Fractional Technical Director

Some organisations have a technology-shaped hole at the top of the business. Decisions keep landing on someone’s desk – which platform, which supplier, is this quote reasonable, why does the website keep doing that – and nobody in the room has the technical background to answer with confidence. So decisions get made slowly, or expensively, or on the supplier’s terms rather than yours.

You don’t necessarily need to hire a technical director. You might just need one for a few days a month.

What is a fractional technical director?

“Fractional” just means part-time and shared – the same senior person, the same accountability, a fraction of the time and a fraction of the cost. A fractional technical director joins your leadership conversations, owns your technology decisions with you, and gives you a technical brain that sits on YOUR side of the table.

Not a consultant who writes a report and disappears. Not an agency trying to sell you a build (more on that awkwardness below). Someone embedded enough to know your business, senior enough to challenge it, and around often enough that a “quick question” actually gets a quick answer.

What does a fractional technical director actually do?

Every engagement is shaped around the organisation, but the work tends to cluster:

• Owning the technology strategy – where the website, systems and tooling need to be in three years, and the realistic route there. Including, increasingly, “what should we actually be doing about AI?” – answered by someone who works with it daily, not from a headline.
• Supplier and quote wrangling – reading proposals, spotting the padding, asking the questions your suppliers hope nobody asks. One properly-challenged quote can pay for a year of this service.
• Sitting in the leadership room – board papers and technical updates in plain English, so technology stops being the agenda item everyone nods through.
• Being your team’s senior sounding board – your in-house people or existing developers keep a director-level ear, without you carrying a director-level salary.
• De-risking the big moments – replatforms, migrations, funding rounds, that moment a key technical person hands in their notice.

Why Lisa and Tom?

Lisa has worked in the digital sector for over 20 years – starting as a coder, then two decades running 18a’s projects and designing systems for everyone from tech start-ups to the BBC and Sainsbury’s. Her actual superpower, honed over all of it: being the communication bridge between developers and everyone else. She speaks fluent developer AND fluent boardroom, and spends most days translating between the two.

She also teaches this stuff – talks, masterclasses and a weekly newsletter read by business owners who want the web explained in a straight forward way.

But you’re not hiring one person’s knowledge. When a question needs deep infrastructure or code-level expertise, Tom, our co-founder and CTO steps in, with over 20 years experience of coding systems and websites for organisations and Government departments all over the world. A solo fractional CTO can’t offer both.

Isn’t it awkward, an agency being the technical director?

OK yes, there’s a potential conflict when the person advising you on development work also runs a development agency. But the fractional role and any build work are separate decisions, always. If work needs doing, Lisa’s job is to spec it and help you find the right people, if you haven’t already got them – inhouse or otherwise. If you haven’t got them, sometimes the right people genuinely are 18a, but you’ll get the honest comparison. A well-written spec means whoever builds it, you’re protected. (We do spec writing as a standalone service too.)

How does it work?

A retained day or two per month is typical – enough to attend the meetings that matter, hold the strategy, and be reachable between times. Some clients need more during a big project, less once things are steady. We’ll shape it together and review it honestly.

We work remotely but in-person days are always an option. We’re 10 minutes from Bristol airport, so “in person” stretches further than you’d think.

We tend to recommend the days are stretched out evenly over a month – so if you have 2 days, they’re one day every other week, but it can all be discussed and arranged to suit.

How much does it cost?

Our day rates for this service are £800pd+VAT. So for most people you’d be looking at £800 – £1600pm+VAT when there’s nothing big and eventful going on (you might want to buy some extra days during a big project).

Who is this for?

Organisations where the website or systems genuinely run the business – membership organisations are a natural fit – but no full-time technical leadership exists. Charities and not-for-profits making big platform decisions on careful budgets. Founders who can’t yet justify a CTO. And leadership teams who are simply tired of nodding through the technical agenda item and hoping.

If that’s you but you’re not sure a retained role is warranted yet, a one-off technical audit or AI readiness audit is a low-commitment way to see how we work.

Tell us what you need

Tell us about the decisions currently stuck waiting for a technical opinion – Lisa or Tom (the actual people you’d be working with) will come back to you as soon as possible.