CEO salary · 2026
What a CEO earns · base, bonus and package
A full-time CEO salary follows company size more than anything else.
The ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings puts the median full-time pay of chief executives and senior officials at £99,944 in April 2025.
Glassdoor’s median is £168,083, as Exec Capital reports it.
Exec Capital puts base pay at £120,000–£250,000 in an SME and £200,000–£400,000 in the mid-market.
At the top of the market, the High Pay Centre puts median FTSE 100 chief executive pay at £4.58m for 2024/25, as total pay rather than salary.
When you hire a CEO through us, permanent, interim or fractional, we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
How a brief runswhat we undertake
- 01Brief30-MINUTE SCOPING CALLDay 0
- 02Shortlist of 3–5VETTED · RATE BENCHMARK · IR35After the brief
- 03InterviewsYOU MEET THE SHORTLISTYour diary
- 04Scoped startFIRST-MONTH OUTCOMES AGREEDYou set the date
- 05Fractional, interim and permanentIR35 POSITION SET OUTOn every brief
Shortlist3–5
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire a CEO
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with CEO candidates, their day rates and availability.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We scope the role and the days a week
- 03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
- 04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs
Pick a day that suits · live availability
On the board · last 3 months
CEO roles jobs on the board
Live chief executive roles
Fractional recruitment works differently from a permanent search — shorter, scoped by days a week, and priced on the engagement. Send a CEO brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.
01/ the cross
Where a permanent hire becomes cheaper.
Move the day rate and the days a week: the rising line is a month of part-week cost, the flat line a permanent hire’s month. Where they cross, the seat should go full-time.
At 3 days a week a permanent hire costs less.
Our arithmetic. Permanent a month = the salary ÷ 12 plus 15% employer NI, plus the 30% search fee spread over 12 months — the calculator’s inputs. Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for each step.
Permanent = £120,000, the bottom of the Exec Capital 2026 (UK SME) salary band. The full calculator below adds the months, the totals and the currency tabs.
- The fractional CEO at 2 days a week never passes permanent inside 24 months.
- Interim passes permanent at month 2.
Our arithmetic, cumulative. Permanent = the salary’s 30% search fee in month 0, then salary ÷ 12 plus 15% employer NI each month. Interim = the midpoint of the published interim band (£1,400 a day, Exec Capital 2026) × 5 days × 4.33 weeks. Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for each month.
02/ the role
Average CEO salary, and why one number misleads
The official figure comes from the ONS.
In April 2025 the median full-time chief executive or senior official was paid £99,944 a year, and the range from the lower to the upper quartile ran from £63,161 to £151,903.
The mean was £158,728, well above the median, because a small number of very large packages pull it up.
The ONS prefers the median as its measure of average earnings for exactly that reason.
Read the ONS figure for what it is.
It covers about 112,000 full-time employee jobs, from the head of a small firm to the chief executive of a large group, and it counts pay that runs through payroll.
Founders who pay themselves by dividend and self-employed chief executives are not in it.
Glassdoor’s median of £168,083, as Exec Capital reports it, is a different measure: salaries that people report themselves.
Exec Capital’s own bands are a search firm’s published ranges, drawn from Glassdoor, Boardroom Advisors and its own placement data.
None of these is wrong.
They answer different questions, so name the source when you quote one.
The title also covers very different jobs.
For what the seat owns and who it answers to, see what a CEO does; for a brief you can send to candidates, start from the CEO job description.
03/ scope
What drives CEO pay
Company size and ownership
Exec Capital’s 2026 bands rise with every step in scale: £70,000–£130,000 base at an early-stage start-up, £120,000–£250,000 at an SME, £200,000–£400,000 in the mid-market, £250,000–£500,000 in a private equity-backed portfolio company and £450,000–£900,000 in the FTSE 250.
Ownership changes the mix as much as the level.
In a private equity-backed business much of the reward comes through equity rather than salary.
Bonus and long-term incentives
Exec Capital puts the typical bonus at 20–50% of base in an SME and 30–60% in the mid-market.
In the FTSE 100, long-term incentives dominate: the High Pay Centre found that 84% of FTSE 100 companies paid their chief executive a long-term incentive payment in 2024/25.
Pension, notice and benefits
Exec Capital says FTSE 100 pension contributions now typically sit at 10–15% of base, and 5–10% in SMEs, against a legal minimum of 3% from the employer under automatic enrolment.
It puts the standard notice period at 6–12 months.
For listed companies, the UK Corporate Governance Code sets the remuneration principles a board must apply or explain.
Track record
Exec Capital says a first-time chief executive typically earns 15–25% less than a candidate who has already run a business.
Boards pay for someone who has handled the problem in front of them before: an exit, a turnaround or an international expansion.
04/ the maths
What the seat costs, by the days a week
Move the day rate, the days a week and the months: the totals and the permanent comparison for the period. The curve above shows where a permanent hire becomes the cheaper seat.
The slider runs across the published band for a fractional CEO: £800–£1,500 a day (FD Capital 2026).
