Caughey
I’m Joseph Caughey, a fractional CTO and AI product architect based in Victoria, BC. I help founders and companies design, build and modernize software, and bring AI into it with the controls that make it safe to ship: specs, validation and human oversight, so AI-generated work is verified rather than trusted on faith. I set the technical strategy and I still write the code, for clients across Canada and the United States, remotely or in Toronto by arrangement.
Joseph Caughey — Fractional CTO & AI Product Architect
About Joseph Caughey
I’m Joseph “Joey” Caughey. At Parity Integration I design the validation framework behind production rebuilds: executable specs, LLM-as-judge evaluators, contract tests at every seam, and validators that keep grading once the code is live. I also wrote DirectiveAI, an open-source standard that compiles AI directives into scoped, auditable Git branches.
I hold a certificate in Applied Artificial Intelligence from the University of Victoria, completed with a 97% standing.
How I can help
Technical leadership, AI that holds up in production, and the software itself.
Founders and companies bring me in when the technical decisions are senior, the stakes are real, and nobody in the building has made these calls before. I take on paid consulting, fractional CTO engagements, AI automation and custom software projects, and I am open to senior and equity-aligned roles.
- A product to build, and no one senior enough to own the architecture.
- AI tools in the team, and no way to tell whether their output is right.
- A legacy platform that is expensive to run and risky to change.
- An agency or vendor delivering work nobody internal can evaluate.
Fractional CTO
Senior technical leadership without a full-time executive hire: strategy, architecture, team and vendor oversight, and hands-on delivery.
AI engineering
AI agents and workflow automation with predictable controls: validation, human oversight, LLM integration, RAG and MCP tooling.
Software development
Custom web applications, SaaS platforms, legacy modernization and cloud migration, architected and built to be maintained.
Blockchain & fintech
Smart contracts, wallets, payment rails and rights registries, built so ownership and payments can be verified.
Building now
Two things in flight
Parity Integration
Fractional CTO / AI Product Architect
The validation framework behind production rebuilds, plus the Figma-to-code, Jira and MCP tooling around it.
DirectiveAI
Open source
A Git-first standard that compiles AI directives into scoped, policy-gated, auditable branches.
The other half
I also make films, records and commercials.
AI-generated shorts, music videos, commercial spots, and the records I produced and released through Stand One, the label I founded.
Worked on brands such as
Working together
How an engagement starts
A conversation
A short call about the product, the team and what is not working. No preparation needed.
An assessment
A look at the code, infrastructure and plans, and a written view of where things stand and what to do first.
A scoped engagement
Fractional leadership for part of each month, a defined build, or an equity-aligned role.
Delivery
Strategy and hands-on work together, measured against what we agreed at the start.
Common questions
What kind of work do you take on?
Fractional CTO roles, AI engineering and automation with validation built in, and custom software: SaaS platforms, legacy modernization and cloud migration. Most engagements mix leadership and hands-on building.
Where are you based, and who do you work with?
Victoria, BC. I work in Toronto by arrangement and remotely with founders and companies across Canada and the United States.
Do you work with startups or established companies?
Both. Founders usually need a technical partner to turn a product into a plan and a platform; established companies usually need modernization, AI adoption with controls, or senior ownership of a system nobody owns.
Are you open to full-time or equity roles?
Yes. I am open to senior engineering, AI architecture and CTO-level roles, and particularly to equity-aligned leadership. The CV has the full history.
What next
I am looking for ownership.
Equity-aligned leadership and long-term partnerships where I can take real responsibility for product architecture, technology strategy and platform growth.