CTO vs Tech Lead vs Senior Developer: Which Does Your Business Actually Need?

A CTO makes strategic technology decisions aligned with business goals, a Tech Lead manages technical execution and team coordination, and a Senior Developer writes code and solves complex technical problems. Most UK businesses under £5M revenue need a Tech Lead or fractional CTO, not all three roles, and definitely not a full-time CTO at £180,000+/year.

You're hiring for a technical role. Three people apply: one wants to be your CTO at £150,000, another offers Tech Lead services at £95,000, and a Senior Developer at £75,000.

Which one actually solves your problem?

The wrong choice costs £50,000-100,000 annually in wasted salary, plus the cost of technical mistakes from having the wrong expertise. A London startup hired a Senior Developer expecting CTO-level strategic thinking. Eighteen months later they'd wasted £135,000 in salary plus another £80,000 fixing architectural decisions that developer shouldn't have been making.

What does a CTO actually do?

A CTO (Chief Technology Officer) makes strategic technology decisions, manages technical teams at scale, prevents expensive technical mistakes, and ensures technology supports business goals. They spend 80% of time on strategy, architecture, and team leadership, not writing code.

Typical CTO responsibilities:

• Strategic planning: Creating technology roadmaps aligned with business growth
• Major technical decisions: Build vs buy, platform selection, architecture decisions
• Team leadership: Hiring, managing, and developing technical teams (typically 10+ people)
• Stakeholder management: Translating technical decisions for board, investors, customers
• Risk management: Identifying and preventing technical risks before they cost money
• Vendor relationships: Managing relationships with technology partners and suppliers

What CTOs don't do: Write code regularly, fix bugs, manage day-to-day tasks, configure servers, or handle IT support.

UK salary range: £120,000-200,000 base salary (£180,000-350,000 all-in with employer costs, bonuses, equity)

When you need this role:

• Technical team of 15+ people requiring senior leadership
• Technology is core to your business model
• Making daily strategic technical decisions
• Raising significant investment (investors expect C-level technical leadership)
• Revenue over £10M with complex technical operations

When you don't: You're under £5M revenue with fewer than 10 technical staff and make major technical decisions monthly, not daily.

What does a Tech Lead actually do?

A Tech Lead manages technical execution, coordinates developer work, makes architectural decisions within defined strategy, and ensures the team ships quality code on schedule. They're hands-on, typically spending 50% time coding and 50% on technical leadership.

Typical Tech Lead responsibilities:

• Technical execution: Ensuring team delivers features that work and meet requirements
• Code quality: Reviewing code, setting standards, preventing technical debt
• Architecture decisions: Choosing implementation approaches within broader strategy
• Developer coordination: Assigning work, unblocking team members, facilitating collaboration
• Technical mentoring: Developing junior and mid-level developers
• Hands-on coding: Building complex features, solving difficult technical problems

What Tech Leads don't do: Set overall technology strategy, make major platform decisions, manage budgets, or report to board level.

UK salary range: £75,000-110,000 (£90,000-135,000 all-in)

When you need this role:

• Technical team of 3-8 developers needing coordination
• You have clear product direction but need technical execution
• Developers require leadership but don't need C-level strategy
• You're shipping features regularly and need to maintain quality
• Revenue £1-10M with growing technical complexity

When you don't: You have 1-2 developers who can self-manage, or you need strategic business-technology alignment more than execution management.

What does a Senior Developer actually do?

A Senior Developer writes high-quality code, solves complex technical problems, mentors junior developers, and contributes to technical decisions, but doesn't manage people or set strategy. They're individual contributors focused on building features effectively.

Typical Senior Developer responsibilities:

• Writing code: Building features, fixing bugs, implementing functionality
• Problem-solving: Tackling complex technical challenges
• Code review: Reviewing other developers' work for quality
• Mentoring: Helping junior developers improve
• Technical input: Contributing to technical discussions and decisions
• Documentation: Writing technical documentation for code and systems

What Senior Developers don't do: Make final architectural decisions, manage other developers, set technical strategy, or coordinate team priorities.

UK salary range: £55,000-85,000 (£70,000-105,000 all-in)

When you need this role:

• You need high-quality code but not leadership
• Technical team has clear direction from CTO or Tech Lead
• Complex technical problems require senior expertise
• You're growing team and need developers who can mentor juniors
• You have 2-5 developers and need one with deeper expertise

When you don't: Your main problem is lack of technical direction or team coordination rather than coding capability.

