Fractional service

Month-to-Month Retainer

Product-Focused Fractional CTO | Engineering Leader & Mentor

Michael StadtmillerOffered by Michael Stadtmiller · Cincinnati, Ohio, United States

About this service

The Fractional CTO retainer provides ongoing technical leadership for companies that are ready to grow but need experienced guidance at the strategy and execution layer. Working alongside founders and engineering teams, I provide roughly 8 hours of embedded engagement per week. This includes ensuring technical decisions align with business goals, keeping development focused on the highest-impact priorities, and maintaining consistent delivery as the product and company scale. This engagement is ideal for teams that already have engineers building but need a senior technical partner to guide architecture, roadmap decisions, and engineering execution. Many clients begin with the 30-Day Engineering Sprint and continue with a monthly engagement to execute the roadmap and support ongoing growth.

What’s included

  • Weekly progress updates: sprint completion, blockers, delivery risks, and milestone visibility for leadership
  • Twice-monthly working sessions: roadmap review, backlog prioritization, sprint alignment, and technical decision support
  • Monthly leadership report: progress toward milestones, key decisions, risks identified, and recommended priorities
  • Architecture & technical guidance: system design, tradeoff evaluation, and scaling decisions as the product evolves
  • Team coaching & mentorship: engineer and tech lead development, delivery discipline, and cross-functional communication
  • Async availability: Slack or email access throughout the engagement (responses within one business day)