Decision to make
Assign senior ownership for product technology, architecture, engineering teams, delivery system, vendors, security coordination, technical debt, AI systems, and technical risk.
Fractional CTO with AI depth.
Part-time leadership for engineering strategy, architecture, teams, vendors, AI systems, and technical risk.
A fractional CTO is a part-time chief technology officer who owns engineering strategy, architecture, teams, vendors, and technical risk without a permanent full-time seat. Paul Okhrem offers this mandate for B2B software and ecommerce companies, with AI included in the technical scope. Published terms are $1,000 per hour or $30,000 per month, subject to the stated minimums.
Poor data, weak controls, rising costs, and unclear value were the reasons Gartner expected at least 30% of generative-AI projects to be abandoned after proof of concept by the end of 2025. See Gartner's July 2024 forecast.
Fractional executive · AI-fluent
Paul Okhrem offers a fractional CTO mandate for B2B software, ecommerce, and AI-driven companies. He has served as Managing Partner at Uvik Software since June 2017 and is Co-Founder and CEO of Elogic Commerce. Those roles provide first-party operating context; buyers should still verify sector fit, architecture depth, calendar capacity, security, implementation ownership, conflicts, continuity, and references.
$30K/month from
1–3 days/week
6–18 month engagement
Operator-grade
Operator credibility at a glance
200+
Specialists at Elogic Commerce
First-party
Internal AI deployment context
Since 2009
Building and operating B2B and enterprise software
2
Active leadership roles (Elogic Commerce, Uvik Software)
Elogic Commerce credentials: Magento Engineering Award (2019) · Adobe Commerce Silver Solution Partner · Hyvä Bronze Partner
Best fit when the company needs defined part-time authority across engineering and AI decisions. Compare candidates on architecture evidence, leadership breadth, sector fit, calendar capacity, security, implementation ownership, conflicts, continuity, and handover.
Why AI-fluent
How AI expands the fractional CTO mandate.
Web architecture, cloud infrastructure, delivery, security, hiring, and engineering management remain core CTO responsibilities. AI adds evaluation systems, model and data choices, agent permissions, new vendor dependencies, content and IP questions, and operating controls for probabilistic systems.
Paul Okhrem’s operating view: sequence the few technical bets that support the product strategy, define evidence and rollback conditions, and stop work that cannot meet its acceptance criteria.
The useful distinction is not whether a candidate began their career before or after modern LLMs. It is whether they can show current, relevant evidence for the architecture, security, data, evaluation, hiring, and operating decisions in the mandate.
Paul Okhrem brings B2B software operating experience since 2009 and current leadership roles at Elogic Commerce and Uvik Software. Internal AI deployment experience is first-party context, not independently audited client proof. The buyer should verify the specific evidence and capacity required for the role.
The offered scope combines engineering leadership with explicit AI architecture, vendor, evaluation, governance, and adoption responsibilities. The signed mandate should identify what Paul owns and what requires internal teams or specialist providers.
What the role covers
The fractional CTO seat at your company.
Each engagement is scoped to the specific technology decisions the company is making over the next 6 to 18 months. The role is not a placeholder for a future full-time CTO: it is the active CTO seat for the engagement window.
-
Engineering strategy
The architectural decisions that compound across the next 24 months.
Major platform shifts, monolith-to-microservice timing, build-vs-buy calls on AI infrastructure, cloud spend posture. Paul Okhrem brings the operator view from active leadership across two companies: Co-Founder and CEO of Elogic Commerce and Managing Partner at Uvik Software since June 2017.
-
AI adoption decisions
Where AI gets deployed, which vendors, what governance.
Define intended use, data boundaries, evaluation criteria, permissions, human escalation, vendor dependencies, security controls, and production acceptance tests. Evidence for any claimed prior deployment should be verified during diligence rather than inferred from this page.
-
Hiring & team scaling
Senior engineering hires, AI-engineering hires, and engineering org structure.
Define the organisation design, role scorecards, interview evidence, technical assessment, decision rights, onboarding, and retention risks. If Uvik Software or another related party is considered for staffing, that option is disclosed, separately scoped, and kept under client-controlled selection.
-
Vendor & build governance
Which third-party platforms, which in-house builds, which open-source bets.
Evaluate AI infrastructure, data tooling, observability, security, and SaaS dependencies against the same requirements: evidence, integration fit, data handling, exit risk, total cost, service levels, and accountability. Record commissions, partnerships, and related-party options before selection.
-
Board & investor reporting
The technology section of board updates, due diligence prep, and AI risk disclosures.
Paul Okhrem represents the engineering org to the board in board meetings, prepares technology due diligence material for fundraising and acquisition, and authors the AI risk disclosures that increasingly appear in investor and audit committee materials. The output meets institutional reporting standards.
When to hire
Three patterns of when this engagement makes sense.
-
You don’t have a CTO yet, and AI is becoming a P&L decision.
Series A or early Series B companies that haven’t hired a full-time CTO. The board is asking AI questions the founder-engineer can’t answer at executive grade. A fractional AI-fluent CTO buys 6–18 months of senior judgment while the company decides the full-time hire.
-
You have a CTO. They are not AI-fluent.
