Fractional · 1 to 3 days a week
For product teams that have outgrown "good ICs, no lead" but aren't ready to hire a full-time head of frontend. I take the lead seat 1 to 3 days a week, own the architecture and hiring calls, and turn a group of engineers into a team.
The pattern is almost always the same. Hiring outpaced leadership, the founding engineer doesn't want the lead role, and decisions stack up because nobody owns them. A fractional lead clears that queue without committing the company to a six-figure full-time hire.
The senior IC who was running things wants to go back to building. Or never wanted the role in the first place. The team needs an actual lead, but not yet full-time.
Components are getting copied across apps. Prop APIs are drifting. Nobody owns versioning, distribution, or governance. The system stops being a system.
No rubric, no interview loop you trust, no calibrated bar. Either offers go to the wrong people, or the right candidates ghost. A fractional lead fixes the loop before more headcount gets burned.
State management, routing, the next framework upgrade, the monorepo. Decisions sit in Slack threads for weeks because nobody has the authority (or appetite) to call them. I make the call and write down why.
State, routing, data layer, module boundaries, monorepo strategy. Written ADRs so the rationale survives me leaving the engagement.
Calibrated rubric, take-home or live-coding loop, structured debriefs. I sit on the panel and help your team learn to read senior frontend candidates.
Component review process, token discipline, versioning policy, and the harder call: what does NOT go in the design system.
1:1s with mid-level engineers who want to grow into senior. Career direction, code feedback, and the soft skills that actually unlock the next level.
A written standard for what gets blocked, what gets nitpicked, and what gets shipped. Less bikeshedding, faster merges, fewer regressions.
Sitting in on product and design syncs so frontend gets represented before tickets get written, not after. Fewer surprises at sprint planning.
Being upfront about scope saves everyone time. A fractional lead role is a specific shape. Here's what it isn't.
If you need a head of frontend in the room every day, hire one. A fractional engagement caps at 3 days a week and isn't a substitute for someone whose calendar belongs to you.
I don't run standups, write tickets, or maintain Jira boards. I'll unblock those processes if they're stuck, but day-to-day delivery management belongs with your PM or EM.
I don't ship the product alone. The point of the role is to make your team faster and better. If you need a single engineer to build a thing end to end, hire a contractor instead.