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Fractional CTO · hiring brief

CTO for Hire

CTO for Hire: decide whether you need a technology leader for part of each week or for a defined assignment, agree the decisions they will own, and test candidates on your own architecture.

Brief us on this role →See CTO roles

Reviewed by Fractional Quest · updated 28 October 2026 · 5 sources linked below

  • 3–5on every shortlist
  • 5stages of vetting
  • IR35set out on every brief
CTO for Hire: a technology leader sketching a system architecture on a whiteboard (illustration)

On the board · last 90 days

Which CTO roles are on the board?

Fractional CTO roles first, then the seat in any engagement and the wider function when the board runs short.

Roles

See every role on the board →

Every fractional role in the UK is on the fractional jobs board.

In the press

The brief

CTO for Hire: what must the role own?

Name the platform, security or team problem the hired CTO must own first.

  • 01The technical problemName the platform, security or team problem the hired CTO must own first.
  • 02DecisionsList the architecture, supplier and hiring decisions they may take.
  • 03TimeAgree days a week, or an end date, before discussing rates.
  • 04ExitSay what the business should be able to run without them at the end.

Role reference: SFIA leadership responsibilities. SFIA describes senior technology leadership by the decisions, influence and accountability the role carries, which is what a CTO for hire must be given.

For hire, not on payroll

What does “CTO for hire” usually mean?

Searchers for a CTO for hire usually want one of two things: a technology leader for part of every week, or one for a fixed piece of work.

Part of the week is a fractional engagement: the same CTO, on agreed days, for as long as the work needs a senior owner. A fixed piece of work, such as a platform migration or a leadership gap, is an interim engagement with an end date and a handover.

Either way, the IR35 position depends on how the engagement runs, contract by contract, and in most cases the client decides it. Write the working pattern down before you agree terms.

The working pattern

What changes when the CTO is fractional?

A CTO for hire is an experienced technology executive engaged for a set amount of time rather than employed for years. The engagement works when the brief gives them real decisions, not an advisory title.

The illustrative brief: a seed-stage product with one senior engineer. The founders have a working product, a growing backlog and no one senior enough to choose the architecture for the next stage.

The appointment owns: The CTO for hire sets the architecture, the hiring plan for the first engineers and the security baseline, two days a week.

Another owner retains: The founders keep product priorities and budget; the senior engineer runs delivery between the CTO’s days.

The case is illustrative; it does not describe a Fractional Quest placement.

From brief to start

How do you hire a CTO for hire, step by step?

The first three steps are ours; the last four are what has to be true before the first day. We don’t promise a shortlist by a date.

  1. Day 0
    01
    The 15-minute call
    What the CTO must own, the working pattern, the start date and the budget.
    You and us
  2. Week 1
    02
    Scope agreed in writing
    The outcome the seat exists for, the days, and how the engagement will run for IR35.
    Us
  3. Weeks 1–3
    03
    Search, references, shortlist
    We approach people who aren’t looking, verify tenure, take references ourselves and return three to five.
    Us
  4. Week 4
    04
    Mandate
    Write the first decisions, the days and the review date.
    You
  5. Before day one · 2
    05
    Access
    Provide code, cloud accounts, incident history and the roadmap.
    You
  6. Before day one · 3
    06
    Cover
    Name the engineer who handles incidents between days.
    You
  7. Before day one · 4
    07
    First review
    Ask for a written view of the biggest technical risk in the first fortnight.
    You

Your figures

What does part of a CTO’s week cost?

Rate × days × weeks, against a loaded full-time package. Move the sliders; the numbers redraw.

  • CTO band £1,000–£1,600 (Leadership Services 2026)
Year-one cost, fractional
£119,600
2 days a week · 46 weeks · day fees, before tax · our arithmetic
Fractional executive£119,600
Full-time CTO, loaded£183,825£836 a day over 220 days · our arithmetic
Fractional costs less in year one by£64,225

Our arithmetic. £160,500 Robert Half 2026 median salary + employer NI at 15% above £5,000 (HMRC) = £183,825. Excludes pension, bonus and any search fee.

Assessment

How should you assess CTO candidates?

Put the same work and evidence in front of each candidate before comparing answers.

  1. Comparable decision
    Ask for an architecture decision they made at a company of your size and stage.
  2. Authority
    Test a decision that would need founder approval under the agreed boundary.
  3. Team
    Ask how they grew an engineer into a lead rather than doing the work themselves.
  4. Handover
    Ask what they left behind when a previous engagement ended.

Acas recommends a consistent, fair selection process: choosing who to interview.

Vetting

What happens before anyone reaches your shortlist?

Five stages before a candidate reaches a shortlist of three to five.

  1. Pedigree screen
    Tenure
    We verify prior tenure in the seat, at the scale and stage you need. No consultant presenting as an executive.
  2. Mandate fit
    Fit
    Fit to your stage, sector and the problem the seat exists to solve, not a CV keyword.
  3. Reference deep-dive
    Verify
    We take references ourselves, from recent clients and boards: what they delivered, not what they titled it.
  4. Shortlist
    Shortlist
    Three to five candidates, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
  5. Kick-off
    Start
    Scope, first-month outcomes and the contract agreed before day one.

The full process is on how we vet.

The right pattern

Does this hiring pattern fit the work?

Test the amount of the week, the expected end and the continuity needed before writing the contract.

Questions

CTO for Hire: questions, answered

Either. Part of each week, ongoing, is fractional; full-time for a defined assignment is interim. Choose by the work, then brief for that pattern.

Read next

Related hiring and role pages

Sources

Where does every reference on this page come from?

  • sfia-online.org
  • HMRC
  • legislation.gov.uk
  1. 1
    SFIA leadership responsibilities sfia-online.org
  2. 2
    Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 HMRC
    Employer National Insurance at 15% above £5,000 a year.
  3. 3
    Understanding off-payroll working (IR35) HMRC
    Status depends on how the engagement runs; medium and large clients make the determination.
  4. 4
    Check employment status for tax (CEST) HMRC
    HMRC’s own status check for each engagement.
  5. 5
    Employment Agencies Act 1973 legislation.gov.uk
    The law a recruitment agency works under; no fee to a work-seeker.

For hiring managers

Bring the brief. We bring the shortlist.

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  1. A shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position
  2. Fractional, interim, part-time, temporary or permanent — and non-executive directors
  3. Every candidate through our five-stage vetting
  4. Your briefs and their candidates, in one room