SERVICES
Maybe you're building software but nobody senior is checking if it's being done right. Maybe you're paying vendors but don't have anyone experienced enough to hold them accountable. Your engineers are busy but nobody's steering them. You're making technology decisions without anyone experienced enough to validate them. Or you know you need senior technical leadership but you're not ready for a full-time hire.
What a Fractional CTO does
I oversee how your software is being built and make sure it's being built properly. I catch what's wrong before it becomes expensive to fix.
I keep track of where technology is heading and make the calls on what's worth adopting. You don't chase every trend, and you don't fall behind the ones that matter.
I tell you which AI projects are worth doing and which ones are a distraction. Then I make sure the ones worth doing actually get built and delivered.
Including:
If you don't have engineers in-house, I bring mine. A 26-strong team across software, AI, cloud, and security, people I've worked with for years.
If you need people to build the AI initiatives we've identified, I bring a dedicated 10-strong AI engineering team.
Including:
I establish how engineering gets done inside your organisation: coding standards, review processes, documentation, testing.
Including:
I ensure technology decisions are made properly, documented, and traceable. Leadership teams get the visibility they need without being pulled into every technical detail.
Including:
Meet my team
When I take on an engagement as a fractional CTO, I can bring engineers with me who can build what we decide on.
Gaofeng operates at the strategic layer of product delivery: roadmap sequencing, stakeholder alignment, and the decision of what gets built versus what gets deferred. He has been the PM on projects where scope had drifted significantly from the original objective, and the job was as much about stopping work as directing it.
Saif works at the boundary between what the business needs and what the engineering team can deliver. He has held the Product Owner role in Salesforce implementations, custom SaaS builds, and enterprise platform projects — managing backlogs, writing acceptance criteria, and being the person engineers can actually get a decision from before the sprint ends.
Nikki manages how Halcrow's work and thinking reaches the market: case studies, guides, and the content that helps our clients recognise their delivery problems before they become expensive ones. Not client-facing in engagements, but she's the reason you found us.
Monk specialises in production-grade API and data infrastructure across AWS, Azure, and GCP. He's been the first engineer into projects where the offshore build was unmaintainable and the last one out once the system was stable and owned internally. Comfortable with legacy codebases, greenfield architecture, and everything in between.
Seb has been embedded as Product Owner on projects where the original PO was too removed from the daily build to keep the backlog accurate. He brings the commercial context engineers need to prioritise correctly and the technical literacy to write requirements that don't require three rounds of clarification before work starts.
Shuwen has eight years of experience shipping backend systems across fintech, logistics, and enterprise SaaS. Brought in when architectural decisions have been deferred too long and the technical debt is starting to determine the roadmap, she builds things that hold up — and documents them so they don't walk out the door when the engagement ends.
Dacheng builds production web and mobile interfaces across React, Vue, and React Native. He has delivered frontend codebases from scratch and inherited ones that needed significant remediation. He works directly with product and UX so the gap between what was designed and what gets built is closed before the demo, not after.
Min Song focuses on the parts of the frontend that determine whether users actually adopt what's been built: performance, accessibility, and the fidelity of the interaction model. She's been inside projects where technically complete software failed because the interface didn't match how real users work, and knows how to prevent it.
Shawn has designed across B2B SaaS, internal tooling, and consumer products. He's brought into projects where user requirements have been assumed rather than understood — and where the gap between what the spec said and what users actually needed is only discovered after months of build. He works directly with engineers so designs are tested against implementation reality, not just in Figma.
Lei Chen is embedded in teams that are working but not delivering predictably. He sets up and runs the ceremonies — standups, sprint planning, retrospectives, backlog refinement — until the team has the muscle memory to run them independently. He's reduced sprint velocity variance from over 40% to under 15% across multiple engagements by fixing the delivery structure, not the people.
Hongxiao works on the infrastructure and security layer that most projects underinvest in until something goes wrong. He's been embedded in teams where cloud architecture was set up fast and never properly revisited, and where security controls came too late in the build. He designs and implements infrastructure built to scale and secured from the ground up.
Vince has experience running delivery for teams that span in-house developers, offshore contractors, and client stakeholders simultaneously — the model where communication overhead is the primary cause of delay. He knows which ceremonies to run, which to cut, and how to create a delivery rhythm that holds under the pressure of real client deadlines.
