Fractional CTO & CISO services for growing teams鈥攄elivered by senior operators.
Your engineering team is scaling faster than your infrastructure and processes can keep up. We provide the senior technical leadership, security expertise, and hands-on delivery to close the gap鈥攚ithout the overhead of a full-time executive hire.
No prep required. We'll share a plan within 48 hours.
Engineering & Security Outcomes
Typical ranges from recent engagements鈥攏ot vanity metrics
Cloud cost reduction
Through right-sizing, reserved capacity, and architecture optimization.
SOC 2 readiness
From zero to audit-ready with evidence collection and control implementation.
Faster PR cycles
Through AI-assisted code review, intelligent test selection, and pipeline automation.
Incident reduction
Through proactive monitoring, runbooks, and infrastructure hardening.
Results vary based on baseline maturity, scope, and adoption. These metrics reflect past results and are not a guarantee. See case studies
Fixed-Scope Services
Fractional CTO
LeadershipStrategic technical leadership without the full-time overhead. Architecture decisions, team mentoring, and roadmap planning.
- Technical strategy and roadmap
- Architecture review and decisions
- Team mentoring and hiring
- Stakeholder communication
Fractional CISO
SecuritySecurity leadership for growing companies. Build your security program without hiring a full-time executive.
- Security program development
- Risk assessment and management
- Compliance guidance
- Vendor security reviews
Infrastructure Audit
AssessmentA comprehensive review of your cloud infrastructure, security posture, and operational practices.
- Cloud architecture review
- Security posture assessment
- Cost optimization analysis
- Prioritized recommendations
Migration Delivery
DeliveryEnd-to-end cloud migration execution. From lift-and-shift to re-architecture, we handle the complexity.
- Migration planning and execution
- Risk mitigation
- Zero-downtime cutover
- Post-migration validation
Compliance Readiness
ComplianceGet SOC 2, ISO 27001, or HIPAA ready. We implement controls and prepare you for audit.
- Gap analysis
- Control implementation
- Evidence collection
- Audit preparation
CI/CD Setup
DevOpsSecure, efficient delivery pipelines. From greenfield setup to hardening existing pipelines.
- Pipeline design and implementation
- Security scanning integration
- Environment promotion
- Rollback strategies
AI-Driven DX Automation
AI + DevOpsAI-powered developer workflows. Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code, and CodeRabbit鈥攃onfigured with governance. Predictive testing and DX metrics that accelerate your team.
- Copilot / Cursor / Claude Code rollout
- AI code review (CodeRabbit, Qodo)
- Intelligent test selection
- DX metrics (DORA + SPACE)
Upgrades & Modernization
PlatformKubernetes migrations, Terraform adoption, and platform revamps. Modernize without disruption.
- Kubernetes migration
- Terraform/IaC adoption
- Platform modernization
- Zero-disruption cutover
"Illicus helped us go from zero to SOC 2 Type II in under 4 months. Their pragmatic approach meant we built security that actually works, not just checkbox compliance.
"The fractional CTO engagement gave us exactly what we needed: senior technical leadership to guide our architecture decisions without the overhead of a full-time exec.
"We cut our cloud spend by 28% in the first engagement and eliminated two hours of daily manual deployment work. The infrastructure audit paid for itself within weeks.
How We Work
Diagnose
We assess your current state, identify gaps, and understand your constraints.
Plan
We design a pragmatic roadmap with clear milestones and measurable outcomes.
Deliver
We execute with senior practitioners, shipping working systems with documentation.
Operationalize
We transfer knowledge and ensure your team can maintain and evolve the solution.
Frequently Asked Questions
We're boutique by design. Every engagement is led by senior practitioners who've operated at scale鈥攏o junior consultants learning on your dime. We focus on practical outcomes over process theater.
Most engagements start with a fixed-scope assessment or productized service. This lets us demonstrate value quickly before expanding. For fractional roles, we typically embed 2-3 days per week with async availability.
We operate under NDA by default. For production access, we follow least-privilege principles, use your SSO/IAM, maintain audit logs, and can work within your existing security policies.
We work primarily with B2B SaaS, FinTech, HealthTech, and DevTools companies. Our sweet spot is Series A through growth-stage companies with 20-500 employees.
Absolutely. We integrate with your existing stack and workflows. We're not here to replace your team鈥攚e're here to augment capacity and transfer knowledge.
Fixed scope, fixed timeline, fixed price. You know exactly what you're getting, what it costs, and when it'll be done. No surprise invoices or scope creep.
Ready to accelerate your engineering outcomes?
Book a 20-minute discovery call. No prep required鈥攂ring your current constraints and goals.