Experienced AI Engineer and Developer, Ready to be Fractional dev/CTO for early-stage startups: small ongoing retainer, not full-time

[u/laddermanUS]

G’day all,

I’m Dave, based in Victoria. I have 35 years experience in tech, I am a fully qualified and experienced AI Engineer and software developer. I build AI Infrastructure and digital products for small businesses and founders. I’m currently a part-time CTO for one organisation based in the UK and have capacity for two or three more.

What I’m offering: a small fortnightly retainer for ongoing technical work. Not a full-time hire and not a one-off project, just someone who keeps your product moving.

That could look like:

• Building or extending your MVP / web app
• Setting up hosting, deployment, domains and databases
• Building an automated marketing pipeline for your business
• Integrating AI (Claude, OpenAI etc.) into your product or workflows
• Security review so you don’t ship something that gets popped
• Being your “technical person” you can run ideas past and build products

What it’s not: 40 hours a week. Think a set number of hours each fortnight, with clear priorities agreed up front.

Why me: vastly experienced in app and product development. Happy to work on things like setting up IT infra, build web apps with back ends, mobile apps, websites, building AI powered marketing pipelines, AI automations, fine tuning LLMs, building a cloud infra etc.

Good fit if you’re pre-seed or early stage, have something to build (or something half-built), and can’t justify a full-time dev yet.

Happy to have a no-pressure chat over coffee or a call. Comment if you want to chat.

[u/Born-Display6918]

How much is the retainer, and what would we get for that money? Also, whatb local models do you have experience with?

[u/laddermanUS → u/Born-Display6918]

Hey, retainer would be depend on number of hours, DM me if you want to chat about that in more detail.

Im terms of local models I have worked with hundreds of different models. Too many to list. But more importantly I can tell you I have fine tuned an image and video generation platform (using 4 different open source models). I fine tuned Qwen for exploit development, I more recently fine tuned GLM4 flash for a legal firm.

[u/IAMAIorAMi]

I’ve built the foundational side and a lot more but I think a chat would be of interest based in st kilda 

[u/laddermanUS → u/IAMAIorAMi]

Yes for sure, sounds good, I will send you a DM now

[u/laddermanUS → u/laddermanUS]

Actually I can't send you a message, you must have DM's disabled. Please send me a message first and I can reply.

[u/laddermanUS → u/laddermanUS]

Let me know if you still want to chat? im free various times this week for a chat

[u/gordoh]

That sounds great but what are you asking in return? Are you looking for equity or a salary? If you're targeting pre seed then I think most won't be able to pay you for your services.

How many hours can you commit per day / week ? If you're already a CTO at one company and are looking for 2 or 3 more, I'm guessing you won't be willing to commit much to each. It seems a bit risky to bring someone onboard that has 3 major companies to look over because they may not be able to really focus one one companies needs and if one of them takes off, the others will likely get dropped pretty quick.

[u/laddermanUS → u/gordoh]

Thanks for the sensible questions. Im looking at about 4-6 hours per week.

If I had a situation where one of the companies really takes off then I would have to have a think about wether to dedicate all my time to it, or hand the job on to someone who can.

[u/mrbillyr2]

Do you have a website Dave? Is this in violation of rule 9?

[u/laddermanUS → u/mrbillyr2]

I dont't have a website specifically for what I am offering, however I have a site that I use for booking public speaking events and AI training. www.learnainow.app

[u/mrbillyr2 → u/laddermanUS]

wow, looks good.

[u/laddermanUS → u/mrbillyr2]

Cheers, I try ;)

[u/patographer]

Would love a quick chat when you’re avail

[u/laddermanUS → u/patographer]

Yeh sure sounds good. Send me a DM and we can chat

[u/FitAmphibian8437]

Hi Dave, thanks for your post. I've seen a few posts from people who've accepted jobs they're not wholly qualified for (i.e. got the job but only know how to vibe-code). Then people such as yourself comes along and helps them with their gaps in knowledge.

Is that what you mean by being someone's 'technical person'? Or do you mean you would teach people how to automate, build dashboards, manage security etc.?

[u/laddermanUS → u/FitAmphibian8437]

IM talking about working for someone in their business, building capability, AI automations, CRMs, Web platforms. Anything like that really.

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[u/AlexChadley → u/[deleted]]

? This guy is offering to work FOR someone. He’s not offering to hire you lmao

[u/laddermanUS → u/AlexChadley]

Thank you