About Us
Senior technology leadership, without the full time hire
Boardman is a fractional technology leadership consultancy based in Manchester, UK.
We place vetted CTOs, CIOs, CISOs, CPOs, Chief AI Officers, IT leaders and technology board advisors with UK scaling businesses that need the judgement of a seasoned technology executive, but not five days a week of one.
TALK TO A CTO
The problem we exist to solve
Demand for senior technology leaders in the UK has outstripped supply. The pool of people who have genuinely scaled a platform, led an engineering team through growth, survived a funding round and come out the other side of due diligence is small. Recruiting one full time is slow, expensive and easy to get wrong.
Most businesses below £30m do not need a full time CTO anyway. They need someone who has seen this stage before, can tell them which decisions matter and which do not, and will own the outcome rather than hand over a deck. What they are missing is judgement, not headcount.
That gap is where we work.
What we do
We match businesses to a fractional technology leader from our own bench and stay involved while the engagement runs.
Every leader on the bench is someone we know and have worked with. They have held the role for real, in businesses at a similar stage, and they arrive able to make decisions rather than needing six weeks to form an opinion. We do not go to market to find someone after you ask. That is the difference between a consultancy and a recruiter, and it is why we can usually get you into a conversation with the right person within days.
The roles we place:
- Fractional CTO
- Fractional CIO
- Fractional CISO
- Fractional Chief AI Officer
- Fractional IT Leader
- Technology Board Advisor
Retained engagements typically run 3 to 18 months, on site, remote or a mix of the two, at whatever cadence the business actually needs.
How it works
- Book a short intro call. Fifteen minutes. We work out what you are actually trying to fix, which is not always what the job title suggests.
- We match you to a leader. From our bench, chosen for your stage, sector and the specific problem in front of you.
- You meet them and check the fit. No obligation. If it is not right, we introduce someone else.
- They get to work. Alongside your team, to your roadmap, your deadlines and your budget.
No long procurement process. No equity. You pay for the days you use.
Fixed scope reviews
Not every business is ready for retained leadership, and some need an answer to a specific question first. For those, we run fixed scope, fixed price reviews across three areas:
- AI strategy. Where AI genuinely earns its place in your business, what to build, what to buy and what to ignore.
- Cybersecurity. An honest assessment of where you are exposed and what to do about it, in priority order.
- Technology due diligence. For investors and acquirers, and for businesses preparing to be on the receiving end of it.
Each comes with a written report, a clear set of recommendations and a conversation to work through them.
Who we work with
We work with UK scaling businesses, most commonly between £3m and £30m revenue, and most often with CEOs, founders, COOs and boards rather than with technology teams directly. Our clients tend to arrive at one of a few moments:
- Growth has outrun the technology decisions made three years ago.
- A funding round, sale or acquisition is coming and the technology needs to stand up to scrutiny.
- The engineering team is capable but has no one senior to report to.
- Technology spend has crept up and nobody can explain what it buys.
- AI is on the board agenda and the answers so far have been vague.
Where we work
Manchester is our headquarters. We are part of the North West business community and our leaders are active in it, which means clients here get a network as well as an individual.
But a fractional leader is only useful if they can be in the room when it matters, and that is why we have built the bench regionally rather than centrally. We have consultants across every main region of the UK, from London and the Thames Valley to Scotland, Wales, the Midlands, Yorkshire and the North East, the South West, and the eastern corridor around Oxford and Cambridge. Wherever you are, the leader we match you to is close enough to work the way you want to work, on site, remote or a mix of the two.
The UK is our focus and the bulk of our work. It is not our boundary. We have consultants in mainland Europe and the UAE, and we work with businesses there too, which matters if you are expanding into those markets or already operating across them.
What does not change with geography is the standard. Our leaders bring the calibre of technology leadership that London businesses expect, at North West pricing.
Who is behind Boardman?
Boardman was co-founded by Ross Boardman and Lynne Boardman, who met scaling THG (The Hut Group).
Ross is a technology leader of 25 years. His career spans senior operator roles at THG, Phones 4u and LADbible Group, and three startups taken to IPO, including the UK's largest ever technology IPO. He still works as a fractional CTO himself, which keeps the firm honest about what the job actually involves. He also hosts the podcast AI Won't Save Us and writes a newsletter of the same name for several thousand CEOs, COOs and technology leaders.
Lynne is co-founder and Chief Operating Officer. At THG she was responsible for customer operations, running the function that carries the load when a business grows faster than its processes. She brings that to Boardman, where she runs the operating side of the firm, from how engagements are set up and delivered to how the bench is managed. It is the part clients feel even when they never see it. A fractional model only works if the machinery behind it is reliable, and that is hers.
Between them they have built the thing they wanted when they were the ones doing the scaling: senior technology leadership that arrives quickly, knows the stage you are at, and leaves the business stronger than it found it.
How we are different
Our own bench, not a database. We have worked with the people we place. We are not searching for them after you call.
Operators, not advisors. Our leaders have run the function, carried the budget and owned the outcome.
Speed. Most clients are talking to the right leader within days, not months.
Proportionate. We will tell you if you do not need what you came asking for. It costs us a sale and saves you a year.
Work with us
Tell us what you are building and where technology is getting in the way. Fifteen minutes is usually enough to know whether we can help.
Questions? Check out our FAQs.
What does Boardman actually do?
Who do you work with?
How quickly can someone start?
How is this different from using a recruiter?
How long does a typical engagement last?
What does it cost?
Do you only work in Manchester?
Do I have to know which leader I need?
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