Phil Powell
Fractional CTO
I help early-stage companies bring order to engineering when systems and teams are struggling to scale, particularly where technology has become critical to the business but the engineering function is still evolving.
Often the product has real users and growing demand, but systems are fragile, technical debt is building, or the founding team no longer has the time to manage the complexity of engineering.
My role is to bring clarity and structure at that moment — stabilising systems, building engineering capability, and creating the foundations needed for sustainable growth.
Most of the companies I work with are founder-led SaaS businesses with 5–20 people, where the technology needs to mature alongside the business.
Situations I help with
Companies typically reach out when something like this is happening:
- A founder-built platform needs to become a reliable engineering system
- A growing team needs clearer technical leadership and delivery processes
- Systems are becoming fragile or difficult to scale
- The business needs stronger security or compliance foundations
- Leadership wants confidence that technology will support the next phase of growth
Track record
In previous CTO roles I have delivered outcomes such as:
- Engineering leadership — Built engineering teams from zero and established structured engineering functions with clear leadership and delivery processes
- Platform transformation — Rebuilt fragile legacy platforms into reliable production systems capable of supporting business growth
- Operational reliability and migrations — Delivered zero-downtime migrations of mission-critical infrastructure using parallel deployments and monitoring
- Compliance and governance — Achieved ISO 27001, ISO 22301, and ISO 9001 certification and consistently achieved successful external audits
- Product and scaling enablement — Enabled new product lines and operational scaling by modernising platforms and strengthening engineering practices
Ways I work
I usually support companies in one of three ways.
Fractional CTO
Ongoing technical leadership for companies that need experienced guidance but do not yet need a full-time CTO.
This typically involves one or two days per week, working with founders and engineering teams to shape architecture, delivery processes, and technical direction.
Advisory CTO
Regular strategic guidance for founders navigating complex technical decisions or preparing for the next stage of growth.
Outcome-based engagements
Focused projects with a defined goal, such as stabilising a fragile platform, preparing systems for compliance, or establishing the foundations of an engineering function.
Experience
At Alertacall, I joined as the sole engineer working on a platform that vulnerable people relied on to live safely and independently. I built the engineering team from scratch and rebuilt the signalling system while the company scaled from a small startup to more than seventy people — keeping uptime intact as we introduced new infrastructure, devices, and ways of working.
At Medical Tracker, I stepped into a system with real-world usage, a growing backlog, and no engineering team in place. I built the function from the ground up, introduced structure and delivery discipline, and helped the platform mature to the point where it could support sensitive medical data and pass ISO 27001 and ISO 22301 audits with zero non-conformities.
Across both roles, the pattern is consistent: stepping into complexity, making things work, and leaving behind systems and teams that can scale with confidence.
Closing thought
Technology rarely fails because of a single catastrophic decision.
More often it slowly drifts into fragility as systems grow, teams change, and complexity increases.
My work focuses on recognising that moment early and helping organisations restore clarity, stability, and confidence in their technology.