Remote / Hybrid • CET Timezone

Fractional CTO in Paris

Expert technical leadership for Paris startups. CTO services in CET/CEST timezone. Build, scale, and transform your product without full-time CTO costs.

Why Paris Startups Choose Fractional CTO

Paris has become a leading European tech hub. The city is home to Station F—the world's largest startup campus, and attracts significant government support through the French Tech program. Strong positions in AI research, a developed education system, and growing venture capital make Paris attractive for startups. Industries like AI/ML, HealthTech, FinTech, DeepTech, and Enterprise Software thrive here.

However, the Paris ecosystem creates unique challenges: competition for AI talent with major tech companies, complex French labor law, CNIL data protection requirements. Many startups find that traditional full-time CTO hiring—costing €140K-€240K+ plus equity—is impractical at early stages.

Challenge

Challenges for Paris Startups

Competition for AI/ML talent with major tech companies
Complex French labor law
CNIL data protection requirements
Need for GDPR and French regulatory compliance

High expectations from Station F ecosystem
Competition for AI/ML talent with major tech companies
Complex French labor law

CNIL data protection requirements
Need for GDPR and French regulatory compliance
High expectations from Station F ecosystem

How Fractional CTO Solves Them

Access to experienced CTO without Paris salary and bonuses (€80K-€160K+ annual savings)
Start immediately—no 3-6 month hiring process
Scale engagement up/down as you progress through funding rounds
Expertise in building distributed teams with remote-first focus
Global best practices with French market understanding

What I do

Build MVP

Turn your startup idea into a working product

Tech stack selection for French talent market
Launch in 3-4 months with scalable foundation
GDPR and CNIL-compliant architecture from day one

Scale Product

Grow from seed stage to Series A

Handle 10x growth without outages
Manage technical debt and refactoring
Prepare for French and European VC due diligence

AI Transformation

Integrate AI/ML into your startup

LLM integrations and GPT-powered solutions
Machine learning systems for competitive advantage
Strategy, implementation, and MLOps

Technology Audit

Technical assessment before raising capital

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

Technical Due Diligence for Investors

For 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 Paris talent market
Build hybrid teams (local + remote engineers)
Establish engineering culture

Pricing

Packages for Paris Startups

Contract Length:

Currency:

Advisor CTO

$3,600per month

6 hours per week, 24 hours per month

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

2 strategic sessions per month (90 minutes each)
Technical stack and architecture audit
Slack support (48-hour response time)
Hiring support: candidate reviews and recommendations

What's included:

6-month technical roadmap
Architecture guidelines document

Outcome:A clear plan and recommendations for technology and team development without the overhead of a full-time CTO.

Contract term:1 month

Growth CTO

Scale CTO

$12,000per month

≈3 days per week, 80 hours per month

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

Everything from Growth CTO package
Participation in executive meetings and investor discussions
Building engineering management team (leads, engineering managers)
Due diligence support for fundraising
Organizational design: team structure, processes, rituals
Technical debt strategy and refactoring roadmap
Vendor and partner negotiations (AWS, third-party services, contractors)

What's included:

Engineering handbook and team culture code
Leveling and compensation framework
Engineering metrics dashboards (DORA, velocity, code quality, etc.)
Incident management and on-call rotation

Outcome:A mature engineering organization with clear processes, metrics, and a culture of product ownership.

Contract term:from 6 months

How Remote Work Functions for Paris Startups

Working hours overlap: 2-3 hours overlap with CET for live calls, asynchronously via Slack and email, enabling work without downtime
Communication rhythm: weekly strategic call with founders, bi-weekly team sync, daily asynchronous communication via Slack, emergency availability for critical issues
In-person visits: quarterly visits to Paris available for Scale CTO and higher packages, available for board meetings and investor presentations (remote or in-person)