What is a Fractional CDO (Chief Design Officer)?
A Fractional Chief Design Officer is an experienced design executive who works part-time across multiple companies, providing strategic design leadership to elevate product experiences, build design systems, and establish design as a business driver.
The Fractional CDO Role
Fractional CDOs typically work 1-3 days per week, providing world-class design leadership for companies that recognise design's strategic value but cannot justify a full-time design executive at £180-280k.
Key CDO Responsibilities
Design Strategy: Design vision, principles, and maturity roadmap
Design Systems: Scalable component libraries and design language
UX Research: User research programmes and insight-driven design
Product Design: End-to-end product design leadership
Team Development: Design team structure, recruitment, and mentoring
Who Needs a Fractional CDO?
Product companies seeking to elevate their design quality and consistency
Scale-ups building design systems and design teams
Companies undertaking major product redesigns or rebrandsn- Organisations wanting to become design-led in their decision-making
