# Fractional CTO Services Source: https://ordergroup.co/services/consulting-discovery/fractional-cto/ Last updated: 2026-10-23 > Fractional CTO services from Order Group: our CTO and a Project Tech Leader take the technical lead in a project our team builds. Start with a free workshop. # Fractional CTO services A fractional CTO is a technical leader who works with a company part time and sets its technical direction. At Order Group, our CTO and a Project Tech Leader take that role in a project our own team builds. For Mudita, our CTO wrote the technical requirements himself. [Book a free consultation](https://ordergroup.co/contact-us/) ![Team of engineers working together at laptops in an office (Unsplash free license)](https://ordergroup.co/media/images/photo-1519389950473-47ba0277781c.format-webp.width-1600.webp) Projects **160+** Delivered since 2013 Industries **15+** Industries we have delivered in Clutch **5.0** On Clutch from 18 verified reviews Answer time **48h** To answer your message on working days ![Stakeholders aligning on a board (Unsplash, Paymo)](https://ordergroup.co/media/images/stakeholders_16x9.format-webp.width-2880.webp) ## What is a fractional CTO, and how does it differ from CTO as a service and a full-time CTO? A fractional CTO works with your company part time, CTO as a service delivers the same role through a company, and a full-time CTO is employed inside it. The executive who owns a company's technology can take one of three forms: - **Fractional CTO:** an experienced technical leader who works with your company part time. They set the technical direction, decide on the architecture and guide the engineers, but they are not a full-time employee. - **CTO as a service:** the same role delivered by a company instead of by one person. - **Full-time CTO:** a technical leader employed inside your company. Startups and scale-ups without a technical leader look at the first two when a full-time hire is not the right step yet. These are the definitions the market uses. Our model is the second one: Order Group delivers the role as a company. Our CTO and a Project Tech Leader take it in a project our own team builds, so the person who sets the architecture works next to the engineers who write the code. ## When a company needs a CTO A company needs a CTO when technical decisions start to shape the business and nobody owns them. You can see it in a few places: - A product has to be built, and its architecture is still open. - Estimates arrive, and the business side cannot verify them. - Technical risks live in people's heads instead of in the plan. - The team writes code without agreed standards or a review process. - Decisions about technical solutions stall because nobody has the last word. Each of these is a duty of the role, and in our projects the Project Tech Leader holds them. ![Developer's laptop with source code on screen (Unsplash)](https://ordergroup.co/media/images/photo-1555066931-4365d14bab8cfmj.format-webp.width-2880.webp) ## What our CTO and Project Tech Leaders take responsibility for ### Architecture Proposes technical solutions that fit your business goals. ### Technical requirements Turns your functional and non-functional requirements into technical ones. Our CTO can also write them himself. ### Standards and code review Sets the code standards and runs the code review process. ### Estimates and risks Verifies the estimates and identifies technical risks along with their impact on the project. ### Meetings and decisions Joins the meetings with you and decides on technical solutions. When opinions differ, the Project Tech Leader has the last word. If the project lacks a technical skill, the Project Tech Leader can propose a change in the team's composition. ### Documentation and closing Keeps the technical documentation and completes a technical checklist when the project closes. ## How an engagement starts and runs The entry point is a free discovery workshop, run by the engineers who later build the product. It ends with a brief, a budget and a technical plan, which covers the MVP scope, a roadmap and an estimate of cost, time and team composition. You can read more on the page about our [consulting and discovery services](https://ordergroup.co/services/consulting-discovery/) and on the [discovery workshop](https://ordergroup.co/services/consulting-discovery/product-workshops/). Skyfri shows what the start looks like. The collaboration opened with a Technical Feasibility Study in November 2023: market analysis, a feasibility study and a technical specification. Architecture and the implementation