COO Headhunter | COO Executive Search & Headhunting

Q: COO headhunters or a contingent agency — which should I use?

COO headhunters approach candidates directly, usually on a retained fee, for a permanent hire; COO recruitment agencies more often work on a contingent basis, paid only if their candidate is hired, and draw on people already looking. Chief operating officer headhunters suit a senior permanent seat where the best people are not on the market; chief operating officer recruitment agencies suit a broader search. The same law covers both: a recruiter must not charge a candidate a fee for finding them work (gov.uk). If you want a trusted headhunter for CEO, CFO, COO recruitment, ask to speak to recent clients and check the firm on the Companies House register.

15 minutes · video or phone

Book 15 minutes to hire a COO

Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with COO Headhunter 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

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On the board · last 3 months

Fractional COO jobs on the board

3 on the board · 2 confirmed open

Browse every role on the board →

Current COO opportunities

Fractional recruitment works differently from a permanent search — shorter, scoped by days a week, and priced on the engagement. Send a COO Headhunter brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.

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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.

Day rate£1,100Published band for a fractional COO: £800–£1,400 a day (Connectd 2026)Days a week2 days

Fractional COO, a monthPermanent COO, a month

At 3.2 days a week a permanent hire costs less.

At 2 days a week: fractional COO £9,526 a month · permanent £14,802 a month

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 = the £122,500 composite (our median of three 2026 guides) median salary. The full calculator below adds the months, the totals and the currency tabs.

Fractional COO at 2 days a weekInterim COO, five days a weekPermanent COO

The fractional COO at 2 days a week never passes permanent inside 24 months.
Interim passes permanent at month 2.

Month 12: fractional COO £114,312 · interim £363,720 · permanent £177,625

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 route

Fractional, interim or permanent?

Four taps. The answer names the route for the seat and the page that covers it.

How much of the week does the work fill?

Is there a fixed end or a programme?

Does the seat sit on the board for years?

Is the need now, or can it wait for a search?

The route · Fractional

A fractional COO headhunter.

The work fills part of the week, so buy the days it needs.

A fractional COO headhunter holds the seat on agreed days for as long as the seat is needed, and works for other clients on the rest.

The fractional COO headhunter route Talk it through

03/ the role

What is a COO headhunter?

A COO headhunter specialises in recruiting Chief Operating Officers for companies seeking operational leadership.

They search for and approach qualified COO candidates and match them with companies needing operational expertise.

04/ scope

COO headhunting and search services

Permanent COO search

Full-time COO placement for companies seeking permanent operational leadership.

Fractional COO placement

Part-time COO recruitment for companies needing flexible operational expertise.

05/ 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.

Day rate£1,100Days a week needed2 daysMonths engaged12 months

The slider runs across the published band for a fractional COO: £800–£1,400 a day (Connectd 2026).

Cost over 12 months

£114,400

104 working days · 2 d/wk · 12 mo · before tax

Fractional COO£114,400

Permanent COO, same period£177,625

Fractional costs less over 12 months£63,225

Fractional COO, 12 months£114,400

Fractional COO, a month at 2 d/wk£9,526

Permanent COO, same period£177,625

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Our arithmetic, indicative. Permanent = the £122,500 composite (our median of three 2026 guides) median salary 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.

06/ 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.

Your companyAnother clientA third client

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Illustration only: one way a fractional COO’s week can divide at 2 days a week for you. Each block is half a day.

07/ 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 · 3 roles · Fractional COO

Engagement

Interim2
Fractional1

Days a week

Stated in the posting2
Not stated1

Day rate

Verified rate0
Estimated (est)1
Rate not stated2

Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)

Remote0
Hybrid1
On-site0
Not classified2

Newest posting on the board: 9 Oct 2026.

08/ vetting

How we vet COOs

What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.

01
Qualification screen
Verify COO Headhunter 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

09/ coo headhunters

Chief operating officer headhunters: what to check before you brief one

Chief operating officer headhunters, and the recruiters around them, come in three kinds: retained executive search firms that approach sitting Chief Operating Officers who are not on the market, contingent agencies paid only if their candidate is hired, and specialists such as us that recruit fractional, interim and permanent COOs.

The same law covers all three.

The Employment Agencies Act and the Conduct Regulations apply to executive search consultants as well as recruitment agencies, and a recruiter must not charge a candidate a fee for finding them work; the fee you pay is a commercial matter between you and the firm (gov.uk guidance on the Conduct Regulations).

Before you sign, ask any COO recruiter four things in writing: the fee and when each part falls due; who runs the search day to day; how candidates are assessed and referenced; and what happens if the appointment does not work.

For scale, Executive Recruit puts retained COO search at 25–30% of first-year total compensation (£35,000–£70,000), paid in staged instalments.

Retained firms often belong to the AESC, whose members are guided by its Code of Professional Conduct.

Check the firm itself on the Companies House register.

A recruiter that holds your candidates’ details takes on data-protection duties too: the ICO’s recruitment and selection guidance is written for recruitment agencies and head-hunters as well as employers.

