fractional CIO/CTO
Fractional CIO/CTO for SMEs ready to use AI seriously.
I help UK SMEs at £2–50M revenue turn AI from a buzzword into shipped systems — agentic where it matters, plain code where it doesn’t.
currently
£0M+
group revenue under tech leadership
0
countries · multi-continent operations
0
brands across the portfolio
live
agentic systems in production
brands and businesses I work with
Operating brand logos forthcoming — names withheld pending sign-off.
what I do
Three things, done seriously.
01
Fractional CIO/CTO
Strategic technology leadership for £2–50M UK SMEs — embedded, not consulting from a deck. CIO for ops and IT; CTO for product and engineering.
02
AI consulting
From AI readiness audits through to shipping agentic systems in production. Less ‘ChatGPT for X’, more ‘here’s the system, here are the guardrails, here’s the ROI.’
03
SEO + AIO
Technical SEO and answer engine optimisation, run by someone who builds the systems being audited. For B2B sites where AI Overviews are eating traffic.
how I work
From discovery to live in 90 days.
01
Discovery
Two weeks. I sit with your team, audit the stack, listen to where the pain actually is.
02
Roadmap
A written 90-day plan with sequenced bets, owners, and exit criteria. No 60-slide deck.
03
Implementation
I lead delivery — either alongside your team, or as the engineer or CIO. Weekly cadence.
04
Optimisation
After ship: measure, tune, hand over. Most engagements transition to lighter retainer.
writing
What I’ve been thinking about.
Richard Sanderson
Fractional CIO/CTO
about
I run technology for a real operating business.
I’m the sitting CTO of a multi-brand industrial group — eight brands across multi-continent operations. I’ve spent the last three years rebuilding their tech stack, shipping agentic systems, and pulling cost out of the business. This consultancy is what I do for the rest of the week.
Ready to use AI seriously?
A 30-minute call. No deck, no follow-up nurture sequence. I'll tell you whether I can help.