Interim CTO, Belgium and the Netherlands
Full authority, a defined period, and an exit planned from day one.
An interim CTO in Belgium is a senior engineering leader who takes the CTO seat itself, with hiring, firing and architecture authority, for a bounded period of usually 3 to 9 months, and leaves once a permanent leader is in place. Not a consultant with opinions. The seat, taken for as long as the situation needs it and not a week longer.
I am based in Flanders and work across Belgium and the Netherlands, in Dutch and English. Below: who the interim form is for, who it is wrong for, how an engagement runs month by month, what it costs, and how it differs from a fractional CTO or a permanent hire. In Dutch the same role is often called a CTO ad interim. It is the same job.
Who this is for
- Founders and CEOs of scale-ups with 15 to 120 engineers, usually Series A to C, where the CTO seat is empty, wobbling, or about to be.
- Owners of profitable SMEs with 5 to 40 people in and around software, where the lead developer or the IT manager left and nobody else can hold the decisions.
- Boards and investors who need engineering run by someone with no history in the building while a hard call gets made.
- Companies with entities in Belgium or the Netherlands, where team changes run through local employment law and a works council.
Who it is not for
Saying no on the first call saves both sides a quarter. These are the calls I turn down.
- You need someone to write production code every day. I don't, and an interim CTO who does is a senior engineer with a better title.
- You need a first CTO to build the product from nothing. That is a co-founder job, and I'll tell you who to call.
- You want to pay in equity, or out of the savings. Day rate only.
- You have already picked the people who must go and want someone else to deliver the news. I make that call with you, on evidence, or not at all.
- You run more than about 120 engineers. You need a full-time executive, hired permanently.
The situations that lead to the call
Almost every interim engagement I have taken started from one of these. They tend to arrive in pairs.
- The CTO resigned, or was asked to leave. A permanent search takes 4 to 6 months. An empty seat leaks senior engineers within a quarter, because they read the vacancy as uncertainty and update their profiles first.
- Delivery has stopped. Releases slipped from every two weeks to every quarter, the roadmap is a list of apologies, and the fix needs someone with authority, not another advisor.
- A cut is coming. The bridge round fell short or runway dropped under 12 months, and engineering is the biggest line on the plan. The board wants it run by someone who did not hire the people involved.
- The founder CTO is in the wrong seat. Everyone knows it, including them, and nobody has said it out loud. That one has its own page.
- Two engineering teams after an acquisition. Two stacks, two cultures, two people who both think they are the CTO.
How an engagement runs
Every engagement starts with a diagnosis and ends with a handover. The middle is shaped by what the diagnosis finds, but the outline below holds for most of them.
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| Weeks 1 to 3 | The fixed-price diagnosis. I talk to every engineer, read 6 months of pull requests, incidents and releases, and sit in the meetings nobody invites a consultant to. You get a written report and a plan. It can end there, and roughly a third of the time it does. |
| Month 1 | I take the seat. Usually 4 to 5 days a week at the start, because the first month is when the postponed decisions get made: the open hires, the failing project, the manager who has not managed for a year. |
| Months 2 to 4 | The operating rhythm rebuilt: one planning cadence, named owners per team, releases that happen on a date. If there is a restructuring, it runs here, under Belgian or Dutch rules. The permanent search, or the internal candidate, starts now too. |
| Months 4 to 6 | Days step down to 2 to 3 a week as the structure holds. The successor is chosen. I sit on the technical interviews, or coach the internal candidate into the job. |
| Handover | I stay 6 weeks past the successor's start date, stepping down to 1 day a week, then leave. No retainer afterwards, no standing call. The handover is included in the engagement rate. |
Longer turnarounds run to 9 months. A clean restructuring with a strong internal successor can be done in 4. The length is set by the end state, not by the calendar: the engagement is over when a permanent leader runs engineering and the team ships on a date.
What it costs
Day rates in the normal Western European band of EUR 1 000 to EUR 1 600, invoiced monthly. The diagnosis is EUR 9 500, fixed, agreed before the work starts. No equity, no success fee, no bonus tied to a headcount number, and no discount for a longer commitment.
