The appointment owns
The fractional Chief Digital Officer sets one journey priority, agrees ownership across service and technology and reviews the first change.
fractional executive recruitment
Hire Fractional Chief Digital Officer
Hire Fractional Chief Digital Officer: give an external digital executive recurring days to set service priorities and make cross-team delivery decisions.
Brief us on this role →Chief Digital Officer briefChoose a part of the brief
Part 01 / 04
Journey to change
Choose the service or customer journey that needs an executive decision.
Part 02 / 04
Recurring authority
Define which digital priorities and channel decisions the executive owns each week.
Part 03 / 04
Delivery team
Name the product, technology and service leads who implement between executive days.
Part 04 / 04
Decision cover
Identify who can settle an urgent digital-service issue when the executive is away.
Hire Fractional Chief Digital Officer: what must the role own?
Choose the service or customer journey that needs an executive decision.
Journey to changeChoose the service or customer journey that needs an executive decision.
Recurring authorityDefine which digital priorities and channel decisions the executive owns each week.
Delivery teamName the product, technology and service leads who implement between executive days.
Decision coverIdentify who can settle an urgent digital-service issue when the executive is away.
Role reference: UK Government Functional Standard GovS 005: Digital. The standard distinguishes accountability for a digital service and technology portfolio from accountability for data assets. Use that boundary to define this digital appointment; its government requirements are not presented as duties on every company.
What changes when the Chief Digital Officer is fractional?
A fractional Chief Digital Officer holds a continuing service-change mandate on agreed days. The organisation still needs product, technology and operations owners between those days. This is not a synonym for a fractional Chief Data Officer or a digital-marketing director.
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 charity improving a member service
A small internal team maintains the website, but the online application and phone process still ask people for the same information twice.
The fractional Chief Digital Officer sets one journey priority, agrees ownership across service and technology and reviews the first change.
Another owner retains
Operations handles daily cases; the data owner controls definitions and access to member information.
How should you assess Chief Digital Officer 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
User evidence
Ask candidates what they would observe before proposing a platform or channel change.
Part 02 / 04
Scope discipline
Ask what work they would leave with the internal team between agreed days.
Part 03 / 04
Cross-team decision
Test how they would resolve a product and operations disagreement on one journey.
Part 04 / 04
Pattern review
Ask when recurring part-week leadership should become a permanent seat or finite programme.
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 Chief Digital OfficerAn external executive owns a continuing remit on agreed days. Set the decision rights and cover between those days.
What must happen before the Chief Digital Officer starts?
Name one service journey and the change it needs.
A clear startChoose a part of the brief
Part 01 / 04
Outcome
Name one service journey and the change it needs.
Part 02 / 04
Days
Set recurring decision and review days with the delivery leads.
Part 03 / 04
Boundaries
Assign daily service, platform and data decisions to named owners.
Part 04 / 04
Evidence review
Check the first journey change against user evidence and operational capacity.
- 1
Outcome
Name one service journey and the change it needs.
- 2
Days
Set recurring decision and review days with the delivery leads.
- 3
Boundaries
Assign daily service, platform and data decisions to named owners.
- 4
Evidence review
Check the first journey change against user evidence and operational capacity.
A useful Chief Digital Officer brief names the decision, the working pattern and the evidence before it names a candidate.
What should the brief say?
Hire Fractional Chief Digital Officer begins with journey to change, a stated working pattern and the evidence you will ask every candidate to show.
15 minutes · video or phone
Brief us on a Chief Digital Officer
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
