Fractional Executive Services · UK 2026

Fractional Executive Services UK

Q: What are fractional executive services?

A **fractional executive service** places a senior leader in one named seat on a defined weekly commitment — typically one to three days — rather than as a full-time hire. The operator holds the seat and its accountability, is priced as a day rate or monthly retainer, and is structured outside IR35. It differs from consulting in that the person owns the outcome rather than delivering a recommendation, and from interim in that it is part-time and ongoing rather than full-time and fixed-term.

Q: How much do fractional executive services cost in the UK?

It depends entirely on the seat. Among the **fractional** bands, the lowest published floor is the fractional HR Director at **£600 a day** (Exec Capital, FACTS 48) and the highest published ceiling is the virtual CISO at **£2,500 a day** (Cypro, FACTS 191). The table above gives fourteen published bands across twelve seats, with the source for each. Our own fee is **12% of engagement value**, charged to the hiring company and only triggered when you sign.

Q: What is the difference between fractional and interim?

**Fractional** is part-time and ongoing — one to three days a week, for a seat the business cannot yet fill full-time. **Interim** is usually full-time and fixed-term — cover for a departure, an integration or a transformation, ending when the gap closes. The same operators often do both, and the right question is not which label you want but whether the work is continuous or bounded.

Q: Can I buy more than one fractional seat?

Yes, and it is a common shape: a CFO one day a week alongside a CTO two, for instance. Two part-time specialists can be better matched than one full-time generalist, and the published day rates above let you price the combination before you commit to either. The seats are contracted separately and each operator is accountable for their own function.

Q: Are fractional executive services outside IR35?

A properly structured fractional engagement sits **outside IR35** — genuine business-to-business services, control over how the work is done, a right of substitution, and no part-and-parcel integration into your organisation. The structure has to be real, not just papered. We put it in place before day one; the [IR35 guide](/ir35-guide) sets out how the status test applies.

Q: How quickly can a fractional executive start?

We aim to put a **shortlist of three to five vetted operators** in front of you **within two working days** of the brief. Start dates then depend on the operator’s existing commitments — fractional executives hold a portfolio rather than one job, so a start date is agreed rather than immediate.

Q: What happens when the seat becomes full-time work?

It should convert, and a good engagement says so rather than extending itself. Where the seat is converting, the fractional operator often runs the search for their own successor and hands over — which is a better outcome than a search that competes with the person currently holding the seat.

Q: Which seats do you place?

The twelve in the table above are the ones with published UK rate bands. Each has its own services page covering scope, alternatives and cost: [CTO](/fractional-cto-services), [CFO](/fractional-cfo-services), [CMO](/fractional-cmo-services), [COO](/fractional-coo-services), [CIO](/fractional-cio-services), [CISO](/fractional-ciso-services), [CPO](/fractional-cpo-services), [CDO](/fractional-cdo-services) and [CHRO](/fractional-chro-services). Roles beyond these are placed too — the [directory](/directory) lists every seat on the site.

Fractional executive services put a senior leader into a specific seat on a defined weekly commitment rather than a full-time hire. One engagement, one named individual, accountable at board level, at the number of days the work actually needs.

This page is the cross-role view: how the engagement is structured, what the published UK day rates are across twelve seats, and which role page answers your question. The scope, alternatives and pricing for each seat live on that seat’s own page.

Roles covered

12 seats14 published UK bands

Typical commitment

1–3 daysper week

Published day rates

£500–£2,500across all seats (see table)

Our fee

12%engagement value, on signing

What fractional executive services are and how the engagement works

A fractional executive service is an ongoing engagement for one seat — a CTO, a CFO, a CMO — at a weekly commitment the business can carry.

It is not consulting: the operator holds the seat, carries its accountability, and sits in the meetings where its decisions get made.

It is not interim cover either, though the two overlap: an interim engagement is usually full-time and ends when a gap closes, while a fractional engagement is part-time and continues.

The commercial shape is consistent across roles.

A defined number of days a week, priced as a day rate or a monthly retainer, structured outside IR35, with agreed success criteria and a defined off-ramp.

What changes between roles is the rate, the scope, and how quickly the seat tends to convert to a permanent hire.

Fractional executives hold a portfolio rather than one job, which is what makes the model work at 1–3 days a week and also what makes start dates a matter of agreement rather than availability.

If you know which seat you need, go straight to it: CTO, CFO, CMO, COO, CIO, CISO, CPO, CDO or CHRO.

