How to hire a CTO · permanent, fractional or interim · hire a CTO for a startup
Hire a CTO · permanent, fractional or interim
To hire a CTO, first write down what the technology seat must deliver in the next year: a product shipped, a platform made stable, a team built, or a due-diligence pack an investor will accept.
Then choose the route (permanent, fractional, interim or part-time), approach people who are not already looking, and test each candidate on your own systems.
We recruit fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent executives, and non-executive directors.
On every brief we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.
How a brief runswhat we undertake
- 01Brief30-MINUTE SCOPING CALLDay 0
- 02Shortlist of 3–5VETTED · RATE BENCHMARK · IR35After the brief
- 03InterviewsYOU MEET THE SHORTLISTYour diary
- 04Scoped startFIRST-MONTH OUTCOMES AGREEDYou set the date
- 05Fractional, interim and permanentIR35 POSITION SET OUTOn every brief
Shortlist3–5
In the press
Fast Company 16 leaders on when fractional C-suite hires make sense · 24 Jun 2026
Useful before you pick a route. Executives set out when a part-week technology leader suits a defined mandate, and when the seat needs a full-time owner.
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire a CTO
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with CTO candidates, their day rates and availability.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We scope the role and the days a week
- 03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
- 04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs
Pick a day that suits · live availability
On the board · last 3 months
CTO roles jobs on the board
No CTO roles roles on the board in the last three months. Showing technology leadership roles instead.
On the board CTO and technology leadership roles
Fractional Quest is a fractional recruitment agency: send a CTO brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.
01/ the role
Hire a CTO: what the seat owns before you write the brief
A CTO owns the technology the business sells or runs on: the architecture, the engineering team, the delivery plan, security and the technical risk the board carries.
Before you write the brief, decide which of those the seat must fix first.
A company with no product yet needs a different CTO from one whose platform falls over under load.
The level, not the title
The title covers everyone from a lead engineer at a seed-stage company to an executive who has run technology for a board.
The SFIA framework describes its highest level of responsibility as one that "determines overall organisational vision and strategy, and assumes accountability for overall success".
Before you hire a chief technology officer, decide which level your seat needs, then ask candidates for decisions they owned at that level, not the systems they worked near.
Duties that come with a board seat
If the CTO joins the board, the seven general duties of a company director under the Companies Act 2006 come with the seat.
Companies House notes they also apply to someone who acts as a director without being formally appointed.
Boards are expected to oversee cyber risk, and the CTO is often the person who briefs them on it.
The NCSC's Cyber Security Toolkit for Boards sets out the questions a board should be asking.
02/ scope
How to hire a CTO: the steps
1. Write the brief around the technology problem
Set out what the CTO will own, what they inherit (team, code, suppliers, technical debt) and what stays with the CEO or the product lead.
Then say what should be different after twelve months.
Turn that into a CTO job description before anyone is approached.
Founders who search "how to hire ctos" usually find the brief is the step they skipped.
2. Choose the route
Permanent, fractional, interim or part-time: the section below sets out which fits which situation.
Decide this before you set a budget, because the cost basis differs.
Most advice on how to hire a CTO starts with the advert.
Start with the route instead, because it decides who you approach and what you pay.
3. Search, then test on your own systems
An advert that says "hire CTO" or "hire chief technology officer" mostly reaches people already on the move.
Many strong technology leaders are in post, so someone has to approach them; a CTO headhunter does that for a permanent seat.
Give every candidate the same tasks: review a piece of your architecture, find the biggest risk in it, and set out what they would do in the first ninety days.
Score the answers against criteria agreed in advance, with a panel rather than one interviewer.
Acas notes there is no set recruitment process in law, but employers must follow a fair one, with discrimination and data protection law applying throughout.
4. Check credentials and directorships
Technology leadership has no single licensing body, so check what the candidate claims.
The BCS Register of Technology Professionals lets you verify a listed member's grade and registrations such as CITP; listing is optional, so absence proves nothing.
Search past directorships and disqualified directors on the Companies House register before the offer.
Take references yourself from a CEO and an engineer who reported to the candidate.
What we do on a brief
We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
Every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.
03/ comparison
Permanent, fractional, interim or part-time CTO?
Four ways to fill the seat. Choose by how much of the week the work needs, and for how long.
04/ vetting
How we vet CTOs
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify CTO tenure, sector context and stage fit.
SOURCING - 02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — stage, board dynamics, timing.
MATCHING - 03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent past clients — real outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY - 04
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5
05/ hire a CTO for a startup
Hire a CTO for a startup: what changes
To hire a CTO for a startup, decide first whether you want a co-founder or an employee.
A co-founder usually takes more equity and less salary and builds from nothing; a hired CTO joins something that already exists.
A search for "hire CTO for startup" turns up both, so say in the brief which you mean.
At seed stage the job is mostly hands-on: choosing the stack, writing code, and making the first engineering hires.
Equity matters more at a startup than anywhere else.
HMRC's Enterprise Management Incentives rules require the option holder to be an employee working at least 25 hours a week for the company, or 75% of their working time, so a contractor through their own company does not qualify.
Founders who search "hire remote CTO" should agree in the brief which days, if any, are in person, and how decisions get made across time zones.
If the company is raising, a part-week leader can prepare the technical story investors will test; to go that way, hire a fractional CTO.
Before a round or a sale, technology due diligence shows what a buyer or investor will find.
06/ permanent, fractional or interim CTO
Permanent, fractional or interim CTO: which route
Permanent, fractional or interim CTO is the first decision, and it turns on two questions: how much of the week the work needs, and for how long.
A CTO for hire on a day rate suits a defined job; a permanent CTO suits a seat that needs an owner for years.
Robert Half’s 2026 salary guide puts a CTO at £120,000 to £201,500, with a median of £160,500.
Employer National Insurance adds 15% above £5,000 a year (HMRC, 2026/27).
A fractional CTO works agreed days a week; Connectd, a marketplace for fractional executives, publishes a band of £900–£1,600 a day.
See fractional CTO cost for day rates and retainers.
An interim CTO works full-time for a fixed term; Exec Capital, a recruiter, publishes £800–£1,800 a day.
People who search "ctos for hire" are usually looking for one of these two routes.
Part-time CTO jobs suit a smaller, steadier engineering function.
Private equity owners often need technology leadership for a fixed stretch.
The BVCA describes private equity as an active ownership model in which the investor works with management to drive operational improvements, IT infrastructure among them.
So the brief behind "hire temporary CTO for PE-backed" businesses, "hire temporary CTO for PE firms" and "hire temporary CTO for portfolio companies" is usually the same: a platform fixed, a carve-out separated, or a sale prepared, by a date.
That is the interim route; see interim CTO jobs for how the brief and the board work.
If the CTO works through their own company, the off-payroll working rules (IR35) may apply.
Status depends on how the engagement runs in practice, and a medium or large client makes the determination; our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
07/ questions
Hire a CTO FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a CTO.
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Bring the brief. We architect the team.
A shortlist of 3–5 with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.
