Senior technical leadership without a full-time executive hire.
For owner-led and growth-stage businesses that need senior architecture judgment, vendor evaluation, delivery sequencing, and hands-on platform execution.
I sit between strategy and implementation. Architecture decisions, AWS posture, vendor calls, migration sequencing, security review, and direct engineering work when the critical path needs senior execution.
Who this engagement is for
Who this is for
- Businesses that need senior architecture judgment but do not need a full-time CTO.
- Founders or owners making expensive platform, vendor, cloud, or modernization decisions where the cost of the wrong call is large.
- Engineering teams that need an outside senior engineer to reduce delivery risk and call the architecture decisions the team would otherwise have to escalate or guess.
- Companies preparing for diligence, scale, migration, regulatory review, or a major rebuild where a credible technical owner is the missing piece.
- Owner-led businesses that need one senior technical person accountable for judgment, delivery sequencing, vendor calls, and the few implementation tasks that gate everything else.
- AWS-native businesses needing senior AWS posture review (multi-account Org design, IAM trust boundaries, OIDC-based CI, infrastructure as code, observability).
Who this is NOT for
- Hourly staff augmentation where the work is already fully specified and someone else owns the outcome.
- Organizations looking for slide decks without implementation accountability or production-ready output.
- Teams that need a full-time people manager or a recruiting function more than they need architecture and delivery leadership.
- Companies looking to outsource the entire engineering function. This role is leverage on top of a team or owner, not a replacement for one.
Where this engagement starts
The problem
Most $5M to $50M businesses do not need a full-time CTO before they need CTO-level judgment. They need someone senior enough to call the architecture, vendor, migration, security, and sequencing decisions before those decisions become expensive. The value is in judgment plus implementation credibility: an outside senior engineer who can also ship the code on the critical path when the team is stuck.
The wrong fit is an advisor who hands over slide decks and goes home. The wrong fit is hourly staff augmentation where the work has already been over-specified by people who do not own the outcome. The right fit is one senior technical person accountable for the calls that matter and the few implementation tasks that gate everything else.
The approach
How this engagement runs
Embedded senior technical owner for the calls that matter: architecture, AWS posture, vendor selection, migration sequencing, delivery risk, and direct implementation when the critical path needs senior execution.
Architecture baseline
Review the current system, infrastructure, delivery workflow, vendor dependencies, security posture, observability, and active roadmap. Produce a written risk register grounded in the actual code and the actual cloud account.
Decision framework
Define which technical decisions require senior architecture review and what evidence is needed before budget is committed. Decision memos for major vendor, platform, infrastructure, and build-vs-buy choices, captured as Architecture Decision Records the team can reference later.
Roadmap sequencing
Translate ambiguous technical debt, migration, and platform work into ordered execution slices with risk controls, dependencies, and budget implications. The roadmap reflects what can actually ship, not a wishlist.
Delivery governance
Review implementation quality, incident readiness, AWS posture, security, observability, and engineering tradeoffs as work ships. Catch the architectural mistakes before they land in production.
Hands-on intervention
Directly implement or unblock critical-path architecture, infrastructure, data, or integration work when it is the best use of senior time. Code, Terraform, ledger logic, AWS posture: whatever is gating the path forward.
Outcomes
What you walk away with
- $5M+/yrAnchor client revenue platform governedSource: Fine's Gallery Fractional CTO retainer (ongoing)
- SAA + SAPAWS architecture credentialsSource: AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate + Professional
- 6-month engagementLead Architect on a regulated registrySource: Confidential energy-sector certificate registry (Aug 2025 to Feb 2026)
- 19 months end to endCustom commerce platform shipped solo to productionSource: Fine's Gallery production cutover (June 2025) and ongoing operation
- Cloud, data, ledger, security, vendor, migrationArchitecture decision surfacesSource: Fine's Gallery commerce platform + confidential registry engagement
- $10k/month, 3-month minimum, retainer or fixed scopeEngagement modelSource: Conti Digital pricing
Concrete deliverables
- Architecture review and written technical risk register grounded in the actual code and AWS account.
- Decision memos for major vendor, platform, infrastructure, and build-vs-buy choices, captured as Architecture Decision Records the team can reference later.
- Roadmap sequencing with delivery risks, dependencies, and budget implications. What ships first, what waits, and why.
- AWS posture review: multi-account Organization design, IAM trust boundaries, GitHub OIDC for CI / CD (no long-lived access keys), KMS / Secrets Manager / observability discipline.
- Code review and architecture review on critical changes: cloud, data, security, integration boundaries, ledger correctness if applicable.
- Hands-on implementation for high-risk architecture or platform bottlenecks. Direct work on Terraform, Postgres, ledger logic, AWS posture, integrations, or the storefront when it is the best use of senior time.
- Monthly executive technical brief: shipped work, blocked decisions, risk register status, next priorities, and budget implications. One page, no filler.
- Optional: Architecture Decision Records, runbooks, and incident-readiness documentation for the team to inherit after the engagement winds down.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
An agency sells slide decks and a team. Most consulting deliverables stop at the recommendation. The accountability for shipping the work lives somewhere else.
