Build it right. Keep it running. Get real value from AI, safely.
Whether you're building your first product or running a growing one, the decisions are the same: what to build, who should build it, and what could go wrong. After 18+ years leading engineering, I help you make those calls and put AI to work.
Start with any one of these. I don't publish prices because the scope varies. Book a call and I'll follow up with a written scope and fee.
Technical leadership for growing companies, without a full-time hire. Engineering, product and design planned together, so what ships is what customers need.
def fractional_cto(team, founders) -> Mandate:
Good fit ifYou have a product and a small team but no senior technical voice, or you're not sure whether to build, buy or hire.
A clear, plain-language view of technical risk.
I've supported technical due diligence on several acquisitions.
def due_diligence(system, team) -> Report:
Good fit ifYou're raising money, selling or buying a company, or inheriting a system you don't fully understand.
Use AI to get more done, without putting company data at risk.
def govern_ai(models, data) -> Policy:
Good fit ifYour team could be getting a lot more out of AI, or you're worried about what's going into it.
Hire, structure and grow engineering teams, including remote hubs in other countries.
def build_team(roles, locations) -> Hub:
Good fit ifYou need to hire and grow an engineering team, open a remote hub, or turn a handful of engineers into a structured organisation.
Keep delivery steady while you find the right permanent leader.
def stabilise(team, delivery) -> Team:
Good fit ifYour engineering leader has left, you're restructuring, or the team needs stabilising.
Lower your technology costs without hurting delivery.
def review_vendors(contracts, spend) -> Plan:
Good fit ifYour cloud and tooling spend is growing faster than the business.
Where are you today?
Pick the line that sounds most like you.
This is how I approach getting AI-written code to production without hurting quality.
A person writes it, with AI help. Small, so it can be reviewed properly.
Critical paths are covered. A failing test stops the release.
AI review plus a person. Risky areas always get a person.
A feature flag or canary, so a bad change reaches few users first.
Watch production bugs and uptime. Be ready to roll back.
Moved a desktop-focused monolith to event-based services, and later migrated every service to a new region while the platform stayed available.
ResultRelease frequency more than doubled.
Built a 60-person remote engineering hub from scratch, alongside the existing team.
ResultDelivery and uptime held steady while the team grew.
Got a whole engineering department coding with AI: built the tooling, demoed it, and set a goal to double pull-request throughput in six months without hurting quality.
ResultAI-assisted coding went from a few people to standard practice.
Led AI search, AI-assisted listing creation and a conversational assistant on a high-traffic marketplace.
ResultImproved conversion rates on critical product flows
Built a tool on top of the bot-mitigation firewall. It reads web server logs, uses visitor fingerprints to find usage patterns and scores potential fraud.
ResultSuspicious usage is flagged and scored from the logs.
Built an AI tool that reads code repositories and generates documentation, architecture diagrams and service maps.
ResultUsed to onboard new joiners, then to give AI coding tools context on the codebase.
More detail on a call. Employer and client details stay private unless agreed.
18+ years in product engineering, mostly in marketplaces. At dubizzle, part of the largest classifieds marketplace group in the Gulf, I joined as the fifth software engineer and became Director of Engineering.
I partner with Product, Design, Analytics, Sales and Marketing to keep technical direction commercially aligned and build what works for customers, not just what's easy to build. I grew engineering teams, including a 60-person remote hub built from scratch. I kept platforms with 5M+ monthly users at 99.998% uptime, and moved all of the infrastructure to a new region during a data centre attack.
I cut group operating costs by about 20% and took on IT and security.
For the last two years my focus has been AI: shipping AI features, getting a whole department coding with it, and building two internal tools myself.
“Beyond his strong technical domain knowledge, Haris is an extraordinary people manager. He successfully built a high-caliber engineering organization while cultivating and empowering future leaders within his team. Haris would be a high-impact addition to any executive team, and I hope to have the privilege of working with him again.”
“Overall, I think Haris is a great leader who is capable to lead large size technical teams, manage managers, connect with engineers and have impressive ability to communicate the technical problems into business languages while working with the senior leadership team.”
A small first step, so we both get a clear view before committing.
30 minutes on the problem and what a good outcome looks like. No deck, no obligation.
I send a short written scope with the outcome, the fee and a start date. You approve it before anything begins.
We start with the smallest useful piece. If it's not a fit, we stop there.
Not here? Ask on the call or send a message.
I'm based in Adelaide and work across AU, APAC and MENA. I work remotely by default, and calls are scheduled in your time zone.
Fractional CTO work is typically one to two days a week, and head of engineering work three to five. We agree it in writing before we start.
Yes. I keep client and employer work confidential and don't publish names, numbers or details without permission.
A short written agreement covering scope, fee, notice and IP. Length and scope are flexible, and we agree them up front.
Book a 30-minute call or send a message. Both come to me, and I reply within two working days.