of the [energy management system](https://ordergroup.co/glossary/ems/) followed, and the solution went into production in June 2024. During the build we work in your tools if you prefer. At Skyfri that means MS Teams, Slack and the client's Jira. At KYOTO it was Slack and the client's Jira. You get a monthly report of the time worked. Sprints, reviews and demos are described on the [how we work](https://ordergroup.co/company/about-us/our-approach/) page. ![Network patch panel with blue and grey Ethernet cables in a server rack](https://ordergroup.co/media/images/photo-1544197150-b99a580bb7a8w24.format-webp.width-2880.webp) ## Proof: Skyfri, KYOTO and Mudita Three projects show the technical role in practice: - Skyfri. Architecture: a new IoT system based on Azure IoT Hub and Edge, built with React, Python asyncIO and Databricks. The energy management system (EMS) steers 7 plants with more than 5 MWh of storage and more than 4 MW of battery power. Read the [Skyfri case study](https://ordergroup.co/case-studies/skyfri-solar-asset-management-platform/); it sits in our [energy software hub](https://ordergroup.co/energy-hub/). - KYOTO (Norway). Product development ran from January to December 2024. It was billed in time and material and run in Scrum. The scope covered cloud infrastructure in AWS, a planning and simulation platform, a [battery management system](https://ordergroup.co/glossary/bms/) and SCADA ([supervisory control and data acquisition](https://ordergroup.co/glossary/scada/)) dashboards. Maciej Sułek, Co-founder & CTO, was the Project Tech Leader. Read the [KYOTO case study](https://ordergroup.co/case-studies/kyoto-digital-twin-software/). - Mudita. An app store for the Mudita Kompakt phone and a platform for over-the-air (OTA) updates of Mudita phones. Maciej Sułek has been the Project Tech Leader since July 2022 and prepared the technical requirements himself. Case studies ## Technical leadership in practice: Skyfri and KYOTO [Show all Case Studies](https://ordergroup.co/case-studies/) - [Skyfri - Solar & Battery Asset Management Platform](https://ordergroup.co/case-studies/skyfri-solar-asset-management-platform/) [![Skyfri - Solar & Battery Asset Management Platform](https://ordergroup.co/media/images/skyfri_peak_shaving_dashboard_la.format-webp.width-1280.webp)](https://ordergroup.co/case-studies/skyfri-solar-asset-management-platform/) - [KYOTO - Industrial IoT & Digital Twin for Thermal Energy Storage](https://ordergroup.co/case-studies/kyoto-digital-twin-software/) Order Group is supportive and flexible, delivering high-quality results. ![Gustavo Zaera Holo](https://ordergroup.co/media/images/Gustavo-Zaera-Holo_9Y8guxg.2e16d0ba.fill-140x140.format-webp.webp) Gustavo Zaera Holo [Chief Product Officer at Kyoto Group AS](https://www.linkedin.com/in/gzaera/) [](https://www.linkedin.com/in/gzaera/) [![KYOTO - Industrial IoT & Digital Twin for Thermal Energy Storage](https://ordergroup.co/media/images/KYOTO.format-webp.width-1280.webp)](https://ordergroup.co/case-studies/kyoto-digital-twin-software/) ![Long-term platform support team (Unsplash)](https://ordergroup.co/media/images/photo-1551434678-e076c223a692fmj.format-webp.width-2880.webp) ## Who plays the CTO role, and why teams build with us The CTO role is played by Maciej Sułek, our Co-founder & CTO, together with the Project Tech Leader of each project. Maciej co-founded Order Group in 2013 and in the first years of the company led projects as a tech lead. You can read his profile on the [expert page](https://ordergroup.co/experts/maciej-sulek/). Our CTO appoints the Project Tech Leader of each project in agreement with the heads of the frontend and backend teams. That person takes part in the meetings with you and works next to the engineers who run the discovery workshop and build the product afterwards. Order Group is a software house from Warsaw (Chmielna 25, 00-021 Warsaw). Since 2013 we have delivered 160+ projects in 15+ industries, and clients rate us 5.0/5 on Clutch, based on 18 verified reviews. ## Cost and how to start We bill in time and material by default, which means you pay for the time actually worked. A fixed price is possible when the scope is closed. The size of the project sets the cost, so we estimate it with you in the free [discovery workshop](https://ordergroup.co/services/consulting-discovery/product-workshops/). You can also write through the [contact form](https://ordergroup.co/contact-us/) and get an answer within 48 hours on working days. Related services: [custom software](https://ordergroup.co/services/software-development/custom-software-development/), [cloud