Question 1

What is a Fractional Head of Platform?

Accepted Answer

A Fractional Head of Platform is a senior platform engineer who holds the seat for your platform team on a part-time or project basis while you hire your full-time Head of Platform. You get architecture decisions, hiring loop participation, vendor selection, and hands-on shipping without the six-month senior platform hire cycle. At Airwave, we go further: we write code, attend standups, and onboard your eventual full-time hire.

Question 2

How is Airwave different from a consulting firm?

Accepted Answer

Most consultancies sell you a senior and deliver a junior. Airwave is a small, accountable team. The people who sold you the engagement are the same people writing your code, reviewing your architecture, and standing up in your retrospectives. No subcontractors. No offshore team. No account manager. No bait-and-switch.

Question 3

What does an engagement look like?

Accepted Answer

Every engagement starts with a 30-minute discovery call to understand your challenges. If there is a fit, we start with a Quick Win: one small, scoped problem solved in a week. From there, we stay embedded with your team on an ongoing basis, writing code, shipping features, and mentoring engineers. The goal is always to make ourselves unnecessary through documentation and knowledge transfer.

Question 4

How long do engagements typically last?

Accepted Answer

There are no long-term contracts or minimum commitments. Quick Win engagements are one week. Embedded engagements typically run 3 to 12 months depending on the scope. Some clients keep us on retainer for ongoing architecture reviews and technical strategy. You set the pace.

Question 5

What industries do you specialize in?

Accepted Answer

We have deep experience across FinTech, AdTech, Entertainment, Life Sciences, AI/SaaS, Healthcare, Non-Profit, and DevSecOps. Each vertical has unique constraints: PCI compliance in FinTech, HIPAA in Healthcare, microsecond latency in AdTech. We know the business rules, not just the code.

Question 6

Do you write code or just advise?

Accepted Answer

We write code. Every engagement involves hands-on engineering: pull requests, code reviews, architecture decisions, CI/CD pipelines, and infrastructure automation. We join your standups, pick up tickets, and ship alongside your engineers. Strategy without execution is just a slide deck.

Question 7

How do you handle knowledge transfer?

Accepted Answer

The goal of every engagement is to make ourselves unnecessary. We document everything, train your team leads, and hand off systems that run without us. By the time we transition out, your team owns and operates everything we built. We never create dependency.

Question 8

What is your pricing model?

Accepted Answer

We work on a monthly retainer basis scoped to the engagement. Pricing depends on the level of involvement (hours per week, complexity, team size). There are no long-term contracts. Start with a discovery call and we will scope a proposal that fits your budget and goals.

Question 9

Where are you based?

Accepted Answer

Airwave is based in Seattle, WA. We work with companies across the United States and are available for remote engagements globally. We have managed distributed teams across multiple continents and time zones.

Question 10

How do we get started?

Accepted Answer

Start with a free discovery call. We talk about where your engineering org is today, where it needs to be, and whether we are the right fit. No pitch decks. No pressure. If the fit is right, we begin with a Quick Win in the first week.

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