On a fractional, interim or permanent COO brief we undertake a shortlist of 3–5, five-stage vetting and an IR35 position on every brief.

To compare search models, see fractional executive search firms.

For part of the week, hire a fractional COO; for full-time cover, hire an interim COO.

10/ coo headhunting

COO headhunting: how the search runs

Good COO headhunting starts with scope, not a job title.

The COO seat is defined differently from one company to the next: operational delivery in one, the CEO’s second-in-command in another, the lead on a transformation in a third.

Write down what the COO will own, what stays with the CEO, and whether the seat needs five days a week or part of one.

That decides the route — permanent, interim or fractional.

Our guide to COO recruitment compares agencies, search firms and hiring direct.

Then the checks that apply to any senior hire.

If the COO will be an employee, you must check their right to work before they start.

If they will sit on the board as a statutory director, the general duties of directors in the Companies Act 2006 apply to them, and the Companies House register shows their past directorships.

In an FCA-regulated firm, the person with overall responsibility for internal operations or technology may perform the chief operations function (SMF24), and senior management functions need FCA or PRA approval before the person starts — build that into the timetable.

Professional recognition such as CMI’s Chartered Manager status is one signal of management standing among several.

For an interim or fractional COO working through their own company, settle IR35 before the contract.

Status depends on how the engagement works in practice; a medium or large client makes the status determination, and HMRC’s CEST tool and off-payroll working guidance set out how.

We set out an IR35 position on every brief — see the IR35 guide.

Interim executives are also found through interim providers and the Institute of Interim Management community.

On timing, we hold no COO-specific figure: StandOut CV puts the UK average time to hire for senior leadership roles at 6.5 weeks, across all sectors.

11/ executive search

COO executive search and chief operating officer executive search firms

COO executive search is the retained route to a permanent Chief Operating Officer: a firm is paid in stages to map the market and approach sitting COOs and operations leaders who are not applying for jobs.

Chief operating officer executive search firms range from global partnerships to UK boutiques that specialise by sector.

Before you appoint one, ask who will run your search day to day, how many other searches that person is running, and which companies the firm will not approach candidates from because they are its clients.

Chief operating officer executive search suits a permanent seat where the strongest candidates are employed and not looking.

It suits a seat that needs two days a week, or full-time cover for a fixed term, less well; COO executive recruitment at that end usually runs through interim providers or fractional specialists.

We take fractional, interim, part-time and permanent COO briefs and come back with a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate or pay, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.

To compare search models, see fractional executive search firms.

12/ questions

Fractional COO Headhunter FAQ

The questions people ask before bringing in a COO.

We hold no sourced COO-specific figure. StandOut CV's survey of UK HR and recruitment managers puts the average time to hire for senior leadership roles at 6.5 weeks, from application to role filled. For a fractional, interim or permanent COO, we come back with a shortlist of 3–5.

Executive Recruit puts retained search for a COO at 25–30% of first-year total compensation (£35,000–£70,000), paid in staged instalments.

Four things, in writing: the fee and when it falls due, who runs the search, how candidates are assessed and referenced, and what happens if the hire does not work. For scale, Executive Recruit puts retained COO search at 25–30% of first-year total compensation. A recruiter must not charge candidates a fee for finding them work (gov.uk). Check the firm on the Companies House register, and ask whether it belongs to a body such as the AESC. For fractional, interim and permanent COOs, we undertake a shortlist of 3–5 and five-stage vetting. Looking for CPO recruiters for a Chief Product Officer instead? See CPO headhunters.

COO headhunters approach candidates directly, usually on a retained fee, for a permanent hire; COO recruitment agencies more often work on a contingent basis, paid only if their candidate is hired, and draw on people already looking. Chief operating officer headhunters suit a senior permanent seat where the best people are not on the market; chief operating officer recruitment agencies suit a broader search. The same law covers both: a recruiter must not charge a candidate a fee for finding them work (gov.uk). If you want a trusted headhunter for CEO, CFO, COO recruitment, ask to speak to recent clients and check the firm on the Companies House register.

A chief operating officer headhunter scopes the seat with you, finds and approaches candidates, assesses them against the brief, takes references and manages the offer. Chief operating officer recruiters differ mainly in how they are paid and how far they search: in a headhunter COO search, most of the effort goes into approaching people who are not applying. COO recruiting for a fractional or interim seat is different again, because the candidates are working through their own companies and IR35 has to be settled before the contract — see hire a fractional COO and hire an interim COO.

Scope the seat first — what the COO owns and what stays with the CEO — then pick the route: retained search for a permanent COO, interim for full-time cover, fractional for part of the week. Run the standard checks: right to work for an employee, past directorships at Companies House, and, in an FCA-regulated firm, regulator approval for any senior management function before the person starts (FCA). For an interim or fractional COO, settle IR35 first: status depends on how the engagement works in practice, and a medium or large client makes the determination (HMRC). To hire part-time, see hire a fractional COO.