If you need a whole function rather than a seat, see fractional marketing team.

Choosing the seat — and whether it is a seat at all

The scoping test that applies to every role

Is the work decisions or delivery?

Decisions scale down to two days a week; delivery does not.

A fractional CTO who ends up writing tickets, a fractional CMO running ad accounts, a fractional CFO doing bookkeeping — each is the same mis-scope, and each is very expensive for the work being done.

Fractional, interim or permanent

Fractional suits an ongoing seat the business cannot yet fill full-time. Interim suits a gap with an end date — a departure, an integration, a transformation — and is usually full-time. Permanent is right once the seat is genuinely full-time work, and a good fractional engagement will tell you when you have reached that point rather than extending itself.

One seat or several

Companies often buy two fractional seats before they buy one permanent one — a CFO one day a week and a CTO two, say.

Two part-time specialists is often better matched than one full-time generalist, and the combined commitment can be tuned to what each function actually generates.

Where the answer is no

Pre-product-market-fit companies rarely need any C-suite seat.

Businesses large enough that the seat is full-time work should hire full-time.

We turn briefs down at both ends rather than sell into them.

The question is never "can we afford a CTO?" It is "how many days a week of CTO decisions does this business actually generate?" Answer that and the rate follows.

Published UK day rates by seat

Every figure is published by the named source — nothing here is derived, averaged across sources or interpolated. Where two sources publish different bands for the same seat, both are shown rather than blended. ⚠ Read the engagement type in the row label: most bands are fractional, but the CIO and HR Director rows are INTERIM rates and the CDO row is a CONTRACT rate, because that is what the published benchmark covers. Bands are day rates unless the row says otherwise.

Published UK day rates by seat

Seat	Published band	Source
CTO	£1,000–£1,600	Leadership Services (280)
CFO	£700–£1,400 (~£1,050)	FD Capital (181)
CMO (2025 source)	£700–£1,300	ITJobsWatch (3)
CMO (second band)	£750–£1,400	Connectd (279)
COO	£800–£1,600	fractional-csuite (23)
CIO (interim)	£800–£2,000	Exec Capital (203)
CISO	£1,200–£2,000	Optima Europe (193)
CISO (virtual)	£1,200–£2,500	Cypro (191)
CPO — Chief Product Officer	£900–£2,300	fractional-csuite (198)
CDO — Chief Data Officer (contract)	£700–£1,100	ContractorUK (118)

Seat:CTO

Published band:£1,000–£1,600

Source:Leadership Services (280)

Seat:CFO

Published band:£700–£1,400 (~£1,050)

Source:FD Capital (181)

Seat:CMO (2025 source)

Published band:£700–£1,300

Source:ITJobsWatch (3)

Seat:CMO (second band)

Published band:£750–£1,400

Source:Connectd (279)

Seat:COO

Published band:£800–£1,600

Source:fractional-csuite (23)

Seat:CIO (interim)

Published band:£800–£2,000

Source:Exec Capital (203)

Seat:CISO

Published band:£1,200–£2,000

Source:Optima Europe (193)

Seat:CISO (virtual)

Published band:£1,200–£2,500

Source:Cypro (191)

Seat:CPO — Chief Product Officer

Published band:£900–£2,300

Source:fractional-csuite (198)

Seat:CDO — Chief Data Officer (contract)

Published band:£700–£1,100

Source:ContractorUK (118)

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Fractional, interim or permanent which shape fits

The three ways to fill a senior seat, on the dimensions that decide between them. Cost rows point at the published bands in the table above rather than repeating a figure.

Fractional, interim or permanent which shape fits

Metric	Fractional	Interim	Permanent
Commitment	1–3 days a week, ongoing	Usually full-time, fixed term	Full-time, open-ended
What it is for	A seat the business cannot yet fill full-time	A gap with an end date	A seat that is full-time work
Priced as	Day rate or monthly retainer	Day rate	Salary plus employer costs
Accountability	Holds the seat, at board level	Holds the seat, at board level	Holds the seat, at board level
IR35	Structured outside, if genuinely so	Depends on the engagement	Employment — not in scope
Ends by	Notice, or conversion to core	The end of the term	Resignation or redundancy