The comparison that matters is not my rate against a salary. It is the cost of a seat left empty for 6 months: the senior engineers who leave, the roadmap that slips another 2 quarters, and the restructuring that has to be done twice because it was done badly once. What a fractional CTO costs lays out the bands per engagement model.
What it looked like in practice
Four engagements, anonymised. Sectors, sizes and timings are shifted enough that no company is recognisable. The shape and the orders of magnitude are real.
- 45 engineers to 22. Series B SaaS, releases slipping. Weekly releases again after 4 months, payroll from EUR 4 000 000 to EUR 2 000 000, one regretted departure in the six months after.
- A founding CTO replaced, nobody lost. Series A, 28 engineers, an 8-month bridge with the search run alongside. Zero regretted attrition, and the founder still in the building as chief architect.
- Cloud bill down 42 percent. From EUR 74 000 to EUR 43 000 a month in 5 months, no layoffs, no re-platforming.
- The portal shipped in 11 weeks. Owner-led SME, 60 people. EUR 180 000 a year off the agency bill, the lead developer promoted into the job.
The first two are interim work in the strict sense. The last two show what happens when the seat is not empty and the problem is narrower: that is usually fractional work.
Interim, fractional, or a full-time hire
Same title on LinkedIn, three different jobs. The difference is days per week, duration, and the trigger.
| Interim CTO | Fractional CTO | Full-time CTO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time | 4 to 5 days a week at the start, stepping down | 2 to 3 days a week, or 2 to 4 days a month | Full time |
| Duration | 3 to 9 months, ends at handover | Open-ended, reviewed each quarter | Years |
| Trigger | The seat is empty, or the job is a hard call | A leadership gap without a vacancy | The company is ready for a permanent leader |
| Authority | The seat itself: hiring, firing, architecture | Shared with the leadership already there | The seat itself |
| Deliverable | A permanent leader in place | An org that no longer needs the extra days | The next 3 years |
If the need is 2 to 4 days a month of senior judgement rather than the seat itself, that is the fractional form, in Belgium or the Netherlands. Fractional versus interim draws the line in more detail, and hiring an interim CTO covers what to check before you sign one, me included.
Put a number on it first: the engineering cost calculator
Frequently asked
What is an interim CTO?
An interim CTO is a senior engineering leader who takes the CTO seat, with real authority, for a bounded period of usually 3 to 9 months. The job ends when a permanent leader is in place, promoted internally or hired during the engagement. In Belgium the role is also called a CTO ad interim.
When is interim the right form for a CTO?
When the CTO seat is empty, or about to be, and the organisation cannot wait out a 6-month search. When delivery has stopped and the fix needs someone with hiring and firing authority, not advice. When a restructuring is coming and the board wants it run by someone without history in the building.
How does an interim CTO engagement run?
It starts with a 3-week diagnosis and ends with a permanent leader in the seat. In between, the interim CTO works 4 to 5 days a week at first, then 2 to 3 as the structure holds, runs the leadership meetings and takes the postponed decisions. The interim CTO stays 6 weeks past the successor's start date, then leaves.
How much does an interim CTO cost in Belgium?
Day rates in the normal Western European band of EUR 1 000 to EUR 1 600, invoiced monthly. The 3-week diagnosis that starts every engagement is EUR 9 500, fixed. No equity and no success fee.
What is the difference between an interim and a fractional CTO?
An interim CTO holds the seat itself for a bounded period, usually because it is empty. A fractional CTO works 2 to 3 days a week, or a few days a month, alongside leadership that is already there. Interim ends with a permanent hire; fractional ends when the org no longer needs the extra days.
How fast can an interim CTO start?
Often within 2 to 3 weeks of the intro call, sometimes sooner. I run one, occasionally two, engagements at a time, so the honest answer depends on the month. Ask on the call.
Do you work in Dutch and under Belgian employment law?
Yes. Native Dutch (Flemish) and English, and restructurings run under the Renault procedure in Belgium and the WMCO and UWV route in the Netherlands. An employment lawyer is in the room early, every time.
Related
- Turnaround and the other three problems I take on, on the homepage.
- The diagnosis: what the 3 weeks cover and what you get at the end.
- The signs your CTO isn't the right CTO, if you are not sure yet the seat is the problem.
- Right-sizing an engineering team, if the call is about size rather than leadership.