Head of operations salary · base, London and employer cost, 2026
What a head of operations earns, nationally, in London and in financial services
A head of operations salary in 2026 runs from £58,750 to £73,500, median £66,250, on Robert Half’s national figures for a permanent head of operations.
In London, Robert Half puts the range at £80,000 to £100,000, median £90,000.
In IT-sector job ads, IT Jobs Watch gives a median of £80,000 over the six months to 5 October 2026.
The title covers different seats, and the pay follows the seat.
When you hire a head of operations 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 operations
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Head of Operations 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 operations jobs on the board
- InterimSyndicatedFractional Chief Operating Officer (COO)
Algorithmiq Oy · United Kingdom
est £2,000/day2 d/wk - FractionalAvailable now · our mandateFractional COO
Confidential client (Fractional Quest mandate) · London
Rate not statedLondon - InterimAvailable now · our mandateInterim Chief Operating Officer
Confidential client (Fractional Quest mandate) · London
Rate not stated5 d/wk
Operations leadership roles on the board
Fractional recruiting starts with the brief, not the CV pile. Send a Head of Operations brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five candidates, each through five-stage vetting.
01/ the role
What a head of operations does, and what sets the pay
A head of operations runs the part of the business that delivers the product or service: the teams, processes, suppliers and systems that turn the plan into results.
The Skills England operations manager occupation describes the wider operations family the same way: leadership with both operational and project responsibilities, objectives aligned with the organisation’s strategic goals, and work with HR, finance, legal, IT, sales and suppliers.
For the role in full, see what does a head of operations do.
The published figures differ because the title covers different jobs.
Robert Half files Head of Operations beside office manager and executive assistant, and its national median is £66,250.
IT Jobs Watch counts job ads in the IT sector, where the role usually runs service delivery and technical operations; its median is £80,000.
Robert Walters reports the title only in financial services, where a head of operations runs the back and middle office of a bank, broker or asset manager, and its London ranges reach £225,000.
Scope sets the pay more than the title does.
Headcount, the number of sites, whether the role owns a budget, and whether it reports to the chief executive or to a COO all move the number.
A head of operations who is the most senior operator in the business holds a remit close to an operations director’s.
There is no required qualification.
Chartered Manager status from the Chartered Management Institute is one recognised mark of management practice; ask about it, but do not price the seat on it.
Our head of operations job description lists the experience to ask for.
02/ scope
How to set the pay when you hire a head of operations
1. Scope the seat before the salary
Write down what the role runs: service delivery, fulfilment, facilities, suppliers, systems, or some mix.
Say how many people and sites, whether there is a budget, and who the role reports to.
A seat that runs the whole operation and sits on the leadership team is priced as a director.
2. Pick the benchmark that matches the seat
For an office and administration lead, start from Robert Half.
For service delivery in a technology business, start from IT Jobs Watch.
For a bank, broker, asset manager or fund administrator in London, start from Robert Walters’ financial services tables.
3. Set the base and the variable part together
The CIPD’s factsheet on reward separates fixed (or base) pay, which is guaranteed, from variable pay, which is not.
For a head of operations, tie any bonus to what the role controls, such as delivery on time, service levels or cost, and write the measures and payment dates into the offer.
What we do on a head of operations brief
We recruit permanent, fractional, interim, part-time and temporary operations 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 operations 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 · 3 roles · Head of operations
Engagement
- Interim2
- Fractional1
Days a week
- Stated in the posting2
- Not stated1
Day rate
- Verified rate0
- Estimated (est)1
- Rate not stated2
Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)
- Remote0
- Hybrid1
- On-site0
- Not classified2
Newest posting on the board: 9 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 operations.The work fills part of the week, so buy the days it needs.
A fractional head of operations 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 operations.The work fills the week, and it has an end: a programme, a cover, a transaction.
An interim head of operations 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 operations after.The seat is full time and long term, and the need is now.
An interim head of operations holds it while the permanent search runs, so the seat is not left empty.
The route · Permanent
A permanent head of operations.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 operations salary by source, place and sector
Permanent base pay as each source publishes it, all 2026. Robert Half publishes starting salary projections; IT Jobs Watch counts the salaries quoted in IT-sector job ads; Robert Walters publishes ranges and averages of advertised roles; Morgan McKinley’s London band covers one combined title, Head of Operations / COO. Robert Half, Robert Walters and Morgan McKinley 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, and those earnings include bonuses (GOV.UK).
Many schemes pay more.
A 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 heads of operations
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify Head of Operations 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 operations salary uk
Head of operations salary UK: the average head of operations salary, source by source
Each national figure measures something different.
Robert Half’s head of operations salary UK range, £58,750–£73,500 with a median of £66,250, is a starting-salary projection for a seat it files with office and administrative roles.
IT Jobs Watch’s median of £80,000 comes from 55 salaries quoted in IT-sector job ads over the six months to 5 October 2026; the middle half of those ads runs from £77,500 to £90,625.
Its median outside London is £85,000.
Ask which "average" a figure is.
In Robert Walters’ survey, the average is the mean of the roles it saw advertised.
Robert Half and IT Jobs Watch publish medians: the middle figure, which a few large salaries do not pull up.
Read any single number as one view of the market.
The useful question is which seat you are filling: an office lead, a service-delivery head or the operator who runs the business day to day.
09/ head of operations salary london
Head of operations salary London, and the financial services premium
The head of operations salary London employers pay sits above the national figures.
Robert Half puts it at £80,000–£100,000, median £90,000 (Robert Half, London), against a national median of £66,250.
IT Jobs Watch’s ads do not show the same gap for this title: its median outside London, £85,000, is above its UK median of £80,000.
Financial services pays most.
Robert Walters’ 2026 survey puts a head of operations in London at £90,000–£120,000 in wealth management, £130,000–£170,000 in asset management and £150,000–£210,000 in investment banking, with the top of its range, £225,000, in alternatives and private markets.
These are base salaries, before bonus.
Morgan McKinley publishes one combined title, Head of Operations / COO, and puts it at £120,000–£160,000 in London.
By experience, its bands run from £90,000–£120,000 at up to three years to £160,000–£200,000 at five years or more.
Because the title includes the COO seat, read it as the top of the range, not the middle.
10/ head of operations vs operations director
Head of operations or operations director: which seat you are paying for
An operations director usually owns operations across the business, several sites or functions, and reports to the chief executive or managing director.
A head of operations often runs one area or the operating teams day to day, and reports to the operations director, the COO or the managing director.
In a smaller business one person does both, and the pay follows the larger remit.
If the seat owns the whole operation and sits on the leadership team, price it as a director: see operations director salary, and the operations director job description for how the brief differs.
Above the director sits the chief operating officer; see COO salary.
11/ the other routes
Salary or day rate: the other ways to pay for the seat
Read this sectionClose this section
A permanent salary buys a head of operations 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 operations salary for the day rates.
If you need senior operational leadership for part of the week, see fractional operations director jobs.
For the permanent salary spread across part-week days (our arithmetic, not a market rate), see fractional head of operations salary.
The routes are paid on different bases, so compare the total cost for the days you need, not the headline numbers.
12/ questions
Head of operations salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a head of operations.
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.
