Three ways to stop carrying iOS-shaped risk alone — and a two-week audit to find out which.
Fractional iOS leadership for European scale-ups
Predictability and continuity, not velocity or transformation. Three named, time-bounded engagements for European scale-ups, each with a clear trigger, scope, and price — and a fixed-price audit to start with if you're not sure which fits.
Most scale-up CTOs didn't come up through mobile. That isn't a flaw, it's why fractional iOS leadership exists. You have an iOS team, an app that matters to the business, and a roadmap with mobile on it. What you don't have is a senior iOS voice in the room when things get uncertain.
The unit being sold here is senior iOS direction: architecture decisions, technical roadmap, team coordination, hiring support, the calls a permanent iOS lead would make if you had one. Code ships as part of that, because architecture only gives value when it lives in real code. The value sits in the calls being made, not the lines written.
The shape of the engagement matters. Here are the three.
The three engagements
Each is named, scoped, and time-bounded. You buy a shape, not an open-ended consulting arrangement.
Stabilization · 12 weeks, fixed scope
Your senior iOS engineer just left
Triggered by sudden key-person loss.
Acting iOS lead for 12 weeks. Keep the lights on, support the hire, identify and grow the next tech lead from inside the team.
Investment
€55k all in
See stabilization engagement →
Delivery lead · 3–6 months
Ship the migration
Triggered by a stalled or postponed platform initiative.
Embedded delivery lead for a specific iOS platform migration: SwiftUI, modularization, Tuist, Swift Concurrency, Swift 6, CocoaPods, etc. Scope it, run it, hand off.
Investment
€7.5k audit €19k/month delivery
See migration engagement →
Retainer · Ongoing, 3-month minimum
Embedded iOS lead
Triggered by the structural absence of iOS leadership.
Three days a week, on predictable days. For scale-ups with a 2–8 person iOS team and no iOS leadership in place, that aren't going to hire one in the next twelve months.
Investment
€14k/month
See embedded engagement →
Start here · 2 weeks, fixed
Not sure which fits? The iOS function audit
Triggered by uncertainty: iOS feels slow, fragile, or opaque, and you can't yet name why.
Two weeks across codebase, pipelines, team and bus factor, hiring readiness, and roadmap risk. A written report, a 90-minute readout, an honest verdict — even if the verdict is that you don't need anyone like me.
Investment
€7.5k fixed fully credited within 60 days
See the audit →
How the pricing works
One rate logic across all three shapes, so you can see what each price buys instead of reverse-engineering it.
The anchor
The migration engagement sets the rate: €19k per month for three days a week, carrying a named deliverable and a deadline. Delivery accountability is what that rate buys.
The continuity discount
The embedded retainer runs €14k per month for the same three days. It's lower on purpose: an ongoing, renewable engagement is predictable for both sides, and that predictability is priced in.
The fixed outcome
The stabilization is €55k, fixed. Effectively three months at the delivery rate with the days front-loaded: time on project tapers off while the hiring and succession work runs to the end. It's priced against what it replaces, a slipped quarter, a panic hire, a recruiter fee. Not against days on site.
The entry door
The iOS function audit is €7.5k, fixed, two weeks. Fully credited against any engagement that starts within 60 days: if we keep working, the audit was free. If we don't, you still own the report.
Risk reversal
Each of the three engagements starts with two weeks at half rate, cancel any time. The audit's risk reversal is the credit itself. Either way, a bad fit costs little to discover.
How it works
Three steps between the first contact and an iOS lead embedded in your team.
- 1
30-minute scoping call
No deck, no pitch. We talk about what's actually on your plate, what shape of engagement fits, and whether I'm the right person. If I'm not, I'll point you to someone who is.
- 2
One-page written proposal
Within 48 hours of the call. Named engagement shape, scope, timeline, price, what's out of scope. Time-bounded with a risk-reversal clause: the first two weeks are at half rate, cancel any time.
- 3
Embedded with the team
Predictable days, predictable cadence. Written progress notes you can paste straight into the board update. A clean hand-off at the end of the engagement, with the next lead, the playbook, or both in place.
What it's like to work with me
Paraphrased from real engagements and anonymized on purpose. Roles and company shapes are real.
"With you there, I don't need to worry."
Software studio with a six-person engineering team, DACH
"I was skeptical about getting external help during a project spike. I expected consultant speak and got work delivered instead. If I could keep you longer, I would."
Scale-up with a five-person iOS team, DACH
"When I heard the codebase was written by a contractor, I was afraid to look at it. I was pleasantly surprised: everything is where you expect it to be. With just me and a junior, we can build anything, and quickly."
Series B scale-up, EU
"You saved the app. You basically saved my job."
Premium brand, DACH
Why this works
Your team needs iOS native connective tissue.
Scale-ups hitting the maturity wall need someone who has seen what scalable iOS practice looks like. Five reinforcing reasons that's worth buying.
Longevity
Sixteen years of iOS since iPhone OS 3, eleven of them freelance. Most senior iOS freelancers have three to seven.
Premium-brand DNA
Audi, Porsche, Canyon, Red Bull. Long engagements, not pitch decks.
Regulated experience
Compliance constraints most scale-up engineers have never shipped in. DAK Gesundheit, German statutory health insurance. Wiener Städtische, Audi, Porsche.
The interface person
Standing translation between iOS and CTO, PM, UX, UI, backend, Android. The direct antidote to: iOS is a black box to me.
No ramp-up tax
My job is to read the room fast. No months of onboarding, no explaining the category from scratch, no agency layers adding margin without adding thinking. The work starts at the level it needs to finish.
Not a fit for
Stating this clearly is the strongest signal of premium availability. If any of these apply, we're better off not working together.
- Pre-seed founders evaluating native development for the first time.
- Enterprise procurement cycles.
- Companies that only know pressure as a management tool.
- Anyone looking for an agency that rotates engineers through the team.
30-minute scoping call
No deck, no pitch. Just a conversation about what's actually on your plate. If we're not a fit, I'll point you to someone who is.
Book a scoping call