Head of finance salary · base, bonus and package, 2026
What a head of finance earns, between the controller and the finance director
A head of finance salary has a median of £85,000 in IT Jobs Watch’s count of permanent job ads over the six months to 5 October 2026, from 54 quoted salaries.
The middle half of those ads ran from £80,000 to £95,625.
The ONS puts the full-time median for all financial managers and directors at £76,447 in 2025.
Scope moves the number more than the title does.
Base is only part of the cost: bonus, pension and employer’s National Insurance sit on top.
When you hire a head of finance through us, we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
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 head of finance
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Head of Finance 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
On the board · last 3 months
Head of finance jobs on the board
Head of finance roles on the board
Fractional recruitment works differently from a permanent search — shorter, scoped by days a week, and priced on the engagement. Send a Head of Finance brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.
01/ the role
What a head of finance does, and what sets the pay
A head of finance runs the finance function day to day: the month-end close, management accounts, budgets and forecasts, cash, the audit and the finance team.
In a growing company it is often the most senior finance role, reporting to the managing director or chief executive.
In a larger one it usually reports to a finance director or CFO.
For the full remit, see what a head of finance does.
Those two versions are paid differently.
Accountancy Capital, a finance recruiter, puts a head of finance who reports to the chief executive or managing director of an SME at £75,000–£100,000 in London and £60,000–£82,000 outside it.
One at a larger business, reporting to a finance director or CFO, sits at £65,000–£90,000 in London and £55,000–£75,000 outside.
Write down which version you are hiring before you set the salary.
ICAEW’s guide to finance careers sets out the roles the title sits among, from finance manager and financial controller up to the finance director or CFO, the most senior role in the function.
Head of finance is used at more than one of those rungs, which is why the ranges below are wide.
Qualifications move the number too.
In the head of finance ads IT Jobs Watch counted, ACCA was named in 30.86% and CIMA in 29.63%.
A chartered qualification such as the ACCA, ACA or CIMA is the usual expectation at this level, although no law requires one.
02/ scope
How to set the pay when you hire a head of finance
1. Decide which head of finance you need
Write down the reporting line, the team, the systems, who signs the statutory accounts and whether the role attends the board.
Our head of finance job description gives a template you can copy.
2. Choose the route
A permanent head of finance suits a business that needs its finance function run every day.
If the need is senior finance for part of the week, see fractional head of finance jobs; for an employee on set days, see part-time head of finance.
If the brief is board-level strategy, fundraising or an exit, it is closer to a finance director: see finance director recruitment.
3. Set base, bonus and pension together
Accountancy Capital puts the annual bonus at 10–20% of base at target for commercial roles, and employer pension at 5–7%.
The CIPD’s introduction to reward separates base pay from variable pay such as bonuses.
Decide what rides on results before you make an offer.
4. Assess against the work
Give each candidate the same real task: a review of last quarter’s management accounts, a cash forecast, or a plan for the next audit.
Take references from people the candidate reported to, and from people who reported to them.
What we do on a head of finance brief
We recruit permanent, fractional, interim, part-time and temporary finance leaders, and non-executive directors.
We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, and every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.
Roles on the board are listed on head of finance jobs.
03/ the board
What the board holds.
A read of the roles on the board on this page, counted as they stand: how each is engaged, whether the posting gives the days and the rate, and where the work happens.
On this board, last 90 days · 2 roles · Head of finance
Engagement
- Fractional1
- Interim1
Seat
- Financial controller1
- Finance director1
Days a week
- Stated in the posting1
- Not stated1
Day rate
- Verified rate0
- Estimated (est)2
- Rate not stated0
Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)
- Remote0
- Hybrid1
- On-site1
Newest posting on the board: 8 Oct 2026.
04/ the route
Fractional, interim or permanent?
Four taps. The answer names the route for the seat and the page that covers it.
The route · Fractional
A fractional head of finance.The work fills part of the week, so buy the days it needs.
A fractional head of finance holds the seat on agreed days for as long as the seat is needed, and works for other clients on the rest.
The route · Interim
An interim head of finance.The work fills the week, and it has an end: a programme, a cover, a transaction.
An interim head of finance takes the seat full time for that stretch and hands it over when it is done.
The route · Interim, then permanent
Interim now, a permanent head of finance after.The seat is full time and long term, and the need is now.
An interim head of finance holds it while the permanent search runs, so the seat is not left empty.
The route · Permanent
A permanent head of finance.A full-time seat that sits at the table for years is a permanent hire.
There is time to run a search, so run one.
