Fractional recruitment agency · UK-wide
A recruitment agency that sells days, not heads.
Fractional Quest is a fractional recruitment agency and fractional executive search firm: we place experienced CFOs, CTOs, CMOs, COOs, CPOs, CHROs and CISOs into part-time, ongoing leadership roles at one to three days a week, structured outside IR35 by default.
Every grain behind this sentence is an operator in a network that already exists — which is why a graded shortlist takes days rather than the six to twelve weeks a retained search spends sourcing from a blank sheet.
01 · one brief, three ways to buy it
Permanent, interim, fractional.
The three models solve different problems, and choosing between them is the first real decision — not choosing a candidate.
Permanent suits a mature, full-load role you will staff for years.
Interim is full-time but fixed-term, built for a crisis, a turnaround or cover — and because it looks like employment it is more often assessed inside IR35, at a UK average day rate of around £894, rising to £970 in the private sector.
Fractional is part-time and ongoing: a slice of senior capacity, usually structured outside IR35, that flexes with the company.
Interim day rates: Institute of Interim Management, National Survey 2025.
The right question isn’t “fractional or full-time?” — it’s “how much senior leadership does this stage of the company actually need?”
If the function needs senior judgement more than senior bandwidth, fractional fits.
02 · how the agency works
From brief to boardroom in four steps.
No 200-CV inbox, and no three-month retained search.
You give us the shape of the role; we return a graded shortlist of operators who have done it before.
- 01Submit your briefQUICK
Role, stage, sector, cadence, budget. A few minutes — no account, no call required to start.
- 02We analyse & matchAUTOMATED
We grade every candidate on rate percentile, fit, and IR35 structure against our placement dataset.
- 03Meet your shortlistFAST
3–5 vetted operators, each with the analysis layer attached. No CV deluge — just qualified matches.
- 04Place & onboardSUPPORTED
Outside-IR35 contract template included. 30 and 90-day check-ins. Re-scope or replace if needed.
Past this line — what a fractional recruitment agency actually does with it.
03 · what we recruit
Fractional recruiters across seven functions.
Fractional recruitment, fractional recruiting, fractional management recruitment — the vocabulary varies, the work does not.
One network covers all seven C-suite functions rather than seven separate desks, which is why a brief that turns out to need a CPO instead of a CTO does not restart the search.
Every band below is benchmarked, not quoted.
Bands: Robert Half UK Salary Guide · ITJobsWatch. London carries a 15–20% premium over regional markets.
04 · agency vs retained search
A network that exists, or a search that starts.
Traditional retained executive search runs a six-to-twelve-week bespoke process for one permanent hire and charges 25–30% of first-year salary.
A fractional recruitment agency matches against a pre-vetted network for a part-time, ongoing placement — which removes the sourcing phase, the employer NI and the notice period at the same time.
The recruitment industry this sits inside contributed £42.9 billion of direct gross value added to the UK economy in 2021 and made 540,000 permanent placements; fractional unbundles that unit rather than competing with it.
Industry scale: REC, Recruitment Industry Status Report 2021/22 (published 30 November 2022).
05 · our edge
We analyse every match. Other agencies just send CVs.
Before any operator reaches your shortlist we grade them on three signals — and show you the working.
Three, not five: the page grades on rate, demand and structure, and inventing a fourth axis would be inventing a fact.
06 · what it costs
Every rate, every unit, no hidden margin.
Day rates are published transparently per role, and we never add a margin to the operator’s rate — you see the same number the operator does.
This is the site’s own rate comparator, brought into the scroll: switch the unit and the engagement model and the bands recompute.
Annual figures assume 220 billable days; the full-time column is a contractor-day equivalent, not a salary.
Rate & salary comparison What it actually costs.
Wired to components/blocks/RateComparator.tsx and lib/content/rates.ts. Underlying bands trace to FACTS.md rows sourced from Robert Half, ITJobsWatch and Exec Capital.
07 · the economics
Senior firepower at ~16% less than full-time.
