Fractional CTO

At Minimal Viable Launch, we are looking for our Technical Integrator: the person who can take a vision, filter it into a practical technical plan, and ensure our developers beat the drum of consistent, high-quality delivery.

OUR VALUES

We move fast to help non-technical founders launch AI products. That speed is only possible because we live by these Radical Values:

Radical Ownership: You have permission to go and own projects and ideas. You will never be in trouble for trying and failing. But with that responsibility comes ownership. Own the failures, own the success. Don't ever let problems fester just because they aren't your responsibility.

Radical Candor: Disagreement is okay. Strong opinions, loosely held. We give constant feedback to each other and it's never personal. It is about levelling up the organisation and you. Seek feedback, then action it.

Life Long Learners: We are always learning. We share what we know and foster a driven learning culture. This enables us to continually level up our capabilities and inspires those around us to perform better. Learn it, then pass it on.

Delete Simplify Repeat: Any fool can make something complex; it takes a true genius to make something simple. We live by this. We constantly seek to delete parts and processes that don't add value. We simplify what remains. And we do it again and again.

Make People Love Working With You: Our customers are the lifeblood of our company. We go above and beyond for them because it is everyone's job to make our customers love working with us. Make it easy for them. Go the extra mile. Execute.

WHAT YOU'LL DO

As our Fractional CTO, your mission is clear: shield the CEO from technical noise and own the path from vision to execution. You will ensure that by the time a project reaches the CEO for sign-off, it is logic-perfect and 95% resolved. Through consistent LMA (Leading, Managing, and Accountability), you will provide the steady force our delivery team needs to scale, allowing our CEO and COO to remain fully in their Visionary and Integrator roles.

Act as the Technical Filter: You are the voice of reason between high-level vision and developer execution. You will translate wireframes into clear tactical plans, removing all ambiguity. By challenging developer logic and resolving hurdles through asynchronous feedback, you act as a sieve that eliminates technical friction before it can slow us down.

Lead & Scale the Developer Team: You own the Technical Leadership seat. You will provide LMA for our engineering resources, directly managing our Lead Developer while building our technical bench. As we grow, you will identify, vet, and onboard the freelance talent required to maintain our pace.

Own the Client Experience: You bridge the gap between complex technical logic and business clarity. For our non-technical founders, you are the expert guide. You will lead technical discussions, distilling dev-speak into simple, actionable insights that leave our clients feeling empowered and in control.

Guardian of Shipping Confidence: You are the final gatekeeper. You will design and enforce the pre-launch testing SOPs that ensure every release ships with absolute confidence. By managing a dedicated QA resource and catching issues before they reach the client, you eliminate organisational stress and protect our reputation for excellence.

WHO YOU ARE

The Technical Translator: You possess the rare ability to deconstruct complex technical logic into simple, actionable insights for our non-technical founder clients. You understand that where a developer sees architecture, a client sees ROI and project vision. You bridge that gap, ensuring our founders feel empowered and in control, never lost in the technical weeds.

The Profit-Driven Engineer: You treat our P&L (Profit and Loss) with the same reverence as a clean codebase. As the guardian of the Scope of Work (SOW), you understand that healthy friction is necessary to protect project margins, manage resources effectively, and maintain the company's financial health. You don't just build; you build profitably.

The Scaler: You are the operational heartbeat of our technical engine. Whether you are managing a high-stakes sprint or vetting a new freelancer, you beat the drum to ensure consistent, high-quality delivery. You are the force that will allow us to shatter our current scalability ceiling and level up the entire organisation.

NOT FOR YOU IF

• You want a purely advisory CTO role.
• You avoid client calls.
• You dislike delivery accountability / sprint ownership.
• You need lots of structure handed to you.

FIRST 30 DAYS OF SUCCESS

We want you to hit the ground running with total clarity. We have defined these specific milestones to help you claim the Technical Leadership seat and begin unblocking the business from day one.

Standardising the Engine: You will bring immediate discipline and repeatability to our delivery process. By establishing comprehensive Sprint Planning and QA SOPs, you will ensure our core processes are executed with 100% consistency. This eliminates the noise of uncertainty and ensures we ship every project with absolute confidence, preventing the complexity that stalls growth.

Owning the Rhythm: You will quickly establish yourself as the steady force behind our project lifecycle. By facilitating your first Project Kick-off and Client Demo, you will demonstrate your ability to bridge the gap between the technical team and the client's vision. In doing so, you will successfully shield the CEO from daily technical management, allowing them to remain fully in the Visionary role.

Building the Bench: Scaling requires the right people in the right seats. Within your first month, you will launch a recruitment pipeline for our next freelance developer, owning the entire technical vetting and interviewing process. By identifying and onboarding top-tier talent, you ensure MVL is prepared to shatter our current scalability ceiling and that all technical efforts are moving in a single, profitable direction.

IS THIS THE ROLE FOR YOU?

You've seen our mission, our Radical Values, and the impact you'll have in your first 30 days. If this resonates with how you want to work and lead, we want to hear from you.

Compensation: We value transparency and simplicity. We offer a fixed fee for initial scoping and architecture, followed by a retainer or day rate for ongoing sprint leadership. To align with our Delete. Simplify. Repeat. philosophy, we are open to a flat monthly retainer.

Do you have experience in Technical leadership?