strategic advice. Tim's expertise and professionalism are second to none, and his contributions to Tahdah Verified Ltd have been invaluable.”
Questions
Fractional CTO FAQs
- What is a fractional CTO?
- A fractional CTO is an experienced chief technology officer who works with your company part-time rather than as a full-time hire. You get senior technical judgement on the decisions that carry real cost — architecture, delivery, hiring, suppliers and spend — without the salary, equity and hiring risk of an executive appointment.
- What does a fractional CTO do day to day?
- Audits where your technology, team, spend and risk stand today; sets a technology plan that follows from the business plan, with sequence and cost named; holds in-house and outsourced development teams to what they promised; and coaches founders and technical leads so the capability stays in the business.
- Which parts of the UK do you cover?
- All of it, remote-first, with in-person time where a board or team needs it. I am based in Manchester, and Manchester to London is a two-hour train, so on-site days in the South East are straightforward to arrange.
- How much does a fractional CTO cost in the UK?
- It depends on cadence and scope — a one-off audit with a written report is a different commitment from ongoing weekly involvement. I do not publish rates, because quoting a number before understanding the work is not useful to either of us. Tell me what is happening and I will tell you what it would take.
- How is a fractional CTO different from an interim CTO?
- An interim CTO fills a vacant full-time seat for a fixed period, usually most of the week. A fractional CTO is a permanent-but-part-time arrangement sized to the stage of the business, often one or two days a month rising when a programme needs it.
- How is a fractional CTO different from a non-executive director?
- A fractional CTO works inside the business, owning technical decisions and leading the team. A non-executive director sits outside it, holding the executive to account and giving the board independent assurance. I keep the two separate, and I will say which one you actually need.
Need a fractional CTO in the UK?
Tell me about the business, the stage it is at, and what is worrying you. I will tell you plainly whether I am the right person, and what I would look at first.