Chris H.-Fractional CTO and Tech Advisor | Product, dev teams, AI
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Experience
Fractional CTO
Fashion Genius
Fashion Genius was building an AI fashion advisor for online shops. As fractional CTO I:
- Worked with the founder on product and AI strategy
- Found and managed the development company
- Led the build of a Shopify plugin: a chat assistant that looks at a customer's item, gives fashion advice, and recommends matching products from the shop's catalogue
- Designed it as a structured AI workflow, which kept it controllable, fast, and affordable to run
Fractional CTO & Engineering Manager
SiteOwl
SiteOwl is a SaaS platform for designing, installing, and maintaining building security systems. I joined at the idea stage and led its technology as fractional CTO, as part of the leadership team.
- The product grew to more than 3,000 B2B customers: security integrators and the organizations that own the systems, such as college campuses and nationwide retail chains, including Home Depot
- Built and led the development team, up to 15 people with an agency in India, for a web app and three cross-platform mobile apps for security design, installation, and maintenance. Team members stayed close to four years on average
- Set up the process behind it: about 25 releases a year, 99.95% availability, and a SOC 2 Type 2 report renewed every year
- In 2023 handed over to a full-time CTO and stayed on as engineering manager
ASSA ABLOY acquired SiteOwl in 2025, after I left.
Technology Advisor
TVT Media
TVT prepares movies and TV series for major broadcasters and streaming services. Over eight years as their technology advisor in Singapore, I:
- Worked with clients including Netflix, the BBC, and Discovery, from pre-sales to delivery
- Led the move from the spreadsheet that ran their network of linguist contractors to a platform. The network grew from 200 to 8,000 without adding coordinators
- Moved their server room to the cloud, saving an estimated $300,000 a year
- Led their first generative AI tools, which draft subtitles and flag scenes for compliance review
- Brought in a long-term development contractor in Vietnam, more than doubling the Asia office's development capacity
Fractional CTO
VivaLing
VivaLing is an online language academy for children. Lessons ran on website plugins, Zoom links, and spreadsheets until I specified a mobile app that let students join a lesson with one tap. As fractional CTO I led:
- Technology strategy
- The vendor search and the contractor
- The development team
- The technical side of entering the Chinese market
Independent Technical Advisor, Project Manager
Payment21
Payment21 let merchants accept Bitcoin in line with Swiss KYC/AML rules. As independent technical advisor to the director, I managed the project with the Austrian development contractor:
- Requirements
- Workflow
- Daily coordination
The project won the Constantinus Award 2016 in the category International Projects.
Technology Advisor
Rotimatic
Rotimatic makes a fully automatic flatbread machine. When I worked with them in 2015, they were still before launch: pre-revenue, with a waitlist and the appliance not yet shipping. As technology advisor, I:
- Coordinated the agency building the website for the launch
- Designed the connected-appliance app planned for after it: architecture, UX, and a clickable prototype for remote control, telemetry, and remote diagnostics
Fractional CTO
FlashAdvance
My company for fractional CTO work. Since 2015 I've advised more than 20 startups and growth companies on their product, their developers, and their tech, with clients in North America, Europe, and Asia.
What I do:
- AI enablement: helping your team put AI to work, in development and across the business
- Product planning: from an idea to a requirements document and a roadmap
- Launch and scale readiness reviews
- Health checks when developers or agencies aren't delivering
- Hiring developers and tech or product leaders
- Ongoing support as a fractional CTO
Founder, CTO
LingoQuest
I founded LingoQuest, a blended-learning platform for language schools.
- Built the first prototype and met about a dozen language schools
- Brought in co-founders for education and business development
- A training provider became our investor and first customer
- Led the product and a development team in Pakistan: web apps in Angular and Node.js and a game client in Unity
In 2016 our strategic investor, Training Vision Institute, acquired the company.
Chief Software Operation Engineer for Asia
BellaDati
BellaDati is a business intelligence tool. In Singapore I:
- Built customer customizations: data connectors and visualizations
- Built the Android app
- Met clients across Asia
Technical Lead, Product Owner
FriarTuck
I built FriarTuck's development team in Singapore and led Workforce Optimizer, staff scheduling software for small businesses:
- A web front end
- Apps for shift workers on the existing Java back end
Sabbatical
Sabbatical
Two years of travel through China, South Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand, mostly on my own.
- Took my Mandarin from classroom lessons to conversation
- Spent two winters on Hainan helping at a beach seafood restaurant in exchange for board, living in a tent and surfing
Travelling alone across Asia taught me to work things out with people whose language and habits differ from mine. That has helped ever since with teams and clients in other countries.
Lead Software Developer
imbus
My first job after university.
- Led imbus's offshore development team in Shanghai, which grew from four to eight people, and was the bridge between the team and the company in Germany
- Back in Germany, worked on R&D with the CTO, including model-based testing
Industry experience
See where this freelancer has spent most of their professional time.
