Fractional CTO · Design Agencies
Fractional CTO
for Design Agencies
Technical leadership for agencies where the gap between great design and great delivery costs clients.
Design agencies deliver outstanding UX and visual work — then hand it to a development partner who builds it differently. The handoff breaks the design. The build doesn't perform as expected. The client comes back to the agency, not the dev partner. A fractional CTO bridges the gap between design intent and engineering reality.
Where I help most
The problems design agencies hire a fractional CTO to solve.
Design-to-development handoffs
Figma files don't survive contact with a dev team without technical specification, component standards, and build review. A fractional CTO owns the handoff process — from design system definition through to frontend quality standards.
Platform and CMS selection
Clients ask which platform to build on. Webflow, Framer, headless CMS, custom build. The answer depends on performance requirements, content team capability, and long-term ownership. It's a technical decision that has to be right from the start.
Building a product arm
Design agencies that want to move into product builds need a different team structure, different architecture decisions, and a different engagement model. A fractional CTO maps that transition before you commit to it.
Background
26 years building and leading digital at agency level.
My career has been at the intersection of design and engineering — AKQA, Critical Mass — where design and technology teams worked in tight integration. I've seen what that relationship produces when it works, and what it costs when it breaks down.
Full background →How I work with agencies
Fractional CTO Retainer
Ongoing technical leadership — strategy, architecture, team oversight — typically 2–4 days per week.
Fixed-Scope Project
Tech audits, architecture reviews, and specific deliverables with a defined timeline and fixed price.
AI Development Workshop
Two-day in-person workshop where your team builds AI agents for your development lifecycle.
Technical Due Diligence
Independent assessment of a codebase, team, or platform — for investors, acquirers, or founders.
Ready to talk?
Book a free 30-minute discovery call. We'll talk through your agency's technical situation and I'll tell you honestly whether I can help.