CHRO headhunter: fractional, interim and permanent CHRO placement

Retained CHRO search: 25–35% of approximate first-year base salary, with 30% the most common mid-market headline and minimum fees of £30,000–£40,000 at established firms (Headhunters.co.uk, March 2026).

On the £147,000 Robert Half 2026 UK median CHRO salary that is £36,750–£51,450 — our arithmetic.

Executive Recruit puts retained search at 20–35%, paid in three staged instalments, and contingent recruitment at 15–25% of base salary.

For a fractional or interim CHRO, the day rate is the CHRO’s own; the nearest published figure is £900–£1,500 a day for a London contract CHRO (Robert Walters).

None of the retained firms on this page publishes a standard timetable, so we don’t quote one.

The nearest published figure is not CHRO-specific: StandOut CV’s survey of UK HR and recruitment managers puts average time to hire for senior leadership roles at 6.5 weeks, from application to role filled.

Notice periods and the candidate’s existing commitments decide the start date.

We put no clock on our own shortlist: you meet 3–5 candidates, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.

Use retained search for a permanent, board-level CHRO who will lead the people function five days a week for years.

Use fractional for senior people leadership without a full-time executive — a scale-up, a specific transformation, 1–3 days a week.

Use interim for full-time cover: a vacancy, leave, a restructuring, or a bridge while a permanent search runs.

A good headhunter will tell you honestly which model fits.

Yes — the two often complement each other.

A fractional CHRO can lead the people agenda while a retained search runs, so it doesn’t pause during recruitment, and can help write the permanent brief and sit on the interview panel.

Agree up front whether the fractional CHRO is a candidate for the permanent role; it changes how the search firm treats them.

A good CHRO headhunter will challenge your brief.

Expect questions on your current people challenges, culture, growth plans, employment-law and regulatory exposure, and what the board expects from the role — and an honest view on whether retained search, interim or fractional is the right model, with the reasons.

On our briefs you also get an IR35 position before the contract, not after.

We recruit permanent CHROs as well as fractional and interim ones: you meet a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate or pay, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.

CHRO executive search for a permanent seat is often a retained search, which in the UK runs 25–35% of approximate first-year base salary (Headhunters.co.uk); the firm cards above set out who runs it.

Many companies start with a fractional CHRO, who then helps scope and run the permanent hire.

For permanent appointments, the retained firms — including the three profiled above, Russell Reynolds Associates, Korn Ferry and Spencer Stuart — plus HR-specialist search boutiques we have not profiled.

Specialist recruiters, including us, cover fractional, interim and permanent CHRO recruitment.

We don’t rank CHRO headhunters or CHRO search firms: no one publishes audited placement data.

Ask each for its fee in writing and named candidates, not a database.

The wider field is on executive search firms.

Only if CPO means Chief People Officer — an HR role, usually the same seat as a CHRO, and covered on this page.

If CPO means Chief Product Officer, it is a product role, not a people one, and a different search: see fractional CPO (Chief Product Officer) jobs UK.

We hold no published fee figure specific to Chief Product Officer searches, so we don’t quote one.

The published UK figures apply to retained C-suite search generally: 25–35% of approximate first-year base salary, with £30,000–£40,000 minimums at established firms (Headhunters.co.uk).

A Chief Product Officer is not an HR role — for the product seat, see hire a fractional Chief Product Officer.

Published UK bands: £750–£1,400 a day for an interim Chief People Officer and £1,100–£1,800 for an interim CHRO at large corporate and listed level (Exec Capital; Exec Capital HR Director guide), and £900–£1,500 for a London contract CHRO (Robert Walters).

The rate is agreed with the interim on the brief; a provider’s fee and VAT may sit on top.

More in interim CHRO day rate.

Interim-management providers, the interim lines of global search firms, and specialist recruiters.

The Institute of Interim Management publishes a practitioner-voted list of interim providers (IIM), and our interim recruitment agencies guide reviews several from their own sites.

Ask each whether it acts as an employment agency or an employment business (GOV.UK), and for its fee in writing.

Reputable ones don’t.

With us, browsing the board and applying is free.

On the board above, drawn from our jobs feed; on fractional CHRO jobs UK, which also carries HR Director and Chief People Officer roles; and on interim CHRO jobs for full-time fixed-term work.

Everything fractional is on fractional jobs UK.

No UK source publishes a fractional CHRO day rate.

Robert Walters puts a London contract CHRO at £900–£1,500 a day (Robert Walters Salary Survey 2026); two days a week across 46 weeks at that band is £82,800–£138,000 in gross billings from one mandate — our arithmetic, before tax and expenses.

Exec Capital publishes £1,100–£1,800 a day for an interim CHRO at large corporate and listed level (Exec Capital).

See fractional CHRO salary.

If you work through your own limited company, the off-payroll working rules decide how the engagement is taxed, and a medium or large client makes the status determination (HMRC).

We set out an IR35 position on every brief; status still turns on how the engagement works day to day.

Not tax advice.