Hire a Fractional COO · Fractional COO Jobs UK
Fractional COO Jobs · Hire fractional COO, or hire COO · hire chief operations officer
Hire a fractional COO — operations leadership, 1–3 days a week — to turn chaos into process for scale-ups and PE-backed portfolios. Systems, people ops and delivery, without the full-time cost.
- £800–£1,400 a day · Connectd 2026
- 1–3 days a week
- 3–5 candidates per shortlist
- 5 vetting stages
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 COO
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with fractional COO 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
Fractional COO jobs · last 3 months
Live Fractional COO jobs
01/ the model
What is a fractional COO?
An experienced operations leader who owns the operating model within a defined scope — not a consultant, not a project engagement. Four ideas define the model.
01 · cadence
Hire an operations chief, 1–3 days a week.
Senior COO capability across a defined slice of the week. The operating leadership you need without a full-time salary or a five-day commitment.
02 · role
Owns operations — not a project.
Unlike a consultant or an advisor, a fractional COO is in the leadership team: owns the operating model, builds the systems, runs delivery and hires the team.
03 · structure
Engaged on a written scope.
Usually engaged through their own company rather than employed, on a scope that names the outcome, the days and the notice. IR35 status depends on how the engagement runs in practice, and a medium or large client makes the determination.
04 · horizon
A mandate, not a tenure.
Scoped to an outcome — a process build, a 100-day plan, an ERP rollout — often ending in a clean handover to a permanent COO.
02/ scope
What a fractional COO delivers.
Accountable for how the company runs — process, systems, people and delivery, answerable to the board exactly like a permanent COO.
01 / PROCESS
Operating model & KPIs
Designs the processes, KPIs and OKR cadence that turn a fast-growing mess into a company that runs predictably.
02 / SYSTEMS
Tooling & infrastructure
Selects and lands the ERP, CRM, HRIS and automation — the systems backbone that lets the business scale without breaking.
03 / PEOPLE OPS
Org design & performance
Org structure, comp frameworks, hiring plans and performance management — building the team and how it works.
04 / DELIVERY
Execution & board reporting
Cross-functional delivery, RevOps and customer ops, plus the operational health metrics the board sees every month.
03/ responsibilities
What a fractional COO owns — and what they don’t.
The fractional COO job description, structured. A fractional COO carries full board-level accountability for how the company runs — and deliberately hands specialist and transactional work to functional leads.
- The operating model — process, systems, KPIs, OKRs
- Scaling infrastructure — ERP, CRM, HRIS, automation
- People operations — org design, comp, performance
- Delivery — cross-functional execution & roadmap governance
- RevOps & customer success operations
- Supply chain & logistics, where applicable
- Operational board reporting & hiring plan vs actuals
- Day-to-day task management for every team
- Owning a single function long-term
- Hands-on bookkeeping or payroll runs
- Pure advisory with no delivery accountability
- Being a full-time, five-day headcount
04/ the difference
Fractional COO vs the alternatives.
“Fractional COO” gets confused with an Ops Director, an operations consultant and a full-time hire. Switch tabs to see how it differs.
→ A fractional COO owns the operating model. An Ops Director runs a slice of it.
→ Fractional COOs run the function. Consultants advise on it.
→ Fractional buys senior operating leadership for the days you need it; full-time buys it every day.
05/ by stage
COO rates by seniority.
Connectd publishes its UK fractional COO band by seniority (updated April 2026). Company stage decides the cadence; the operator’s seniority decides the rate.
- Fractional COO£800–£1,400Connectd 2026
- Senior / executive£1,100–£1,400Connectd 2026
- Interim COO£800–£2,000Exec Capital 2026
Two days a week across a 46-week year at the Connectd band is £73,600–£128,800 in day fees — our arithmetic. Compare every role on the rate calculator.
06/ cost
Part-time COO cost.
Drag the sliders — every figure updates live, benchmarked against the published UK fractional COO band.
£1,000 a day is within the published band for a UK fractional COO (£800–£1,400, Connectd 2026).
Year-one cost
£92,000
2 d/wk · 46 weeks · day fees, before tax
Fractional costs less in year one£65,759
Book a 15-minute call →Our arithmetic, indicative. Full-time COO = £157,759: the £137,834 UK median base (Glassdoor, via Exec Capital) plus employer NI at 15% above the £5,000 threshold. Excludes pension, bonus and a search fee, so any saving shown is the conservative one.
07/ the contract
Fractional chief operating officer: how the engagement is contracted.
A fractional COO engagement is written around a defined mandate — the outcome, the days a week and the notice. IR35 status depends on how the engagement runs in practice, and a medium or large client makes the determination. What HMRC looks at, in brief — full detail in the IR35 guide, and at source in HMRC’s off-payroll working guidance and the CEST tool.
01 / CONTROL
Control of the “how”
HMRC looks at who decides how, when and where the work is done — whether the company sets the outcome or directs the method.
✓ In the contract02 / SUBSTITUTION
Right to substitute
HMRC looks at whether the COO could send a suitably qualified substitute, and whether that right is genuine in practice.
✓ In the contract03 / MUTUALITY
Mutuality of obligation
HMRC looks at whether the company must offer work beyond the agreed mandate, and whether the COO must accept it.
✓ In the contractWhat HMRC looks at in a COO engagement
Whether there is a genuine right of substitution; whether there is mutuality of obligation beyond the agreed scope; who controls how, when and where the work is done; whether the engagement is a defined outcome or an open-ended seat; and whether the COO works for other clients.
