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Fractional CPOCPO Consultants · CPO consultant · fractional, interim and permanent
CPO Consultants · hire a CPO consultant, or find the work
CPO consultants at leadership level are senior product people who hold the brief: a fractional chief product officer or product director, working fractionally, on an interim mandate or permanently. Fractional Quest recruits them for companies; we do not employ them.
Reviewed by Fractional Quest · updated 23 October 2026 · 4 sources linked below
- 3–5our shortlist
Fractional seats our founder has held
Climatise
One Up Productions
CK Delta
In the press
- Financial TimesThe executives going ‘fractional’, not freelance
- International FinanceRenting the C-suite, and why the fractional executive era has arrived
The agency
What CPO consultants do
Hiring? Brief us and we come back with a shortlist of 3–5, each with rate, availability and IR35 position set out. Looking for the work? The board below shows current product leadership roles.
A CPO consultant owns what gets built and why: strategy, discovery, the roadmap and the product managers who deliver it. The chief product officer owns what gets built and why: product strategy, the roadmap, discovery and the product team.
A CPO consultant is usually a fractional CPO consultant — a chief product officer on a standing weekly commitment. See fractional CPO.
CPO consultants are not a firm’s junior team: each is one senior person who contracts with the company directly. Fractional Quest is the recruitment agency that finds them; the service side is on product consultancy.
On the board · last 90 days
Current product leadership roles on the board
From our jobs feed. Where a posting states no rate, “est” is our estimate from the seat’s published band; ◆ marks days a week the posting states.
10 of 10 roles
Function
Engagement
- NationwideSyndicatedContractHead of Internal Communications
- Marie CurieSyndicatedInterimInterim Head of Edinburgh Hospice Transformation
- Estée Lauder CompaniesSyndicatedContractEstee Lauder - Counter Lead - Boots Battersea - 4 days per week - 1 year contract
- E.ON NextSyndicatedContractHead of Growth Delivery
- AND DigitalSyndicatedContractPlatform Security & Compliance Lead (Contract)
- MotorwaySyndicatedInterimInterim Head of Financial Control (3-6 month contract)
- Scottish GovernmentSyndicatedInterimEOI - TP - Director of Internal Audit and Assurance
- Lloyd'sSyndicatedTemporaryChief of Staff to the Chief Commercial Officer / CEO Lloyd's Americas - 12 Month FTC
- Marks & SpencerSyndicatedContractHead of Finance Controllership - 18 Month Fixed Term Contract
Every fractional role in the UK is on the fractional jobs board.
Three seats
What does a fractional seat look like in practice?
Three fractional seats our founder has held. Real companies, named with their permission; we state only what the seat covered.
Fractional seats our founder has held
ClimatiseFractional · go-to-marketA carbon-reporting software company that needed go-to-market leadership before a full-time hire.
- Seat
- Fractional go-to-market lead
- Days
- Two days a week
- Scope
- Go-to-market
One Up ProductionsFractional · go-to-marketA production company that needed both the go-to-market strategy and its execution.
- Seat
- Fractional go-to-market: strategy and execution
- Days
- Two days a week
- Scope
- Go-to-market
CK DeltaFractional · technologyTechnology work: tech stack implementation.
- Seat
- Fractional technology lead
These are seats our founder has held, not placements.
The scope
What a CPO consultant owns
The scope. Product vision, strategy and roadmap; customer discovery and prioritisation; product management practice and team; pricing and packaging input; product metrics and outcomes.
Out of scope. How the product is engineered is the CTO’s domain. Go-to-market execution sits with marketing and sales.
The neighbouring seats. The CPO decides what to build; the CTO decides how to build it.
The process
How does a brief become a shortlist?
Six steps, one accountable person at each. We don’t promise a shortlist by a date; the weeks below are what a well-scoped brief usually takes.
