Jan Held
Independent CTO & Architect
Based in Germany · 20+ years experience
Summary
Independent Technology Leadership | Helping business leaders make technology decisions that hold up in the age of AI | Co-Founder & CTO @ Haruto | Agentic Organisations Collective
About
Technology decisions that still hold up three years from now.
I support management teams with decisions that shape a company for years, independent of vendors and with a view of the whole picture.
What companies come to me with:
- Which system really fits us, and which offer is worth the money?
- How do we approach AI transformation without cementing bad processes with AI?
- How does our development team work with AI agents without compromising quality and security?
- What will this decision cost us in three years?
Business first, tools second.
I listen first and want to understand how a company works. Then I translate business goals into clear requirements, compare solution paths against defined criteria and make dependencies and risks visible before they become expensive. The more code is written by AI, the more depends on exactly these requirements. That is how Haruto was built, and it is how I run all of my businesses today.
20+ years in software, CTO since 2022.
I have built systems for media, banking, retail, logistics and rail, and most recently held overall technical responsibility as CTO of a digital agency with around forty people in engineering, including an ISO 27001 certification from zero to audit. Today I am also co-founder and CTO of Haruto and a founding member of the Agentic Organisations Collective.
Facing a difficult decision? Write to me or book a call directly:
https://janheld.de/gespraech
Skills
Software Architecture, Cloud & Infrastructure, Platform Modernisation, Cybersecurity, Engineering Leadership, Vendor Management, Governance & Risk, Data & AI
Regions covered
Singapore, United Kingdom, United States, Europe, Japan, Canada
Industry experience
Not-for-profit, Government, Fintech, Professional Services, Manufacturing, Retail, SaaS, Education, Healthcare
At a glance
Jan brings hands-on experience across Software Architecture, Cloud & Infrastructure, Platform Modernisation, Cybersecurity, Engineering Leadership, Vendor Management and 2 other areas. Available for engagements across Singapore, United Kingdom, United States, Europe, Japan, Canada. Industry experience includes Not-for-profit, Government, Fintech, Professional Services, Manufacturing and 4 more.
How fractional CTO engagements with Jan work
Jan works on a fractional basis — typically one to three days a week for an agreed engagement length — so you get senior technical leadership without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire. Engagements commonly include technical due diligence, board reporting, engineering team leadership, technology strategy, architecture reviews, hiring support, and stepping in as interim CTO during a transition.