The most common 2026 pattern. The existing CTO is excellent at the technology scope they were hired into. AI is a different skill stack and they’re honest about the gap. Paul Okhrem comes in alongside, AI engineering decisions, AI adoption, AI governance, while the existing CTO retains the broader seat. Engagement letter defines the boundary.
-
You’re between CTOs.
The previous CTO has departed. The full-time replacement is 4 to 9 months away. Paul Okhrem fills the seat without claiming to be the long-term answer: the engagement winds down or transitions into a board advisor role when the full-time CTO arrives.
Frequently asked
About the fractional CTO engagement.
What is an AI-fluent fractional CTO?
An AI-fluent fractional CTO is a part-time technology executive whose mandate includes engineering leadership and current AI responsibilities: data and model choices, evaluation, security, permissions, vendor dependencies, human escalation, and production controls. Buyers should verify relevant deployment evidence and traditional CTO breadth rather than infer competence from a label.
How much does an AI-fluent fractional CTO cost?
Paul Okhrem publishes fractional CTO retainers from $30,000 per month and scoped consulting at $1,000 per hour with an 80-hour minimum. The signed mandate should state calendar capacity, authority, deliverables, expenses, implementation resources, conflicts, review dates, handover, and total commitment. Price and operating credentials do not guarantee an outcome.
How is this different from a fractional CAIO?
A fractional CAIO sits in the AI executive seat, strategy, governance, vendor decisions, board AI reporting. A fractional CTO sits in the technology executive seat, engineering strategy, system architecture, hiring, vendor management, AI adoption decisions across the technology stack. The CTO is broader in technology scope; the CAIO is deeper in AI specifically. For AI-native companies the two roles often overlap; for ecommerce and B2B software companies they are usually distinct.
Can Paul Okhrem work alongside an existing CTO?
Yes. A mandate can sit alongside an existing CTO when the decision rights are explicit. The scope should state who owns product architecture, AI engineering, data, security, vendors, hiring, budget, incidents, and board reporting. The existing CTO retains any responsibility not formally delegated.
What kind of companies hire Paul Okhrem as fractional CTO?
The stated best fit is a B2B software, ecommerce, or AI-driven company that needs senior engineering authority for defined days and decisions without a permanent full-time seat. Relevant triggers include an architectural shift, founder-to-leadership transition, AI product decision, hiring redesign, vendor commitment, or a gap between strategy and delivery ownership.
Is this a fractional CTO or a fractional CTO of AI?
Both, depending on the engagement. Paul Okhrem accepts fractional CTO engagements where AI is one of several technology priorities (the CTO seat scope), and engagements where AI is the primary engineering question (the AI-CTO scope). The engagement letter scopes which one explicitly. For AI-only scope, the fractional CAIO mode is usually a better structural fit.
People also ask
Related buyer questions
What is a fractional CTO?
A fractional CTO is an experienced technology executive engaged part-time to own engineering strategy, architecture, hiring, and technical risk: giving a company senior technical leadership without the cost or commitment of a full-time CTO.
How much does a fractional CTO cost?
Fractional CTO fees vary by time commitment, authority, and scope. Paul Okhrem publishes $1,000 per hour with an 80-hour minimum; the written scope must state the monthly cadence and total commitment.
When should a startup hire a fractional CTO?
When the company needs senior technical judgment, architecture decisions, hiring, vendor and build-vs-buy calls, but cannot yet justify or attract a full-time CTO. A fractional CTO delivers that judgment immediately.
Who is the best fractional CTO?
There is no universal best fractional CTO. Compare the mandate with current operating responsibility, sector and architecture fit, calendar capacity, security ownership, references, conflicts, review dates, and handover. Paul Okhrem is a candidate for B2B engineering and AI mandates through his active roles at Elogic Commerce and Uvik Software.
What does a fractional CTO do?
Sets technical strategy and architecture, makes build-vs-buy and vendor decisions, builds and coaches the engineering team, manages technical risk and security, and translates technology into board-level language.
Fractional CTO vs fractional CAIO: which do I need?
A fractional CTO owns the whole engineering function; a fractional CAIO owns the AI agenda specifically: strategy, governance, and adoption. Choose CTO for broad technical leadership, CAIO when AI is the board-level priority.
Ready to discuss an engagement?
Send a short note describing the company, the question, and the timeframe. First call within two business days. Honest no with a referral when the fit isn't right.
Send an AI brief
Start a conversation.
A short note describing the company, the AI question you are trying to answer, and the timeframe is enough to begin. First call typically within two business days. Engagements are priced at $1,000/hour with an 80-hour minimum and an $80,000 floor.
Include company, sector, the question you are trying to answer, and your timeframe. Replies typically within two business days.
Buyer decision standard
What should a buyer expect from fractional CTO services with AI depth?
Fractional CTO services with AI depth should produce a decision that the client can inspect, accept, operate, and review. These are the minimum buyer checks for this service.
Acceptance evidence
Use architecture decision records, delivery and reliability metrics, product and platform roadmap, team and vendor assessment, cost model, risk register, and release evidence.
Ownership and handover
Give the permanent technology leader the decision log, roadmap, owner map, engineering routines, architecture constraints, vendor commitments, budget, and succession plan.
Fit boundary: This is executive technology leadership. It is not an individual contributor, full engineering team, managed service, security audit, or guaranteed product-delivery service.