For businesses
Digital Strategy and Delivery Consultant
Senior digital leadership without the full-time hire. Operational, not performance marketing.
A senior digital hire in Australia runs $160K to $200K plus super, plus the time and risk of getting the hire right. For most mid-market businesses that's not the right trade. The work is real. The full-time cost isn't justified.
This is the operational alternative to a fractional CMO: vendor management, platform decisions, integration delivery, automation, end-to-end website ownership. The work marketing depends on but rarely owns directly. Senior thinking on a monthly retainer, against an agreed scope.
Why this exists
Why this service exists
Embedded, not advisory. The strategy doesn't stop at the deck. I'm in the business as the person accountable for the digital function: vendor management, delivery oversight, stakeholder communication, platform governance, and the calls that need making when a project hits a wall.
Scope is agreed upfront. Typically 4 to 8 days per month, depending on what the business needs.
What I bring
Receipts and credentials
Almost always via an audit or rescue engagement first. The diagnostic builds trust. The retainer is the natural continuation.
The fastest path to the retainer is a website health check, an analytics audit, or a Project Rescue Assessment. One of those tells both of us whether a longer engagement makes sense.
What this looks like in practice
As Head of Digital at a large residential homebuilder I led the $250K+ formal tender, appointed the agency, owned delivery from brief to launch, recovered $250K+ in vendor spend in year one, delivered a 75% conversion uplift post-launch, ran weekly technical SEO audits, managed the SEO vendor, served as internal technical lead for Salesforce and Pardot, oversaw PCI compliance on payment integrations, and integrated REA, Domain, iBuildNew, and OpenLot property portals.
Before that, three years at Bright Labs leading digital production: team scaled from 3 to 15, 20+ concurrent projects, Craft CMS introduced as the agency's core platform, CI/CD deployment implemented, ClickUp embedded across the production function.
Tools and platforms
Frequently asked questions
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What is fractional digital leadership?
A senior digital leader embedded in your business at leadership level, on a defined scope, for a fixed number of days each month: platform decisions, vendor management, delivery oversight, analytics governance, and the board-facing ownership that goes with them. Accountable for outcomes, not just advice.
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How much does a fractional engagement cost?
Typically $4,500 to $8,000 a month for four to eight days, three-month minimum, reviewed quarterly. The full pricing logic, including how this compares with a $250K to $400K full-time hire, is published in what fractional digital leadership costs in Australia.
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Is this a fractional CMO? A fractional CTO?
Neither, and the difference matters. A CMO owns brand and demand. A CTO owns product engineering. This seat owns the digital machine your business runs on: platforms, vendors, data, and delivery. This comparison sorts out which of the three your situation actually needs.
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How many days a month do I need?
Most businesses in the $2M to $50M band need four to eight. If the function generates consistently more than ten to twelve days of genuine leadership work a month, you should probably hire full-time, and I'll tell you so.
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Do you work with businesses outside Melbourne?
Yes. I'm Melbourne-based and my current clients are on the eastern seaboard, including Sydney. The engagement is remote-first with in-person time where geography allows.
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What happens in the first month?
The first month is heavier by design: access, documentation, governance setup, and building an evidence-based picture of how the function actually runs. Months two onward settle into the rhythm of the retainer, with a quarterly review against agreed deliverables.
Pricing
Pricing
$4,500 to $8,000 per month, 3-month minimum. For context, fractional CDO retainers in the UK market run £10K to £25K per month. AU mid-market rates land well below that.
Well below the cost of a full-time senior hire. Above the cost of treating digital as a part-time problem.
Next
What happens next
We start with a discovery call so I can understand the shape of the engagement: what is in scope, where the friction sits, who I need to coordinate with, and what a successful month looks like. No charge for that conversation.
If we are aligned, I scope a monthly retainer against an agreed remit — typically four to eight days per month, paid monthly, no lock-in beyond a one-month notice period. The first month is foundational: getting embedded with the right tools, vendors, and internal contacts. From there it is execution.