A real CTO, for a short stretch.
You don't always need a CTO for the next five years. Sometimes you need one for the next five months. I take over your technology function as a short-term CTO, carry it through the gap or the deadline in front of you, and hand it back in better shape than I found it. Same role people call a temporary or interim CTO.
What is a short-term CTO?
A short-term CTO is a senior Chief Technology Officer who runs your technology full-time for a bounded stretch, usually a few months, instead of joining the payroll for good. You skip the six-month executive search. A proven operator is in the seat this week, making the calls a CTO makes, and the engagement ends when the job does.
If you've been searching for a temporary CTO or an interim CTO, you've found the same role under a different name. Whatever you call it, the ownership is total while I'm in it: strategy, delivery, the team, the board conversation.
Most of it is remote. I work with US companies from Eastern Time, so I overlap the whole country during the business day and there's nothing to relocate or stand up.
Also known as: temporary CTO, interim CTO, contract CTO, CTO for hire, stand-in CTO, short-term technology leadership.
When short-term is exactly right.
The problem is urgent and bounded. The hire shouldn't outlast it.
A gap to cover
Your CTO left, or the search for one is dragging. The team and the roadmap need a senior hand this week, and the board needs to know someone owns it.
A deadline to hit
A raise, a migration, a launch, an audit. Something with a date on it needs full-time senior ownership until it's behind you.
A decision to de-risk
You're not sure the company needs a permanent CTO yet. A short-term one gets the function in order and tells you honestly what the seat actually requires.
Take over. Deliver. Hand back.
Take over
- Assess delivery, team, risk and whatever is burning
- Steady the team, the board and the customers
- Keep shipping while I learn the terrain
Deliver
- Run the technology function full-time, hands-on
- Drive the gap, the deadline or the transition to done
- Bring AI-native practices in where they earn their keep
Hand back
- Help define and hire the permanent CTO if you need one
- Document architecture, decisions and the plan
- Leave the function stronger than I found it
A track record, not a pitch.
Short-term is a duration, not a level of commitment. While I'm in the seat, the function is mine to run and the outcome is mine to answer for.
What boards & founders ask.
Is a short-term CTO the same as a temporary or interim CTO?
Yes. Short-term, temporary, interim, contract: different words for one role. A senior CTO steps in full-time for a bounded period, owns the technology function completely, then hands off. Pick whichever word you like; the work is identical.
How short is short-term?
Usually a few months, sometimes a couple of quarters. The engagement is scoped to a problem: cover the gap, hit the deadline, land the transition. It ends when that's done, not on a date picked in advance.
How is this different from a fractional CTO?
Duration versus depth. A short-term CTO is full-time for a bounded period. A fractional CTO is part-time on an ongoing basis, typically a day or two a week. If you need someone in the seat every day right now, that's short-term. If you need senior judgment continuously over the long haul, that's fractional.
How quickly can you start?
Fast. Short-term mandates are urgent by nature, so I move quickly and give the role full-time attention from day one.
What happens when the engagement ends?
A clean handoff is part of the job. I help define and hire the permanent CTO if you want one, and I hand over the architecture, the decisions and the plan so whoever takes the seat next starts strong.
Related reading & paths.
What a short-term CTO costs
The pricing guide: it's the interim engagement, and it's priced the same way.
Fractional vs full-time vs interim
An honest breakdown of which kind of technology leadership your company actually needs right now.
Interim CTO
The same seat described from the transition side: cover the gap, carry the handoff.
Need a CTO for the
next few months?
If there's a gap to cover or a deadline coming, let's talk today.