05/ rates by stage
Head of finance salary by source, place and scope
Permanent pay as each source states it. IT Jobs Watch counts salaries in the permanent job ads it tracks (base pay as advertised). The ONS figure covers all full-time financial managers and directors, a broader group than the title. Morgan McKinley’s columns are its experience bands. Accountancy Capital’s bands are its own placement ranges. Morgan McKinley, Accountancy Capital and Robert Half are recruiters.
06/ economics
What the salary costs the business, beyond the base
A salary is not the whole cost of an employee.
For 2026 to 2027, employer’s National Insurance is 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year (HMRC rates and thresholds).
Under automatic enrolment, the employer must pay at least 3% into a workplace pension on qualifying earnings between £6,240 and £50,270, and those earnings include bonuses (GOV.UK).
Many schemes pay more.
On IT Jobs Watch’s £85,000 median, employer’s National Insurance comes to £12,000 a year and the minimum pension to about £1,321, so the salary costs about £98,321 before any bonus or benefits.
All three figures are our arithmetic from the rates above.
The bonus is pay too.
HMRC treats a cash bonus as earnings, with PAYE tax and Class 1 National Insurance deducted through payroll, so budget employer’s National Insurance on the bonus as well as the base.
07/ vetting
How we vet head of finances
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify Head of Finance tenure, sector context and stage fit.
SOURCING - 02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — stage, board dynamics, timing.
MATCHING - 03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent past clients — real outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY - 04
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5
08/ head of finance salary uk
Head of finance salary UK: the national benchmarks side by side
The national figures measure different things.
IT Jobs Watch’s head of finance salary UK median, £85,000, comes from salaries quoted in permanent job ads, and is down from £95,000 in the same six months of 2025.
Morgan McKinley and Accountancy Capital, both recruiters, publish bands from their own placements, split by sector, scope or experience.
For an official view, the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings reports employee earnings by occupation.
Its group for financial managers and directors (SOC 1131) covers 353,000 full-time jobs, from heads of finance to finance directors, with a 2025 median of £76,447.
Read any single figure as one view of the market.
The useful question is which band your business sits in: its size, its sector, the reporting line and where the head of finance will work.
09/ average head of finance salary
Average head of finance salary, by the ONS and IT Jobs Watch
The ONS and IT Jobs Watch give different answers for the average head of finance salary.
The ONS’s 2025 median for full-time financial managers and directors is £76,447; its mean, £120,529, is pulled up by the best-paid directors in the group.
IT Jobs Watch’s median advertised head of finance salary is £85,000 for the six months to 5 October 2026.
Sector matters as much as the source.
Accountancy Capital puts a London head of finance at £80,000–£115,000 in financial services and £85,000–£115,000 in PE- or VC-backed technology, against £58,000–£80,000 at a charity and £55,000–£78,000 in the public sector.
Outside London, its manufacturing band is £58,000–£78,000.
10/ head of finance salary london
Head of finance salary London, and the regions
IT Jobs Watch puts the head of finance salary London median at £85,000 across 38 London job ads in the six months to 5 October 2026, the same as its median for the UK excluding London.
Head of finance roles outside London are often the senior finance job in their business, which narrows the gap.
Sector opens it again.
Morgan McKinley puts a head of finance in London banking at £120,000–£140,000 with up to three years’ experience, rising to £160,000–£180,000 with five or more.
For a commerce and industry SME in the Northern Home Counties, it gives £75,000–£80,000 rising to £90,000–£110,000.
Accountancy Capital publishes London and outside-London bands for every scope.
A head of finance at a PE-backed business sits at £85,000–£115,000 in London and £70,000–£95,000 outside it.
Most other regions had too few head of finance ads in the IT Jobs Watch window to quote.
11/ the roles either side
Between the controller and the finance director
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Robert Half’s 2026 median for a permanent financial controller is £76,750, within £63,000–£92,500.
Its median for a finance director is £109,500, within £89,750–£138,000.
The head of finance figures on this page sit between the two, and overlap both.
A head of finance who reports to a finance director and runs the close is paid close to controller level.
One who is the senior finance person and faces the board moves towards the director’s range.
See financial controller salary for the role below.
12/ the other routes
Salary, day rate or retainer: the other ways to pay for the seat
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A permanent salary buys a head of finance every day, with notice on both sides.
An interim is paid by the day for full-time cover over a fixed period; see interim head of finance salary for the day rates.
A fractional head of finance works part of the week on a day rate or monthly retainer; see fractional head of finance salary.
The three are paid on different bases, so compare the total cost for the days you need.
13/ questions
Head of finance salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a head of finance.
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Bring the brief. We architect the team.
A shortlist of 3–5 with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.
