35+ years building production systems and the teams behind them. I give founders senior technical leadership without the cost of a full-time CTO, and a straight answer on where AI fits, and where it doesn't.
Penetration testing across 5 Olympic Games · core infrastructure for a top-15 global bank · platforms managing 30M+ records and serving millions of users.
Senior technical leadership without a full-time hire. I own the hard calls so you can keep building the business.
Cut through the hype. I find the few places AI actually makes money or saves time, and lead your team to build them.
Designed core infrastructure at enterprise scale and reliability.
Built a platform managing 30M+ voter records used by winning campaigns.
Scaled a notification system to millions of users.
Led pipelines processing 20,000+ hours of content with facial recognition and smart constraints.
Founded and shipped from idea to paying customers, and still run several today.
Penetration testing and security across five Olympic Games.
The win is rarely "more AI." It's experience pointing technology at the right problem, with the right guardrails, so it serves the business instead of becoming the next one. Sometimes that's a high-impact AI build. Sometimes it's telling you the truth: you don't need AI for that. Either way, you get senior judgment, not hype.
First-time and repeat founders who need senior technical direction without a full-time CTO.
Teams building or scaling a product who need leadership, architecture, and hiring.
Developers but no senior leader to set direction and keep AI and architecture on track.
Technical due diligence, architecture reviews, and engineering assessments.
Real revenue and a team, trying to figure out what AI actually means for the business.
Hiring, evaluation, and org design as you scale headcount.
"We brought Stephen in to figure out where AI actually fit in our real estate business — the real opportunities, not the hype. He helped us define what should, could, and shouldn't be automated, then turned our new property listing process from a multi-week slog into minutes. Honest, clear, and hands-on the whole way."
Often both, in one person. If your systems or team need senior leadership, that's fractional CTO work. If you're trying to figure out where AI fits, that's advisory. Most founders start with a free 15-minute call and we sort out which matters most.
Agencies sell build hours. I give you senior judgment first — what's worth doing and what isn't — then lead your existing team to do it. You get an operator who has shipped real systems, not slideware.
Engagements are scoped to what you need, from a focused AI Opportunity Audit to ongoing fractional CTO and AI advisory retainers. We'll talk specifics on the call once I understand your situation.
Both, at the right altitude. I own architecture, hiring, and technical strategy, review code and unblock the team, and bring in specialists where a deep-skill screen sharpens the signal. My deepest cloud experience is AWS.
15 minutes, no pitch. We'll talk through your systems, your team, or your AI questions, and figure out the highest-leverage next move.
Book Your Free 15-Min Fit Call