Fractional compliance officer salary · day rate, days, year
What a fractional compliance officer earns, by the day, the week and the year
A fractional compliance officer is paid a day rate, not a salary.
Exec Capital, a recruiter, puts the day rate for an experienced, SMF16-approved fractional compliance professional at £600–£1,200, depending on sector complexity and designation.
It describes the seat as head-of-compliance work, typically two to three days a week.
What a fractional compliance officer salary comes to over a year depends on the days sold across clients, not the rate alone.
When you hire a fractional compliance officer through us, we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
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
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire a fractional compliance officer
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Fractional Compliance Officer 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
Pick a day that suits · live availability
On the board · last 3 months
Fractional compliance officer jobs on the board
No Fractional compliance officer roles on the board in the last three months. Showing legal and compliance roles instead.
Compliance roles on the board
How fractional recruitment agencies compare is set out in one place, including how we work: a Fractional Compliance Officer brief and a shortlist of three to five.
01/ the role
How a fractional compliance officer is paid, and what sets the rate
A fractional compliance officer runs a firm’s compliance function for part of the week, usually for several firms at once.
Exec Capital says the role performs the substantive functions of a head of compliance, structured around the days agreed.
It names the firms the model suits: smaller FCA firms with a focused permission set, firms going through authorisation, and growing firms structuring compliance for the first time.
The client pays a day rate, usually on a retained number of days a month with a minimum commitment.
There is no salary, bonus or employer pension.
Exec Capital says experienced fractional heads of compliance typically work across two to four engagements at once.
Designation sets the rate as much as experience.
Exec Capital puts SMF16-approved professionals at £600–£1,200 a day, depending on sector complexity.
Compliance Oversight, SMF16, is a Senior Management Function, and anyone performing one needs FCA or PRA approval before starting.
02/ scope
How to hire a fractional compliance officer
1. Count the days the work needs
List what the role must own: the monitoring programme, policies, regulatory change, board reporting, the relationship with the FCA.
The FCA’s SYSC 6.1 rules require a firm to keep adequate policies and procedures to ensure it complies.
Its Consumer Duty asks firms to put customers’ needs first, so the monitoring has to test outcomes as well as process.
Estimate the days a month it takes.
The days set the cost; the work sets the seniority.
2. Decide whether the seat needs SMF16
If your firm needs a named Compliance Oversight holder, the fractional compliance officer must be approved for it through the FCA’s approved persons process.
Exec Capital says the regime does not prohibit part-time or portfolio SMF16 holders, but the person’s availability must be demonstrably sufficient for the scope of the function.
3. Keep money laundering reporting in view
Exec Capital says a fractional compliance engagement does not cover the MLRO function, SMF17, unless the person also holds that approval.
If you need it, see fractional MLRO.
What we do on a fractional brief
We recruit fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent compliance leaders, 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.
For roles on the board, see part-time chief compliance officer jobs and part-time compliance 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.
Illustration only: one way a fractional compliance officer’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 · 1 role · legal and compliance
Engagement
- Fractional1
Days a week
- Stated in the posting1
- Not stated0
Day rate
- Verified rate0
- Estimated (est)1
- Rate not stated0
Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)
- Remote0
- Hybrid1
- On-site0
Newest posting on the board: 3 Oct 2026.
05/ rates by stage
Fractional compliance officer salary what the source publishes
Exec Capital, a recruiter, describes the fractional compliance market in May 2026. It publishes one day-rate band, for experienced, SMF16-approved professionals doing head-of-compliance work. We found no other live source that publishes a fractional compliance day rate, so no other band is shown.
06/ rates by commitment
Fractional compliance officer rates by days a week, a month and a year
Exec Capital’s £600–£1,200 day rate at two and three days a week. Every figure in the month and year columns is our arithmetic (day rate × days × 4.33 weeks a month, then × 12), rounded, a comparison and not a salary.
07/ economics
Rate is not income: what a fractional compliance officer keeps
The day rate is what the client pays, not what the compliance officer takes home.
Most fractional professionals invoice through their own limited company and take money out as a salary through PAYE and as dividends from profit, after Corporation Tax.
Out of the same income they fund their pension, holidays, insurance and the days they do not sell.
Tax status changes the number too.
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 professional’s own company decides.
The rules apply contract by contract, so a fractional compliance officer with three clients can have three different answers.
HMRC’s CEST tool gives its view on one engagement; our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
08/ vetting
How we vet fractional compliance officers
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify Fractional Compliance Officer 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 year
How much fractional compliance officers make in a year
Multiply the rate by the days sold.
At Exec Capital’s £600–£1,200 a day, each day a week sold for 52 weeks bills £31,200–£62,400 (our arithmetic, before any weeks off).
Two engagements at two days a week each is four times that, if every week is billed.
In practice the diary rarely fills every week.
Holidays, gaps between clients and the time spent finding the next one all come off the total.
A fractional compliance officer’s income is the profit of a small business, not a rate multiplied by a full year.
Exec Capital says that at two days a week the annual cost is broadly equivalent to a mid-senior compliance manager salary.
For scale, Robert Half’s 2026 median for a permanent compliance manager is £73,500 in base salary.
To model your own position, use the rate calculator.
10/ the comparison
Full-time salary vs fractional pay: comparing like with like
A permanent compliance officer is paid a salary and package, with employer’s National Insurance and pension on top; see compliance officer salary for those benchmarks.
An interim is paid by the day for full-time cover over a fixed period; see interim compliance officer salary.
A fractional compliance officer is paid only for the days bought.
Compare the total cost for the days the firm needs, not the headline figures.
11/ questions
Fractional compliance officer salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a fractional compliance officer.
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.
