A client budgeted for a full-time data architect they couldn’t find, so we tried something different.
80-person company. Growing fast. They’d been searching for a senior data architect for months. The role stayed open. Meanwhile, their platform kept accumulating debt.
We agreed on a fractional engagement. Two days per week, six months. A fraction of what the full-time role would have cost.
In that window, I delivered a platform strategy, introduced data contracts between teams, set up observability, and built a clear ownership model. Nothing flashy. Just the structural work that nobody had time for.
The numbers after six months: incidents dropped 70%. Analytics turnaround cut in half. Cloud spend dropped significantly.
I used to think fractional meant compromise - that you couldn’t do real architecture work in two days a week. I was wrong. The constraint forced prioritization. Every hour had to count.
The investment paid for itself multiple times over. Plus a team that could actually maintain what got built.
Not every company needs a full-time architect. Some need the right one, at the right dose.
If you’ve been sitting on an open senior data role for months, I’m curious - what’s it costing you to wait?