Reg Advantage LtdSyndicatedFractional
Production Lead and Fractional CTOFractional consultants · hire a fractional consultant, or find the work
Fractional Consultants · hire a fractional consultant, or find the work
Fractional consultants are senior leaders who hold a brief a set number of days a week — finance, marketing, technology, HR, operations, data, security, product, compliance or legal. Fractional Quest is a recruitment agency, not a consulting firm: we do not employ consultants or sell a team. We find the fractional, interim or permanent leader for your brief, and they contract with you directly.
Reviewed by Fractional Quest · updated 23 October 2026 · 4 sources linked below
- 13 disciplinesdisciplines
- 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 fractional consultants do
Hiring? Brief us for a shortlist of 3–5. Looking for the work? The board below shows current fractional executive roles, and each discipline page has its own board.
A fractional consultant takes a senior seat on a standing weekly commitment: they own decisions, attend the leadership meeting and answer for outcomes, usually for two or three companies at once.
Fractional Quest is a recruitment agency, not a consulting firm: we do not employ consultants or sell a team. We find the fractional, interim or permanent leader for your brief, and they contract with you directly.
The service side: fractional consultancy. The board for every fractional role: fractional jobs.
On the board · last 90 days
Fractional executive 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.
9 of 9 roles
Function
Engagement
- CivSec GroupSyndicatedFractionalAcquisition CFO / Finance Director (Fractional)
- Algorithmiq OySyndicatedFractionalFractional Chief Operating Officer (COO)
- Flat IronSyndicatedFractionalFractional IT Director – Technology & AI (FTC)
- Flat IronSyndicatedFractionalFractional IT Director – Technology & AI
- Green Orbit LtdSyndicatedFractionalFractional CTO Wanted | Green Orbit | Initially Equity Only | UK-Based
- fin-houseSyndicatedFractionalFractional CFO
- KeelCFOSyndicatedFractionalFractional CFO
- genesis labels & packagingSyndicatedFractionalFractional COO / Operations Director
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
Fractional consultants by discipline
HR. HR Consultants — a fractional HR director or chief people officer. The service: HR consultancy.
Marketing. Marketing Consultants — a fractional CMO or marketing director. The service: marketing consultancy.
Sales. Sales Consultants — a fractional sales director or chief revenue officer. The service: sales consultancy.
Finance. CFO Consultants — a fractional CFO or finance director. The service: finance consultancy.
Technology. CTO Consultants — a fractional CTO or CIO. The service: fractional technology consultancy.
Operations. COO Consultants — a fractional COO or operations director. The service: operations consultancy.
Leadership. Interim Management Consultants — an interim or fractional executive. The service: leadership consultancy.
Data. Data Consultants — a fractional chief data officer or head of data. The service: data consultancy.
AI. Fractional AI Consultants — a fractional chief AI officer or head of AI. The service: AI consultancy.
Cyber security. CISO Consultants — a fractional or interim CISO. The service: cyber security consultancy.
Product. CPO Consultants — a fractional chief product officer or product director. The service: product consultancy.
Compliance. Compliance Consultants — a fractional head of compliance, MLRO or data protection officer. The service: compliance consultancy.
Legal. Legal Consultants — a fractional general counsel or head of legal. The service: legal consultancy.
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 senior expertise fractional, project, interim or permanent
The same senior problem can be bought four ways. The difference is who does the work, for how long, and who is accountable afterwards.
| Fractional senior leader | Project consultancy firm | Interim executive | Permanent hire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you buy | A senior leader, 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 fractional consultant to hire
Hire for the decisions, not the title.
- NumbersFinanceA raise, a lender or a forecast nobody trusts: a fractional CFO. See CFO consultants.
- GrowthMarketing and salesAgencies without a strategy, or a founder still closing every deal: see marketing consultants and sales consultants.
- RiskSecurity, compliance and legalA questionnaire, a regulator or a contract flow: see CISO consultants, compliance consultants and legal consultants.
Vetting
How do we vet a fractional 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 fractional consultant four steps
Decisions first. Write down the three decisions the fractional consultant will own in ninety days.
Brief us. Scope, days and start date; we search and assess through our five-stage vetting.
Compare. A shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
Contract directly. The fractional consultant contracts with you; HMRC’s guidance for clients sets out who makes the IR35 status determination.
for consultants
Work as a fractional consultant what companies look for
Fractional work suits senior leaders who have held the seat full-time and want a portfolio: two or three clients on set days, or a run of interim mandates.
Companies hire evidence: the decisions you have owned and what changed. Every fractional role is on the fractional jobs board; each discipline page above has its own board.
The Institute of Consulting, part of the CMI, is the professional body for individual consultants: Institute of Consulting.
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
Fractional Consultants questions, answered
A senior leader who holds a seat a set number of days a week on a standing commitment, usually for several companies, owning decisions rather than delivering a one-off report.
Brief us on the discipline, the days and the start date. We come back with a shortlist of 3–5, each with rate, availability and IR35 position set out. You contract with the consultant directly.
No. We are a recruitment agency: we find the leader, and they contract with you directly. We do not employ consultants or run consulting projects ourselves.
It depends on the seat and the days. Each discipline page shows the market’s published bands where a source we can verify publishes one; each candidate on a shortlist states their own rate.
It depends on how the engagement runs in practice — control, substitution and whether the fractional 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 fractional executive roles, and each discipline page has a board for its seats. Every fractional role is on the fractional jobs board.
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.
