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Work directly with Heinrich Heesen, Fractional CTO
Heinrich Heesen is a Pretoria-based Fractional CTO, engineer, founder, and systems builder with hands-on experience across telecoms, cloud platforms, IoT telemetry, product delivery, support operations, and workflow automation. Clients work with the operator behind the work, not a rotating team.
- Geographies
- South Africa (base)
- UK
- EU
- US
- Middle East
- Africa
Why clients work directly with Heinrich
The model is remote-first, structured, async by default, with calls when they add clarity, not for ceremony. The value is not presentation theatre. It is sustained technical depth across delivery, support, architecture, and systems that have to keep working.
That makes Barberry a good fit when a team does not just need advice, but needs someone who can move between scoping, implementation detail, support pressure, and written decision-making without losing the thread.
Executive and founder background
Heinrich has worked across founder, executive, and technical leadership roles, including CTO and CIO-level responsibility, board-level technology leadership, startup product development, and operational ownership in businesses where uptime, delivery quality, and commercial execution all mattered.
That includes leadership across iConnect SA, ClearVoice, Pro Automation, Unifier CCTV, and Red Olive, giving him a profile that combines executive judgment with practical operating depth.
Background and technical depth
Heinrich brings a rare mix of executive technology leadership and hands-on systems depth, from telecoms, VoIP, and ISP infrastructure through to AWS, IoT, workflow systems, ERP-style automation, and product-grade delivery.
That background includes founder-led product work, infrastructure and operational systems ownership, commercial awareness, and a calm style for disputes or expert review.
Career patterns that matter to clients
Across the CV, public profile signals, and current operating work, the repeated pattern is clear: Heinrich is strongest where leadership and delivery have to stay connected. He has repeatedly worked in environments where technical direction, customer impact, operational reliability, and team execution all needed to line up.
That matters to Barberry clients because the work is rarely only architecture, only delivery, or only support. It is usually some combination of all three.
What the work actually looks like
The day-to-day pattern is consistent: product and app engineering, backend and permissions work, telemetry and field tooling, production fixes, support escalation, requirements gathering, and delivery plans that turn ambiguity into buildable systems.
It is a mix of building, untangling, and translating, from app and platform changes through to workflow cleanup, operator-facing fixes, technical team alignment, and the kind of written clarity that helps teams make better next decisions.
Sector and domain range
The experience base is broader than a single niche. It includes telecoms, ISP and hosted voice systems, IoT and sensor products, CCTV and access control operations, B2B SaaS, AWS cloud systems, ERP and workflow automation, and support-heavy production environments.
That range is useful because many client problems cross boundaries: a roadmap issue is also a workflow issue, a telemetry issue becomes a support issue, and a platform decision often turns into an operational burden if it is not thought through properly.
Product and operator credibility
PoolSense demonstrates sensor-to-cloud-to-app thinking end to end, but the broader pattern matters too: long-running delivery across telecoms platforms, SaaS, operational systems, field-connected products, ERP-style workflow automation, and service environments that have to keep working under pressure.
There is also real credibility in network design, voice systems, cloud adoption, billing and integration logic, and the practical realities of installation teams, support processes, and customer-facing delivery.
How the consulting model works
Paid scoping, written proposals, and clear fit boundaries. Read engagement models.
Where appropriate, Barberry can stay at the leadership and guidance layer, or move deeper into implementation support, delivery coordination, and technical follow-through with Heinrich and his team.
Selected roles and experience landmarks
iConnect SA: CTO/CIO, director, shareholder, telecoms and ISP growth, voice platforms, billing systems, compliance, monitoring, integration, and large-scale technology leadership.
ClearVoice: technical director focused on VoIP systems, support quality, technical-team leadership, and service reliability in hosted communications.
Pro Automation: founder and advisor behind the patented PoolSense product, spanning invention, product design, operations, manufacturing standards, and market validation.
Unifier CCTV: general business manager across sales, operations, quoting systems, ERP automation, project management, and large CCTV and access-control delivery.
Red Olive: consulting work across AWS IoT Core, sensor platforms, ThingsBoard, WordPress, data visualisation, and installation-team support.
Earlier foundation: Skycom systems engineering, Vodacom radio planning, and University of Pretoria engineering training.
Selected technologies and domains
Telecoms and VoIP systems, ISP infrastructure, AWS, time-series and IoT on AWS, MQTT, dashboards and alerting, Flutter and PWA delivery, workflow-first AI, ERP and automation thinking, technical training, defensible review work, and the operational judgment needed to support systems after launch.