CTO As a Service
Part-time technology leadership that owns your engineering function
For companies that run on software, data or AI but don't have a full-time CTO, or can't justify one yet. Cortex IQ takes the seat: architecture, vendors, hiring and cloud spend get an owner.
When nobody answers for technology
The gap is rarely a shortage of developers. It's the lack of someone who decides, holds the team to account and answers for what ships.
A software house with no counterweight
The vendor estimates, delivers and grades its own work. Nobody on your side reads the scope before it's signed.
A non-technical founder
Stack, deadlines and hires arrive as finished proposals and get approved on trust, with no basis to push back.
A cloud bill that only goes up
The AWS, Google Cloud or Azure invoice grows every month and nobody can say which service explains it.
Hiring in the dark
Open roles with no clear profile, technical interviews run by non-engineers, onboarding that depends on goodwill.
AI that starts with a tool
The initiative begins with a product subscription, with no prepared data, no usage rules and no metric to tell if it worked.
Investors asking technical questions
Due diligence or a board meeting comes up and nobody can walk through the architecture, the risks and the plan.
CTO As a Service or Advisor As a Service?
With Advisor As a Service, Cortex IQ helps the founder decide: business model, priorities, where technology fits. The decision and the execution stay with you.
With CTO As a Service, Cortex IQ takes on technical leadership part-time. We run the internal team or the vendor, set engineering standards, sign off on architecture and answer to leadership for the timeline, quality and cost of technology.
If your question is "what should I do?", Advisor covers it. If your question is "who handles this every week and answers for it if it goes wrong?", the answer is CTO As a Service.
Advisor guides decisions. CTO As a Service is accountable for engineering.
The seat is filled by Rudinei Gehm, founder of Cortex IQ. He has worked in IT since 2009: he started in infrastructure and industrial automation, moved into consulting and backend, frontend, integration and database development for the financial sector, worked as a project manager and, from 2017 to 2021, was Head of Growth Pod, leading large teams on global projects. In 2025 he founded Cortex IQ, which builds and runs apps, marketplaces, AI agents and data pipelines in production, such as the MOB bike-sharing app in Portugal and the Medtrix Hospitalar B2B marketplace.
How it works
30-day assessment
A review of the code, architecture, vendor contracts, cloud bill and team. It ends with a written technical assessment.
90-day roadmap
Technical priorities tied to business goals, with an owner and a deadline for each item.
Weekly working session
A standing weekly session with the team, the vendor or leadership to unblock whatever is stuck.
Async availability
A direct channel between sessions for architecture questions, vendor proposals, critical PRs or incidents.
What we work on
- 01. Technology strategy and roadmap tied to business goals
- 02. Architecture and build-vs-buy decisions, recorded as ADRs
- 03. Managing software houses, agencies and vendors, including technical review of contracts and SOWs
- 04. Hiring: job profiles, technical interviews, onboarding and team structure
- 05. Engineering practices: code review, CI/CD, observability and SLOs
- 06. Information security and LGPD basics
- 07. Cloud cost control on AWS, Google Cloud and Azure
- 08. AI adoption with usage rules, data and metrics defined up front
- 09. Technical due diligence for investors and M&A
- 10. Representing technology in board and investor meetings
What changes in the company
Technology has an owner
Timeline, quality and cost have someone who answers for them in the leadership meeting.
A counterweight to vendors
Scope, estimates and deliveries reviewed by someone on your side of the table.
Decisions on record
ADRs explain why each choice was made. Whoever joins next doesn't start from scratch.
Hire at the right time
Technical leadership now. The call on a full-time CTO comes later, backed by data.
What we deliver
- Written technical assessment at the end of the first 30 days
- 90-day roadmap with priorities, owners and deadlines
- Architecture decision records (ADRs), kept up to date for the whole engagement
- Technical opinion on vendor proposals, contracts and SOWs
- Job profiles, technical interview script and onboarding plan
- Cloud cost report pointing to the biggest sources of waste
- Technical material for the board, investors or due diligence, when needed
What a team without technical direction costs
per week is how much time developers estimate they lose to maintenance (bad code, errors, debugging and refactoring), out of an average 41.1-hour week.
