Services

I make engineering systems dependable: platforms, the teams that run them, and now the agent pipelines that write the code. At Kantata I led the infrastructure platform team through a multi-year move of the Rails monolith and its services from legacy infrastructure to Kubernetes, and I rebuilt that team after mass departures had left it with one engineer. Before that I took over the company's integrations platform when it was unreliable and cut its error rate roughly 100x. At Tobiko I built a cloud platform for customer workloads and the CI/CD primitives the rest of engineering used. Since May 2026 I've run an agent-driven delivery pipeline. I've also been a software engineer, a founder and a manager.

I work with founders and engineering leaders who need senior technical leadership, a clear read on how their team ships software, or a second opinion from someone who's run engineering teams. Every engagement starts with a written scope and price, agreed before any work begins.

Engineering assessment

For teams whose releases are slow or risky, or whose AI coding tools aren't paying off yet. I read your repositories, pipelines and production history and talk to the people doing the work. At the end you get a short written report on what's slowing your releases, what's making them risky, and the first changes I'd make, in order. I walk you through it on a call, and it's yours to act on with or without me. It takes about two weeks, for a fixed fee you'll have in writing after a scoping call. If you're not sure which of these services you need, this is the one to start with.

Fractional CTO and engineering leadership

For companies that need a senior technology leader but aren't ready for a full-time hire, or that are between CTOs. I lead technical direction, team structure, hiring and delivery practice, for an agreed number of hours each month. The final decisions stay with you: what to build, who to hire, what to ship and when. We start with a short call, then I send a written proposal covering scope, cadence and the monthly fee.

AI-native delivery

For teams that want coding agents doing real work in a production codebase. I set up the agent context, the review and CI gates and the workflow around them, so a person stays accountable for scope, priority and what gets accepted. I've run a pipeline like this on client work since May 2026, carrying it from requirement to production. Every change in it passes an independent reviewer, automated tests, supply-chain security scanning and a deployment check before it ships. I scope this as a project, for a fixed fee agreed in writing.

Advisory retainer

For CTOs, engineering leaders and founders who want an experienced sounding board on architecture, delivery, hiring and technical strategy. In this one I don't lead anything. You bring me the decisions you're stuck on. You get an agreed number of hours each month, with written follow-up and time between sessions for the decisions that can't wait. It runs month to month, and starts with a short call.

How pricing works

Retainers are a fixed monthly fee for an agreed number of hours. Assessments and scoped projects are a fixed fee, in writing before work starts. Fees are quoted in US dollars.

Terms and contact

Services are provided by Jack Senechal, sole proprietor, Novato, California. Engagements are governed by the Terms of Service, which cover payment, refunds, disputes, how to cancel and the limits on liability. The Privacy Policy covers what this site collects.

To discuss an engagement or ask about an invoice, email jack@jacksenechal.com or call 415-779-2701. I respond within two business days.