Hire a fractional
COO in 48 hours.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Structured correctly from day one.
Engagements are built outside IR35 by default — right of substitution, no mutuality of obligation, contractor-controlled working. CEST-tested.
A mandate, not a tenure.
Scoped to an outcome — a process build, a 100-day plan, an ERP rollout — typically 18–24 months, often with a clean handover to a permanent COO.
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.
Operating model & KPIs
Designs the processes, KPIs and OKR cadence that turn a fast-growing mess into a company that runs predictably.
Tooling & infrastructure
Selects and lands the ERP, CRM, HRIS and automation — the systems backbone that lets the business scale without breaking.
Org design & performance
Org structure, comp frameworks, hiring plans and performance management — building the team and how it works.
Execution & board reporting
Cross-functional delivery, RevOps and customer ops, plus the operational health metrics the board sees every month.
What a fractional COO owns — and what they don't.
The 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.
✓ Owns & is accountable for
- › 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
× Hands off / not in scope
- × 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
Fractional COO vs the alternatives.
"Fractional COO" gets confused with an Ops Director, a Chief of Staff and operations consultants. Switch tabs to see exactly how it differs.
COO rates by company stage.
What a fractional COO costs — and what they focus on — shifts with your stage. Indicative UK day rates from our placement data.
| Company stage | Day rate | Typical cadence | Primary focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-seed / Seed | £800–£1,000 | 1 day/wk | First processes, founder ops offload |
| Series A | £1,000–£1,300 | 2 days/wk | Systems, hiring plan, operating cadence |
| Series B | £1,300–£1,600 | 2–3 days/wk | Chaos-to-process, ERP, RevOps, team |
| Series C+ / PE-backed | £1,500–£1,800 | 2–3 days/wk | 100-day plan, scale, integration, exit prep |
Part-time COO cost.
Drag the sliders — every figure updates live, benchmarked against real UK COO placement data.
Your inputs
Your cost
IR35 for fractional COOs.
Fractional COO engagements are structured outside IR35 by default. The three tests, in brief — full detail in the IR35 guide, and at source in HMRC's off-payroll working guidance and the CEST tool.
You set the how
The COO determines the manner and means of delivery against agreed outcomes — not directed like an employee.
OUTSIDERight to substitute
The contract carries a genuine right of substitution — a hallmark of self-employment under HMRC's tests.
OUTSIDENo obligation beyond scope
Engaged for a defined mandate. No mutuality of obligation past the agreed retainer — CEST-tested.
OUTSIDEWhat keeps a COO engagement outside IR35
- ✓ A genuine right of substitution written into the contract
- ✓ No mutuality of obligation beyond the agreed scope
- ✓ The COO controls how, when and where the work is done
- ✓ Engaged for a defined outcome, not an open-ended seat
- ✓ Genuine multi-client work — a true portfolio operator
What's changing
Off-payroll responsibilities tighten for medium and large engagers from April 2026. Every Fractional Quest contract is CEST-tested and reviewed against the new rules before it starts — full detail in the IR35 guide.
When to hire a fractional COO.
Four situations where the right call is to hire a fractional COO — match yours.
Chaos to process
You've grown fast and nothing connects — no ERP, people ops on spreadsheets. A COO builds the machine.
100-day plan
Post-acquisition, you need operational rigour landed fast — before a permanent COO arrives.
CEO offload
The founder is drowning in internal ops. A COO takes people, systems and process off their plate.
Systems & scale
Demand has outgrown the tooling. You need RevOps, automation and a team — built by someone senior.
How we vet fractional COOs.
Four-stage vetting, every candidate. No CV-sifting — real operational validation.
Operations screen
Verify a real track record running ops at your stage — process, systems, people ops, P&L exposure. No Head-of-Ops-pretending-to-be-COO.
SOURCINGMandate fit
Match to your situation — chaos-to-process, a 100-day plan, an ERP build or scale.
MATCHINGReference deep-dive
Speak to recent fractional clients, founders and investors. Real operational outcomes, not titles.
VERIFYShortlist + analysis
3–5 candidates, each with rate percentile, fit and IR35 structure attached.
48 HOURSRelated resources.
Essential reading for fractional COO engagements.
COO Cost Calculator
Interactive tool to model fractional vs full-time COO costs for your situation.
COO Salary Guide
What fractional COOs earn across the UK, by stage, sector and engagement type.
IR35 for Fractional Executives
Complete guide to outside-IR35 structuring for fractional COO engagements.
Hire a Fractional CFO
Finance leadership on the same part-time, outside-IR35 engagement model.
Hire a Fractional Chief of Staff
The lighter-weight alternative when the CEO needs leverage rather than an operating executive.
Fractional COO FAQ.
The common questions, answered.
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Live roles · last 3 months
Live Fractional COO jobs
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We only show real, verified vacancies from the last three months — we never pad the board with fabricated listings. New Fractional COO roles appear here as our pipeline finds them.