How I Operate: In The Trenches
Most companies do not have the luxury of stopping everything to fix technical debt or install new frameworks. You have to rebuild the bus whilst it is driving down the road.
I have spent over 20 years building software platforms, scaling engineering teams, and turning around troubled deliveries. I have managed multi-million-pound engineering budgets, scaled teams from 0 to 40 across multiple countries, and steered companies through institutional acquisition.
I do not bring dogmatic playbooks, trendy buzzwords, or shelfware consulting slide decks. I bring calm, first-principles problem solving, high empathy for engineers, and uncompromising commercial accountability.
"Academic purity does not create market value; speed of learning does. I fix tech debt where it protects revenue, not where it satisfies dogma."
Core Engineering Philosophy
01. The Excellence Paradox
The companies with the most commercial success often have the messiest codebases. Academic purity does not create market value; speed of learning does. We fix tech debt where it protects revenue, not where it satisfies dogma.
02. Quietly Strangling the Monolith
Ground-up rewrites are where startups go to die. We apply the Strangler Fig pattern: carving out clean, containerised microservices slice by slice while the legacy engine keeps the revenue flowing uninterrupted.
03. Treat Developers Like Adults
High trust, crystal-clear business context, and radical autonomy. We eliminate micromanagement rituals, replace ceremony with automated CI/CD pipelines, and give senior talent the safety to deliver their best work.
04. Kindness is Clarity
Kindness is not soft platitudes, flattering people, or pretending failure does not happen. Kindness is honesty, direct feedback, making sure people know exactly where they stand, and speaking to everyone with respect.
05. Whole-Person Integrity
Engineering is stronger when people bring their full self to work. You can be an engineer, a musician, a mentor, and a coffee nerd all at once.
Battle-Tested Track Record (Selected Proof Points)
ScholarPack Acquired by The Key
Succeeded the retiring founder as CTO. Overhauled legacy engineering from first principles, migrating our core monolith to AWS Fargate microservices in 6 weeks during the summer holidays without downtime. Achieved ISO 27001, scaled to power 10% of all UK primary schools with daily releases, and steered technical due diligence through acquisition by The Key.
myenergi 0 to 40+ Org Scale
Founded the software engineering department from scratch. Recruited and structured 40+ engineers across 4 countries during hyper-growth. Architected the global AWS cloud platform connecting millions of IoT devices (zappi, eddi) to mobile apps processing millions of live energy events.
Confidential PE Turnaround Smart Energy IoT
Stepped in as Interim CTO following corporate acquisition to turn around delivery across international manufacturing sites (UK, Hong Kong, China). Transitioned embedded firmware engineers to Git/CI, integrated AI-assisted developer tooling, and deployed enterprise time-series telemetry infrastructure (Tiger Data).
Defence & Mission Systems QinetiQ Ecosystem
Partnered with leadership to untangle flight mission planning pipelines for safety-critical military aircraft. Decoupled feature updates from flight safety compliance packages to introduce a 3-week LTS release cadence, unlocking concurrent delivery of international defence contracts supplying the RAF and partner air forces.
HealthTech & NHS Primary Care Clinical Systems
Fractional CTO for clinical GP founders. Conducted forensic technical due diligence on an unviable outsourced build, retired the offshore agency to eliminate cash burn, and embedded digital triage directly into real-world GP clinical software (TPP SystmOne).
Stage 1: Fixed-Price Diagnostic Reviews
When an engineering organisation feels blocked, the worst thing you can do is sign a vague, open-ended 6-month consulting contract. You need a clear diagnosis before prescribing treatment.
For non-technical founders, CEOs, and growing regional businesses. Rapid inspection of code, CI/CD pipelines, cloud costs, and team velocity.
- 4 Pillars: Codebase Quality, Delivery Flow, Cloud Waste, Key-Person Risk
- Deliverables: 3-Page Traffic Light Report (Red/Amber/Green), Prioritised 90-Day Action Roadmap, 60-Minute Executive Debrief Call
- Turnaround: 5 business days from access grant
For Angel syndicates, Seed/Series A VCs, PE funds, and corporate acquirers. Uncovering hidden code liabilities, IP licensing traps, and scaling bottlenecks pre-deal.
- Scope: IP ownership & GPL audits, architecture scalability, ISO 27001/GDPR readiness, roadmap realism
- Deliverables: Investor-Grade Red Flag & Valuation Report, Post-Deal 100-Day Technical Blueprint, 45-Min Partner Q&A
- Turnaround: 5 to 7 business days from data room access
For companies spending heavily on AWS/GCP or struggling with cloud scaling. Spotting immediate 20% to 40% waste reductions within 30 days.
- Scope: AWS Well-Architected review, database right-sizing, containerisation, automated CI/CD
- Deliverables: Cloud Cost Reduction Ledger, Target-State Architecture Blueprint
- Turnaround: 3 to 5 business days
For companies burned by external agencies or trapped in fragile offshore builds. Independent technical advocacy to regain control of your tech destiny.
- Scope: Code/asset custody audit, billed milestone reconciliation, triage (salvage vs scrap), safe transition plan
- Deliverables: Vendor Exposure & Asset Custody Report, 60-Day Rescue Roadmap
- Turnaround: 5 business days
Stage 2: Retained Fractional & Interim Leadership
Once we complete a diagnostic review and map out the 90-day roadmap, many clients ask me to stay involved to oversee execution. You often do not need a full-time £150k+ CTO; you need an experienced hand on the tiller for a few days a month.
Tier 1: Board & Founder Advisory Retainer
£2,000 - £2,500 / month
Commitment: 1 to 2 days per month. Executive sounding board, architectural sign-off, vendor oversight, and quarterly board reporting.
Tier 2: Embedded Fractional CTO
£3,500 - £4,500 / month
Commitment: 1 day per week (~35 to 40 hours/month). Hands-on leadership: sprint cadences, unblocking developers, mentoring leads, and investor representation.
Tier 3: Turnaround / Interim CTO Mandate
£1,000 - £1,250 / day (Outside IR35)
Commitment: 3 to 5 days per week (typically 3 to 9 months). Full-time leadership for executive succession, turnarounds, or pre-exit acceleration.
How I Kick Off: Simple Terms
- Quick Intro Call (15 Minutes): We grab a virtual coffee, discuss where your organisation is stuck, and see if there is a mutual fit.
- One-Page Statement of Work (SOW): I send a simple 1-page SOW covering scope, deliverables, turnaround, and fixed fee.
- Read-Only Access: You grant read-only access to code repositories and cloud consoles.
- Delivery & Debrief: I complete the review, deliver the traffic light report and 90-day roadmap, and walk you through every finding on a 60-minute debrief call.