Part-time CTO services · UK
Hire a part-time CTO for your startup
A part-time CTO is a senior technology leader on a fixed share of your week: employed on a pro-rata contract, or engaged on a day rate through their own company.
We scope the seat with you in fifteen minutes and come back with a shortlist of three to five part-time CTOs, each with day rate or pay, availability and IR35 position set out.
- Shortlist of 3–5
- Pay or day rate, availability and IR35 on each
- Published UK rate bands
- A fixed share of the week
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
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to scope the role
Tell us the situation, the days and the start date. We come back with part-time CTO candidates, their day rates and availability.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We scope the days and the pattern
- 03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
- 04Fractional, interim, part-time and permanent briefs
Pick a day that suits · live availability
On the board · last 3 months
Part-time CTO and CIO roles on the board
No Part-time CTO and CIO roles on the board right now.
We only show real vacancies from the last three months, read from the Fractional Quest pipeline — we never pad the board. New roles appear here as the pipeline finds them.
Looking? Build your repo once on Fractional Quest and every role on the board is read against it.
Sign up now →01/ definition
What a part-time CTO actually does
A part-time CTO holds the technology seat on agreed days each week, for one company, for as long as the arrangement works.
The days are fixed in advance and the authority is real: they set the architecture, hire and lead engineers, and answer to the board for the technology plan.
A good one is judged on decisions made and written down, so the team can act on them on the days the CTO is not in.
STARTUP
Turns a founder’s plan into a product plan
Chooses the stack, decides what to build and what to buy, writes the first roadmap and hires the first engineers or the agency that bridges the gap. Founders without a technical co-founder usually start here.
Turns a founder’s plan into a product plan. Chooses the stack, decides what to build and what to buy, writes the first roadmap and hires the first engineers or the agency that bridges the gap. Founders without a technical co-founder usually start here.
Builds and leads the engineering team. Sets the hiring bar, runs interviews, defines how code is reviewed and shipped, and coaches a lead engineer to run the days the CTO is away.
Gets the technology ready for investors. Answers technical due diligence, documents architecture, security and IP ownership, and stands in front of investors as the person accountable for the platform.
Steadies a platform that is creaking. Outages, a rising cloud bill, security gaps, a codebase nobody wants to touch. The part-time CTO sets a recovery plan and the order of work, then holds the team to it.
Owns business systems and data as well as product. In many smaller companies the CTO also carries the CIO brief: internal IT, suppliers, data protection and cyber security. A part-time CIO does the same for a business whose technology is mostly bought rather than built.
02/ scope
What the part-time CTO owns
On part of the week, focus is everything.
Write down what sits with the CTO and what does not before the first day.
- The technology strategy and roadmap
- Architecture and build-or-buy decisions
- Engineering hiring, standards and team structure
- Security, data protection and resilience
- The technology budget and supplier contracts
- Technical due diligence and board reporting
- The plan for a full-time successor when one is needed
- Day-to-day sprint management (to a lead engineer)
- Hands-on coding on the critical path
- IT helpdesk and device administration
- Contract and IP drafting (to counsel)
- Detailed product discovery (to product)
03/ which model
Part-time, fractional or interim?
Set the slider to the days the technology seat needs and choose a term.
A fixed pattern of two or three days for one company is part-time; a CTO who splits the week across several clients is a fractional CTO; four or five days on a fixed term is an interim CTO.
The model that fits · CTO
Part-time
A fixed slice of the week on a set pattern — the same days each week, often on a part-time contract or a day-rate arrangement.
Book a call about a part-time CTO →Our framing, not a measured rule: the lines between the four models blur, and many briefs could run two ways.
04/ alternatives
Part-time CTO against the alternatives
Each option answers a different question: how much senior judgement you need, how often, and who sits on your side of the table.
→ Part-time while the company needs a CTO’s judgement more than a CTO’s hours; full-time once engineering needs leading every day.
05/ rates
Part-time CTO day rates
No source we can verify publishes a separate part-time CTO band, so we show the nearest published UK figures — fractional CTO and CIO day rates — each with its source named.
Type your own day rate to see where it sits.
- Part-time / fractional CTO£1,000–£1,600Leadership Services 2026
- Part-time / fractional CIO£800–£2,000Exec Capital 2026
Bands are as each source publishes them; permanent day equivalents are the salary band ÷ 220 working days, our arithmetic. Recruiter guides are named, not linked. Rates vary with sector, scope and location.
06/ calculator
What a part-time CTO costs
Model a part-time CTO at the days you need against a permanent Chief Technology Officer.
The slider runs across the published band for a part-time CTO: £1,000–£1,600 a day (Leadership Services 2026).