Experienced in Information Technology, Professional Services, Education, Retail, Media and Entertainment, and Food and Beverage.
Business area experience
See which departments and functions this freelancer has contributed to most.
Experienced in Information Technology, Product Development, Human Resources, Project Management, Research and Development, and Strategy.
Summary
I'm a fractional CTO and former ed-tech founder. Since 2015 I've advised more than 20 startups and growth companies on their product, their developers, and their tech. I work with founders building new products and with growing companies preparing for enterprise customers and scale.
What I can do for you:
- Product planning: from an idea to a requirements document and a roadmap
- Launch and scale readiness reviews
- Health checks when developers or agencies aren't delivering
- Hiring developers and tech or product leaders
- AI enablement: helping your team put AI to work, in development and across the business
- Ongoing support as a fractional CTO
Selected work:
- SiteOwl, a SaaS platform for building security systems. I joined at the idea stage and led its technology as fractional CTO, as part of the leadership team. The product grew to more than 3,000 B2B customers. I built and led the development team, up to 15 people, and the process behind it: about 25 releases a year, 99.95% availability, and a SOC 2 Type 2 report renewed every year. In 2023 I handed over to a full-time CTO and stayed on as engineering manager. ASSA ABLOY acquired SiteOwl in 2025, after I left.
- TVT, which prepares movies and TV series for major broadcasters and streaming services. Over eight years as their technology advisor, I led the move from the spreadsheet that ran their network of linguist contractors to a platform. The network grew from 200 to 8,000 without adding coordinators. I moved their server room to the cloud, saving an estimated $300,000 a year, and led their first generative AI tools.
- LingoQuest, my own ed-tech startup in Singapore, founded in 2014. Our strategic investor acquired the company in 2016.
I've led development teams since 2007, starting with an offshore team in Shanghai. My advice is independent: I don't sell development or take referral fees. I use AI every day in my own work. Based in Essen, Germany, I work with clients in North America, Europe, and Asia, in English, German, and Italian.
Tell me where things stand, and I'll suggest a clear next step.
Skills
- Fractional Cto Since 2015, For Startups And Growth Companies
- Technology Strategy And Product Planning: From An Idea To A Requirements Document And A Roadmap
- Launch And Scale Readiness Reviews
- Health Checks When Developers Or Agencies Are Not Delivering
- Building And Leading Development Teams, In-House And Offshore, Since 2007
- Vendor And Contractor Selection And Management
- Hiring Developers And Tech Or Product Leaders
- Ai Enablement: Putting Ai To Work In Development And Across The Business
- Ai In Products: Structured Ai Workflows, Chat Assistants, Generative Ai Tools For Subtitles And Compliance Review
- Soc 2 Type 2: Building The Process And Renewing The Report Every Year
- Agile Development And Release Processes (Certified Scrum Product Owner)
- Software Architecture And Cloud Migration
- Development Teams And Contractors In Germany, Austria, Poland, Bulgaria, China, India, Pakistan, Vietnam, And Singapore
- Technical Background: M.Sc. In Computer Science; Web And Mobile Development In Java, Javascript, Angular, And Node.Js
- Build Vs. Buy Decisions And Technology Costs
- Saas And Cloud Architecture
Languages
Education
University of Münster
M.Sc. in Computer Science · Computer Science
Certifications & licenses
Scrum Alliance
International Software Testing Qualifications Board
Statistics
Experience
Global experience
Expertise
Qualifications
Frequently asked questions
Have questions? Find more information here.
Chris is based in Essen, Germany and can operate in on-site, hybrid, and remote work models.
Chris speaks the following languages: German (Native), English (Native), Italian (Advanced), French (Intermediate), Spanish (Elementary), Indonesian (Elementary), Chinese (Elementary).
Chris has at least 20 years of experience. During this time, Chris has worked in at least 9 different roles and for 12 different companies. The average length of individual experience is 2 years and 8 months. Note that Chris may not have shared all experience and actually has more experience.
Based on recent experience, Chris would be well-suited for roles such as: Fractional CTO, Fractional CTO & Engineering Manager, Technology Advisor.
Chris's most recent position is Fractional CTO at Fashion Genius.
In recent years, Chris has worked for Fashion Genius, SiteOwl, TVT Media, and FlashAdvance.
Chris is most experienced in industries like Information Technology, Professional Services, and Education. Chris also has some experience in Retail, Media and Entertainment, and Food and Beverage.
Chris is most experienced in business areas like Information Technology, Product Development, and Human Resources. Chris also has some experience in Project Management, Research and Development, and Strategy.
Chris has recently worked in industries like Professional Services, Information Technology, and Retail.
Chris has recently worked in business areas like Information Technology, Product Development, and Human Resources.
Chris holds a Master in Computer Science from University of Münster.
Chris has 2 certificates. These include: Certified Scrum Product Owner and ISTQB Certified Tester.
Chris is immediately available part-time for suitable projects.
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