What changed in April 2026
From 6 April 2026 the off-payroll small-company test is turnover up to £15 million, balance sheet up to £7.5 million and up to 50 employees — any two of the three — up from £10.2 million and £5.1 million (BDO). More clients now count as small, and for a small client the COO’s own company decides IR35 status. The test looks at the client’s previous financial year.
08/ when to hire
When to hire a fractional COO.
Four situations where the right call is to hire a fractional COO — match yours.
Which sounds like you?
You’ve grown fast and nothing connects — no ERP, people ops on spreadsheets. A COO builds the machine.
- → Rapid headcount growth · process and systems gaps
Post-acquisition, you need operational rigour landed before a permanent COO arrives.
- → Recent acquisition · sponsor reporting
The founder is drowning in internal ops. A COO takes people, systems and process off their plate.
- → Founder overloaded · internal ops sprawl
Demand has outgrown the tooling. You need RevOps, automation and a team — built by someone senior.
- → ERP / RevOps build · hire and mentor the team
09/ the buyer’s guide
How to hire a fractional COO.
Scope the mandate, write the job description, then choose the route.
STEP 01
Write the mandate, not a title
Name the outcome — a process build, a 100-day plan, an ERP rollout — and the days a week it needs. The owns / hands-off list above is a ready-made fractional COO job description.
→ Outcome, cadence and a date
STEP 02
Pick the route: fractional, interim or permanent
Part of the week, ongoing: fractional. Full-time for a fixed term: interim COO. A permanent Chief Operating Officer: a retained search — see COO headhunters.
→ Match the engagement to the gap
STEP 03
Start with a scoped trial
Agree first-month outcomes before the start date, review at 90 days, and extend once the operating cadence is working.
→ Scoped start · 90-day review
10/ operations director
Fractional operations director or fractional COO?
Many buyers search for a fractional operations director when they want the same seat, and in smaller companies the two titles often describe one person. The difference that matters is scope. The Institute of Directors describes an operations director as overseeing the operational side of company strategy and carrying operations information to the chief executive and the board. Its COO role profile goes wider: directing and controlling all of the organisation’s operations in line with the strategy the chief executive and board have agreed, and maintaining the structure and processes the organisation runs on.
In practice: if the problem sits inside one function — delivery, fulfilment, service quality, suppliers — a fractional operations director running that function part of the week is the right shape. If it sits between functions — how sales hands over to delivery, how the hiring plan follows the forecast, who decides when two teams want the same resource — it is COO work, whatever the title on the brief. The comparison above sets an Ops Director beside a fractional COO, and the owns / hands-off list works as a starting brief for either.
The same work is advertised as fractional operations director, fractional head of operations and fractional COO, so search and brief on the scope, not the title. For consistent-days roles see part-time COO jobs; for full-time, fixed-term cover, interim COO jobs. Hiring? Brief us on the scope and we come back with a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
11/ full-time or fractional
How to hire a Chief Operations Officer.
To hire a Chief Operations Officer — the title is used interchangeably with Chief Operating Officer — first decide whether the seat is full-time work yet. The IoD’s COO profile describes a role that directs all organisational operations, develops and controls operational budgets, and maintains the systems that keep operations compliant with legal requirements. Before you hire Chief Operations Officer capacity, count the days of COO work there actually are. If that is five days every week, hire permanently. If the need is a build — a process overhaul, an integration, a systems rollout — a fractional or interim COO can deliver it without creating a permanent seat.
A permanent hire usually runs through a retained search — see COO recruitment and headhunters — and brings employment obligations with it: a right to work check before employment starts, and a written statement of employment particulars on or before the first day (Acas). If the COO will also join the board as a statutory director, they take on the legal duties of a company director, and changes to the company’s officers must be reported to Companies House.
A fractional COO is usually engaged through their own company rather than employed, on a defined mandate, with the IR35 position set out on the brief and settled by how the engagement runs in practice — see the IR35 guide. Brief us and we come back with a shortlist of 3–5, vetted through the five stages on how we vet.
12/ across the uk
Fractional COO UK: roles, cadence and seniority.
Many fractional COO UK engagements are hybrid: a regular day on site for the leadership meeting and the operating cadence, the rest remote. We shortlist fractional COOs across the UK for hybrid or remote engagements, wherever the company is based. Fractional COO roles on the board above show the location and days, and the day rate only where the posting states one.
Fractional ops is the broader shorthand: fractional operations leadership at any level, from a fractional operations manager running processes week to week to a COO who owns the operating model. Settle which you need before you brief, because seniority sets the rate: Connectd’s published band runs from £600–£750 a day for operators with up to two years of fractional work to £1,100–£1,400 at senior level (rates above).
When you hire COO cover, decide the cadence before the title: one to three days a week is fractional, full-time for a fixed term is interim, and a permanent seat is a search. Chief operating officer recruitment for a permanent seat often runs through a retained search firm — see COO headhunters. We take all three kinds of brief and answer each with a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate or pay, availability and IR35 position set out.
13/ vetting
How we vet fractional COOs.
What we undertake on every brief — real operational validation, not CV-sifting.
- 01
Operations screen
Verify a real track record running ops at your stage — process, systems, people ops, P&L exposure. No Head of Ops presenting as a COO.
SOURCING - 02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — chaos-to-process, a 100-day plan, an ERP build or scale.
MATCHING - 03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent clients, founders and investors: operational outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY - 04
Shortlist
3–5 candidates, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5
14/ questions
Fractional COO FAQ.
The common questions, answered.
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Ready to hire a fractional COO?
Submit your brief. We come back with a shortlist of three to five.
For hiring companies
Book a call or submit your fractional COO brief; we come back with a shortlist of 3–5 candidates.
For fractional COOs
Browse live operations leadership roles from our jobs feed, or talk to us first about the searches we run.