- Day 001The 15-minute callThe seat, the engagement shape, the days or hours, the start date and the budget. No account needed; a call or a written brief.You and us
- Week 102Scope agreed in writingThe outcome the seat exists for, which days, and how the engagement will run for IR35. A brief that describes a person rather than a job, we rewrite with you.Us
- Weeks 1–203Search and approachWe approach people who aren’t looking and verify prior tenure in the seat at your scale and stage.Us
- Weeks 2–304References, taken by usFrom recent clients and boards: what they delivered, not what they titled it.Us
- Week 305Shortlist of three to fiveEach with day rate or salary, availability and IR35 position set out. You interview and decide.You
- Week 406Kick-offScope, first-month outcomes and the contract agreed before day one.You, them and us
Against the alternatives
Four ways to buy product expertise fractional, project, interim or permanent
The same product problem can be bought four ways. The difference is who does the work, for how long, and who is accountable afterwards.
| Fractional product leader | Project consultancy firm | Interim executive | Permanent hire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you buy | A fractional chief product officer or product director, days a week | A defined deliverable | A leader full-time for a fixed term | A full-time leader for years |
| Who does the work | One named senior person | A team, often with a partner who sold it | One named senior person | Your employee |
| Accountable after | Yes — they stay | No — the project ends | Until the hand-over | Yes |
| Best when | You need senior judgement every week, not every day | The work is a one-off with a clear output | You need full-time cover or a change led now | The seat is full-time work for years |
| Usual contract | Contract for services, often via the leader’s company | Statement of work | Day-rate contract for the mandate | Employment contract |
The decision
Which CPO consultant to hire
Match the shape to the work, not the title.
- Weekly judgementA fractional CPO consultantA fractional chief product officer sets strategy, installs product practice and coaches product managers on a standing weekly commitment.
- Now, full-timeAn interim product leadAn interim CPO keeps the roadmap and product team on track while the permanent search runs.
- For yearsA permanent hireA permanent CPO is right when the product organisation is large enough to need full-time executive leadership.
Vetting
How do we vet a CPO consultant?
Five stages before anyone reaches a shortlist of three to five.
- Pedigree screenTenureWe verify prior tenure in the seat, at the scale and stage you need. No consultant presenting as an executive.
- Mandate fitFitFit to your stage, sector and the problem the seat exists to solve, not a CV keyword.
- Reference deep-diveVerifyWe take references ourselves, from recent clients and boards: what they delivered, not what they titled it.
- ShortlistShortlistThree to five candidates, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
- Kick-offStartScope, first-month outcomes and the contract agreed before day one.
The full process is on how we vet.
how to hire
How to hire a CPO consultant four steps
Write down the decisions. List the three decisions the CPO consultant will own in the first ninety days. That list decides the shape: weekly decisions point to fractional, a time-bound change to interim, a full-time load to permanent.
Brief us. Scope, days, start date and what success looks like. We search for your brief and assess through our five-stage vetting.
Compare a shortlist. 3–5 CPO consultants, each with day rate or salary, availability and IR35 position set out, so you compare like with like.
Contract directly. The CPO consultant contracts with you, usually through their own company for fractional and interim work. Write the contract to match how it will actually run.
what to check
What to check in CPO consultants before you sign
Evidence, not titles. Ask for products they owned and what happened to the metrics, and talk to an engineer and a product manager who worked with them. The GOV.UK Service Manual is a public reference for the user research and agile practice they should know.
Professional bodies. the GOV.UK Service Manual — a public reference for agile delivery, user research and service design.
Status. It depends on how the engagement runs in practice — control, substitution and whether the CPO consultant is part and parcel of your organisation, not on the label "consultant". For medium and large private-sector clients the client makes the status determination. Every candidate on our shortlist states their IR35 position.
Capacity. A fractional CPO consultant holds other clients. Ask how many, which days are yours, and how urgent issues are handled between them.
for consultants
Work as a fractional CPO consultant what the work looks like
Fractional product work suits CPOs and product directors who have taken a product from early traction to scale.
