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Permanent FP&A lead · hiring brief

Hire FP&A Leadership

Hire FP&A Leadership: name the decisions the forecast must support, who uses the model, and whether you need a builder or a leader of analysts.

Brief us on this role →See FP&A lead roles

Reviewed by Fractional Quest · updated 1 November 2026 · 4 sources linked below

  • 3–5on every shortlist
  • 5stages of vetting
  • IR35set out on every brief
Hire FP&A Leadership: leadership meeting in a Covent Garden office (illustration)

On the board · last 90 days

Which roles are on the board now?

Permanent FP&A lead roles first, then the seat in any engagement and the wider function when the board runs short.

Roles

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

In the press

The brief

Hire FP&A Leadership: what must the role own?

Which decisions the forecast feeds: hiring, pricing, funding, investment.

  • 01DecisionsWhich decisions the forecast feeds: hiring, pricing, funding, investment.
  • 02ModelRebuild, extend or run the existing model.
  • 03UsersWho uses the outputs and how often.
  • 04TeamAnalysts the lead manages, if any.

Role reference: ICAEW: finance career paths. ICAEW’s finance career paths describe planning and analysis as a distinct finance career, which is the seat this brief fills.

FP&A

Hire FP&A leadership: builder or leader?

Two different hires share the title.

A builder designs and runs the model, often on a fixed project. A leader runs a team of analysts and the planning calendar. Hire FP&A leadership for the second; a contractor may be enough for the first.

Either way, the brief names the decisions the forecast must support. A model nobody uses is the most common FP&A failure.

The working pattern

What changes when the FP&A lead is permanent?

FP&A (financial planning and analysis) owns the budget, the forecast and the analysis behind decisions. It sits beside the close, not inside it, and reports to the CFO or finance director.

The illustrative brief: a business whose budget is a spreadsheet nobody trusts. Each department keeps its own numbers. The board sees three versions of headcount.

The appointment owns: An FP&A lead rebuilds one driver-based model and a monthly reforecast, three days a week for six months.

Another owner retains: The finance director owns the close and the board pack; department heads own their budgets.

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

From brief to start

How do you hire FP&A leadership, step by step?

Hire FP&A Leadership, 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 FP&A lead 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
    Mandate
    Decisions served, model scope, days or term.
    You
  5. Before day one · 2
    05
    Data
    Ledger access, headcount, sales pipeline and prior budgets.
    You
  6. Before day one · 3
    06
    Users
    Introduce department heads.
    You
  7. Before day one · 4
    07
    First output
    A list of the model’s weakest assumptions in the first fortnight.
    You

Assessment

How should you assess each candidate?

Hire FP&A Leadership on evidence: put the same work in front of each candidate before comparing answers.

  1. Comparable work
    Ask for a model they built and a decision it changed.
  2. Authority
    Test how they would push back on a department’s optimistic forecast.
  3. Team
    Ask how they taught budget holders to use the model.
  4. Handover
    Ask who maintained their last model after they left.

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 FP&A Leadership: questions, answered

A brief to hire FP&A leadership begins with decisions: Which decisions the forecast feeds: hiring, pricing, funding, investment. 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?

  • icaew.com
  • HMRC
  • legislation.gov.uk
  1. 1
    ICAEW: finance career paths icaew.com
  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.

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