Side-by-side comparison

Aspect	CTO	Tech Lead	Senior Developer
Primary focus	Business-technology strategy	Technical execution	Building features
Time coding	0-10%	40-60%	80-100%
Team size managed	15+ people	3-8 people	0 people
Decision scope	Platform, architecture, strategic	Implementation, team coordination	Individual features
Business involvement	High, reports to CEO/board	Medium, translates strategy	Low, focused on technical delivery
UK salary (all-in)	£180,000-350,000/year	£90,000-135,000/year	£70,000-105,000/year
Best for businesses	£10M+ revenue, complex tech	£1-10M revenue, growing team	Any size needing coding expertise

How to know which role you actually need

Step 1: Identify your actual problem

Don't hire based on what sounds impressive, hire based on what problem you need to solve.

You need a CTO if:

• You're making strategic technology decisions that impact business direction
• You have (or plan to have) 15+ technical staff requiring senior leadership
• Technology is core to your business model and competitive advantage
• You're raising significant investment and investors expect C-level technical leadership
• You make major technical decisions weekly

You need a Tech Lead if:

• You have 3-8 developers who need coordination and direction
• Your team ships features but lacks consistency or quality
• Developers are waiting on decisions or getting blocked
• You need someone who can code but also provide technical leadership
• You have business strategy but need help with technical execution

You need a Senior Developer if:

• You have clear technical direction but need strong execution
• Your team has 1-3 developers and one needs to be significantly more skilled
• Complex technical problems are slowing down delivery
• Junior developers need mentoring to become more effective
• You need high-quality code but not people management

Step 2: Match to your business stage

Your revenue and team size are strong indicators of which role makes sense:

Under £1M revenue, 1-2 developers:

• Hire: Senior Developer
• Consider: Fractional CTO for strategic advice (£3,000-5,000/month, 2 days)
• Skip: Full-time CTO, Tech Lead

£1-5M revenue, 3-8 developers:

• Hire: Tech Lead
• Consider: Fractional CTO for strategy (£5,000-8,000/month, 3 days)
• Skip: Full-time CTO (unless technology is your entire business)

£5-10M revenue, 8-15 developers:

• Hire: Tech Lead + Senior Developers
• Consider: Fractional CTO transitioning to full-time
• Maybe: Full-time CTO if making daily strategic decisions

£10M+ revenue, 15+ developers:

• Hire: Full-time CTO + Tech Leads
• Skip: Trying to manage technical teams without C-level leadership

Common hiring mistakes and how to avoid them

Mistake 1: Hiring a CTO when you need a Tech Lead

A Manchester e-commerce company hired a CTO at £140,000 for a team of four developers. The CTO was overqualified, bored, and left after 14 months. They wasted £180,000+ and still needed to hire a Tech Lead.

Solution: Hire for the role you need now, not the role you might need in three years. You can always promote or hire up later.

Mistake 2: Expecting Senior Developers to make strategic decisions

A Birmingham SaaS startup had a Senior Developer leading technical decisions. That developer optimised for technical elegance rather than business needs, spending nine months rebuilding the platform when they should have been shipping features. Competitors won the market.

Solution: Senior Developers are brilliant at building things, but they're not trained to make business-aligned technical decisions. Don't expect strategic thinking from an execution role.

Mistake 3: Hiring based on title rather than actual responsibilities

A "CTO" at a 10-person company is often doing Tech Lead work. A "Senior Developer" at a startup might be making CTO-level decisions. Titles mean nothing, look at actual responsibilities.

Solution: Define the specific responsibilities you need filled, then hire the person who can do those things, regardless of their title.

Mistake 4: Underestimating the Tech Lead role

Many businesses try to go from Senior Developer straight to CTO, skipping the Tech Lead phase. This leaves a gap in execution leadership and coordination.

Solution: Tech Lead is often the most valuable role for £1-10M revenue businesses. It's not a stepping stone, it's exactly what you need at that stage.

The fractional CTO alternative

For most UK businesses under £10M revenue, a fractional CTO (2-5 days per month) combined with a strong Tech Lead gives you better value than a full-time CTO.

