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Permanent operations director · hiring brief

Hire an Operations Director

Hire an Operations Director: write the operations the director runs, their budget and their line to the MD or COO, and test them on your own operating data.

Brief us on this role →See operations director roles

Reviewed by Fractional Quest · updated 1 November 2026 · 5 sources linked below

  • 3–5on every shortlist
  • 5stages of vetting
  • IR35set out on every brief
Hire an Operations Director: an operations leader on the warehouse floor with an operations manager (illustration)

On the board · last 90 days

Which roles are on the board now?

Permanent operations director roles first, then the seat in any engagement and the wider function when the board runs short.

Roles

See every role on the board →

Every fractional role in the UK is on the fractional jobs board.

In the press

The brief

Hire an Operations Director: what must the role own?

Sites, teams and processes in scope.

  • 01OperationsSites, teams and processes in scope.
  • 02SuppliersContracts they manage.
  • 03BudgetWhat they approve.
  • 04LineTo the MD or COO.

Role reference: Institute of Directors: role of the COO. The IoD describes the COO running the business day to day; an operations director holds much of that remit below executive level.

Titles

Hire an operations director or a COO?

Size and board role usually decide.

Hire an operations director to run the operation, often reporting to an MD. Hire a COO when the role sits in the executive team across all functions.

For a defined change, an interim operations director may fit.

The working pattern

What changes when the operations director is permanent?

An operations director runs the operation: delivery, suppliers, capacity and the operating reviews. A COO is the executive equivalent in larger companies.

The illustrative brief: a distribution business after a second site. Two sites run differently and service levels slip.

The appointment owns: The company hires an operations director across both sites.

Another owner retains: The MD keeps capital spend.

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

From brief to start

How do you hire an Operations Director, step by step?

Hire an Operations Director, in practice: 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 operations director 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
    Scope
    Sites and budget.
    You
  5. Before day one · 2
    05
    Data
    Service and cost data.
    You
  6. Before day one · 3
    06
    Team
    Meet site managers.
    You
  7. Before day one · 4
    07
    First output
    An operations review in the first month.
    You

Your figures

What does part of a senior week cost?

Rate × days × weeks, against a loaded full-time package. Move the sliders; the numbers redraw.

  • operations director band £800–£1,400 (Connectd 2026)
Year-one cost, fractional
£101,200
2 days a week · 46 weeks · day fees, before tax · our arithmetic
Fractional executive£101,200
Full-time operations director, loaded£140,125£637 a day over 220 days · our arithmetic
Fractional costs less in year one by£38,925

Our arithmetic. £122,500 composite (our median of three 2026 guides) median salary + employer NI at 15% above £5,000 (HMRC) = £140,125. Excludes pension, bonus and any search fee.

Assessment

How should you assess each candidate?

Hire an Operations Director on evidence: put the same work in front of each candidate before comparing answers.

  1. Comparable work
    Ask for an operation they improved and the measures.
  2. Authority
    Test a capital request above their limit.
  3. Team
    Ask how they led site managers.
  4. Handover
    Ask what reviews they left in place.

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 an Operations Director: questions, answered

A brief to hire an Operations Director begins with operations: Sites, teams and processes in scope. 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?

  • iod.com
  • HMRC
  • legislation.gov.uk
  1. 1
    Institute of Directors: role of the COO iod.com
  2. 2
    Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 HMRC
    Employer National Insurance at 15% above £5,000 a year.
  3. 3
    Understanding off-payroll working (IR35) HMRC
    Status depends on how the engagement runs; medium and large clients make the determination.
  4. 4
    Check employment status for tax (CEST) HMRC
    HMRC’s own status check for each engagement.
  5. 5
    Employment Agencies Act 1973 legislation.gov.uk
    The law a recruitment agency works under; no fee to a work-seeker.

For hiring managers

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  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