Engagements
Beyond my full-time work, I take on a small number of outside engagements each year — technical advisory, fractional CTO, and architecture assessments — for growth-stage companies that need strategic engineering leadership without the full-time hire.
Nearly thirty years of experience at Fortune 500s and high-growth startups, from architecting HubSpot’s developer platform to driving Nike’s digital transformation. I bring proven expertise in scaling engineering teams and building platforms that drive growth. Every engagement starts with a conversation about what you’re trying to achieve.
§ what engagements look like
Most of the work I take on falls into a few overlapping categories. Platform architecture — designing developer platforms, APIs, and extensibility frameworks that give your customers or partners surface area to build on. Engineering org scaling — building high-performing teams, establishing technical governance, creating cultures where people can do their best work. Technical due diligence — comprehensive assessments for M&A, fundraising, or strategic planning. DevOps and infrastructure — transforming deployment pipelines and operational efficiency.
The common thread: every engagement is about connecting technical decisions to business outcomes. I tend to work best with Series A/B companies scaling their engineering organizations, platform companies building developer surfaces, established companies in the middle of digital transformation, and teams in a leadership transition who need interim technical guidance.
§ what this has produced
At Nike, leading the migration of the activity platform from a data-center monolith to a cloud-native set of services unlocked the scale behind today’s 1.2 billion+ user activities. A longer write-up of that work lives in Looking Back.
At HubSpot, the developer platform work drove meaningful growth in partner-sourced deals — the “ecosystem as growth lever” thesis, turned into running infrastructure.
In every engagement, the pattern has been the same: scale comes from platform investment, and platform investment pays off when it’s anchored to specific business outcomes.
§ engagement shapes
Technical Advisory
10 h/mo · month-to-month
Strategic guidance for technical decisions, architecture reviews, vendor evaluation, and engineering leadership mentoring. For teams needing expert technical oversight without a full-time commitment.
Fractional CTO
20 h/mo · 3-month minimum
Active technical leadership with hands-on involvement in decisions, team oversight, and execution. For scaling organizations that need consistent CTO-level guidance and accountability.
Technical Transformation
40+ h/mo · 3–6 months
Intensive hands-on engagement for critical initiatives — platform architecture, team scaling, infrastructure modernization — including comprehensive assessment and implementation leadership.
Architecture Assessment
2–3 weeks · fixed scope
Comprehensive technical architecture review with recommendations for scalability, performance, and organizational efficiency. Includes prioritized roadmap and 90-day action plan.
§ how we’d start
Every engagement starts with a free discovery call to understand what you’re trying to accomplish. From there, we move into a short assessment, then a written recommendation and scope. Either of us can adjust or end the engagement with 15 days’ notice — it keeps things focused and honest.
Schedule Discovery Call
Month-to-month engagements available. Custom arrangements considered for unique situations.