Work · Also available
Fractional engineering management
For teams between engineering managers, and for founders who need one for the first time and are not ready to hire full-time. I have done this job properly: seven engineers at RUAG, five at Sensirion, with responsibility for hiring, mentoring, code review and technical standards.
Terms
- Up to 5 engineers
- $4,500 / month
- 6–10 engineers
- $8,000 / month
- Billing
- Flat monthly fee · No hourly tracking
- Minimum
- One month
- Notice
- 30 days, either direction
- Where
- Remote, with occasional on-site by arrangement · Travel billed separately
The monthly fee reserves a defined share of my availability for your team. You are paying for dependable access, context and continuity, not purchasing hours: I keep that capacity open for you whether you need all of it in a given month or not. There is no timesheet or end-of-month billing reconciliation, and the fee does not change with the number of calls or requests within the agreed scope.
The rate follows the size of the team, because 1:1s, planning and review scale with it. If the team grows past five during the engagement, the following month moves to the second rate.
Scope
What is included
- Running your engineering team day to day — weekly 1:1s, planning, unblocking
- Team analysis: who coordinates with whom, each engineer’s strengths, and recommended changes for quality, speed or team happiness
- Scrum or whatever cadence fits the team — I am a PSM-I and former Scrum Master, not a process zealot
- Code review and technical standards
- Hiring: role definition, screening, technical interviews
- Architecture decisions, and writing down why they were made
- Translating technical stakes for founders, boards and customers
What is not
- Full-time individual contribution — I lead, I do not become the team
- Teams of more than ten engineers — at that size you need a full-time manager, and I can help you hire one
- Anything requiring US security clearance
- On-site presence more than occasionally
Month one
The first month
Month one is diagnostic and concrete. I meet everyone, read the code and the backlog, and give you a written assessment: what is working, what will break, what I would change first, and what it would cost. If we stop there, you keep the document.
Start a conversation
Tell me what you are building and where it is stuck.
I usually reply within a day or two.