Meet Charles Vickers

I work with your company 10 to 20 hours per week, or on a custom schedule, as a member of your executive team. I attend leadership meetings, drive strategy, lead teams, and do hands-on work — the same as a full-time C-level executive. The difference is that you're not paying for forty, and you can scale the engagement as the company changes.

Some work is better as a fixed-scope package with a defined deliverable.

It depends which kind of engagement. Fixed-scope packages run for their stated duration — typically four to twelve weeks — and end with a deliverable. Retained leadership carries a 13-week minimum and then continues month to month; most clients run 12 to 24 months or longer. A fair number start with a fixed-scope package and move into retained leadership once we both know how the other works.

No. Fixed-scope packages are self-contained — a defined outcome, a fixed price, and no obligation past the deliverable. Several clients start there deliberately, to see how I work before committing to anything longer. Some move into a retained engagement afterward and some don't. Both are fine.

Most fractional executives sell one discipline. I've held all three — product, quality, and delivery — which means even a single-role engagement gets you a leader who sees how the three interact. You're not paying three consultants to discover each other.

It depends on the shape of the work. Fixed-scope packages start at $6,500 and are quoted as a fixed price before we begin. Retained leadership starts at $10,000 a month, depending on the role and the hours per week. Full pricing is on the Packages page. Either way, you're looking at roughly a third of the all-in cost of a full-time executive.

Yes, and many clients do — usually starting with product or quality and expanding. Because all three roles come from the same person, adding scope doesn't mean onboarding a new executive.

Most engagements are remote — video, Slack, async collaboration. I work on site for key meetings, workshops, and launches. I'm based in the New York metro area and travel as engagements require.

That's a good outcome. I'll help you define the role, evaluate candidates, and transition cleanly. Many companies use a fractional executive as a bridge during a search — and some find the fractional model works better long term.

Usually within one to two weeks of finalizing an engagement. For urgent situations — a launch crisis, a product rescue — I can sometimes start immediately.

Yes to NDAs and agreements. I work with two to four clients at a time and never with direct competitors in the same space. Working across multiple companies is what makes the model valuable — you get cross-industry pattern recognition you can't get from a single-company hire.

Typically 30 to 250 employees, with a leadership team in place and a product in market. That includes growth-stage technology companies, PE-backed and mid-market portfolio companies, digital agencies, and organizations covering an executive gap. I also work with investors supporting multiple portfolio companies.

Retained engagements include a 30-day window where either side can end things with minimal notice. Fixed-scope packages run to their deliverable, so you know the full commitment before you start. My goal is value from week one. If it isn't working, we part ways professionally.

No. A COO typically owns everything operational — finance, HR, legal, sales operations. A Chief Delivery Officer owns how the technology organization delivers: workflows, tooling, delivery infrastructure, team scaling, and the operating cadence that makes execution predictable. If you're looking for someone to run the whole business, that isn't this. If you're looking for someone to make your product organization ship reliably, it is.