Commitment

Fractional

1–3 days a week, ongoing

Interim

Usually full-time, fixed term

Permanent

Full-time, open-ended

What it is for

Fractional

A seat the business cannot yet fill full-time

Interim

A gap with an end date

Permanent

A seat that is full-time work

Priced as

Fractional

Day rate or monthly retainer

Interim

Day rate

Permanent

Salary plus employer costs

Accountability

Fractional

Holds the seat, at board level

Interim

Holds the seat, at board level

Permanent

Holds the seat, at board level

IR35

Fractional

Structured outside, if genuinely so

Interim

Depends on the engagement

Permanent

Employment — not in scope

Ends by

Fractional

Notice, or conversion to core

Interim

The end of the term

Permanent

Resignation or redundancy

Fractional advantages:

Cost effectiveBalanced approachTrade-offs

When a fractional service is the right instrument

Three situations that recur across every seat on this page.

Board pressure

A question you cannot answer

An investor, a lender or a customer asks something the business has no one qualified to answer. That is a seat problem, and it does not get better with more of the people you already have.

Scaling

The founder is the function

One person is holding a function personally and has become the constraint on it. A fractional seat buys the structure before the constraint becomes attrition.

Transition

Someone has left

You need continuity now and the right permanent hire later. A fractional or interim engagement holds the seat and runs the search rather than competing with it.

How we vet every operator, in every seat

Five stages: qualification, mandate fit, reference deep-dive, shortlist and analysis, kick-off. Our fee is 12% of engagement value and is only triggered when you sign — the shortlist costs nothing if you do not hire.

FRACTIONAL QUEST · OUR METHOD

A five-stage method for blended teams.

How we take a founder or board's brief and turn it into a delivery system across core, fractional, network, and outsourced functions.

CONFIRM — REAL PROCESS

01
Diagnose the shape
Stage · pressure · the work nobody is doing.
We run The Team Architect on every brief. Stage, headcount, sector, pressure. The output is the org shape we'd build with you — including the seats to hold for now. We turn briefs down here, gracefully, when the answer is 'not yet'.
02
Scope the seats
Core. Fractional. Network. Outsourced.
Each function gets a verdict and an intensity. Engineering core. Finance fractional at 2.5 d/wk. Paid-media on the network. IT helpdesk outsourced. We commit to days, IR35 status, and replacement terms in writing before search starts.
03
Source the operators
Network-first. Outbound where it needs to be.
Fractional candidates have portfolios, not job alerts. We run from our own network plus a structured outbound for the senior end. Shortlist in 8–12 days. Honest scoring against the rubric — no padding.
04
Embed the engagement
First-week plan. Success criteria. IR35 live.
Calibration calls. Onboarding plan written down. IR35 structure live before day one. We sit in the first cross-functional meeting if it helps. The replacement guarantee runs for 90 days.
05
Manage the workforce
Quarterly cadence. Bridge to core when right.
Monthly check-ins for the first quarter, quarterly after. We surface when a fractional should convert to core (Series A → Series B finance is the modal moment) and we own the bridge. Replacement, conversion, off-ramp — it's all the same firm.

Frequently asked questions

Common questions about fractional Fractional Executive Services roles and engagements

What are fractional executive services?

A fractional executive service places a senior leader in one named seat on a defined weekly commitment — typically one to three days — rather than as a full-time hire. The operator holds the seat and its accountability, is priced as a day rate or monthly retainer, and is structured outside IR35. It differs from consulting in that the person owns the outcome rather than delivering a recommendation, and from interim in that it is part-time and ongoing rather than full-time and fixed-term.

How much do fractional executive services cost in the UK?

What is the difference between fractional and interim?

Can I buy more than one fractional seat?

Are fractional executive services outside IR35?

How quickly can a fractional executive start?

What happens when the seat becomes full-time work?

Which seats do you place?

Current fractional and interim mandates

Current openings and market opportunities

No live roles in this view right now. But we know what they pay.

We don't fabricate listings to pad a feed. Register for alerts and we'll surface roles in this shape the moment they appear — exclusive, syndicated, or fractional-curious.

Related resources

Additional tools, guides, and role information

Fractional Executive Services UK

What fractional executive services are and how the engagement works

Choosing the seat — and whether it is a seat at all

The scoping test that applies to every role

Fractional, interim or permanent

One seat or several

Where the answer is no

Commitment

What it is for

Priced as

Accountability

IR35

Ends by

Diagnose the shape

Scope the seats

Source the operators

Embed the engagement

Manage the workforce

No live roles in this view right now. But we know what they pay.