Real-world Canadian compensation, May 2026
Fully loaded Year 1 cost — senior BI / analytics talent
A typical BiWize Stage 04 engagement runs $15–60K depending on scope. A fractional CIO/CTO retainer runs ~$5–15K/month. Until you have ~30+ hours/week of senior-level work, fractional is cheaper. After that, hire.
When to hire. When to go fractional.
Hire in-house when
- You have ~30+ hours/week of senior-level work, every week, indefinitely.
- Deep institutional knowledge will be critical (security clearance, regulated industry).
- You're at scale (~50+ employees) and the senior hire will manage a team.
- The role is fundamentally about leadership and team-building, not just delivery.
- You can absorb a 6–9 month bad-hire risk if it goes wrong.
Go fractional when
- You need senior judgment 5–15 hours/week, not 40.
- You can't recruit senior BI / CTO talent at your size or location.
- You need someone tomorrow, not in 4 months after a search.
- The work is project-shaped (build a Power BI environment) rather than ongoing-shaped.
- You want to de-risk before committing to a full-time hire.
- You're at the missing middle — too small for the senior to be busy full-time, too serious to live without senior judgment.
A common pattern: fractional first, hire later
Most BiWize clients use us as a bridge: fractional senior leadership for 12–18 months while the business grows into needing a full-time hire. We help with the hire when the time comes — including writing the JD, screening candidates, and onboarding the new lead onto the systems we built.
"Fractional becomes part-time becomes the new senior hire's mentor" is a healthy progression. We've done it. We're not trying to keep you fractional forever — we're trying to get you to the point where you don't need us anymore.
Side-by-side
| Dimension | In-house hire | BiWize fractional |
|---|---|---|
| Time to start | 3–6 months (search, interview, offer, ramp) | 1–3 weeks |
| Year 1 cost | $155–290K (loaded) | $30–180K (depending on engagement shape) |
| Bench breadth | One person, one skill set | Four senior practitioners across BI, full-stack, QA/security, design |
| Risk if it doesn't work | 3–6 months to part ways + severance | Engagement-shaped — most can be wrapped in 30 days |
| Knowledge transfer | Stays with the hire (or leaves with them) | Documented and transferred to your team by design |
| Long-term ownership | In-house team owns it | We hand it off so your team owns it |
If you want to run the math on your specific situation, that's what the fit call is for. If a hire is the right answer, we'll tell you — and help you write the JD.