Cost over 12 months
£135,200
104 working days · 2 d/wk · 12 mo · before tax
Fractional costs less over 12 months£97,525
Part-time CTO, 12 months£135,200
Part-time CTO, a month at 2 d/wk£11,258
Permanent CTO, same period£232,725
Part-time CTO, 12 months$179,126
Part-time CTO, a month at 2 d/wk$14,916
Permanent CTO, same period$308,337
Converted from £ at $1.3249 per £1 (Bank of England spot rate), 2 Oct 2026. A conversion, not a US market rate. Source ↗
Part-time CTO, 12 months€158,806
Part-time CTO, a month at 2 d/wk€13,224
Permanent CTO, same period€273,359
Converted from £ at €1.1746 per £1 (Bank of England spot rate), 2 Oct 2026. A conversion, not a EU market rate. Source ↗
Our arithmetic, indicative. Permanent = the £160,500 Robert Half 2026 median salary pro rata for the same months, plus 15% employer NI, plus a 30% search fee on the annual base (UK retained search runs 25–35%, Headhunters.co.uk). Excludes pension, bonus and equity.
At 3.5 days a week a permanent hire costs less.
Our arithmetic. Permanent a month = the salary ÷ 12 plus 15% employer NI, plus the 30% search fee spread over 12 months — the calculator’s inputs. Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for each step.
07/ over two years
Part-time, interim or permanent over 24 months
The same seat three ways, at the days a week and day rate set in the calculator. Each crossover is computed, not typed.
- The part-time CTO at 2 days a week never passes permanent inside 24 months.
- Interim passes permanent at month 4.
Our arithmetic, cumulative. Permanent = the salary’s 30% search fee in month 0, then salary ÷ 12 plus 15% employer NI each month. Interim = the midpoint of the published interim band (£1,300 a day, Exec Capital 2026) × 5 days × 4.33 weeks. Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for each month.
Illustration only: one way a part-time CTO’s week can divide at 2 days a week for you. Each block is half a day.
08/ decision
When to hire a part-time CTO
Most part-time technology briefs start from one of four situations.
If one sounds familiar, the case for a senior leader on part of the week is strong.
Which sounds like you?
You need someone to choose the stack, scope the first version, hire or brief the first engineers and tell you plainly what not to build yet. Without that person, every agency quote looks equally plausible.
- → No technical co-founder
- → Agency quotes you cannot judge
- → Investors asking who owns the technology
A strong developer is running a growing team and the questions are now about hiring, process and architecture rather than code. A part-time CTO sets the frame and coaches the lead into the role.
- → Releases slipping
- → Hiring without a clear bar
- → Architecture decided by default
Investors and buyers will ask about architecture, security, scalability and who owns the code. A part-time CTO prepares the answers and stands behind them in the room.
- → Diligence on the calendar
- → Architecture and IP undocumented
- → Security questions with no owner
Systems, suppliers, data and cyber risk are spread across the business with no senior owner. That is often a part-time CIO brief: one leader who rationalises suppliers, sets security basics and reports to the board.
- → Many software contracts, no owner
- → Cyber insurance questions unanswered
- → Data protection handled ad hoc
09/ tax and IR35
How a part-time CTO is engaged
General position under UK rules, with the HMRC source for each point. Not tax advice — check your own case with your accountant.
01 · DEDUCTIBLE
Fees are a business expense
Fees, like a salary, are deductible against profits when incurred wholly and exclusively for the trade (HMRC BIM37000), with corporation tax at the 25% main rate.
02 · WHO DECIDES
Status turns on how the work runs
Medium and large clients make the off-payroll status determination themselves; for a small private-sector client, the executive’s own company does (HMRC off-payroll guidance).
03 · WHAT HMRC LOOKS AT
Substitution, control, mutuality
Whether a substitute could genuinely be sent, who decides how the work is done, and whether either side must offer or accept further work. HMRC’s CEST tool walks through the same questions.
04 · ON THE PAYROLL
A part-time employee is an employee
Hired on a part-time contract, the executive has the same rights as a comparable full-time worker, pro rata (gov.uk part-time worker rights), and you pay employer NI on their salary.
10/ guide
Hiring a part-time CTO: a practical guide
Most companies that look for a part-time CTO are not short of engineering effort.
They are short of a senior decision-maker who can look at the technology as a whole — what it costs, what it risks and what it will need in a year — and say so to the board.
That is the job to hire for, and it shapes everything else in the brief.
Decide first how the CTO will be engaged.
A part-time CTO can be employed on a pro-rata contract, with the protections set out in part-time workers’ rights, or engaged on a day rate through their own company.
Employment suits a long, settled arrangement; a day-rate engagement suits a seat whose shape may change.
On the day-rate route, a medium or large company makes the IR35 status determination itself — see HMRC’s off-payroll working guidance.
Status turns on how the work actually runs, not on the contract’s label.
Then fix the days.
