Part-time CTO
Part-time CTO for founders and boards
A part-time CTO is an experienced chief technology officer engaged for an agreed number of days a month instead of a full-time salary. Part-time CTO, fractional CTO and virtual CTO describe the same arrangement, and none of the three titles is defined in law. What you are buying is named accountability for technical decisions: architecture, delivery, suppliers, hiring and spend, sized to the stage the business is at.
I am Timothy Ng. I have run technology functions as a CTO and a COO for over twenty years, and Scryla has been taking these engagements for over a decade, across the UK, the US and South East Asia.
The role
What a part-time CTO actually covers
The part-time element is the calendar, not the mandate. The arrangement only works when it is clear what the person decides and what they merely recommend, which is why I put that in the engagement letter rather than leaving it to be discovered.
Decisions, owned rather than advised on
Rebuild against refactor, build against buy, which platform, which supplier, which hire first. The call is made and written down, with the reasoning attached so the board can see it later.
Delivery that can be verified
What the team or the agency promised, read against what actually shipped. Founders and boards get a plain read rather than a status narrated by the people doing the work.
The team and the hiring plan
Sizing the team to the roadmap, coaching the technical leads already in post, and running the hiring so the capability stays in the business after I step back.
Suppliers, spend and risk
Contracts, cloud and licence spend, security and resilience exposure, and the questions an investor or an enterprise customer will eventually ask.
The full service detail, including audits, technology strategy, delivery assurance and coaching, sits on Fractional CTO .
When it makes sense
Five situations that usually bring founders here
- The technical decisions are already executive level, but the headcount is not yet.
- A development agency or offshore team is being paid on trust, with nobody senior reading what they shipped.
- Delivery dates keep moving and nobody can explain why in terms the board can check.
- A capable engineering lead is being asked to make calls the role was never sized for, and would benefit from a peer to think them through with.
- An investor, insurer or enterprise customer has asked technical questions nobody in the business can answer.
If it is the first senior technology hire you are weighing up rather than a part-time arrangement, When to hire your first CTO is the more useful page.
Shape of the work
How the arrangement is sized
Advisory
1 to 4 days a month
A standing slot, availability between visits, and the decisions that cannot wait for the next board meeting.
Team to run
1 to 2 days a week
Where there is an in-house or outsourced team whose delivery, hiring and supplier decisions need carrying week to week.
Remote and on site
Remote first
UK on-site days from Manchester, with London straightforward. Outside the UK the work is remote unless travel is costed into the engagement.
These are the shapes my own engagements take rather than an industry standard. The step-by-step version, including the questions to ask a candidate and what belongs in the engagement letter, is in How to hire a fractional CTO .
Cost
What a part-time CTO costs
UK providers advertise day rates from roughly £600 to £2,500, with most of the market between £1,000 and £1,600. Those figures are taken from rates providers publish, checked on 25 August 2026, and each one is listed with its source on What a fractional CTO costs . I quote against the scope we agree after a first conversation rather than against a rate card.
What clients have said
“Engaging Tim as an advisor was one of the best decisions we made for our company. Tim brings a wealth of experience, knowledge and a fresh perspective to the boardroom. He has helped us to make better strategic decisions, improved our governance and brought valuable connections to the table.”
“Tim is results driven with all his endeavours, focused on the delivery of on-time solutions to the benefit of the business, an assured change manager who incorporates business change and technology to maximum effect. Tim also excels at closing the communication gap between less technical senior managers and the hands-on development team.”
More of them, in full, on Client feedback , and the engagements behind them on Case studies .
Questions
Common questions
- Is a part-time CTO the same as a fractional CTO?
- In practice, yes. Part-time CTO, fractional CTO and virtual CTO describe the same arrangement: an experienced technology executive engaged for an agreed slice of the month rather than a full-time salary. Virtual CTO tends to be used where the work is entirely remote. None of the three titles is defined in law, so the label tells you nothing until you ask what the person is accountable for.
- How many days a month does a part-time CTO work?
- It depends on what is being carried. In my own engagements the advisory end runs at one to four days a month, and one to two days a week where there is a team to run. Buying the smaller number first and raising it when the work proves it is needed is usually the safer order.
- What does a part-time CTO cost?
- UK providers advertise day rates from roughly £600 to £2,500, with most of the market between £1,000 and £1,600, checked on 25 August 2026. I quote against the scope we agree after a first conversation rather than publishing a rate card, because a day of diligence and a standing monthly seat are different commitments.
- Is a part-time CTO a director of the company?
- Not by default. Section 250 of the Companies Act 2006 defines a director as any person occupying the position of director, by whatever name called, so the question is what the person actually does, not what the title says. A part-time CTO normally sits inside the executive line and is not appointed to the board. Board-level scrutiny is a separate arrangement.
- How is this different from hiring a development agency?
- An agency sells build capacity and has a commercial interest in the size of the build. A part-time CTO has no stake in the answer and is there to hold that supplier to what they promised. The two work together; they are not substitutes.
- How does the arrangement end?
- It should be written down before it starts: notice on both sides, and what is handed over on exit. A good engagement leaves behind written decisions, a plan the board can verify and stronger technical leads, so the arrangement can wind down rather than become permanent by accident.
Enquiry
Tell me what is stalling
Say what has stalled and who owns it today. A first conversation is free and there is no pitch at the end of it. If a part-time arrangement is not the right answer I will say so.
Send me a note
Sources and review
Day counts and engagement shapes on this page are stated as my own experience, not as an industry standard. Day rates are advertised UK provider rates, checked on 25 August 2026 and listed with their sources on What a fractional CTO costs . The point about directorship comes from the Companies Act 2006, section 250.
Last reviewed:
Not sure how many days you need?
Describe the decision that is stalling and who owns it today. I will tell you plainly whether this is a part-time arrangement, a different role, or nothing yet.