CHRO salary · chief people officer · 2026
What a CHRO earns, in base, bonus and package
The CHRO salary runs from £110,250 to £183,750, with a median of £147,000, on Robert Half’s 2026 national figures for a chief human resources officer or chief people officer.
In London, Robert Half puts the range at £150,000 to £250,000, median £200,000.
Ashdown Group’s 2026 guide gives a national median of £162,087 and £185,000 in London.
These are base salaries.
Bonus, equity and pension sit on top, and the size of the business moves the figure more than the title does.
When you hire a CHRO through us, 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 CHRO
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with CHRO 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
CHRO roles jobs on the board
No CHRO roles roles on the board in the last three months. Showing people leadership roles instead.
CHRO roles on the board
How fractional recruitment agencies compare is set out in one place, including how we work: a CHRO brief and a shortlist of three to five.
01/ the role
What a CHRO does, and what sets the pay
A CHRO is the most senior people leader in the business.
The seat owns people strategy, organisation design, reward, talent and culture, and reports to the chief executive.
In a larger company an HR director usually runs the function day to day beneath it.
Scale sets the salary first.
Exec Capital’s 2026 HR guide puts CHRO base pay at £120,000–£200,000 in mid-market businesses with £50m–£300m revenue, and £150,000–£220,000 in large businesses with £150m–£500m revenue.
At listed companies it gives a base of £200,000–£400,000, with total packages of £300,000 to £700,000-plus once long-term incentive awards are counted.
Sector comes next.
Exec Capital puts CHRO base pay at mid-market technology businesses at £110,000–£180,000, with equity adding upside at growth stage.
The title tends to follow the sector: chief people officer is more common in technology and scale-ups, CHRO in financial services and large corporates.
Professional level is a fair test of the seat.
The CIPD Profession Map describes its most senior level, Chartered Fellow, as driving long-term sustained value through strategic business insight and people expertise.
A CHRO brief should read at that level; an HR director brief usually reads one below it.
02/ scope
What sits on top of the base
Bonus
Exec Capital puts the bonus for a chief people officer at typically 20–40% of base.
At listed companies it puts CHRO target bonuses at 50–75% of base, with long-term incentive awards on top.
Variable pay is not guaranteed; the CIPD’s introduction to reward sets out how fixed and variable pay differ.
Equity
Exec Capital says equity is frequently the largest part of a chief people officer’s pay in venture-backed businesses.
It says options of 0.1–0.5% of fully diluted equity are not uncommon at this level in pre-IPO technology businesses, and that management incentive plans are standard where private equity owns the company.
A qualifying company can grant options through Enterprise Management Incentives, which GOV.UK opens to companies with assets of £120 million or less and fewer than 500 full-time employees.
Governance of executive pay
At a listed company the remuneration committee sets executive pay under the UK Corporate Governance Code.
The CIPD wants more people with HR experience on those committees, and wants people professionals to help choose the measures used to reward senior executives.
Exec Capital notes that a listed CHRO presents to the remuneration committee on executive and workforce pay.
Notice and buy-outs
Senior hires often serve a notice period before they can start.
Agree the start date, and whether you will buy out any bonus or equity they forfeit by leaving, before the offer goes out.
Both change the real cost of the hire.
03/ 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 · people leadership
Engagement
- Fractional1
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
- Hybrid0
- On-site1
Newest posting on the board: 2 Oct 2026.
04/ rates by stage
CHRO salary by source, size and location
Base salary unless the row says otherwise. Robert Half publishes starting-salary projections; Ashdown Group publishes lower quartile, median and upper quartile; Exec Capital, a search firm, publishes ranges by company size and stage. All three are recruiters. Each figure is quoted as its source publishes it.
05/ economics
What the seat costs you, beyond the salary
Employer’s National Insurance is 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year for 2026 to 2027 (HMRC rates and thresholds).
At Robert Half’s £147,000 median, that is £21,300 a year: 15% of the £142,000 above the threshold (our arithmetic).
Under automatic enrolment the employer pays at least 3% into a workplace pension on qualifying earnings, and those earnings include bonuses (GOV.UK).
The minimum applies to a capped band of earnings, and a scheme’s own rules may pay more.
Add the bonus at target, any equity, and benefits.
We set out pay for every candidate on the shortlist, so you can see the whole package before the first interview.
06/ vetting
How we vet CHROs
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify CHRO 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
07/ chief people officer salary
Chief people officer salary: the same seat, another title
Robert Half benchmarks the chief people officer salary and the CHRO salary as one seat: £110,250 to £183,750, median £147,000.
Ashdown Group does the same, with a national median of £162,087.
Exec Capital describes the two titles as the same scope of accountability, framed differently.
Where the title is used most, in technology businesses, Exec Capital publishes base pay by stage: £100,000–£140,000 at Series A with 50–150 staff, £140,000–£220,000 at Series C with 200–1,000 staff, and £150,000–£250,000-plus at an established technology business with more than 500 staff.
Equity sits on top at every stage.
Some businesses call the seat chief people and culture officer.
None of the guides on this page benchmarks that title on its own, so the chief people officer figures are the nearest published guide.
For roles open now, see chief people officer jobs.
08/ chro salary uk and london
CHRO salary UK: London against the national figure
Across the UK, Robert Half’s national median CHRO salary is £147,000.
In London it is £200,000, and the London range of £150,000 to £250,000 starts above the national median.
Ashdown Group’s figures show a smaller gap: £162,087 nationally and £185,000 in London.
Exec Capital says the regional gap is narrower for CHRO roles than for HR directors, because the candidate pool is small and senior people leaders move for the right role.
Expect a business outside London that needs a CHRO of London calibre to pay close to London rates.
09/ average chro salary
Average CHRO salary: which figure to use
There is no single average CHRO salary.
Robert Half’s national median is £147,000; Ashdown Group’s is £162,087.
Robert Half builds its figures from the pay of people its recruiters have placed, checked against third-party vacancy data.
Ashdown publishes a lower quartile, median and upper quartile for each region.
Use the median for the middle of the market and the range for the brief in front of you.
A first people leader at a scale-up sits near the bottom of the range; a CHRO at a listed company sits above the top of it, on Exec Capital’s £200,000–£400,000 base.
10/ other routes
Salary, day rate or retainer
A permanent salary is one way to pay for the seat.
An interim CHRO takes the whole seat for a fixed term on a day rate; see interim CHRO salary for the published rates.
A fractional CHRO takes part of the week on a monthly retainer; see fractional CHRO salary.
We recruit permanent, interim, fractional, part-time and temporary people leaders, and non-executive directors.
11/ questions
CHRO salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a CHRO.
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.
