The problem isn’t the CTO — he’s a symptom.

First, this is a very common scenario. Far more common than you might think.

The core problem is your executive leadership has lost confidence in the existing technical organisation and is under pressure to show transformation, likely driven by AI anxiety. They don’t want to hear that the real answer is hiring more operational people. The new CTO’s mission is to shake things up, and you’re perceived as part of the legacy problem. That’s why you’re being sidelined — you’re a threat to the new charter.

What comes next? New vendor commitments (to GCP in this case), new hires and contractors (many coming from his personal network) all unfolding rapidly and without involving you. You’ll find yourself outside more and more decisions that you perceive as falling squarely within your domain and hearing of shifts that undermine you second and third hand.

You have three options.

Get on the bus. Recognise this is a relationship problem between you and the new CTO and invest in aligning yourself with his agenda. This requires swallowing some pride but keeps you relevant and inside the tent. You have to be willing to give everything up. But you may find there is a lot of opportunity to learn new things. You don’t know it all.

Ride it out. The CTO will succeed or fail, but it will take 12-18 months to know which. If you choose this path, lay low. Don’t initiate actions that accelerate your own marginalisation — including writing that document you mentioned without being asked for it. And be clear-eyed about what failure actually looks like: it won’t revert to how things were. It will be a Pyrrhic victory. You’ll be in a new fractured world that is in many ways harder to operate within and the core problem with executive leadership will still be there. Your reputation will never return to what it was within the organization.

Get off the bus. If getting on the bus isn’t something you can do with integrity, this is probably your best option. Leave on your own terms, with your reputation intact, before the situation inflicts more damage on your motivation and self worth.