A worked example: a fractional CMO at 2.5 days a week against a loaded full-time CMO, both in year one.
Two costs disappear entirely — employer National Insurance, which rose to 15% in April 2025, and the 20–30% of first-year salary a permanent C-suite search fee typically costs.
On a £110,000 base that fee alone is £22,000–£33,000 before the person starts.
Fractional CMO · 2.5 days / week
- Day rate£1,000 × 130
- Employer NI£0
- Benefits & equity£0
- Recruitment fee£0
Full-time CMO · loaded cost
- Base salary£110,000
- Loaded +40% (NI 15%, pension, benefits)£44,000
Worked example illustrative and marked as such. Salary and loaded-cost figures: Morgan McKinley UK Salary Guide. Employer NI at 15% from April 2025: gov.uk.
08 · the proof
Real vacancies. Never fabricated.
The board below shows live fractional executive mandates from the last 90 days, queried from the pipeline rather than baked into the page.
When there are no live roles it says so and collapses, because a recruitment agency that pads its board is telling you something about the rest of its numbers.
Rates appear only when the posting states them; anything estimated is labelled estimated.
Live roles · last 3 months
Live fractional executive jobs
- FractionalSyndicated
Solutions Architect
YunoJuno · United Kingdom
est £1,500/day5 d/wk - FractionalSyndicated
Fractional Chief Marketing Officer
Signify Research Ltd · Bromham
Rate n/aBromham - FractionalSyndicated
Fractional HR Manager - 85-90% Remote. Must be UK-Based
Rosie's People · Woking
est £500/day1 d/wk - FractionalSyndicated
Fractional HR Manager (Consultancy) - 85-90% Remote. Must be UK-Based
Rosie's People · Woking
Rate n/a1 d/wk - FractionalSyndicated
CMO - South West England
The Marketing Centre · Wales
Rate n/aWales - FractionalSyndicated
In-House General Counsel (GC) Fractional Role (2 days per week)
Frive · London
Rate n/a2 d/wk
Everything below is the reference material — benchmarks, sources, and the questions we are asked most.
08 · The complete guide
Fractional executive search firms — UK’s complete guide
Fractional executive search firms place experienced C-suite leaders into part-time, ongoing roles — typically one to three days a week — instead of permanent full-time hires.
For UK scale-ups and PE-backed companies, it is how you get a £150k–£300k calibre of CFO, CTO, CMO, COO, CPO or CHRO at a Series A budget, without the loaded cost, the 20–30% recruitment fee, or the three-month notice period of a permanent appointment.
Unlike a traditional retained search — which starts a 6–12 week sourcing process from a blank sheet — a fractional placement matches against an existing, pre-vetted network.
See our comprehensive guide to executive search firms for a comparison with traditional retained search, or explore the top fractional executive search firms specialising in part-time placements.
The shortlist is graded on the things that de-risk the hire: day rate against the live market, demand for the role, and IR35 structure.
You meet a small set of operators who have done the job before, not a 200-CV inbox.
Traditional executive search is a large, mature industry — the global executive search and leadership advisory market reached roughly $20bn in 2021 (AESC), typically charging 25–30% of first-year salary on a retained basis for a single permanent placement.
Fractional executive search firms unbundle that model: instead of one full-time hire and a five-figure fee, you buy ongoing senior capacity by the day.
It fits a market where C-suite tenure is short and shortening — FTSE 100 CFO tenure fell to a record-low 4.95 years in 2025 (Russell Reynolds).
Fractional vs interim vs permanent
The three models solve different problems.
Permanent suits a mature, full-load role you will staff for years.
Interim is full-time but fixed-term — built for a crisis, a turnaround, or cover — and, because it looks like employment, is more often assessed inside IR35; UK interim day rates average around £894, and £970 in the private sector (IIM 2025 survey).
Fractional is part-time and ongoing: a slice of senior capacity, usually structured outside IR35, that flexes with the company.
The right question isn’t “fractional or full-time?” — it’s “how much senior leadership does this stage of the company actually need?”
