Fractional operations director jobs · hire a fractional operations director, or hire one for good

Fractional operations director jobs: what the seat covers

The Institute of Directors describes an operations director as overseeing the operational side of company strategy, helping to set strategic goals and carrying operations information to the chief executive and the board. A fractional operations director does that job for part of the week. The usual scope: how orders become delivery; suppliers and the supply chain; service levels and quality; capacity and the plan that sits under the budget; the systems and data operations run on; health and safety; and the managers who carry the day-to-day.

The difference from an operations consultant is ownership. A fractional operations director is named on the leadership team and accountable for how operations run between their days, not for a report about how they should.

The family of fractional operations roles

The same part-week seat is advertised under several titles. When the work spans every function and answers to the board, it is COO work: hire a fractional COO. When the seat needs full-time cover for a fixed term, through a restructure, a site move or a gap, hire an interim operations director. When the need is process and systems work below director level, hire a fractional operations manager instead; that is a different and more junior role, and this page does not cover it.

What fractional operations director jobs pay

No source we trust publishes a fractional operations director day rate, so we do not quote one; every candidate on a shortlist states their own. Two published benchmarks help. Robert Half’s 2026 figures for a Director or Head of Operations, as quoted by Leadership Services, run from £71,250 (25th percentile) to £108,250 (75th), median £86,500, full-time. For interim work, Exec Capital publishes Operations Director day rates of £500–£900 at SMEs (to £20m revenue), £800–£1,400 mid-market (£20m–£75m), £1,000–£1,800 for PE-backed or complex operations and £1,000–£1,600 for turnaround or crisis. A fractional fee is the day rate times the days worked. For the level above, see fractional COO salary.

Fractional head of operations: the first senior operations hire

A fractional head of operations is often the first senior operations leader a growing company brings in. The brief is foundations: a delivery process that does not depend on the founder, suppliers under contract and measured, a weekly operating rhythm, the systems that hold the data, and managers who know what good looks like. It is a leadership seat, not an administrative one.

The title is common in start-ups and scale-ups. As the company grows, the seat either becomes an operations director post or moves up to a COO who runs every function against the board’s plan. A fractional head of operations can build the system first and help you recruit whoever runs it next. For a fuller picture of the role, see what a head of operations does.

Test candidates on what they have built, not what they have advised on. Ask for the process map, the supplier scorecard, the first-quarter plan they wrote somewhere similar. Our shortlist sets out each candidate’s day rate, availability and IR35 position, so you can compare them on the same page.

IR35 and fractional operations roles employed part-time or through a company

A fractional operations director is either employed on a part-time contract or works through their own limited company. Where they work through their own company, the off-payroll working rules (IR35) may apply. In most cases the client decides the worker’s status. For a small client outside the public sector, the worker’s own company decides; HMRC sets out the size tests in its guidance for clients.

Status turns on how the engagement runs in practice, not on its label, so set out control, substitution and the days in the contract and then run it that way. Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.