Fractional CTO / Solutions Architect – Saudi Technology Company - Startup

1. Looking For:

- Fractional CTO / Senior Solutions Architect – Technical Planning for Saudi Technology Startup

2. Project Description:

- I am building a technology company in Saudi Arabia and need an experienced Fractional CTO / Senior Solutions Architect to design the company’s technical foundation from the ground up.

- The goal is to determine what technical services the company should offer, how those services should be structured and delivered, what technical roles and technologies are required, and how technical risks should be managed.

- The company will initially use a contractor/freelancer-based delivery model and focus mainly on software and digital services. Hardware supply or installation is not planned at the startup stage.

- The consultant should be capable of designing the technical structure and service offering from scratch.

3. Scope:

The consultant should:

- Recommend which technical services should be offered at startup and which should be postponed.
- Define the scope and delivery process for each approved service.
- Identify required technical roles, skills, and specialists.
- Recommend suitable technology stacks and technical standards.
- Define development, testing, QA, deployment, documentation, security, and support processes.
- Identify reusable frameworks/components across projects.
- Design an effective structure for managing multiple contractors/freelancers.
- Identify major technical and operational risks and how to reduce them.
- Consider relevant Saudi technical and regulatory requirements where they affect architecture, security, data handling, hosting, or service delivery.
- Create a technical roadmap for how the company should grow.

- Potential areas may include custom systems, web development, mobile apps, automation, AI, data analytics, cybersecurity, cloud, DevOps, integrations, support, and other relevant technology services.

- I am open to changing, removing, combining, or adding services based on the consultant’s recommendations.

4. Expected Deliverables:
- Recommended startup service catalogue
- Technical breakdown of approved services
- Contractor/team structure
- Recommended technology standards
- Development and QA process
- Security baseline
- Reusable architecture/component plan
- Technical risk assessment
- Technical roadmap
- Final recommendations

5. Quality Expectation:

- Recommendations must be practical, specific to this company, and supported by clear reasoning.

- Generic templates or high-level recommendations that could apply to any technology company are not sufficient.

6. Ideal Candidate:

Strong experience in:

- Solution/software architecture
- CTO-level technical planning
- Custom business systems
- Web/mobile architecture
- Strong understanding of APIs, databases, cloud architecture, and DevOps practices
- Security and QA
- Managing distributed or freelance technical teams

- Saudi Arabia experience is preferred but not mandatory.

- I am looking for someone who can think at a company and architecture level, challenge assumptions, and clearly explain the reasoning behind their recommendations.

7. Project Structure:

- The project should be divided into agreed milestones, with clear deliverables for each stage.

- Final paid deliverables created specifically for this project will become the property of the company upon full payment.

8. When Applying:

Please provide:

- Relevant experience
- Similar work completed
- Saudi Arabia experience, if any
- How you would approach the project
- Estimated timeframe
- Proposed price or rate