Cost over 12 months
£119,600
104 working days · 2 d/wk · 12 mo · before tax
Fractional costs less over 12 months£54,400
Fractional CEO, 12 months£119,600
Fractional CEO, a month at 2 d/wk£9,959
Permanent CEO, same period£174,000
Fractional CEO, 12 months$158,458
Fractional CEO, a month at 2 d/wk$13,195
Permanent CEO, same period$230,533
Converted from £ at $1.3249 per £1 (Bank of England spot rate), 2 Oct 2026. A conversion, not a US market rate. Source ↗
Fractional CEO, 12 months€140,482
Fractional CEO, a month at 2 d/wk€11,698
Permanent CEO, same period€204,380
Converted from £ at €1.1746 per £1 (Bank of England spot rate), 2 Oct 2026. A conversion, not a EU market rate. Source ↗
Our arithmetic, indicative. Permanent = £120,000, the bottom of the Exec Capital 2026 (UK SME) salary band pro rata for the same months, plus 15% employer NI, plus a 30% search fee on the annual base (UK retained search runs 25–35%, Headhunters.co.uk). Excludes pension, bonus and equity.
05/ the week
How a week divides.
The days you buy are yours; the rest of the week goes to other clients. Move the days a week in the calculator above and the week redraws.
Illustration only: one way a fractional CEO’s week can divide at 2 days a week for you. Each block is half a day.
06/ the board
What the board holds.
A read of the roles on the board on this page, counted as they stand: how each is engaged, whether the posting gives the days and the rate, and where the work happens.
On this board, last 90 days · 1 role · CEO roles
Engagement
- Interim1
Days a week
- Stated in the posting1
- Not stated0
Day rate
- Verified rate0
- Estimated (est)0
- Rate not stated1
Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)
- Remote0
- Hybrid1
- On-site0
Newest posting on the board: 18 Sept 2026.
07/ rates by stage
Average CEO salary by company size
Exec Capital’s 2026 bands for base salary, typical bonus and total package, with the ONS, Glassdoor, ERI and High Pay Centre figures beside them. Exec Capital is a search firm: its bands are published ranges, not survey results. Each figure is quoted as its source publishes it.
08/ economics
What a CEO costs to employ beyond the salary
Salary is the start.
For 2026 to 2027, employer’s National Insurance is 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year (HMRC rates and thresholds).
The employer must also pay at least 3% into a workplace pension on qualifying earnings under automatic enrolment; Exec Capital says defined contribution schemes of 5–10% are standard for chief executives in SMEs.
Then add the bonus, any long-term incentive or equity, benefits such as private healthcare and a car allowance, and a notice period of 6–12 months, which Exec Capital describes as standard.
Budget the whole package before you open the conversation, not the base salary alone.
Boards that hire on base pay alone often find the offer falls apart over incentives or notice.
We recruit permanent, interim, fractional, part-time and temporary chief executives, and non-executive directors.
Every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting, and every shortlist sets out pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position.
For how a search runs when you hire permanently, see CEO recruitment.
09/ vetting
How we vet CEOs
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify CEO tenure, sector context and stage fit.
SOURCING - 02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — stage, board dynamics, timing.
MATCHING - 03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent past clients — real outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY - 04
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5
10/ ceo salary london
CEO salary in London: the premium and its limits
Exec Capital reports an average CEO salary in London of £386,410, on ERI’s 2026 figures, with a range of £231,000 to £639,000.
It says London commands a premium of 20–40%, reflecting the concentration of larger organisations there and higher living costs.
Do not apply a London premium to a national median and treat the result as a benchmark.
The London average reflects the companies based there as much as the city.
A London chief executive of a £20m business is closer to Exec Capital’s SME band than to the London average.
Benchmark on company size and sector first, then location.
11/ ceo salary uk
CEO salary UK: what listed companies must publish
For listed companies, chief executive pay is public.
UK quoted companies publish an annual directors’ remuneration report setting out what each director was paid, and a remuneration policy at least every three years setting out what executive directors might be paid (Department for Business and Trade).
Large listed companies must also publish the ratio of chief executive pay to employee pay, as the CIPD notes.
That disclosure is where the High Pay Centre’s figures come from.
Its 2025 review put median FTSE 100 chief executive pay at £4.58m in 2024/25, up from £4.29m, with a mean of £5.91m.
It puts the median FTSE 100 chief executive’s pay at 122 times that of the median full-time worker (High Pay Centre).
These are total pay figures, including bonus and long-term incentives, not base salaries.
Private and private equity-backed companies publish far less, which is why their benchmarks are surveys and search firms’ published ranges.
The CIPD also notes that smaller firms often use listed-company practice as a benchmark.
Use it with care: a FTSE 100 package says little about a £30m business.
12/ ceo salary per month
CEO salary per month: gross pay and take-home
A CEO salary per month is the annual figure divided by twelve, gross.
At the ONS median of £99,944, that is about £8,329 a month before tax (our arithmetic).
At Exec Capital’s SME band of £120,000–£250,000 base, it is £10,000–£20,833 a month (our arithmetic).
Take-home pay depends on the person’s tax code, pension and any student loan, so use HMRC’s Income Tax estimator rather than a rule of thumb.
Monthly pay is also uneven at this level: a bonus is paid when it is awarded, and long-term share awards vest on their own schedule.
13/ other routes
Permanent, interim or fractional: three ways to pay for the seat
A permanent salary is one way to fill the seat.
An interim chief executive gives full-time cover for a fixed term and is paid by the day; see interim CEO salary for the day rates, or what an interim CEO does.
A fractional chief executive works agreed days each week; see fractional CEO salary for how that is priced.
For roles on the board, see CEO jobs; for the charity sector, charity CEO salary.
14/ questions
CEO salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a CEO.
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Bring the brief. We architect the team.
A shortlist of 3–5 with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.
