Architecture decided by someone who has decided it before
A senior architect for the decisions that are expensive to reverse — system design, integration, data model, and the choices your team will live with for years.
What this person actually does
Fractional does not mean occasional. It means senior, embedded, and accountable for a defined set of decisions.
Makes the expensive decisions
Data model, service boundaries, integration approach — written down with the trade-offs stated.
Reviews what exists
An honest read of the current system, what will break first, and what is fine to leave alone.
Sets standards the team can hold
Enough structure that engineers make consistent choices without waiting for approval.
Stays for the consequences
Available while the design is being built, because architecture only proves itself in implementation.
A rhythm, not a retainer you forget you are paying
Length and hours are set per engagement, and reviewed as the work changes. That is flexibility, not vagueness — you should be able to scale the days up when a decision is live and down when it is not.
A typical week
- Design review with the engineering team
- One decision documented with trade-offs
- Integration and data-model questions unblocked
- Standards and patterns kept current
Fractional against a full-time senior hire
The honest case for fractional is cost, speed and seniority. The honest case against it is that you do not get someone five days a week.
| Full-time senior hire | Fractional with BIT Garage | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | Full senior salary, plus benefits | A fraction of it — you pay for the days you use |
| Time to start | Three to six months to hire at this level | Within weeks |
| Availability of the seniority | Scarce, and expensive when found | Senior by default, part-time |
| Risk if it is not working | A difficult termination | End the engagement |
| Breadth of experience | One career’s worth of patterns | Patterns from many systems and sectors |
| After the decisions are made | A senior salary with less to decide | Scale the days down, keep access |
This table is the strongest selling device on the page and it is currently qualitative. Real salary benchmarks and engagement ranges — even as ranges — would make it materially more persuasive.
Not sure which fractional role you need?
Describe the problem on a call and we will tell you which one it is — or that it is neither.
Where this works, and where it doesn’t
A good fit when
- You are about to make a decision that is expensive to reverse.
- The system works but nobody can explain why it is shaped that way.
- Integration with other systems keeps becoming a project of its own.
- Your engineers are strong but have not built at this scale before.
Not the right fit when
- You want a diagram to satisfy an investor.
- The team will not follow decisions it did not make.
- You need hands-on implementation capacity — that is a build engagement.
- The architecture question is really a product question.
The other two roles
Different decisions, same model. Most teams need one of the three, not all of them.
Fractional Product Management
A product lead who decides what gets built and why — embedded in your team two or three days a week, not advising from outside it.
Read moreFractional Project Management
A project manager who runs the plan, the dependencies and the difficult conversations — part-time, embedded, and accountable for the date.
Read more
Asked by founders
Yes. Some engagements are milestone-based: a review, a set of decisions, and availability while they are implemented.
Sometimes, where a reference implementation is the clearest way to communicate a decision. Delivery capacity is a separate engagement.
Decision records with the trade-offs, the current-state review, and the standards your team works to.
Priced per engagement or per milestone. Tell us the decision you are facing and we will scope it.
Tell us what you are trying to do. We will scope it.
Priced per project or per engagement, no public rates. A 30-minute call is enough to tell whether we are the right fit.