Oleksandr Kotliarov
Founder · Engineering Lead
Architecture and delivery on complex systems — from an empty repository to production, handed over in a state the team can run.
- Domains
- B2B SaaS · EdTech · FinTech · Enterprise data
Oleksandr Kotliarov has been building and running engineering teams since 2017 — first as an engineer and team lead, then as a founder, then owning delivery on multi-year programs with teams in the tens. PMP certified.
His work sits where architecture meets delivery. He takes a complex system from an empty repository to production and stays accountable for it: shaping the architecture, hiring and structuring the team, installing the process it actually follows, and holding the line on scope until it ships. He has done this on greenfield builds and on rebuilds of systems already carrying production load, across B2B SaaS, EdTech, FinTech, and enterprise data.
He founded Kotrov Studio in 2026 for that work on a defined stretch rather than a permanent seat on an org chart. Companies usually need someone who has done this before for a fixed window, and he would rather go deep with a few teams than hold a title.
Engineering roles since 2017. Kotrov Studio has run under its own name since 2026.
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Kotrov Studio
2026 — present
Engineering studio
Founder
Fractional engineering leadership, delivery, technical audits and due diligence for B2B SaaS teams between MVP and Series A.
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Object First
2023 — present
Enterprise storage
Director of Information Systems
Owns the web platform and the engineering team behind it — marketing surfaces, the subscription product, analytics, and the Salesforce integration.
- Web engineering team hired from zero to thirteen
- Legacy WordPress stack retired onto Laravel, Nuxt 3 and Next.js
- Salesforce wired as the system of record, syncing both ways
- A subscription product launched alongside the appliance business
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Efficlose
2025 — present
B2B SaaS · meeting intelligence
Co-Founder · Product & Engineering
Product and engineering ownership from an empty repository through multi-region, multi-tenant scale.
- Five capture surfaces on one backend contract — web, desktop, Chrome extension, iOS and Android
- 23 CRM and project-management integrations behind a single plugin contract
- Multi-tenant across EU and US data residencies, chosen per organisation
- Composed AI surface routed per prompt on quality, cost and latency
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QWEDU
2023
EdTech
Engineering Manager
Engineering management and delivery on an EdTech product team.
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Fincue
2019 — 2023
FinTech · consumer lending
Web Development Team Lead
Delivery ownership across two markets, three storefronts and three lending products. Joined as a full-stack engineer and took the team lead seat in 2021.
- Hybrid scoring engine that cut manual underwriting touches from 380 to 24 per 1,000 applications
- Payments brought in-house, dropping PCI scope from full to SAQ-D
- Engineering team grown from fifteen to thirty
- Domain decomposition behind an ordered, replayable event bus
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2017 — 2019
Full-stack engineering and web team lead roles in Kyiv, starting with a digital agency he co-founded in 2017.
Baseline first
Velocity, hiring funnel, and compliance status get measured at the start and re-measured at handover, so the outcome is verified rather than asserted.
Written updates every week
If it isn't written down, it didn't happen. Weekly written updates and a monthly executive review on every engagement.
Handover is a deliverable
Documentation, runbooks, and interview loops handed over in a state the team can run without him.
One retainer at a time
Audits and fixed-scope sprints run alongside. Senior-only, assembled per engagement; names available after NDA.
- NIST vs SOC 2 vs ISO 27001: Which One Buyers WantSecurity
- How to Vet a Fractional CTO: Sourcing Channels and Red FlagsLeadership
- What Is a Fractional CTO? The Role, the Scope, the LimitsLeadership
- SOC 2 Compliance for SaaS Startups: When to Start, What It Costs, How to PassSecurity