Remote / Hybrid • AEST Timezone

Fractional CTO in Melbourne

Expert technical leadership for Melbourne startups. CTO services in AEST timezone. Build, scale, and transform your product without full-time costs.

Why Melbourne Startups Choose Fractional CTO

Melbourne is Australia's second-largest tech hub with a strong university ecosystem and a center for healthcare innovation. The city is known for its creative tech culture and somewhat lower costs compared to Sydney. Industries like HealthTech, EdTech, FinTech, AI/ML, and Enterprise SaaS thrive thanks to proximity to leading research universities.

However, this ecosystem creates its own challenges: technical talent salaries remain high (AUD 250K-400K for CTOs), competition for senior talent is growing, and regulatory compliance requirements from APRA, Privacy Act, and ASIC are just as strict. Many startups find that traditional full-time CTO hiring is impractical at early stages.

Challenge

Common Challenges

High technical salaries make full-time CTOs expensive (AUD 250K-400K)
Growing competition for experienced technical talent
Strict regulatory requirements (APRA, Privacy Act, ASIC)
Need for rapid scaling after funding rounds

Timezone makes working with global investors and partners difficult
High technical salaries make full-time CTOs expensive (AUD 250K-400K)
Growing competition for experienced technical talent

Strict regulatory requirements (APRA, Privacy Act, ASIC)
Need for rapid scaling after funding rounds
Timezone makes working with global investors and partners difficult

How Fractional CTO Solves Them

Access to experienced CTO without Melbourne premiums and salaries (AUD 120K-240K+ savings annually)
Start immediately — without 3-6 month hiring process
Scale up/down as you progress through funding rounds
Expertise in building distributed teams with remote-first focus across timezones
Global best practices with understanding of Australian market

What I do

Build MVP

Turn your startup idea into a working product

Tech stack selection for Australian talent market
Launch in 3-4 months with scalable foundation
Investor demo-ready architecture

Scale Product

Grow from seed stage to Series A in Australia

Handle 10x growth without failures
Technical debt management and refactoring
Prepare for Australian VC due diligence

AI Transformation

Integrate AI/ML into your startup

LLM integrations and GPT-based solutions
ML systems for competitive advantage
Strategy, implementation, and MLOps

Technology Audit

Technical assessment before fundraising

Code quality and architecture review
Prepare for Melbourne VC due diligence
Risk map and recommendations

Technical Due Diligence for Investors

For Melbourne investors evaluating startups

Comprehensive technical risk assessment
Team and product scalability analysis
Reports for investment committees

Team Building

Hire your first 5-10 engineers

Navigate Melbourne talent market
Build hybrid teams (local + remote)
Implement engineering culture

Pricing

Packages for Melbourne Startups

Currency:

Advisor CTO

$3,600per month

~6 hours per week of dedicated time

For early-stage startups with an MVP or an idea that need oversight and support without full-time involvement.

How we work:

Bi-weekly strategy session with founders (90 min)
Technical stack and architecture review - are you building on the right foundation?
Code review of critical decisions and risky PRs
Candidate screening: resume review, interview structure, hire/no-hire recommendations
Infrastructure and tooling spend review - are you overpaying for cloud and third-party services?
Async access via Slack (48-hour response time)

What you walk away with:

Technical assessment report - honest evaluation of your codebase, infrastructure, and risks
Technology roadmap - prioritized recommendations for the next 6 months
Hiring scorecard - what to look for in your first 3-5 engineers

Outcome

Confidence that your technical decisions are sound and a clear plan to build on - without costly mistakes.

Month-to-month, cancel anytime

Growth CTO

Scale CTO

$11,000per month

~20 hours per week of dedicated time

For Series A+ startups with 15-20+ engineers preparing for the next funding round.

How we work:

Everything from Growth CTO package
Daily involvement in engineering operations - standups, planning, escalations
Executive team participation - board prep, investor meetings, due diligence support
Engineering management development - coaching team leads into engineering managers
Organizational design - team topology, processes, rituals, communication structures
Vendor strategy - cloud cost optimization, service negotiations, contractor management
Technical debt strategy - refactoring roadmap balanced against product delivery

What you walk away with:

Engineering handbook - culture, standards, processes, expectations
Leveling and compensation framework - career ladders and salary bands
Engineering metrics dashboard - DORA metrics, velocity trends, code quality
Incident management playbook - on-call rotation, severity definitions, postmortem process
Technical due diligence package - investor-ready architecture and security documentation
Security and compliance assessment - SOC2, GDPR, HIPAA readiness evaluation
Engineering headcount plan and infrastructure budget forecast

Outcome

A mature engineering organization ready for due diligence and the next funding round.

3-month minimum commitment

How Remote Work Functions with Melbourne Startups

Working hours overlap: Melbourne is 6-7 hours ahead. Your morning (8-10am AEST) is my late evening for calls and meetings
Communication rhythm: Weekly strategic call with founders, async via Slack and email for zero-downtime work
In-person visits: Visits to Melbourne available for Scale CTO+ packages by arrangement. Available for board meetings and investor presentations (remote or in-person).