Executive Technology Advisory & Fractional CTO Co-Leadership
Senior-led consultancy helping organisations design, scale and govern mission-critical digital systems — with engineering depth, board-level clarity and operational excellence. Our principal consultants have over 35 years’ experience delivering high-stakes systems from 200,000+ voting machines to national OTT platforms serving millions of users.
Why CO-LEAD
Mission-Critical Focus
We specialise in systems where failure is not an option: electronic voting, public-sector platforms, telecoms, fintech and national-scale digital infrastructure serving millions of users.
Public-Sector & Regulated Trust
Deep experience in government digital systems, regulatory compliance, auditability and building public confidence in high-stakes environments where integrity and transparency matter.
Hardware to Cloud
Unique breadth from embedded systems and firmware through networks and OSS/BSS to cloud-native platforms and streaming. Full-stack understanding across the entire technology landscape.
Business + Technology Leadership
Not just technical advice — senior leadership that combines engineering excellence, governance frameworks, risk management and strategic business execution for boards, founders and investors.
What We Offer
Fractional CTO & Co-Leadership
Part-time executive technology leadership for organisations that need high-impact guidance without a full-time CTO. Architecture, roadmap, governance, team mentoring and co-leadership alongside founders and CEOs.
Digital Governance & Systems Integrity
Advisory on auditability, compliance, resilience, digital trust and risk management across high-stakes platforms and public-sector digital systems, aligned with regulatory and governance expectations.
Architecture & Modernisation
Design and remediation of complex, multi-tier architectures across cloud, networks, data, OSS/BSS, embedded systems, IoT and critical infrastructure — with clear trade-offs and execution paths.
Mission-Critical Reliability & RCA
Incident response, Root Cause Analysis, reliability engineering and preventive controls for systems where downtime or malfunction has legal, financial or societal consequences.
Technical Due Diligence (PE/VC)
Independent assessment of product, architecture, team capability, delivery maturity, operational resilience and risk exposure to support investment decisions and portfolio value creation.
Interim CTO & Stabilisation
Short-term executive engagements to stabilise critical projects, rescue failing programmes or prepare technology functions for scale, typically over 3–12 month horizons.
Who We Work With
Scale-ups & SMEs
Companies needing senior technical and co-leadership support without full-time CTO overhead, particularly in complex or regulated environments.
PE & VC Firms
Investors requiring expert technical and operational due diligence, platform risk assessment and ongoing support for portfolio companies.
Public Sector
Government agencies and public institutions requiring auditability, transparency, regulatory compliance and digital trust in their critical systems.
Telecoms / OTT / Fintech
Regulated industries undergoing modernisation, platform transformation or reliability and performance challenges at national or regional scale.
Boards & Regulators
Organisations seeking independent expert guidance on technology strategy, risk management, governance frameworks and systems integrity.
How We Work
Discovery Call
A 30-minute conversation to understand your challenges, context and goals, and to assess fit. No obligation, no cost.
Assessment & Proposal
A tailored approach with clear scope, deliverables and engagement options, aligned with your risk profile, timelines and internal capacity.
Flexible Engagement
Advisory (monthly/quarterly), Fractional (days per week), Project-based (specific outcomes) or Interim CTO roles (3–12 months), depending on your needs.
Selected Engagements
Electronic Voting Modernisation
Design and evolution of 200,000+ secure electronic voting machines for national elections. Systems required strong security, operational robustness, auditability and public trust in democratic processes.
National OTT Platform
Architecture of a streaming platform serving millions of users. High-availability infrastructure, performance at scale and seamless content delivery across networks and devices.
Global OEM Hardware
Enterprise-grade embedded systems manufactured for IBM, Unisys, HP and DEC, integrating hardware, firmware and software for mission-critical applications in demanding environments.
Public-Sector Digital Transformation
Mission-critical platforms for government agencies requiring transparency, security and regulatory compliance, balancing innovation with accountability and long-term maintainability.
About CO-LEAD
CO-LEAD is an executive technology advisory practice specialising in mission-critical digital platforms, public-sector digital trust and high-scale system transformations. We help organisations achieve clarity, stability and accelerated execution when reliability, compliance and user trust are non-negotiable.
Our principal consultants have more than 35 years’ experience designing, modernising and rescuing multi-system platforms across telecommunications, OTT media, fintech, digital infrastructure and national electronic voting systems.
CO-LEAD has architected and delivered solutions used by millions of users, including the design and evolution of over 200,000 secure electronic voting machines, national-scale OTT streaming platforms, and enterprise-grade embedded hardware manufactured for global technology companies.
We operate from London and work with clients across the UK and Europe, supported by a trusted network of senior associates in security, reliability engineering and regulatory compliance.
Get in Touch
Let’s work together to strengthen your leadership and make better technology decisions in your most critical systems.
Location
London, United Kingdom