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Permanent finance director · hiring brief

Finance Director for Hire

Finance Director for Hire: choose part-time, interim or permanent, then brief the board responsibilities, controls and reporting the finance director owns.

Brief us on this role →See finance director roles

Reviewed by Fractional Quest · updated 1 November 2026 · 5 sources linked below

  • 3–5on every shortlist
  • 5stages of vetting
  • IR35set out on every brief
Finance Director for Hire: a finance leader reviewing a board pack with a finance manager (illustration)

On the board · last 90 days

Which roles are on the board now?

Permanent finance director roles first, then the seat in any engagement and the wider function when the board runs short.

Roles

See every role on the board →

Every fractional role in the UK is on the fractional jobs board.

In the press

The brief

Finance Director for Hire: what must the role own?

Days, a term or permanent.

  • 01EngagementDays, a term or permanent.
  • 02BoardBoard seat and responsibilities.
  • 03ControlsAudit and approvals.
  • 04ReportingBoard pack and lenders.

Role reference: ICAEW on the CFO role in strategy. ICAEW describes finance leadership shaping strategy, the remit a finance director for hire should hold.

For hire

Finance director for hire: which engagement?

Three routes into the seat.

Part-time for steady, ongoing need; interim for a defined assignment; permanent once the business needs a finance leader every day.

If the need is funding and strategy rather than control, see CFO for hire.

The working pattern

What changes when the finance director is permanent?

A finance director for hire leads finance with board responsibility for the numbers. The engagement can be part-time, interim or permanent.

The illustrative brief: an owner-managed business taking its first bank facility. The bank asks for monthly reporting and a finance director the board relies on.

The appointment owns: A part-time finance director for hire joins two days a week.

Another owner retains: The owners keep the decision to borrow.

The case is illustrative; it does not describe a Fractional Quest placement.

From brief to start

How do you hire a finance director for hire, step by step?

Finance Director for Hire, in practice: the first three steps are ours; the last four are what has to be true before the first day. We don’t promise a shortlist by a date.

  1. Day 0
    01
    The 15-minute call
    What the finance director must own, the working pattern, the start date and the budget.
    You and us
  2. Week 1
    02
    Scope agreed in writing
    The outcome the seat exists for, the days, and how the engagement will run for IR35.
    Us
  3. Weeks 1–3
    03
    Search, references, shortlist
    We approach people who aren’t looking, verify tenure, take references ourselves and return three to five.
    Us
  4. Week 4
    04
    Route
    Engagement and review.
    You
  5. Before day one · 2
    05
    Data
    Accounts and bank terms.
    You
  6. Before day one · 3
    06
    Board
    Board calendar.
    You
  7. Before day one · 4
    07
    First pack
    The next lender report.
    You

Your figures

What does part of a senior week cost?

Rate × days × weeks, against a loaded full-time package. Move the sliders; the numbers redraw.

  • finance director band £600–£1,000 (FD Capital 2026)
Year-one cost, fractional
£73,600
2 days a week · 46 weeks · day fees, before tax · our arithmetic
Fractional executive£73,600
Full-time finance director, loaded£125,175£569 a day over 220 days · our arithmetic
Fractional costs less in year one by£51,575

Our arithmetic. £109,500 Robert Half 2026 median salary + employer NI at 15% above £5,000 (HMRC) = £125,175. Excludes pension, bonus and any search fee.

Assessment

How should you assess each candidate?

Finance Director for Hire on evidence: put the same work in front of each candidate before comparing answers.

  1. Comparable work
    Ask for a facility or audit they led.
  2. Authority
    Test a board decision they would challenge.
  3. Team
    Ask how they developed the finance team.
  4. Handover
    Ask what reporting ran without them.

Acas recommends a consistent, fair selection process: choosing who to interview.

Vetting

What happens before anyone reaches your shortlist?

Five stages before a candidate reaches a shortlist of three to five.

  1. Pedigree screen
    Tenure
    We verify prior tenure in the seat, at the scale and stage you need. No consultant presenting as an executive.
  2. Mandate fit
    Fit
    Fit to your stage, sector and the problem the seat exists to solve, not a CV keyword.
  3. Reference deep-dive
    Verify
    We take references ourselves, from recent clients and boards: what they delivered, not what they titled it.
  4. Shortlist
    Shortlist
    Three to five candidates, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
  5. Kick-off
    Start
    Scope, first-month outcomes and the contract agreed before day one.

The full process is on how we vet.

The right pattern

Does this hiring pattern fit the work?

Test the amount of the week, the expected end and the continuity needed before writing the contract.

Questions

Finance Director for Hire: questions, answered

A brief to hire a finance director for hire begins with engagement: Days, a term or permanent. Then a stated working pattern and the evidence you will ask every candidate to show.

Read next

Related hiring and role pages

Sources

Where does every reference on this page come from?

  • icaew.com
  • HMRC
  • legislation.gov.uk
  1. 1
    ICAEW on the CFO role in strategy icaew.com
  2. 2
    Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 HMRC
    Employer National Insurance at 15% above £5,000 a year.
  3. 3
    Understanding off-payroll working (IR35) HMRC
    Status depends on how the engagement runs; medium and large clients make the determination.
  4. 4
    Check employment status for tax (CEST) HMRC
    HMRC’s own status check for each engagement.
  5. 5
    Employment Agencies Act 1973 legislation.gov.uk
    The law a recruitment agency works under; no fee to a work-seeker.

For hiring managers

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  1. A shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position
  2. Fractional, interim, part-time, temporary or permanent — and non-executive directors
  3. Every candidate through our five-stage vetting
  4. Your briefs and their candidates, in one room