Solutions/For founders
Fractional founding engineer
You built the demo — maybe with AI. Now you need someone who can make it real. A Lead or Staff engineer from our Dhaka office, exactly 20 hours a week, paired with you — AI tooling included, plus one hour a month with our founder, a working CTO. One US contract, one flat monthly rate.
your week · fractional seat
01mon · pairing session → auth flow shipped
02tue · PR review → 3 approved · 1 reworked
03wed · deploy → production green
04thu · architecture note → job queue added
05fri · planning → next week scoped
06monthly · founder CTO review → booked
Engineer
Lead / Staff
AI tools
enabled
CTO hour
monthly
Every solo founder hits it.
AI got you to a working demo faster than any generation of founders before you. It also got you a codebase nobody has reviewed, deploys done by hand, and security you're hoping about. Searching for a fractional CTO? What most early startups actually need first is a senior engineer who ships and makes sound technical calls — that's this seat. You stay product owner — deciding what to build — while your engineer builds it right. Our engineers are trained on what we've learned shipping MVPs and global-scale systems in the pre-AI era and the AI era, so they know the failure modes of both. And the CTO layer is real here too: our founder reviews your engineering progress with you every month.
Production-hardening
Your AI-built prototype, reviewed and rebuilt where it matters — auth, data, error handling — so it survives real users.
Shipping cadence
Exactly 20 hours a week of focused senior work, planned with you. A reliable pace beats heroic weekends.
Technical decisions
Stack choices, build-vs-buy, what debt to take on purpose. Judgment you can borrow before you can afford to own it.
Security and deploys
CI, environments, secrets, backups — the invisible work that separates a demo from a company.
Your future team
When it's time to hire, your engineer helps you interview — or the seat converts to full-time and becomes hire number one.
What's included.
One flat monthly rate. Everything a full seat includes — office, equipment, HR, management, replacement guarantee — plus what a founder specifically needs.
| Included | What it means | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Lead or Staff engineer | The two highest levels on our ladder — no juniors on this seat | A founder needs judgment, not supervision |
| Exactly 20 hours weekly | Not “up to” — exactly. Scheduled around your rhythm | A commitment, not a cap |
| AI-enabled seat, free | Licensed AI tooling, managed with guardrails | One engineer with AI leverage covers more ground |
| Monthly founder hour | One hour with our founder — a working CTO — reviewing your engineering progress | Real CTO oversight, included |
| Full-seat upgrade path | Convert anytime; same engineer, full-seat rate from that month | Your fractional engineer becomes hire number one |
Lead or Staff — pick your co-pilot.
Two levels only. Both vetted the same way as every Girmairi seat, plus a pairing session with you before you decide.
| Level | Best when | From |
|---|---|---|
| Lead engineer | You need shipping speed with strong architectural judgment | $2,760/month |
| Staff engineer | Deep systems complexity, or the product is the technology | $3,240/month |
Same bar as every seat — plus founder fit.
Lead and Staff candidates pass our standard pipeline first. For a fractional seat, we add a pairing session with you — because 20 hours a week only works with someone you actually like building with. You interview last and make the final call.
- 1Staff/Lead technical depth interview
- 2Live build exercise
- 3English & communication screen
- 4Pairing session with you
- 5Your final call
Exactly 20 hours. 60% of the full-seat rate.
Half the hours at 60% of the seat — stated plainly, like every rate we publish. Convert to a full seat anytime: same engineer, full-seat rate from that month, and everything you've built together carries over.
AI-enabled seat and the monthly founder hour included. Billed monthly in advance, USD, on one US contract.
Our office in Dhaka — where your team sits. Real photos, real people.
Frequently asked questions
A fractional CTO is a senior technology leader who works with a startup part-time — setting technical direction, reviewing architecture, and guiding hiring — without the cost of a full-time executive. At the earliest stage, though, most startups need hands-on shipping more than executive strategy. Girmairi's fractional founding engineer seat covers both: a senior engineer who builds, plus one hour a month with Girmairi's founder, a working CTO of a Saudi-backed company.
Market rates vary widely, and most fractional CTO arrangements are advisory-only — you pay for guidance, not shipped code. Girmairi's alternative, the fractional founding engineer, is a flat monthly rate: a Lead engineer from $2,760/month or a Staff engineer from $3,240/month — 60% of the full-seat rate for exactly 20 hours a week, with a monthly hour with a working CTO included.
A fractional founding engineer is a Lead- or Staff-level engineer who works with a founder for exactly 20 hours a week — building the product, hardening the codebase, and making sound technical calls alongside you. You act as product owner, deciding what to build, while your engineer builds it right. The seat includes an AI-enabled seat for free and converts to a full-time seat anytime, with the same engineer.
Yes — that is exactly what this seat is designed for. Your engineer reviews the code AI helped you write, rebuilds what matters — auth, data, error handling, deploys — and turns the prototype into something real users can rely on. Girmairi's engineers are trained on the company's shipping experience from both the pre-AI era and the AI era, so they know the failure modes of both.
For most early-stage startups: an engineer first. What blocks an early product is usually shipping and sound technical decisions, not executive strategy. The fractional founding engineer covers both sides — a Lead or Staff engineer doing the building, plus one hour a month with Girmairi's founder, a working CTO, reviewing your engineering progress.
It means exactly — not "up to." Twenty hours of focused senior work every week, scheduled around your rhythm and planned with you. It is a commitment, not a cap, priced at 60% of the full-seat rate.
The seat converts to a full-time seat anytime — same engineer, full-seat rate from that month, and everything you have built together carries over. Your fractional engineer becomes hire number one.
You contract with Girmairi LLC, a US company, and pay one monthly invoice in advance, in USD. NDA and IP assignment are signed before any work begins, and every seat carries a replacement guarantee. Your engineer is a full-time employee in Girmairi's managed Dhaka office.
Bring an engineer to your side.
Tell us what you're building. We'll show you Lead and Staff candidates — and you'll pair with them before you decide.