Fractional chief of staff salary · pro-rata, 2026

What a fractional chief of staff earns, pro-rata of the permanent salary

No independent UK source publishes a fractional chief of staff day rate.

The figures here are the permanent chief of staff salary from PayScale spread across working days — our arithmetic, a pro-rata floor for comparison, not a market rate.

On PayScale’s £78,000 median, a fractional chief of staff salary comes to about £350 a day pro rata.

One day a week for 46 weeks is £16,100 a year (our arithmetic).

The rate you pay is the rate each candidate quotes.

When you hire a fractional chief of staff through us, we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.

Brief us on a fractional chief of staff →See the roles

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

£78,000

Permanent chief of staff, median · base; range £45,000–£130,000

PayScale, 2026

£350

Day equivalent · £78,000 ÷ 220 working days, to the nearest £10

Our arithmetic

£16,100

One day a week · a year: £350 × 46 weeks

Our arithmetic

3–5

Shortlist · with day rate, availability and IR35 set out

15 minutes · video or phone

Book 15 minutes to hire a fractional chief of staff

Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Chief of Staff 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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Pick a day that suits · live availability

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On the board · last 3 months

Fractional Chief of staff jobs on the board

0 Fractional Chief of staff · 2 operations leadership

No Fractional Chief of staff roles on the board in the last three months. Showing operations leadership roles instead.

Browse every role on the board →

Chief of staff roles on the board

Fractional Quest is a fractional recruitment agency: send a Chief of Staff brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.

01/ the role

How the seat is paid, and why there is no published rate

A fractional chief of staff works for a chief executive for part of the week.

The client pays a day rate, or a monthly retainer for an agreed number of days.

There is no salary, bonus or employer pension behind it.

No independent UK source publishes a day rate for the seat.

The figures we found were either not independent or were temporary hourly rates, and neither is a fractional market rate.

So this page starts from what employers pay a permanent chief of staff and divides it across the working year.

The method is simple.

Take the permanent base salary and divide it by 220 working days to get a day equivalent.

Then multiply by 46 working weeks and by one, two or three days a week.

The 220 days and 46 weeks are our assumptions for a full-time year, not published figures.

A part-time employee is a different route.

They are paid a salary pro rata, and they must not be treated less favourably than a comparable full-time worker (GOV.UK).

That protection comes from the Part-time Workers Regulations 2000.

02/ scope

What to check before you agree a rate

1. Write down the seat

The title covers very different jobs: senior executive support at one end, a strategy and operations lead at the other.

Say which one you need, and what the days are for.

Acas publishes free job description templates to set the scope down in writing.

2. Compare quotes, not headlines

Ask every candidate for the same three things: the day rate, the days a week, and the notice either side can give.

Ask what a day covers, and whether the rate changes if the days do.

Then compare the quotes with each other and with the pro-rata line in the table below.

3. Settle tax status at the start

If your business is medium or large, you make the off-payroll status determination for the engagement (HMRC guidance for clients).

Settle it before you agree a rate, because it changes how the fee is taxed.

4. Check the record

There is no single qualification for the seat.

Some chiefs of staff hold the CMI’s Chartered Manager status, a professional credential in management and leadership.

Ask for references from the executives they have worked for.

What we do on a fractional brief

We recruit fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent executives, and non-executive directors.

We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, and every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.

Roles on the board are listed on fractional chief of staff jobs.

03/ the week

How a week divides.

Part of a week is the point of the model: the days you buy are yours, the rest of the week goes to other clients. Move the days a week and the week redraws.

Days a week for your company2 days

Your companyAnother clientA third client

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

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

04/ 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 · 2 roles · operations leadership

Engagement

Fractional1
Interim1

Days a week

Stated in the posting1
Not stated1

Day rate

Verified rate0
Estimated (est)0
Rate not stated2

Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)

Remote0
Hybrid0
On-site0
Not classified2

Newest posting on the board: 2 Sept 2026.

05/ 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 chief of staff.

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

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

The fractional chief of staff route Talk it through

06/ rates by stage

Fractional chief of staff salary pro-rata, our arithmetic

Permanent base salaries as PayScale and Lily Shippen publish them for 2026, spread across the working year. Our arithmetic: salary ÷ 220 working days, rounded to the nearest £10; that day × 46 weeks × 1, 2 or 3 days a week. A pro-rata reference for comparison, not a market rate and not a quote.