platforms](https://ordergroup.co/services/platform-cloud-engineering/) and the [nearshore model](https://ordergroup.co/services/nearshore-software-development/). ## Fractional CTO services: frequently asked questions ![Business meeting in a glass-walled conference room](https://ordergroup.co/media/images/tumbnail_services_consulting_discovery_1x_P.format-webp.webp) ### Tell us about your product and the technical lead you need. [Book a free consultation](https://ordergroup.co/contact-us/) ### What is a fractional CTO? A fractional CTO is a technical leader who works with a company part time and sets its technical direction. We deliver the role through our own team: our CTO and a Project Tech Leader take it in a project we build, from architecture and technical requirements to code standards, estimates and risks. ### What is the difference between a fractional CTO and CTO as a service? A fractional CTO is one person working part time. CTO as a service is the same role delivered by a company instead of one person. A full-time CTO is employed inside your company. We deliver the role as a company: our CTO and Project Tech Leaders work in projects our team builds. ### When does a company need a fractional CTO? A company needs a CTO when technical decisions start to shape the business and nobody owns them: the architecture, the estimates, the technical risks or the code standards. In our model, the role starts at the free discovery workshop and continues through the build. ### What does your CTO or Project Tech Leader take responsibility for? Architecture, technical requirements, code standards and review, the verification of estimates, technical risks, technical documentation and decisions about technical solutions. When opinions differ, the Project Tech Leader has the last word. ### How does an engagement start? It starts with a free discovery workshop, run by the engineers who later build the product, and it ends with a brief, a budget and a technical plan. At Skyfri, the collaboration opened with a Technical Feasibility Study in November 2023, followed by architecture and implementation. ### Who plays the CTO role in your projects? Every project has a Project Tech Leader, appointed by our CTO together with the heads of the frontend and backend teams. Maciej Sułek, Co-founder & CTO, was the Project Tech Leader in KYOTO in 2024 and has been the Project Tech Leader in Mudita since July 2022. ### How is the work billed, and how do we start? We bill in time and material by default, so you pay for the time actually worked, and a fixed price is possible when the scope is closed. Start with the free discovery workshop, or write through the contact form and get an answer within 48 hours on working days. ### Can the CTO work in our tools and our Scrum process? Yes. At Skyfri we work in MS Teams, Slack and the client's Jira, and at KYOTO we worked in Slack and the client's Jira, in Scrum. You get a monthly report of the time worked. Free workshop ## Start with a free discovery workshop We define the MVP scope, a roadmap and an estimate of cost, time and team composition. [Book a discovery workshop](https://ordergroup.co/services/consulting-discovery/product-workshops/) ![Two Order Group team members talking at a table during a meeting](https://ordergroup.co/media/images/settingstage.2e16d0ba.format-webp.fill-2880x1620.webp) ![Developer with headphones coding at desktop monitor in an open office](https://ordergroup.co/media/images/Image_1_3kejLC8_Y69T2Sz.format-webp.width-2880.webp) ## Tell us who leads the technology today Your message goes to ![Filip Szamborski](https://ordergroup.co/media/images/Filip_dTWHyBo.2e16d0ba.fill-432x432.format-webp.webp) Filip Szamborski Co-founder & CEO [](https://www.linkedin.com/in/filip-szamborski/) SO FAR WE HAVE WORKED WITH BRANDS LIKE: - ![AASA24](https://ordergroup.co/media/images/aasa24-mono.max-208x64.format-webp.webp) - [![AP-Tech](https://ordergroup.co/media/images/ap-tech-mono_ihuJP5T_6b2rSSb.max-208x64.format-webp.webp)](https://ordergroup.co/case-studies/monster-airport-lighting-system/) - ![Avafin](https://ordergroup.co/media/images/avafin-mono.max-208x64.format-webp.webp) - [![BizBot](https://ordergroup.co/media/images/bizbot-mono_StdJIUN.max-208x64.format-webp.webp)](https://ordergroup.co/case-studies/bizbot-fintech-ux-design/) - [![Enerace](https://ordergroup.co/media/images/enerace-mono_FKuME1X_Fp3WF4B.max-208x64.format-webp.webp)](https://ordergroup.co/case-studies/enerace-energy-trading-software/) Thank you for your message. 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