Fractional Architecture Leadership

Director-level governance.
Fractional commitment.
Running in two weeks.

ARB as a Service is a fully operational Architecture Review Board, chaired by an architect with 10+ years of enterprise governance experience, running inside your organisation on a fractional basis — from first session to board-level reporting.

2wk
From contract to first session
150+
Architecture reviews chaired annually
10+
Volumes of governance framework, deployed
The Governance Gap

Most organisations grow past the
informal decision-making stage — and don't notice.

By the time the pain is visible, technical debt has compounded, compliance exposure is real, and the exec team has no visibility. ARB as a Service closes that gap before it becomes a crisis.

Without ARB as a Service
  • Architecture decisions made in silos, without structured review
  • Technical debt accumulates invisibly until it becomes a crisis
  • Exec team has no visibility of technology risk or decisions
  • Standards inconsistently applied across engineering teams
  • Full-time Head of Architecture needed — with all the recruitment time and ramp-up that entails
  • Regulatory exposure — DORA, GDPR, SCHREMS II — with no architecture governance trail
With ARB as a Service
  • Structured, governed decision-making from day one
  • Technical debt tracked, prioritised, and reported to leadership
  • Monthly Architecture Health Summary to CTO/CIO in business language
  • Standards Register owned, enforced, and evolved continuously
  • Director-level governance at a fraction of the commitment, active from week three
  • Zero material compliance failures attributable to architecture decisions
What Is Delivered

Six components.
One complete governance function.

Every tier includes all six service components. The difference between tiers is cadence, depth, and strategic integration — not which components you receive.

Component 01

ARB Session Chair

Every session is chaired by Peter Muirhead. This is not a delegated or associate service — the director-level expertise that has chaired ARBs for global governments and Fortune 500 clients is present in every session.

Component 02

Governance Framework

The complete Architecture Governance Toolkit (10 volumes) is deployed and configured to your organisation's maturity stage, industry, and regulatory regime — customised with your thresholds, standards, and decision rights.

Component 03

Standards Ownership

The Standards Register is owned and maintained on your behalf. New standards are drafted as decisions create precedent. The Approved Technology List is kept current. Exception expiry is proactively managed.

Component 04

Submission Management

Every submission is pre-reviewed before the session. Incomplete submissions are returned with specific guidance. Decision Records are issued within 2 business days. A quality gate ensures sessions are productive.

Component 05

Executive Reporting

The monthly Architecture Health Summary is produced and distributed to the CTO and senior leadership in business language — not technical jargon. At Tier 3, a quarterly Executive Architecture Report is produced for board-level consumption.

Component 06

Regulatory Architecture

Architecture standards are explicitly aligned to your applicable regulatory frameworks: DORA, GDPR, UK GDPR, SCHREMS II, EU Data Act, NIS2, ISO 27001. Regulatory compliance is reported to the compliance function quarterly.

From Contract to Running ARB

Active governance in
two weeks.

The ARB Activation Sprint configures the governance framework before the monthly engagement begins. It protects both parties from wasted effort and ensures the ARB is correctly calibrated before the first session.

1

Activation Sprint — Current State

Stakeholder interviews, existing decision landscape review, technology register audit, and regulatory exposure mapping. Understand what exists before building on it.

2

Activation Sprint — ARB Configuration

Charter published, Decision Rights Matrix calibrated, initial Standards Register populated, submission process stood up. First session scheduled by end of week two.

3

Monthly Engagement Begins

Regular ARB sessions chaired, submissions reviewed and decided, Standards Register maintained, executive reporting produced. The governance function is live.

4

Governance Matures with Your Organisation

As headcount, complexity, and regulatory exposure grow, the governance framework scales. Tier transitions are smooth — the framework is already in place.

ARB Activation Sprint
Fixed-fee onboarding sprint
Two weeks to a fully configured, running governance framework
Week 1 — Assessment

Current State

  • Stakeholder interviews
  • Decision landscape review
  • Technology register audit
  • Regulatory exposure mapping
Week 2 — Configuration

ARB Build

  • Charter published
  • Decision Rights Matrix calibrated
  • Standards Register seeded
  • First session scheduled
Active from Week 3
Service Tiers

Three tiers. One framework.
Matched to your stage.

Every engagement begins with the ARB Activation Sprint. The tier determines session cadence, submission volume, and the depth of strategic integration — not the quality of the chair or framework.

Free Assessment

Architecture Governance
Health Check

A structured self-assessment that scores your organisation across seven governance dimensions and tells you exactly where you stand — and what to do next.

Complete the assessment and return it to [email protected]. You'll receive a scored report with findings, risk priorities, and a recommended next step within 3 business days. No obligation, no sales call unless you want one.

Takes approximately 30 minutes to complete. Scored report returned within 3 business days.

What gets scored

B1
Decision-Making Structure
B2
Technology Standards
B3
Governance Habits
B4
Architecture Review Board
B5
Standards Library
B6
Executive Visibility
Overall RAG Rating
RED
0–38
AMBER
39–76
GREEN
77–114
Common Questions

The questions CTOs
actually ask.

"We're planning to hire a Head of Architecture internally."
ARB as a Service can run alongside a recruitment process, providing governance continuity while you find the right person. When they join, the framework, Standards Register, and decision history are already in place. You hand them a running system, not a blank page.
"We're not ready for formal governance yet."
The right time to establish governance is before you need it urgently. Ungoverned architecture decisions create rework, compliance exposure, and technical debt that compounds quietly until it becomes a crisis. The Foundation tier is specifically designed for organisations at the early stages of formalising their governance — lightweight enough to land well, structured enough to hold.
"How is this different from a contractor?"
A contractor delivers to a statement of work. This service delivers an ongoing governance function — one that owns and evolves your standards, chairs your design authority, produces your executive reporting, and keeps your organisation architecturally coherent at scale. That is a fundamentally different engagement model.
"We're too small to need an ARB."
The Tier 1 Foundation service is designed for organisations of 50–150 people — the exact stage where governance habits need to be established before complexity makes them hard to introduce. The right time to stand up governance is before you need it urgently.
Also from Peter Muirhead

Does your organisation also sell technology products to enterprise clients?

ArchWin is a complementary service for technology vendors — helping your pre-sales architecture proposals survive CTO and CIO scrutiny so your enterprise deals close on technical credibility, not just product capability. A different buyer, a different problem, the same architecture practice behind it.

Explore ArchWin
Ready to start

30 minutes to find out if
ARB as a Service is right for you.

In the discovery call I'll ask about your current architecture decision process, your regulatory environment, and what's driving you to look at this now. If there's a fit, you'll know within 30 minutes.

Or email directly: [email protected]