Permanent salary pointBase salaryDay (÷ 220)1 day a week2 days a week3 days a weekSalary source

Bottom of PayScale’s range£45,000£200£9,200£18,400£27,600PayScale, 2026

PayScale median£78,000£350£16,100£32,200£48,300PayScale, 2026

Top of PayScale’s range£130,000£590£27,140£54,280£81,420PayScale, 2026

London, low end of band£80,000£360£16,560£33,120£49,680Lily Shippen, 2026

London, high end of band£150,000£680£31,280£62,560£93,840Lily Shippen, 2026

07/ economics

What a day rate leaves out, and what it adds

A day rate carries no benefits.

There is no employer pension, sick pay or paid holiday inside it; the person funds their own.

An employee, by contrast, must be enrolled in a workplace pension that the employer pays into (GOV.UK).

VAT may sit on top.

If the person invoices through a business that is registered for VAT, VAT is added to each invoice.

Ask whether a quote includes it.

Tax status turns on how the engagement runs, not on the title or the contract alone.

Under the off-payroll working rules (IR35), a medium or large client makes the status determination; for a small client outside the public sector, the worker’s own company decides.

HMRC’s CEST tool gives its view on one engagement, and Acas explains employment status in law.

Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.

08/ vetting

How we vet fractional chiefs of staff

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

01
Qualification screen
Verify Chief of Staff 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/ the quote

Reading a quote: day rate, days and notice

The pro-rata table gives you a reference line.

It does not tell you what anyone will quote.

Each candidate sets their own rate for the work, the days and the notice they offer.

Put the quotes side by side on the same basis.

Multiply each day rate by the days a week you need and by the weeks you expect the engagement to run.

Check whether VAT is included, and how much notice either side must give.

To model a few options, use the rate calculator.

We set out each candidate’s day rate, availability and IR35 position on the shortlist, so the comparison is ready when you see it.

10/ the other routes

Permanent, interim or fractional: three ways to pay for the seat

A permanent hire is paid a salary and package; see chief of staff salary for the published benchmarks in full.

An interim covers the seat full-time for a fixed period; see interim chief of staff salary for the same arithmetic over an interim year.

A fractional chief of staff is paid only for the days bought.

If the executive needs support every day, a permanent appointment may fit better: hire a chief of staff sets out the steps for either route.

11/ questions

Fractional chief of staff salary FAQ

The questions people ask before bringing in a fractional chief of staff.

A fractional chief of staff has no salary from the client: they are paid a day rate or retainer. No independent UK source publishes that rate. Spread across 220 working days, PayScale’s £78,000 permanent median comes to about £350 a day, and one day a week for 46 weeks to £16,100 a year (our arithmetic, a pro-rata reference, not a market rate).

It is whatever each candidate quotes. No independent UK source publishes a fractional chief of staff day rate. As a reference, PayScale’s permanent range of £45,000 to £130,000 comes to about £200 to £590 a day pro rata (salary ÷ 220, our arithmetic).

The day rate times the days. On the pro-rata line from PayScale’s £78,000 median, two days a week for 46 weeks is £32,200 a year (£350 × 92 days, our arithmetic). Real quotes will differ, so we set out the day rate, availability and IR35 position for every candidate on a shortlist of 3–5.

We take a published permanent base salary, divide it by 220 working days and round to the nearest £10. We then multiply that day by 46 weeks and by one, two or three days a week. The salaries are PayScale’s and Lily Shippen’s; the arithmetic and the 220 and 46 are ours.

No. A day rate carries no employer pension, sick pay or paid holiday; the person funds their own. An employee must be enrolled in a workplace pension that the employer pays into (GOV.UK).

It depends on how the engagement runs. A medium or large client makes the status determination; a small private-sector client leaves it to the worker’s own company (HMRC). The answer is set contract by contract, not person by person.

Write down which seat you need and what the days are for, ask each candidate for the same quote, and settle tax status first. See hire a chief of staff for the steps.

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.

Book a call →Submit a brief