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Permanent Head of Product · hiring brief

Hire a Head of Product

Hire a Head of Product: set the product area and team the head of product leads, the line with the CEO or CPO above them, and assess discovery and prioritisation on your roadmap.

Brief us on this role →How it works

Reviewed by Fractional Quest · updated 28 October 2026 · 4 sources linked below

  • 3–5on every shortlist
  • 5stages of vetting
  • IR35set out on every brief
Hire a Head of Product: a technology leader sketching a system architecture on a whiteboard (illustration)

In the press

The brief

Hire a Head of Product: what must the role own?

Name the products and roadmap they own.

  • 01Product areaName the products and roadmap they own.
  • 02TeamSay which product managers report to them.
  • 03LineWrite what stays with the CEO or CPO.
  • 04MeasuresAgree the product outcomes they report.

Role reference: SFIA: product management skill. SFIA’s product management levels help place a head of product between product managers and a CPO.

The working pattern

What changes when the Head of Product is permanent?

A head of product leads product managers and the roadmap below executive level; a CPO owns product strategy at the top table.

The illustrative brief: a founder handing over the roadmap. The founder runs the roadmap and three product managers; it has become a bottleneck.

The appointment owns: The head of product owns the roadmap and leads the product managers.

Another owner retains: The founder keeps vision and pricing.

The case is illustrative; it does not describe a Fractional Quest placement.

From brief to start

How do you hire a Head of Product, step by step?

The first three steps are ours; the last four are what has to be true before the first day. We don’t promise a shortlist by a date.

  1. Day 0
    01
    The 15-minute call
    What the Head of Product must own, the working pattern, the start date and the budget.
    You and us
  2. Week 1
    02
    Scope agreed in writing
    The outcome the seat exists for, the days, and how the engagement will run for IR35.
    Us
  3. Weeks 1–3
    03
    Search, references, shortlist
    We approach people who aren’t looking, verify tenure, take references ourselves and return three to five.
    Us
  4. Week 4
    04
    Offer
    Confirm remit and reporting.
    You
  5. Before day one · 2
    05
    Evidence
    Provide analytics, research and roadmap.
    You
  6. Before day one · 3
    06
    Team
    Introduce product managers and engineering.
    You
  7. Before day one · 4
    07
    First decision
    Pick one roadmap decision to own.
    You

Assessment

How should you assess Head of Product candidates?

Put the same work and evidence in front of each candidate before comparing answers.

  1. Discovery
    Ask how they tested a bet before building.
  2. Prioritisation
    Ask for a trade-off between teams.
  3. Leadership
    Ask how they coached a product manager.
  4. Founder
    Test how they would take the roadmap from a founder.

Acas recommends a consistent, fair selection process: choosing who to interview.

Vetting

What happens before anyone reaches your shortlist?

Five stages before a candidate reaches a shortlist of three to five.

  1. Pedigree screen
    Tenure
    We verify prior tenure in the seat, at the scale and stage you need. No consultant presenting as an executive.
  2. Mandate fit
    Fit
    Fit to your stage, sector and the problem the seat exists to solve, not a CV keyword.
  3. Reference deep-dive
    Verify
    We take references ourselves, from recent clients and boards: what they delivered, not what they titled it.
  4. Shortlist
    Shortlist
    Three to five candidates, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
  5. Kick-off
    Start
    Scope, first-month outcomes and the contract agreed before day one.

The full process is on how we vet.

Questions

Hire a Head of Product: questions, answered

A brief to hire a Head of Product begins with product area: Name the products and roadmap they own. Then a stated working pattern and the evidence you will ask every candidate to show.

Read next

Related hiring and role pages

Sources

Where does every reference on this page come from?

  • sfia-online.org
  • HMRC
  • legislation.gov.uk
  1. 1
    SFIA: product management skill sfia-online.org
  2. 2
    Understanding off-payroll working (IR35) HMRC
    Status depends on how the engagement runs; medium and large clients make the determination.
  3. 3
    Check employment status for tax (CEST) HMRC
    HMRC’s own status check for each engagement.
  4. 4
    Employment Agencies Act 1973 legislation.gov.uk
    The law a recruitment agency works under; no fee to a work-seeker.

For hiring managers

Bring the brief. We bring the shortlist.

Sign up now →Book a call

  1. A shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position
  2. Fractional, interim, part-time, temporary or permanent — and non-executive directors
  3. Every candidate through our five-stage vetting
  4. Your briefs and their candidates, in one room