Engineering leadership for the quarter you don't have a CTO. Application-only. Three-client cap. Project-based or quarterly retainer — no annual lock-in.
You're the Director of IT, VP Technology, or Head of Salesforce at a $5M–$100M nonprofit or data-intensive mid-market organization. Healthcare. Financial services. Education. Climate. You're already doing the work of a CTO. You don't have the title, the pay, or an engineering team to lead. You report to a non-technical CEO or Executive Director who keeps saying "what's our digital transformation strategy" with the same expression their board uses.
Senior architecture decisions are sitting unmade. Data Cloud yes or no. Multi-org consolidation now or after the next reorg. NPSP-to-Nonprofit-Cloud uplift this fiscal year or next. The 18-month CTO search isn't a real option. The existing fractional CTOs you've talked to all want $25K/month retainers and a year commitment. Your board wants a strategy, not a sales pitch.
The Compliance-Burned CDO from your sister nonprofit is reading the same blog posts. The Multi-Org Ops Lead at the wealth-management firm in your portfolio company is going through the same exercise. The problem isn't unique. The shape of the answer is.
The right shape depends on what's actually broken — not on what a SaaS billing model wants.
Project-based. Six to ten weeks. We do a full org audit (200 checks across 14 Salesforce clouds), turn the findings into a 90-day cleanup plan, hand it to your team. You decide whether the next conversation is a hire, a retainer, or "thanks, we've got it."
Right when: board needs a credible technology strategy and there's no internal owner yet. Cross-link: Audit Suite →
One quarter. Month 1 triage, Month 2 foundation, Month 3 build. Hands-on engineering and technology leadership, not advisory. You get the security audit, the broken integrations rebuilt, the reports your board has been asking for, and a written hand-off to your team.
Right when: a deadline is real (grant report, audit, CRM renewal, migration window) and you need a builder, not a deck.
Quarterly cadence with monthly check gates. The CTO role you don't have, sized to what you actually need. Strategy and execution, the same person doing both. Three-client cap means you get real attention, not a junior associate.
Right when: the organization is past the audit stage but isn't ready (or able) to hire a full-time CTO. Project-based or retainer — scope determines pricing.
The patterns are the same; the labels are different.
Most fractional CTO engagements expose a downstream project. Three of the most common:
The same person doing the CTO work scopes the follow-on. No hand-off to a sales team. No referral kickback. One throat to choke.
Application-only. I read every one personally and respond within 48 hours. Three-client cap means the answer is sometimes "not yet" — if so, I'll tell you why.