James Sperring
Fractional & Portfolio CTO
UK & US B2B SaaS • Hands-on + Strategic
Unblock delivery. Align strategy. Ship value sooner.
I help high-ambition teams cut complexity, modernize responsibly, and scale their product without burning out the people who build it. I combine Theory of Constraints, Team Topologies, and pragmatic engineering to create systems that ship.
Key Outcomes
-80%
Lead time
from idea to production
+3-10x
Deploy frequency
per team
-50%
Ops toil
incidents & handoffs
+$10k+
Release savings
per release (historical)
Services
Operating model & org design
Clarify ownership, flow, and interfaces
Architecture & modernization
Pragmatic rewrites, modular monoliths
Platform & delivery
CI/CD to observability, cut cycle time
Integrations & data
APIs, partner ecosystems, data flows
Hiring & leadership
Right-size team, uplevel leaders
Execution & governance
Lightweight guardrails, clear prioritization
Approach
Triage (1–2 hours)
Rapid read on constraints, risks, and opportunities. Align on outcomes and non-goals.
Audit Sprint (2–3 weeks)
Deep dive across product, platform, and people. Produce a crisp plan with first 90-day moves.
Lead & Enable (ongoing)
Fractional/Portfolio CTO, advisory retainer, or interim coverage. Make myself progressively less necessary.
Engagement Models
Audit Sprint
2–3 weeks
- Exec interviews & system review
- Key risks & decisions
- 90-day plan & metrics
Fractional CTO
1–3 days/week
- Hands-on leadership
- Outcome governance
- Coach your leaders
Advisory Retainer
Async + office hours
- Decision sparring
- Hiring & vendor review
- Board-ready updates
Specialties
Throughput vs valueConstraint mappingProduct/eng alignmentSensible governanceIntegrationsData flowsTheory of ConstraintsTeam TopologiesDomain-Driven DesignDevExModernizationData & Integrations
Tech Stack
ReactNestJSNodeTypeScriptPostgres/PostGISCQRSAzureCI/CDC#/.NetSQL
Based in the UK. Comfortable with US time zones and travel.
Pricing on request—flat monthly with clear scope.