Briefs arrive as fractional (days a week, ongoing), interim (full-time, fixed term) or permanent roles. The board on this page shows current product leadership roles, labelled by engagement; every fractional role is on the fractional jobs board.
Companies hire the leader, not the label: set out the decisions you have owned, the outcomes, and the days you can commit. Your IR35 position and rate go on the shortlist as you state them.
The right route
Agency, recruiter, interim or permanent?
Three taps. Say how much senior work there is, for how long, and whether it is one leader or a run of hires; the tool names the route.
The route · Fractional recruiter
An embedded fractional recruiter.
A hiring plan to work through below the leadership team is a talent-acquisition job: a recruiter inside your business for part of the week, paid for their time. We don’t supply them; the page below explains the role.
The route · Non-executive director
A non-executive director.
Independent oversight and constructive challenge, not executive direction. We recruit NEDs through the same brief process.
The route · Advisor
An advisor, not yet a seat.
Less than a day a week of senior input is advisory. Buy it as a scoped engagement; when it grows into a day or more, brief us for a fractional executive.
The route · Interim
An interim executive.
Four or five days for a fixed period is interim: cover for a departure, a turnaround or a transaction. The IIM puts the UK average at £907 a day and ten months.
The route · Permanent
A permanent search.
Four or five days of work, ongoing, is a full-time seat. We recruit permanent executives through the same brief process.
The route · Fractional executive
Brief a fractional recruitment agency.
Senior judgement for part of the week: a fractional CFO, CTO, CMO or COO on one to three days. We come back with a shortlist of three to five, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
We recruit executives. We don’t supply embedded fractional recruiters; where that is the right route, the tool says so.
Clients
What do companies say about our fractional work?
From a company where our founder has held a fractional seat. Name and logo given with the client’s permission.
“Excellent fractional support for building both our go-to-market strategy and our execution.”
Charlie AndersonDirector, One Up ProductionsWhere we are
Where is Fractional Quest?
Where we are
71–75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ
Fractional Quest Ltd, registered in England and Wales, no. 17322105. This is our registered office; meetings are by appointment, and most briefs start on a 15-minute call.
Questions
CPO Consultants questions, answered
A CPO consultant owns what gets built and why: strategy, discovery, the roadmap and the product managers who deliver it. The seat’s scope: product vision, strategy and roadmap; customer discovery and prioritisation; product management practice and team.
Brief us on the scope, the shape and the start date. We come back with a shortlist of 3–5 CPO consultants, each with rate, availability and IR35 position set out, assessed through our five-stage vetting. You contract with the CPO consultant directly.
Ask for products they owned and what happened to the metrics, and talk to an engineer and a product manager who worked with them. The GOV.UK Service Manual is a public reference for the user research and agile practice they should know.
It depends on the shape, the days and the sector, and no source we can verify publishes a band for this seat. Fractional Quest publishes no fees; each candidate on a shortlist states their own rate, so you compare like with like.
It depends on how the engagement runs in practice — control, substitution and whether the CPO consultant is part and parcel of your organisation, not on the label "consultant". For medium and large private-sector clients the client makes the status determination. Every candidate on our shortlist states their IR35 position.
The board on this page lists current product leadership roles, labelled fractional, interim or permanent, and every fractional role is on the fractional jobs board. Your rate and IR35 position go on the shortlist as you state them.
A chief product officer working a set number of days a week on a standing commitment: strategy, roadmap, discovery and coaching for the product managers.
No. A product manager owns a product area day to day; a CPO consultant sets the strategy and the practice the product managers work within.
Sources
Where does every figure on this page come from?
The primary publisher for each number, linked. Where a figure is our own arithmetic, the page says so where it appears.
- HMRC
- legislation.gov.uk
- 1Understanding off-payroll working (IR35) HMRCStatus depends on how the engagement runs; medium and large clients make the determination.
- 2Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 HMRCEmployer National Insurance at 15% above £5,000 a year.
- 3
- 4Employment Agencies Act 1973 legislation.gov.ukThe law a recruitment agency works under; no fee to a work-seeker.
