JP Jerrold Poh
Clients Services FAQ About Book a call →
Melbourne, Australia

Jerrold Poh

Fractional CTO

Twenty years across engineering, product, and leadership. I've worked inside startups, scale-ups, large enterprises, as well as been a founder. I sit inside your leadership team, own technical decisions, and turn engineering chaos into products that actually ship.

Get in touch See how it works →

What is a Fractional CTO?

Not every business needs a full-time CTO, and plenty aren't ready for one yet. But that doesn't mean technical leadership can wait.

A fractional CTO steps in at the level you need, when you need it. We drive technical decisions and keep the team moving, making sure you don't make expensive engineering mistakes, and free you up to work on the bigger picture.

You get someone who's done it before. Built teams, fixed broken architectures, and shipped products under pressure.

Clients

Who do I work with?

01

The founder without a technical co-founder

You're building a tech product but you're not technical yourself. You've got developers (maybe some offshore) but no one senior enough to make the big calls. You know what you want to build, and you're looking for someone technical in your corner to make sure it gets built right.

02

The founder who wants a second opinion

You've got an engineering team and things are mostly working, but you have a nagging sense that something could be better. Velocity feels inconsistent, priorities aren't always clear, or you're just not sure what good looks like at your stage. You want an honest, independent perspective from someone who's seen enough teams to know the difference.

03

The founder scaling from product-market fit

You've hit product-market fit and growth is accelerating — but your engineering team is struggling to keep pace. More engineers means more coordination, more process, more decisions that need a senior hand. You need someone who's scaled teams before to help you navigate the transition without losing what made you successful in the first place.

Engagements

How we work together

Ongoing

Technical advisory

A senior technical perspective available when you need it. I work with you on the decisions that matter, without the overhead of a full-time hire or an operational commitment.

  • Weekly 60 min strategic call
  • Async access via Slack or email
  • Technical input on key decisions
  • CV and hiring reviews on request
Start a conversation →
Retainer

Fractional CTO

2 - 3 days /week

I run your engineering function on a part-time basis. Team leadership, technical direction, hiring, and delivery. Everything a full-time engineering leader does, without the full-time cost.

  • 2–3 days per week, embedded in your team
  • Weekly engineering sync and fortnightly 1:1s
  • Monthly founder update and reporting
  • Hiring process ownership end to end
  • Engineering process and delivery improvement
  • Async availability on working days
Start a conversation →
Fixed scope

Scoped Engagement

A defined piece of work with a clear start, end, and deliverable. For founders who need focused help on a specific problem rather than an ongoing arrangement.

  • Engineering team audit
    Independent assessment of your team, processes, and delivery - with a clear set of recommendations
  • First engineering hire
    Role definition, technical assessment design, interviews, and hire or no-hire recommendations
Start a conversation →
FAQ

Questions, answered

A consultant diagnoses and recommends. A fractional CTO owns. I sit inside your leadership team, make decisions, lead your engineering function, and am accountable for outcomes - not a report that lands in your inbox and gets filed away. The engagement ends when the problem is solved or when you're ready for a permanent hire, not when the project scope runs out.

Yes, and I understand why you're asking. Working across a small number of clients means I bring pattern recognition and broader perspective to each engagement. I deliberately limit how many clients I take on at any one time to make sure each one gets the attention they need.

Yes, as standard. Mutual NDAs are included in every engagement agreement, to protect your information and mine. If you have a preferred form of NDA, I'm happy to work from that.

The first month is primarily diagnostic. I'm meeting your team, reviewing your codebase and architecture, understanding your roadmap, and identifying where the highest leverage interventions are. You'll get a clear picture of where things stand technically and a prioritised view of what to address first. Most clients find this valuable in itself.

It varies by engagement type. Technical advisory relationships tend to run ongoing, and are most valuable as a standing arrangement. Fractional CTO engagements typically run three to six months minimum before meaningful progress is visible. Critical engagements are defined upfront with a clear scope and exit. I'll always let you know when I think an engagement has run its course.

We adjust the scope. If you need more time in a given month, additional days are billed at the agreed day rate. If the engagement needs to expand permanently, we restructure the retainer. Nothing happens without agreement from both sides - there are no surprise invoices.

Not as a primary deliverable. My role is to make sure the right technical decisions get made, the right people are building the right things, and your engineering function is operating effectively. That said, I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty when it's useful - reviewing code, contributing to architecture decisions at a technical level, or working through a problem directly with your team. The difference is I'm not a contractor for hire. I'm here to lead and improve your technical capability, not to be another pair of hands.

About me

I'm a technology leader with 20+ years of experience across software engineering, product development, and engineering leadership. I have a varied background. Working as a software engineer, a founder, and in leadership reporting directly to founders and CEOs.

While I was a founder - I started a mobile app consultancy (Blue Cottage Software), managing and delivering multiple apps across iOS and Android, and co-founded two startups along the way. That founder experience shapes how I work. I know what it feels like to make high-stakes technical decisions with limited resources, and I know how much the wrong call can cost.

On the leadership side, I've led engineering teams at companies ranging from early-stage businesses like Urban (now apartments.com.au), to large enterprise businesses like Xero.

At Urban I was brought on board to built the mobile product end to end - hiring the team, introducing engineering process, and working directly with the founder on strategy. At Xero, I led engineering teams building features on the mobile apps, and delivering features at scale.

I now work with early-stage founders who need experienced engineering leadership without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire. If you're building something and need a senior technical partner in your corner, I'd like to hear about it.

Contact

Let's work together

Bookings from June 2026
Email hello@jerroldpoh.com
LinkedIn /in/jerroldp
Open
What happens next
  1. 1I'll read your message in the next few days
  2. 2We schedule a 30-min intro call, no strings attached
  3. 3I'll send a proposal and any NDAs as required
  4. 4If we're the right fit for each other, we can get started
Jerrold Poh
Melbourne, Australia