Zhixiang builds the test coverage that projects skipped on the way to launch and are now paying for in production incidents. He's been embedded in projects mid-build to establish automated test suites, define acceptance criteria, and create the quality baseline that lets the team ship with confidence rather than hope.
Mingfei specialises in the point where a project is nearly complete but nobody can determine what "done" actually looks like. He brings a structured approach to acceptance testing, regression coverage, and release readiness that gives both engineers and product stakeholders a single honest answer about whether the software is ready to ship.
Yunfeng builds and operates the infrastructure layer that determines whether a product runs reliably in production or becomes a source of incidents. He has migrated legacy on-premise systems to cloud, established monitoring and alerting where there was none, and structured deployments so that shipping a release is a routine event rather than an all-hands exercise.
Le embeds in projects where testing has been an afterthought and where that's now showing up as bugs in production and releases that slip. He builds the test coverage and processes that should have been there from the start, working closely enough with developers that quality becomes part of how the team builds day to day.
Zhicheng builds backend systems that need to work reliably at scale, in production, under real load. He's been brought into projects where the architecture made sense early on but couldn't carry the weight of what the product became. He knows where the structural problems usually hide and how to fix them without pulling everything apart.
TESTIMONIALS
"Sam took the time to understand our business and knew all the tech we needed… He and his team acted as an extension of our team."
Rouad El-Ayoubi
Managing Director, Alliance Project Group
"Sam and his team operate as a trusted partner at every stage of delivery. They're pivotal in bringing engineering maturity to coordinate and execute large, complex projects."
Arun Prasad, Founder AIWhispr“Sam took the time to understand our business and knew all the tech we needed. It was a pleasure to work with him and his team as they acted as an extension of our team.”
Luke Schwigtenberg, Head of R&D Banktech"From the concept design meeting, Sam exceeded our expectations. He understood what our needs were, and his engineers worked quickly from brief to going live."
Rouad El-Ayoubi, CEO Alliance Project Group”Sam and his team's expertise, Ways of Working framework, and mastery of their craft truly set them apart. This is the beauty of partnering with them. We extend our technical capabilities seamlessly without the overhead of hiring in-house.”
Angela Bevitt-Parr, CMO AWS Australia"With a deep understanding of our business needs, Sam leads an efficient process in delivering quality outputs.”
Kelvin Kenney, CEO Bow Wow Meow"Working with Sam has been a turning point for our business. In addition to bringing structure to the development work, we also benefitted from his insight into emerging trends and technologies, as well as efficient and effective solutions."
Adrian Black, Founder Ticked Off“In a short period of time, Sam demonstrated an exceptional ability to align the right technical expertise with our specific needs.”
Tim Buric, CTO Agilyx“Sam guided us through the design and development process in a way we wouldn't be able to do on our own. We’re very happy to partner with him.”
Thomas Roper, Engineer Lendlease"I've worked with Sam and his team for over 4 years over multiple projects. Phenomenal.”
Andrew Raso, Group-CEO Online Marketing Gurus"Sam and his team are great. They built really cool tools for us, and we look forward to doing more together as partners.”
Matthew Freebury, Director FMCG Analytics“We spotted a market gap, and Sam helped us seize it quickly. His team built a product that gave us real advantage.”
Michael Soukie, Founder Scafflinq"Sam introduced remarkable insights, and his passion for world-class quality delivered wonderful results for the business.”
George Betsis, Founder Stickytape“Sam has a keen understanding of our company and our clients’ needs. His technical knowledge enables him to deploy solutions that continue to further our growth.”
Michael Kalucy, Managing Director Workhouse“Sam is everything we want in a fractional CTO. He understands our needs, works as if he owns the product, and comes up with innovative solutions quickly.”
Malaz Majanni, CEO OnePath Network“Sam's competency, attention to detail, and technical skills were impressive. What he built with us has been adding value to our business for over 5 years.”
Anastasia Lobanova, SAP Analyst Agrana Fruit“Sam took a concept and together with his team, turned it into a product we’re genuinely proud of. Their passion makes them a joy to work with.”
Trent Carney, Founder MyCanaryI spend a session inside your project: your project management systems, technology, and team. Then I personally write up 10 things I'd keep, 10 I'd stop, and 10 I'd start, with the reasoning.
I take on a few each month, for companies actively building.
The session is free.
Or call me on 🇦🇺 0431 197 004