Fractional CTO · E-commerce Agencies
Fractional CTO
for E-commerce Agencies
Technical leadership for agencies where platform decisions have direct revenue consequences.
E-commerce agencies build the platforms that clients' revenue depends on. Performance, reliability, and scalability aren't differentiators — they're baseline requirements. And the move to headless commerce, composable architecture, and AI-driven personalisation is accelerating faster than most agency tech practices can keep up with. A fractional CTO brings the architectural experience to make those decisions well — before they become expensive to fix.
Where I help most
The problems e-commerce agencies hire a fractional CTO to solve.
Headless and composable architecture decisions
Clients are being sold headless commerce without understanding the long-term maintenance cost. A fractional CTO evaluates the real trade-offs — performance gains, build complexity, ongoing ownership — before you commit to an architecture you'll be living with for years.
Platform selection
Shopify Plus, Commercetools, VTEX, BigCommerce, custom builds. Each has a different cost profile, scalability ceiling, and developer ecosystem. Getting this wrong costs clients hundreds of thousands to fix — and costs you the relationship.
Peak traffic and reliability
Every e-commerce client has a peak period. Designing for Black Friday throughput, setting up load testing, and reviewing deployment pipelines before the sale — not after — is the kind of technical leadership that protects your most important client relationships.
Background
26 years building and leading digital at agency level.
I've led technical delivery on e-commerce builds across agency environments, evaluating platforms, running architecture reviews, and overseeing delivery teams on projects where performance directly drives client revenue.
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.