COMPETENCE.AREA/06 — TECH MANAGEMENT/fractional CTO services

Engineering leaders,on-demand.

Fractional CTOs, VP Engineering, and technical advisors — embedded in your team to set strategy, build org structure, and ship the right things.

15+
Years exp
F500
Track record
Frameworks
BACKLOG2
Vendor evaluation
STRATEGY
Org design v2
PEOPLE
IN PROGRESS3
Hiring sprint
RECRUITING
Q4 OKRs
PLANNING
M&A diligence
AUDIT
REVIEW1
Tech debt audit
ARCHITECTURE
DONE2
Eng ladder rollout
PEOPLE
RFC process
PROCESS
Why Smart Twigs

Leadership that operates.

Real engineering leaders embedded in your team — not advisors with slide decks. We own outcomes.

01

Real Operators

Our fractional CTOs and VPs have built and scaled engineering orgs at startups and Fortune 500 companies. Not consultants — operators.

02

Embedded, Not Advisory

We sit in your standups, your hiring panels, your board meetings. We're accountable to outcomes, not slide decks.

03

Outcome-Driven

Velocity, retention, NPS, ship rate — we measure leadership the same way we measure engineering.

04

Calibrated to Stage

We bring different playbooks for seed, Series A/B, growth, and enterprise. No one-size-fits-all.

Leadership Capabilities

The full leadership stack.

From day-to-day team management to high-stakes M&A integration — we've done it all and we'll do it for you.

01

Fractional CTO & VP Engineering

When you need a senior engineering leader but can't afford (or don't need) a full-time hire. We embed for 10–30 hours a week.

  • Technical strategy & roadmap ownership
  • Hiring & team scaling
  • Architecture decisions & RFCs
  • Board & investor reporting
  • Vendor & tooling decisions
  • Hands-on code & PR review when needed
02

Engineering Org Design

Team topologies, reporting structures, leveling, comp bands, career ladders. We design organizations that scale beyond 10 people.

  • Team topology & cross-functional pods
  • Engineering ladder & leveling guides
  • Compensation benchmarking & bands
  • Manager-to-IC ratio planning
  • Hiring loop design & calibration
  • Performance review frameworks
03

Agile Transformation & Coaching

Real agility, not cargo-cult Scrum. We coach teams toward continuous delivery, healthy WIP, and flow-based prioritization.

  • Scrum, Kanban, Shape Up, Linear Method
  • Continuous delivery & trunk-based dev
  • RFC & decision-log process
  • Incident retros & post-mortem culture
  • Velocity & cycle-time tracking
  • Healthy WIP & flow management
04

Technical Due Diligence

Buying or investing in a tech company? We audit code, infra, security, and team — and write the report your investment committee needs.

  • Codebase quality & maintainability assessment
  • Infrastructure & cost analysis
  • Security & compliance review
  • Team & culture evaluation
  • Tech debt quantification
  • Risk-rated executive summary
05

OKR & KPI Frameworks

Goal-setting that actually moves the needle. We help engineering leaders translate company strategy into team-level outcomes.

  • Quarterly OKR planning & calibration
  • Engineering KPI dashboards
  • DORA metrics & SPACE framework
  • Customer outcome tracking
  • Goal cascading & alignment
  • Quarterly business reviews
06

M&A Integration

Acquired a company? We've merged engineering teams, codebases, and cultures — without breaking morale or production.

  • Day-1 integration planning
  • Codebase consolidation strategy
  • Tooling & infrastructure unification
  • Team rebadging & retention plans
  • Cultural integration playbooks
  • Synergy realization tracking
Real Engagements

What we've led.

Fractional CTO & VP Engineering engagementsAgile transformation & delivery coachingEngineering org design & hiring strategyVendor evaluation & technology selectionTechnical due diligence for M&AOKR & KPI frameworks for engineering teamsSeries B engineering scale-up plansPost-acquisition team integrationQuarterly board technical updatesCrisis management & turnaround engagements
Our Toolkit

The leadership stack.

LinearJiraNotionGitHubSlackLoomLatticeWorkdayGreenhouseDatadogPendoMixpanelFigmaMiroConfluence
LinearJiraNotionGitHubSlackLoomLatticeWorkdayGreenhouseDatadogPendoMixpanelFigmaMiroConfluence

Need a senior leader, fast?

Tell us about your team, your stage, and your biggest pain point. We'll match you with a fractional CTO within a week.