Source: Stripe and Harris Poll, The Developer Coefficient (2018)The figure above comes from third-party research with more than 1,000 developers and more than 1,000 executives, not from Cortex IQ results.
The working rhythm
The structure is fixed. Weekly hours are agreed at the start, based on the size of the team and the problem.
Assessment
a written technical assessment
90 days
roadmap reviewed at the end of each cycle
Working session
plus an async channel in between
Who it's for
Scale-ups that grew before hiring a CTO, companies with outsourced development, non-technical founders and mid-size companies starting AI initiatives. If your company already has strong technical leadership, Advisor As a Service or Governance As a Service is probably a better fit.
Engagement formats
Technical assessment
Only the first 30 days: a written technical assessment and a 90-day roadmap, so you can decide the next step.
30 daysOngoing CTO As a Service
Assessment, weekly sessions, an async channel and accountability for engineering.
Ongoing, reviewed every 90 daysTechnical due diligence
A review of code, architecture, team and risks for an investor, buyer or seller, with a written report.
Timeline set in the scopeCompare the five offers
Each format has its own cadence and deliverable. The highlighted row is the offer on this page.
| Offer | Cadence | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| PoC Factory | 3 to 6 weeks, fixed deadline | Decision Package: executive report with a recommendation | Companies that want to test an AI, data or automation initiative before it becomes a project |
| Advisor As a Service | Weekly, ongoing | Weekly sessions with recommendations to apply the following week | Founders, early-stage startups and small teams |
| CTO As a Service | Weekly, ongoing, starting with a 30-day assessment | Written technical assessment in 30 days, 90-day roadmap and ADRs | Companies without a full-time CTO, with outsourced development or a non-technical founder |
| MVP As a Service | Paced by the fundraising round | Working product with frontend, backend and basic infrastructure, ready for the pitch | Founders with a validated idea who need an MVP for the round |
| Governance As a Service | Weekly, ongoing | Single decision criteria and a documented process | Growing companies that need to standardize technology, vendor and process decisions |
Frequently asked questions
What is CTO As a Service?
- CTO As a Service is part-time technology leadership: Cortex IQ takes the CTO seat and answers to leadership for architecture, vendors, hiring and cloud spend. It is for companies that run on software, data or AI but don't have a full-time CTO yet, or can't justify one.
How does CTO As a Service start?
- It starts with a 30-day assessment that reviews the code, architecture, vendor contracts, cloud bill and team, and ends with a written technical assessment. Then comes a 90-day roadmap with an owner and a deadline for each item, plus a standing weekly working session and an async channel in between.
Who fills the CTO seat in CTO As a Service?
- The seat is filled by Rudinei Gehm, founder of Cortex IQ, who has worked in IT since 2009 and was Head of Growth Pod from 2017 to 2021, leading large teams on global projects. In 2025 he founded Cortex IQ, which builds and runs apps, marketplaces, AI agents and data pipelines in production.
How much does CTO As a Service cost?
- Weekly hours are agreed at the start, based on the size of the team and the problem, and a written proposal follows the first conversation. There are three formats: the 30-day technical assessment on its own, the ongoing engagement reviewed every 90 days, and technical due diligence with the timeline set in the scope.
Related content
- When to hire an AI consultancy and when to build an in-house teamA consultancy when the need is urgent, initiative volume is low or uncertain and no team can absorb it. An in-house team when AI is part of the product. Hybrid when you need results now and own capacity later.
- CTO as a Service or in-house CTO: when each one makes senseCTO as a Service makes sense when the company depends on software and cannot yet justify a full-time CTO. An in-house CTO makes sense when technology is the product and the team needs daily leadership.
We don't hold the seat forever for the CTO your company will hire one day. We help you get there with the house in order, and we take part in that hire.
Industries already using this
Rudinei Gehm
Founder, Cortex IQ
In IT since 2009: infrastructure and industrial automation, consulting and development for the financial sector, project management and, from 2017 to 2021, Head of Growth Pod on global projects. Founded Cortex IQ in 2025.
Read the full background →Why Cortex IQ
2009
the founder's first IT project
10
published cases, with the client's name
4
partner clouds: AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft and Oracle
3
working languages: Portuguese, English and Spanish
Partner clouds