A part-time CTO works best on a stable pattern, the same days each week, so the team can plan around them.
Agree in advance what happens when production breaks on a day they are not in: how they can be reached, who deputises, and what counts as an emergency.
Write the brief around outcomes for the next six to twelve months: a first release, an engineering hiring plan, a security baseline, an architecture ready for diligence.
On security, the NCSC’s small organisations guide is a sensible floor to ask every candidate about.
The outcomes tell you which profile you need — a builder, a team leader, a platform fixer, or a systems-and-data CIO.
On cost, compare like with like.
The bands above are published fractional CTO and CIO day rates, the nearest UK figures to part-time work; an employed part-time CTO costs a pro-rata share of a full-time salary plus employer costs.
The calculator runs both, and our part-time day rates page sets every seat side by side.
If the seat is really an occasional day of advice, a fractional CTO on a lighter arrangement may suit you better.
Finally, plan for growth.
Many part-time CTO arrangements end well because the company outgrows them: engineering needs a leader every day, and the part-time CTO helps hire a full-time successor or becomes one by agreement.
Say at the start whether that is a possibility.
We recruit part-time, fractional, interim and permanent technology leaders, so the next search can follow from this one — our part-time recruitment agency page explains how a search runs, and our parent company’s fractional recruitment agency covers the wider family.
10.1/ services
Part-time CTO services and what you are buying
Part-time CTO services are bought in two shapes.
Some companies want a named person on a fixed pattern, inside the team.
Others want a service — a technology review, a roadmap, a diligence pack — delivered by a senior CTO over a set period.
Both are legitimate.
The first is a hire; the second is a project, and it should have a scope and an end date.
Whichever you choose, ask who will do the work.
A service sold by a senior name and delivered by a junior team is not what most boards believe they have bought.
We put named people forward, each with day rate or pay, availability and IR35 position on the shortlist, and we take references ourselves.
What a part-time CTO service usually covers
A technology and architecture review, a security and resilience baseline, an engineering hiring plan, a roadmap the board can read, a review of cloud and supplier spend, and preparation for technical due diligence.
Finding part-time CTO services online
A search online returns consultancies, marketplaces, agencies and individuals side by side.
Judge each on the same three questions: who exactly is the person, what will they own, and how will you know it worked.
For portfolio arrangements, our parent company sets out how to hire a fractional CTO.
10.2/ startups
A part-time CTO for startups
A part-time CTO for a startup is usually the first senior technology hire, and often the only one for a while.
The job is part builder, part translator: turning a founder’s plan into a sequence of things to build, saying what can wait, and being the person investors ask about the platform.
Equity comes up early.
Some part-time CTOs take a lower salary or day rate plus options; others prefer cash.
Size any equity to the share of the week and the term you expect, put vesting in writing, and keep that conversation separate from whether they are the right person.
Plan the hand-over from the start.
If the startup succeeds, the seat becomes full-time, and a good part-time CTO hires the engineers who will outgrow them.
If your build involves genuine technical uncertainty it may qualify for relief — HMRC’s R&D relief guidance sets out what counts — so agree the record-keeping with your CTO and accountant early.
What to ask a startup CTO candidate
What they built at your stage, with what size of team, and what they would do differently.
What they would refuse to build in the first six months.
How they handle the days they are not in.
Then call the founder they last worked with.
10.3/ for technology leaders
Part-time CTO jobs and how to find them
Part-time CTO jobs are a small market and move quickly.
The board above reads the Fractional Quest pipeline daily; our parent site lists part-time CTO jobs alongside portfolio roles, and the wider part-time executive jobs board here covers every seat.
Hiring companies read three things first: your days and availability, your rate or salary expectation, and the situations you have led — first builds, scale-ups, rescues, diligence.
Keep them current, and say whether you would take an employed part-time contract, a day-rate engagement or either.
11/ process
How we run the search
What we undertake on every brief, run by Fractional Quest, our parent company.
- 01
Brief
A scoping call on the role, the days a week, the start date and what the part-time CTO must have delivered.
DAY 0 - 02
Search
We search and screen against that brief: track record at your stage, in your situation, and references we take ourselves.
SCREENING - 03
Shortlist
Three to five candidates, each with day rate or salary, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5 - 04
Start
You interview and choose. The executive you choose contracts with you.
YOU CHOOSE
12/ the family
Technology leadership across Fractional Quest
Part-Time Quest is part of Fractional Quest.
When the seat is portfolio, fixed-term or permanent, these pages cover it.
A CTO shared across a portfolio of clients: what it is and what it costs.
Fractional, interim, part-time and permanent executive search in one firm.
13/ questions
Questions, answered
For hiring managers, and for executives looking for the role.
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Start with the brief.
Fifteen minutes to scope the seat, the days and the start date.