Why this combination works:

Fractional CTO handles:

• Strategic technology planning (quarterly and annual)
• Major architectural decisions
• Technology vendor selection
• Senior technical hiring decisions
• Board-level technology reporting

Tech Lead handles:

• Day-to-day team management
• Technical execution and code quality
• Developer coordination and unblocking
• Implementation decisions
• Hands-on complex development

Cost comparison for typical £3M revenue business:

Option 1: Full-time CTO

• Cost: £180,000-250,000/year
• Gap: Often not enough execution leadership for developers
• Additional need: Still might need Tech Lead (another £90,000+)

Option 2: Fractional CTO + Tech Lead

• Fractional CTO: £72,000-96,000/year (3 days/month)
• Tech Lead: £90,000-110,000/year
• Total: £162,000-206,000/year
• Benefit: Both strategic guidance and execution leadership

You get both roles for similar or less money than one full-time CTO, and both roles are right-sized for your actual needs.

Compare fractional vs full-time CTO costs in detail

What about VP Engineering or Head of Engineering?

VP Engineering and Head of Engineering are typically people-management focused roles for larger technical organisations (30+ technical staff). They overlap with CTO responsibilities but focus more on team scaling, processes, and people development than technology strategy.

For UK businesses under £10M revenue, these titles create confusion. You need either:

• Technical leadership: CTO or fractional CTO for strategy
• Execution leadership: Tech Lead for team coordination
• Individual contributors: Senior Developers for building features

Adding VP/Head of Engineering titles when you have 8 developers just creates hierarchy without adding value.

How to structure technical leadership as you grow

Stage 1: Pre-revenue to £500K

• 1-2 developers (one should be senior)
• Fractional CTO for major decisions (optional)
• No middle management needed

Stage 2: £500K to £2M

• 3-5 developers
• Hire: Tech Lead to coordinate execution
• Consider: Fractional CTO for strategy (£3,000-5,000/month)

Stage 3: £2M to £5M

• 5-10 developers
• Have: Strong Tech Lead managing execution
• Hire: Fractional CTO (£5,000-8,000/month, 3 days)
• Add: Senior Developers for complex work

Stage 4: £5M to £10M

• 10-15 developers
• Have: Tech Lead + Senior Developers
• Decision point: Transition fractional CTO to full-time if making strategic decisions weekly

Stage 5: £10M+

• 15+ developers
• Hire: Full-time CTO
• Structure: Multiple teams each with Tech Lead
• Add: Senior Developers and specialists

Making your decision

You now understand the difference between these roles. Your next step is matching your actual business needs to the right role.

Ask yourself:

What problem am I trying to solve?

• Lack of strategic direction → CTO (probably fractional)
• Team coordination issues → Tech Lead
• Need better code quality → Senior Developer

What's my budget?

• £70,000-105,000 → Senior Developer
• £90,000-135,000 → Tech Lead
• £180,000-350,000 → Full-time CTO
• £72,000-96,000 → Fractional CTO (3 days/month)

What stage is my business?

• Under £1M → Senior Developer + optional fractional CTO
• £1-5M → Tech Lead + fractional CTO
• £5-10M → Tech Lead + fractional CTO (transitioning to full-time)
• £10M+ → Full-time CTO + Tech Leads

Most businesses reading this are in the £1-10M range. The right answer for you is almost certainly Tech Lead for execution plus fractional CTO for strategy, not a full-time CTO.

Determine if you need senior technical leadership at all

Book a free 30-minute call to discuss which technical leadership structure makes sense for your specific situation. We'll review your team, identify gaps, and recommend the right hiring approach.

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About the Author

Jake Holmes has worked with 15+ UK businesses (£1-10M revenue) on technology leadership decisions. He's helped companies decide between fractional and full-time CTOs, recruited technical leaders, and prevented £100,000+ in bad hiring decisions. Before founding Grow Fast, Jake was a software engineer and technical lead, giving him the technical depth most consultants lack.

Connect: jake@grow-fast.co.uk | LinkedIn | Book consultation

About Grow Fast

Grow Fast helps UK businesses (£1-10M revenue) make smart technology decisions without wasting money. Our Fractional CTO services provide strategic technical leadership 2-5 days per month, saving you £200,000+ vs hiring full-time whilst getting the expertise you actually need. Book a free 30-minute call to discuss your technical leadership needs.