FRACTIONAL CTO · AMSTERDAM

digitalecology.

clear thinking.
practical technology.

I’m Theo Gough. I help businesses make sound technology
decisions and build products that work.

explore my projects about me

independent leadership. pragmatic delivery.EST. AMSTERDAM ↗

IDEAS INTO PRACTICE

An applied product and technology lab.

Three live applications, each a testing ground for product, architecture and go-to-market concepts.

All projects

Commercial launch vehicle

VaraShop

A full launch vehicle helping independent shops run their store, with deep Mollie and Shopify integrations, clean architecture ready for sovereign deployment, and full alignment with privacy and security compliance.

varashop.net

Privacy-first data models

Fridge Magnet

A shared family canvas testing privacy-first data models, real-time multi-device synchronisation and offline resilience.

app.fridgemag.net

Identity-friendly socials

SunSpotters

A photo-sharing community testing identity-friendly social graphs, golden-hour verification, and integration with Eurosky and the wider Fediverse.

app.sunspotters.net

TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY WITH PRAGMATISM

A partner for
your next step.

A Fractional CTO brings senior technology leadership to your business, without a full-time appointment.

more about me

technology direction

a clear view of what to build, what to use and where to focus.

product thinking

connect business needs with practical product decisions.

practical realisation

Move from an idea to a working product

TRACK RECORD

Outcomes at scale.

Two decades across hands-on engineering and executive technology leadership.

Global E-Commerce

Head of Data Strategy & Governance

Data product strategy: Introduced data products, strategic work categorisation and flow-based delivery using Team Topologies; applied portfolio management (ePMF and PLG) across enterprise data teams.
Governance: Established Data, Domain and AI Governance Councils.

MedTech Startup

Chief Technology Officer & Chief Architect

Scale and cloud: Grew clinical medical AI from 200 to over 50,000 monthly scans while migrating to a cloud-native architecture, cutting the cost per scan by 85%.
Regulated delivery: Scaled software delivery while maintaining strict ISO 27001 & 13485 compliance.
Time to value: Reduced customer deployment lead time from months to days.

FinTech

Director of Product & Technology Strategy

Open banking: Architected an open banking API platform adopted by Tier-1 European banks.
Compliance in the pipeline: Built GDPR and PCI checks into deployment pipelines, cutting release cycles from months to hours.

Enterprise foundations

Architect & Engineering Lead

Payments and banking: Delivered large-scale digital payment and banking integration programmes across card schemes, high-street banks and global technology firms.

LET’S TALK

Need a technology partner?

Get in touch to discuss your business and what comes next.

Get in touch