# Yazid Hamdi — Fractional CTO > Fractional CTO who owns the full build, requirements through operation. Five years founding CTO of a US fintech; architect in rail, automotive, aviation and research. Carnegie Mellon trained, based in Germany, working CET with daily US overlap. Site: https://yazidhamdi.com Based: Gifhorn, Germany (CET, with daily US overlap) Languages: English, French, Arabic (native); German (professional) Contact: the enquiry form at https://yazidhamdi.com/#contact ## Summary I own the full build, requirements through operation. Five years founding CTO of a US fintech. Architect before that in rail, automotive, aviation and research. Carnegie Mellon trained. Works with: Founders (MVP, compliance, scale); Investors (diligence and post-investment support); Scale-ups (delivery, spend, modernisation). ## What is owned Six layers, one owner. Many fractional leaders own two of these and advise on the rest. I have carried all six as the accountable person. 1. **Requirements** — What the system must be good at, settled before frameworks. 2. **Architecture** — The structure that decides what is cheap to change later. 3. **Infrastructure** — Cloud, pipelines, observability, security and compliance. 4. **Implementation** — Core backends and the first version of anything new. 5. **Operation** — Frequent releases, incidents, uptime the team can support. 6. **Team** — Hiring, ownership, and the board material to match. ## Engagement shapes Start anywhere on the spectrum and move. Value first: if a permanent hire is the better answer, you hear it on the first call. ### Tactical sprint (1 to 2 weeks) For: One decision or one blockage: build versus buy, a cloud bill that doubled, a review before a board meeting. You keep: A written recommendation and a ranked risk list, fixed fee, no retainer attached. ### Diagnostic and roadmap (4 to 6 weeks) For: A problem that looks structural, or an investor question you would like to answer with more confidence. You keep: A diagnosis and a costed roadmap. Doubles as technical due diligence for funds. ### Fractional CTO (1 to 2 days a week) For: The technical seat filled now, including the investor and customer conversations that need a technologist. You keep: Documented architecture, a working process, and a team that runs without me. ### Deep embedding (3+ days a week) For: Founding an engineering function, rebuilding a platform, or recovering a stalled programme. You keep: A function that exists and a successor who was grown. Defined end, stated exit condition. ## Record Carnegie Mellon disciplined engineering, applied in six industries. CMU Master of Software Engineering as a Fulbright Scholar, teaching assistant in DevOps, contributor to a chapter of Software Architecture in Practice, 4th edition. Architecture designed against quality attributes and evaluated before it is built. - **CMU MSE**: Fulbright Scholar, Coach Award - **Certified**: AWS Solutions Architect - **Languages**: EN, FR, AR native · DE professional - **Based**: Germany · CET with daily US overlap Industries: - **Fintech** (Troutwood, founding CTO) — A technical function built from zero: process, architecture, hiring, security, compliance, AI in production. - **Rail** (Siemens Mobility AI R&D) — Computer vision and digital twin prototypes moved into a product line. - **Automotive** (via Expleo Group) — Workflow product delivered inside a manufacturer's process, in German and French. - **Aviation** (Airbus, Single European Sky) — A month of manual reporting reduced to half a day. - **Research infrastructure** (Max Planck, NOMAD) — One documented lifecycle for a fragmented team: uptime stabilised, releases shortened. - **Industrial PLM and CAD** (IGE+XAO) — Long lived codebases and real upgrade paths. ## How I work - **Requirements before architecture.** Expensive rewrites usually start as requirement problems. - **Boring where it counts.** Serverless first, documented, cheap to run. Novelty belongs in the product. - **The team is the deliverable.** Someone internal grows into the seat I hold. - **AI native, not AI flavoured.** Generative features shipped to real users, and a clear view of where models pay. ## Frequently asked questions ### What does a fractional CTO actually own? In my engagements, all six layers of the build: requirements, architecture, infrastructure, implementation, operation, and the team. Many fractional leaders own two of these and advise on the rest. I take the accountable seat — including the investor and customer conversations that need a technologist in the room. ### How is this different from hiring a consultancy? A consultancy sells you a team and leaves with the knowledge. I work as your technical leader, not a vendor: the deliverable is a documented architecture, a working process, and someone internal who grows into the seat I hold. Every engagement has a stated exit condition. ### What does an engagement cost, and how long does it run? Four shapes. A tactical sprint runs one to two weeks on a fixed fee with no retainer attached. A diagnostic and roadmap runs four to six weeks. A fractional CTO retainer is one to two days a week. A deep embedding is three or more days a week. You can start anywhere on that spectrum and move. ### Do you work with investors on technical due diligence? Yes. The diagnostic and roadmap engagement doubles as technical due diligence for funds, and I also do post-investment support for portfolio companies. The output is a diagnosis and a costed roadmap rather than a pass/fail memo. ### Where are you based and which time zones do you cover? Gifhorn, Germany. I work Central European Time with a daily overlap into US hours, which is how I ran engineering for a US fintech from Europe for five years. I work in English, French and Arabic natively, and German professionally. ### What industries have you worked in? Fintech as a founding CTO, rail at Siemens Mobility AI R&D, automotive via Expleo Group, aviation on the Single European Sky programme at Airbus, research infrastructure at Max Planck, and industrial PLM and CAD at IGE+XAO. Domains where correctness is the baseline rather than a feature. ### Will you tell me if I should hire a permanent CTO instead? Yes, on the first call. If a permanent hire is the better answer for where you are, you hear it before there is anything to sign. That is the point of a thirty minute call with no pitch deck. ### How do I start? Book a thirty minute intro call, or write through the form on this page. Either way you get a straight read on your situation and the smallest useful first step. I answer within two working days. ## Getting in touch Thirty minutes, no pitch deck. A straight read on your situation and the smallest useful first step. Enquiries go through the form at https://yazidhamdi.com/#contact; a thirty minute intro call can be booked from the same section. Replies within two working days.