Interim CIO
Your CIO or CTO is gone. The decisions aren't.
Contract renewals, a budget cycle, an open audit finding and a team asking who they report to don't pause for a six-month recruiting timeline. Nova Group takes the seat for a defined mandate, makes the calls that can't wait, and hands your permanent hire an organization with fewer surprises in it.
When this fits
When the seat is empty.
Your CIO or CTO resigned, retired or was promoted, and the search hasn't started or has stalled.
You've had a ransomware or other cyber incident and need someone who has led a recovery before.
You're closing an acquisition and two IT teams now report to nobody in particular.
A major system project is late, over budget, and the vendor is the only one explaining why.
The engagement path
Stabilize first, then move forward.
Stabilize
Meet every direct report and key vendor. Find what's due, late and exposed: contracts up for renewal, projects in trouble, open audit findings, security gaps. The findings and priorities are written up for the day-30 review.
Prioritize
Cut or reset the projects that aren't worth finishing, put vendors on clear terms, and walk you and your CFO through the budget trade-offs.
Advance
Advance the agreed priorities, strengthen the team for what comes next, and prepare a written transition brief for your permanent CIO.
Concrete outputs
What you’ll have in hand.
Clear decision rights
What Nova Group owns, and what stays with you.
Nova Group owns
- Technology priorities and the calls that can't wait
- Budget, vendor contracts and risk exposure
- Direction for the IT team and its managers
- The transition brief for your permanent CIO
The client owns
- Business strategy and enterprise priorities
- Access to your executives and board
- Choosing the permanent CIO
- Final sign-off on major spend
Practical questions
Questions CEOs ask first.
How long does an interim engagement last?
As long as the search and the situation need. The mandate, review points and handoff criteria are agreed in writing at the start, so you're never guessing when it ends.
What if it isn't working after 30 days?
The mandate includes a review at day 30 for exactly that reason. If either side thinks the fit is wrong, that's the moment to say so, and the exit terms are agreed in writing before work starts.
Is this a caretaker role?
No. The job is to make decisions: stop the projects that should stop, hold vendors to their commitments, and deal with the risks nobody has owned. The next leader inherits fewer problems, not a holding pattern.
Do you also serve as a CTO?
Often, yes. In many mid-market and PE-backed companies, the CTO is the senior executive who owns technology strategy, spend, vendors, security and integration. That is the role we fill, whatever it is called. If you need someone to lead a product engineering team building your software platform, that is a different job, and we will say so on the first call.
How do you work with the existing team?
Through them. Your managers keep their teams, and your MSP keeps its contract unless there's a reason to change it. The difference is that someone now makes the decisions they've been waiting on.
Start with the situation
Is Interim CIO the right fit?
Start with a short call about what’s in front of you. You’ll leave knowing whether it calls for interim, fractional or one-off help, and what we would do first.
Start a conversation