Fractional CTO is the opposite tradeoff. One senior engineer accountable for both the calls and the implementation that gates them. The deliverable is a platform that actually shipped, an architecture decision that turned out right, or a vendor call that did not cost a quarter of revenue.
Both, with the ratio set by what the engagement actually needs. Architecture review, vendor calls, decision memos, and roadmap sequencing are part of every engagement. Direct implementation (Terraform, Postgres / PL/pgSQL ledger logic, AWS posture, integration adapters, storefront work) happens whenever it is the best use of senior time.
On the Fine's Gallery engagement the implementation surface was 100% of the platform: the same person who scoped it shipped 223,000+ lines of TypeScript end to end, then transitioned into a Fractional CTO retainer. On the confidential energy-sector registry engagement the implementation surface was the authoritative ledger functions and the sovereign AWS target architecture.
Yes. The role is leverage on top of a team or owner, not a replacement for one. Reviews their architecture, calls the build-vs-buy and vendor decisions, sequences the roadmap, governs delivery quality, and unblocks the critical path with direct implementation when needed.
The clearest win shows up when there is an internal team that ships well but lacks senior architecture judgment, or an agency that builds fast but does not own the consequences of the architecture decisions it commits the client to.
$10K per month, 3-month minimum. Retainer or fixed-scope, depending on what fits the engagement. Pricing is public and the same for every client. No discovery-call sales theater.
If the work scopes naturally as a fixed deliverable (architecture review, AWS posture audit, migration plan, ledger design), it can run as a Platform Build engagement instead, starting at $80K. The Architecture Sprint engagement ($15K, 3 weeks) is the lowest-cost way to get a written architecture decision document from a Fractional-CTO-grade engineer: current-state risk register, target architecture, migration plan, cost model, without committing to a multi-month relationship.
Naples, Florida. Conti Digital LLC is a US entity. Engagements are remote-first, with on-site work for kickoff or critical-path moments when it is the best use of time. The anchor client is a Naples-area luxury retailer; engagements have also reached as far as a national-scale regulated registry.
Calling architecture decisions before they become expensive: build-vs-buy, vendor selection, platform choice, AWS Organization design, ledger correctness model, security posture, migration sequencing, observability discipline, incident readiness.
Documenting those calls as Architecture Decision Records the team can reference and audit. Reviewing implementation quality before architectural mistakes land in production. Stepping in to implement when the critical path needs senior execution. Translating engineering tradeoffs into the budget and roadmap implications a non-technical owner can act on.
AWS Solutions Architect Professional (SAP-C02) and Associate (SAA-C03), both current, both linked from the site footer to public Credly badges.
Anchor reference: Fine's Gallery, a Naples-area luxury marble and stonework retailer. Fractional CTO retainer ongoing after the platform cutover.
Recent confidential reference (architecture-only, client name protected): a national-scale energy-sector certificate registry where I served as Lead Architect for six months, designing the authoritative double-entry ledger and sovereign AWS target architecture.
Yes. Mutual NDA on request. Discovery happens via a free 30-minute consultation; if there is fit, a paid Architecture Sprint ($15K, 3 weeks) produces a written architecture decision document before any longer-term commitment.
Related work
See this in production
Fine's Gallery Platform Modernization
Solo-built end-to-end commerce platform for a luxury marble and stonework gallery. $5M+ annual revenue running on a sovereign, client-owned AWS Organization. Zero-downtime production cutover. 20+ years of legacy operational data migrated into the new platform without loss. Marketing dominance on the new platform supports $500K+/month in commerce volume. Systematic removal of vendor lock-in across SaaS commerce, payment, and warehouse tooling. Now operates on a Fractional CTO retainer.
Confidential Energy Registry Architecture
Lead architect on a regulated energy-sector certificate registry. Designed and built the replacement for a managed SaaS ledger platform with a client-owned PostgreSQL system. Five database-owned write functions hold the entire authoritative mutation surface. Append-only canonical ledger with a blockchain-style UTXO model and double-entry credit/debit postings, validated by a comprehensive integration test suite against real PostgreSQL.
Peter T Conti Consulting Platform
The consulting practice's own site, built as the reference architecture for what the practice sells. Same Next.js + Payload + Postgres + ECS Fargate + Terraform stack as the anchor engagement. STS-only IAM, no long-lived credentials anywhere. Cost-tuned to run for a small fraction of the naive default AWS footprint, with full editorial workflow operated as code.
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Credentials and Fit
Directly relevant experience for high-trust delivery
I lead architecture and implementation personally, with technical depth that spans product, cloud, and execution operations.
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate
Cloud decisions are grounded in secure, cost-aware architecture with practical production tradeoff management.
Dual technical foundation
B.S. Computer Science plus B.S. Chemistry with undergraduate research and scientific presentation discipline.
AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional
My ability to use AWS to solve complex business requirements has been demonstrated at the highest enterprise level.
Fractional CTO Inquiry
Share your current technical roadblocks, team structure, and organizational scaling goals. Include delivery, hiring, security, or platform risks that currently block strategic progress.
Pressure-test the platform decision before you commit budget.
Schedule a complimentary 30-minute consultation to align on objectives, stress-test your architecture, and leave with a concrete set of recommendations. No obligation, no sales pitch. Just actionable technical guidance.