fractional cto · ai engineering
One partner who ships
like a whole team.
Senior technical leadership, hands-on delivery, and AI-native engineering. Brought into your business exactly when you need it, and only for as long as you do.
Currently accepting 2 new clients · replies within a business day
You're building something real. You just need the right technical partner.
Three kinds of teams I work with most. If you don't see yourself here, the call is still free.
Early-stage startups
You have a vision and momentum but no CTO. I set the technical foundation right the first time: architecture, stack, the first hires, and the early code everything else gets built on.
SMBs modernizing their stack
Your systems slow the business down and the backlog only grows. You need someone who thinks about the business, writes the roadmap, and then actually ships against it.
AI & automation adopters
You know AI should be reshaping your operations. You're just not sure where to start, or who to trust. I've shipped agentic systems in production, not in a demo.
I build it, not just plan it.
I advise and I build, usually in the same week. Nothing gets lost between deciding something and shipping it.
Technical strategy & roadmap
Clear architectural direction and a build sequence that prioritizes business outcomes over engineering vanity. A plan you can actually ship against.
AI & automation integration
AI work isn't about prompting. It's about context. I build the pipelines and retrieval systems that make AI outputs reliable enough for real customers.
Agentic OS design & implementation
A foundational layer that coordinates multiple AI agents to plan, execute, and monitor multi-step business goals: orchestration, memory, and governance for complex workflows, with human oversight kept firmly in the loop.
Full-stack development
Astro, React, Node, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, infrastructure. Hands-on the moment you need hands. Not a deck handed off to someone else.
Agentic engineering
Multi-step agents that reason, plan, and act through tools, running as production systems inside your workflows. Not weekend experiments.
Engineering leadership
Hiring support, code-review culture, technical interviews, and process that fits your stage, plus ramping your team on agentic workflows.
Infrastructure & performance
Migrations, deployment pipelines, cost reduction. Consistently 70–90% improvements across platforms. Speed is a feature; so is a calmer bill.
the 70 / 30 difference
One engineer who ships like a team. Here's why that's possible now.
Most fractional CTOs give you judgment or hands, rarely both. I deliver both, through a way of working I call 70/30 Engineering. AI agents handle roughly 70% of the mechanical work: scaffolding, boilerplate, test coverage, the first draft of nearly everything. Senior human judgment owns the 30% that decides whether software is any good: architecture, edge cases, security, and knowing what not to build.
It isn't vibe-coding and it isn't hype. It's a disciplined practice that turns one senior engineer into the output of a full team. The proof is in what it ships.
Anthropic Certified Architect — building AI systems to the standard the model-makers recommend.
Work with me the way that fits.
Three ways to work together. Every engagement starts with the same free 30-minute call.
Advisory
You have engineers. You need someone senior enough to catch the decisions they don't know they're making. A CTO on speed dial who actually picks up.
- +Weekly strategy & architecture calls
- +Same-day async Q&A between sessions
- +Roadmap & technology reviews
- +Code and architecture audits on request
Best for: teams that want senior judgment in the room.
Embedded Partner
Everything in Advisory, plus I'm actually building with you. I sit inside your team and own real deliverables. One engagement, no handoff lag.
- +Everything in Advisory, plus
- +Active development alongside your team
- +Ownership of architecture & PR reviews
- +Hiring support & technical interviews
- +Mentorship on agentic workflows
Best for: scaling teams that need a builder and a strategist in one.
Project Sprint
You have a specific, defined problem: a migration, an AI system, a performance overhaul. We scope it, agree on the outcome, and I deliver it.
- +Clear deliverable agreed upfront
- +AI pipeline & automation builds
- +Platform & database migrations
- +Performance & infrastructure overhauls
Best for: a well-defined challenge that needs doing properly, once.
the person behind it
I'm Roger Stringer, a product engineer and full-stack developer with 27+ years of building software that ships and scales. Data McFly is how I work with startups and businesses that need senior technical leadership without the cost of a full-time executive hire.
My background spans the whole stack: frontend to infrastructure, database design to agentic AI pipelines. Past roles include senior engineering at Directus and Crowdcast, and leading product engineering for AI-native products. What separates me from most fractional CTOs is simple. I build. With AI-augmented workflows in my toolkit, a single engagement reliably delivers the output of a full team.
The right engineer doesn't just solve the problem in front of you — they prevent the next three you didn't see coming.
I take on a small number of clients at a time, intentionally, so every engagement gets the attention it deserves.
— Roger
let's talk
Ready to stop guessing and start building right?
A 30-minute conversation about where you're headed and whether I'm the right fit to help you get there. No pitch, no pressure.
Currently accepting 2 new clients · replies within a business day