HMRC’s CEST tool assesses substitution, mutuality of obligation and control. Our standard fractional contract is built to sit outside IR35 when the arrangement matches it. HMRC IR35 guidance · Check employment status for tax (CEST).
The economics
What a fractional executive costs
Fractional day rates run roughly £700–£2,000 depending on function, seniority and company stage, with London commanding a 15–20% premium over regional markets.
A fractional CMO at 2.5 days a week (about £1,000/day) costs around £130,000 a year, versus roughly £154,000 for a loaded full-time CMO once you add employer National Insurance, pension and benefits — a saving of about 16%.
Sources: Robert Half UK Salary Guide, Morgan McKinley.
Two costs disappear entirely with a fractional engagement.
Employer National Insurance rose to 15% in April 2025, applied to every permanent salary — gov.uk.
And recruitment fees for a permanent C-suite hire typically run 20–30% of first-year salary, often £44k–£66k before the person starts — Robert Half.
A fractional placement carries neither.
That lifts the loaded cost of every permanent hire. A fractional engagement carries no employer NI, pension or recruitment fee. gov.uk National Insurance rates.
Benchmarks
Day rates & full-time salaries by role
| Role | Fractional day rate | Full-time salary (UK) | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| CFO | £900–£1,400/day | ~£137k (£80k–£220k all-in) | Robert Half · ScaleWithCFO |
| CTO | £800–£2,000/day | £160,500 median | Robert Half · ITJobsWatch |
| CMO | £700–£1,300/day | ~£110k base | Morgan McKinley |
| COO | £900–£1,600/day | £137,834 median | ExecCapital |
| CPO | £850–£1,450/day | £120k–£200k+ | Exec Capital |
| CHRO | £800–£1,600/day | £162,087 median | Robert Half · Ashdown Group |
Fractional vs full-time vs interim
| Fractional | Full-time | Interim | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time commitment | 1–3 days/week | 5 days/week | 5 days/week |
| Engagement | 6–18 months, ongoing | Permanent | 3–12 months, fixed |
| IR35 status | Usually outside | Employee (N/A) | More often inside |
| Employer NI (15%) + pension | None | Yes | Often via umbrella |
| Recruitment fee | Low % of billings | 20–30% of salary | 20–35% of salary |
| Indicative annual cost | £117k–£208k | £200k–£350k loaded | £280k–£450k |
| Best for | Strategic leadership, scale-ups | Mature full-load roles | Crisis / transition |
The decision
When to hire fractional vs full-time
The trigger for a fractional hire is usually a gap between the strategic need and the workload.
A Series A company needs CFO-grade financial leadership for the board, the raise and the model — but rarely five days a week of it.
A scaling product business needs a CTO to set architecture and hiring standards long before it needs a full-time one.
As a rule of thumb: if the function needs senior judgement more than senior bandwidth, fractional fits.
Finance, marketing, technology, operations and people leadership at the £2M–£50M revenue stage are the classic cases — the point where a full-time C-suite hire is premature but the expertise is essential.
The method
How fractional executive search firms vet & match
Every operator in the network is vetted on track record, references and engagement history before they appear in a shortlist.
When you submit a brief, we grade candidates on three signals — rate percentile against the FACTS.md rate index, demand, and IR35 structure — and show you the working, not just a name.
You meet three to five operators, each with the analysis attached.
If the first set isn’t right you get a free re-shortlist, and a replacement guarantee within the first 90 days, with structured 30 and 90-day check-ins to catch scope drift early.
Every engagement ships with an outside-IR35-ready contract template you can have your own accountant review.
Executive search & headhunting
Related roles
Coverage
Nationwide. Not just London.
We place across the UK’s real economic centres and fully remote.
London carries a 15–20% day-rate premium (ITJobsWatch · FD Capital); regional markets pay the national band.
Evidence
Sources & methodology
Every figure on this page traces to one of these third-party sources via FACTS.md. No self-citation, no invented statistics.
09 · Questions
Fractional hiring, answered
For hiring companies
Costs, IR35 and coverage
For operators
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