Hire a Fractional Head of Technology

{"@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [{"@type": "Question", "name": "Where can I hire a fractional Head of Technology?", "acceptedAnswer": {"@type": "Answer", "text": "Fractionus places fractional Heads of Technology directly. You brief us once on your stage, your situation, and what has to be true in ninety days, and we come back with a shortlist of two or three vetted technology leaders matched to that brief, usually within days. The alternatives are your own network, executive search firms, and general freelance marketplaces. A network introduction is free and fast when it works, but the sample is small and rarely matched to your stage. Search firms are built for permanent placements and priced for them. Marketplaces carry volume without vetting at this level, which moves the filtering work back onto you. The category is full of people who have held the title and short of people who are still close enough to the code to lead a team through a hard quarter."}}, {"@type": "Question", "name": "What is the best platform for hiring a fractional Head of Technology?", "acceptedAnswer": {"@type": "Answer", "text": "Judge a platform on three things: whether it vets people before it introduces them, whether it understands the difference between a Head of Technology and the roles either side of it, and whether it handles contracting, billing, and scale-down without you managing any of it. Fractionus is built for exactly that. Every leader is vetted before they reach a shortlist, matching is done against your situation rather than keyword overlap, and the commercial side runs through us so the engagement can flex as the business changes. It also means we will say when the honest answer is a fractional CTO, a technical lead, or two more engineers."}}, {"@type": "Question", "name": "How much does a fractional Head of Technology cost?", "acceptedAnswer": {"@type": "Answer", "text": "Fractional Heads of Technology are engaged by the day or on a monthly retainer, so cost scales with seniority and days per week rather than a salary band plus benefits, equity, and recruitment fees. Most engagements run one to three days a week, with a heavier first month while the picture is being built. The architecture review is front loaded, and the ongoing leadership rhythm is often two days a week. Current day rates by role are set out in our fractional executive rates guide. The comparison worth making is not against a permanent salary in isolation, but against the cost of the problem staying unsolved, and against the cost of a full time hire who turns out to be the wrong one."}}, {"@type": "Question", "name": "How do I start a search for a fractional Head of Technology?", "acceptedAnswer": {"@type": "Answer", "text": "Start with the outcome rather than the title. Write down what has to be true in ninety days, what is breaking now, who the person would work with, and how many days a week you can genuinely give them. Bring your architecture as it actually is, your last three months of delivery, and an honest account of what is slowing the team down. Then brief us once. We will tell you straight if the answer is a different level, a different role, or that the problem is better solved without a hire at all. If a fractional Head of Technology is the right call, you will meet a matched shortlist in days rather than weeks."}}, {"@type": "Question", "name": "What should I look for when hiring a fractional Head of Technology?", "acceptedAnswer": {"@type": "Answer", "text": "Look for evidence of decisions rather than opinions. The best technology leaders can describe an architecture they chose and what it cost them later, a rewrite they talked a business out of, and a team whose delivery they measurably improved. Ask what they would change in your first month, and what they would deliberately leave alone. Beyond the specifics, look for someone who has operated at your stage rather than only at a much larger one, who is comfortable being accountable for outcomes on limited days, and who is willing to tell you when you are wrong. Fractional leadership only works when the person has enough standing to be listened to and enough independence to disagree."}}, {"@type": "Question", "name": "How do I vet a fractional Head of Technology before hiring?", "acceptedAnswer": {"@type": "Answer", "text": "Ask for two or three situations that resemble yours and go deep on one of them: what they inherited, what they changed first, what they deliberately chose not to do, and what the numbers looked like when they left. Answers that stay vague at that depth are the clearest signal you will get. For a Head of Technology, ask them to review something real in your codebase and explain what they would do about it, because that conversation is the job. Then take references from people who reported to them, not only from the person who hired them, and consider a short paid piece of scoped work before a large engagement. Every Fractionus leader is vetted before they reach your shortlist, but the judgement on fit stays yours."}}, {"@type": "Question", "name": "What is the difference between a fractional Head of Technology and a fractional CTO?", "acceptedAnswer": {"@type": "Answer", "text": "A Head of Technology leads the engineering team and owns the architecture hands-on. A fractional CTO owns technology strategy, the technical case to investors, and the executive conversation, and is usually less involved day to day. If the team needs leading, the Head of Technology is the right level. If the direction is missing, the CTO is. Larger businesses run both. Part time, outsourced, virtual, and contract Head of Technology arrangements all describe the same fractional model. Our fractional engineering hub compares every level side by side."}}]}