The appointment owns
The fractional CEO chairs a weekly leadership review, settles delegated cross-company priorities and reports choices to the board.
fractional executive recruitment
Hire a Fractional CEO
Hire a Fractional CEO: give an external chief executive a recurring part-week mandate, with board decisions and a named operating owner between working days.
Brief us on this role →CEO briefChoose a part of the brief
Part 01 / 04
Company mandate
Name the business outcomes and senior team the executive will lead, not only a list of meetings.
Part 02 / 04
Board boundary
Set the decisions reserved to the board and those delegated to the fractional chief executive.
Part 03 / 04
Working rhythm
Place team, customer and board decisions on an agreed recurring schedule.
Part 04 / 04
Between days
Name the person who can act on urgent operational matters when the CEO is not working.
Hire a Fractional CEO: what must the role own?
Name the business outcomes and senior team the executive will lead, not only a list of meetings.
Company mandateName the business outcomes and senior team the executive will lead, not only a list of meetings.
Board boundarySet the decisions reserved to the board and those delegated to the fractional chief executive.
Working rhythmPlace team, customer and board decisions on an agreed recurring schedule.
Between daysName the person who can act on urgent operational matters when the CEO is not working.
Role reference: Institute of Directors: managing director role. The IoD describes the chief executive or managing director as responsible for company performance within the board’s strategy. A part-week brief must state how that accountability works between agreed days.
What changes when the CEO is fractional?
The fractional CEO leads the whole business on agreed days, rather than advising one function. A chair or founder must know which decisions the executive can make alone, which need board approval and who handles an urgent matter between those days.
fractionalChoose a part of the brief
Part 01 / 04
Days
Agree the recurring days and which decisions cannot wait for the next scheduled session.
Part 02 / 04
Authority
Give the leader clear decision rights on those days, rather than an advisory title without ownership.
Part 03 / 04
Cover
Name who handles urgent work between the agreed days.
Part 04 / 04
Review
Review the scope when the workload changes; do not assume the original pattern will always fit.
How would this work in a real brief?
The hiring decision becomes clearer when the work and its boundary are written down together.
Illustrative brief · a founder-led company moving to a wider leadership team
The founder remains chair and the operating team can run the week, but decisions across sales, delivery and finance need one executive owner on recurring days.
The fractional CEO chairs a weekly leadership review, settles delegated cross-company priorities and reports choices to the board.
Another owner retains
The board keeps reserved investment decisions, the founder retains the agreed chair remit and an operations lead handles urgent work between CEO days.
How should you assess CEO candidates?
Put the same work and evidence in front of each candidate before comparing answers.
The evidenceChoose a part of the brief
Part 01 / 04
Whole-company judgement
Ask for a choice where the candidate balanced cash, customers and people rather than one function alone.
Part 02 / 04
Board work
Ask a former chair how the candidate used delegated authority and what they escalated.
Part 03 / 04
Part-week discipline
Test a decision that arrives on a non-working day and ask who acts.
Part 04 / 04
Stage fit
Give every candidate the same company facts and ask for the first decision they would defer.
Acas recommends a consistent, fair selection process: choosing who to interview.
Does this hiring pattern fit the work?
Test the amount of the week, the expected end and the continuity needed before writing the contract.
The working pattern · fractional
A fractional CEOAn external executive owns a continuing remit on agreed days. Set the decision rights and cover between those days.
What must happen before the CEO starts?
Record CEO authority, board reservations and the founder’s continuing role.
A clear startChoose a part of the brief
Part 01 / 04
Delegation
Record CEO authority, board reservations and the founder’s continuing role.
Part 02 / 04
Days
Agree recurring days, leadership meetings and urgent escalation.
Part 03 / 04
Evidence
Provide board papers, cash position, customer commitments and team responsibilities.
Part 04 / 04
First cycle
Review one cross-company decision and whether the agreed working pattern held.
- 1
Delegation
Record CEO authority, board reservations and the founder’s continuing role.
- 2
Days
Agree recurring days, leadership meetings and urgent escalation.
- 3
Evidence
Provide board papers, cash position, customer commitments and team responsibilities.
- 4
First cycle
Review one cross-company decision and whether the agreed working pattern held.
A useful CEO brief names the decision, the working pattern and the evidence before it names a candidate.
What should the brief say?
Hire a Fractional CEO begins with company mandate, a stated working pattern and the evidence you will ask every candidate to show.
15 minutes · video or phone
Brief us on a CEO
Tell us what the role must own, how it will work and when it must start.
- 01A brief built around the decisions and working pattern.
- 02A shortlist of 3–5 with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
- 03Five-stage vetting before a candidate reaches you.
Pick a day that suits · live availability
