Find and hire a senior
Fractional Chief Information Officer, Senior IT and Technology Leadership Without the Full-Time Hire
Our senior fractional chief information officer brings operator-level judgment to your team. Senior fractional CIOs for organizations that need the technology function led by someone who has done it. IT strategy, systems and data architecture, security, infrastructure, platform governance. The digital transformation that turns IT into a business capability.
Talk to a Fractional CIO
Our senior fractional chief information officer brings operator-level judgment to your team
Why teams hire our fractional chief information officer
IT as a business capability
Senior operators who run information technology as a capability that moves the business, not a help desk. They own the systems, the data, and the security posture, and they tie the technology agenda to growth, margin, and resilience.
Strategy and the systems, in one leader
Operators who set the IT and data strategy and the enterprise architecture, then drive the delivery and platform governance that make it real. The decision-maker and the hands-on owner in a single engagement.
Senior the day they start
Operators who have held CIO and senior IT-leadership roles for consumer, healthcare, and B2B organizations. They set the technology agenda and connect it to the business from day one, with no ramp.
What a fractional CIO owns
A fractional Chief Information Officer is a senior technology leader engaged part-time on a multi-quarter cadence, typically 1 to 3 days per week. They own the technology that runs the business: IT strategy, the systems and data architecture, security, infrastructure and platform governance, enterprise architecture. The digital transformation that turns information technology into a business capability.
IT strategy and enterprise architecture
The foundational decisions: the IT and data strategy, the enterprise architecture, the build-versus-buy and platform calls. A technology roadmap sequenced to the business rather than to whatever is trending.
Systems, data, and platform governance
The backbone of the operation: the core systems and the integrations between them, a sane data architecture, SaaS platform governance. The vendor landscape that has to be managed rather than left to sprawl.
Security, infrastructure, and resilience
The work that protects the business: a defensible security posture, scalable and reliable infrastructure. The resilience and compliance discipline that keep the company running and out of trouble.
Digital transformation and business value
The translation layer: leading the digital transformation and turning the technology agenda into outcomes leadership cares about. IT investment maps to growth, productivity. Lower cost rather than cost alone.
How a fractional CIO engagement runs
Companies hire a fractional CIO when they need senior technology leadership but not a full-time hire: a systems modernization to lead, a data architecture to fix, a security posture to strengthen, a digital transformation to drive, or ongoing senior judgment alongside a leadership team. The operator is the senior IT voice across the engagement.
Fractional, interim, or full-time
Fractional is ongoing and part-time, 1 to 3 days per week across multiple quarters, for organizations that want senior technology judgment without the full-time commitment. Interim is a full-seat engagement for a defined window, usually 3 to 9 months, most often while a company hires. A permanent CIO makes sense once the technology workload is steady-state full-time.
The first 90 days
A fractional CIO typically opens with an audit: the systems and integrations, the data architecture, the security posture, the vendor landscape. The technology spend. That becomes a prioritized roadmap, then the highest-value modernization or fix moves first.
How We Compare
| Feature | Chameleon Collective | IT consulting / MSP | Full-time CIO hire |
|---|---|---|---|
| Senior the day they start | Operators who have held CIO roles | Project teams and technicians | 3 to 6 month ramp |
| Owns IT as a business capability | Ties technology to growth and resilience | Scoped to a project or a ticket queue | Yes, once ramped |
| Strategy plus the systems | Owns architecture through delivery | Builds to the statement of work | Hire-dependent |
| Vendor and platform agnostic | Picks the systems that fit the business | Often tied to what they resell |
Frequently Asked Questions
Our fractional chief information officer advises: They are a senior technology leader engaged part-time: owning IT strategy, the systems and data architecture, security, infrastructure and platform governance, enterprise architecture. The digital transformation that turns information technology into a business capability.
Our fractional chief information officer advises: Fractional is ongoing and part-time, for senior technology judgment without a full-time hire. Interim is full-seat coverage for a defined window, most often while you hire. A permanent CIO makes sense once the workload is steady-state full-time. We help you size which fits.
Our fractional chief information officer advises: A CIO owns the technology that runs the business: internal IT, the systems and data architecture, security, infrastructure, enterprise architecture. Digital transformation. A CTO owns the product and engineering, the technology you build and ship to customers. Many of our operators have held both. We scope the engagement to the work you actually need rather than the title.
Our roster includes operators who have held CIO and senior IT-leadership roles, governed enterprise systems and SaaS platforms, owned data and security. Led digital transformations for consumer, healthcare, and B2B organizations. They are senior the day they start.
Most engagements produce a prioritized technology roadmap and the first high-value move within the opening weeks: a systems modernization scoped, a security gap closed, or a data architecture decision that unblocks the business.
Related Services
Need a permanent Chief Information Officer or VP of IT?
Hiring a full-time fractional chief information officer? Some companies run a fractional CIO for a window, then convert to a permanent hire. Our Recruit practice runs retained executive search for technology and IT leaders, with a short list in 14 to 21 days and a 12-month replacement guarantee.
Get In Touch
Get senior IT and technology leadership, without the full-time hire
Work with a senior fractional chief information officer. Tell us what you need: a systems or platform modernization to lead, a data architecture to untangle, a security posture to strengthen, or a digital transformation to drive. We will route to the operator whose pattern fits.
