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fractional executive recruitment

Hire Fractional COO

Hire Fractional COO: name the operating decisions that need a senior owner each week, the managers who will carry them out, and the cover required between the agreed days.

Brief us on this role →
COO briefChoose a part of the brief

Part 01 / 04

Operating priorities

Identify the service, delivery and capacity decisions the COO will own.

Hire Fractional COO: what must the role own?

Identify the service, delivery and capacity decisions the COO will own.

Operating prioritiesIdentify the service, delivery and capacity decisions the COO will own.
ManagementName the managers who report operating problems and who implements agreed changes.
BudgetSet what the COO can approve and what returns to the CEO or board.
MeasuresAgree the evidence used to review delivery, quality and capacity.

Role reference: Institute of Directors: role of the COO. The IoD describes the COO’s responsibility for operations, budgets, policies and systems in support of the CEO and board strategy.

What changes when the COO is fractional?

A fractional COO owns an ongoing operating remit on recurring days. The brief must give the executive authority to decide, while leaving daily execution with named managers.

fractionalChoose a part of the brief

Part 01 / 04

Days

Agree the recurring days and which decisions cannot wait for the next scheduled session.

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 business with growing delivery teams

The CEO still resolves cross-team operating decisions while delivery managers run the daily work. The business needs senior operating ownership for part of each week.

The fractional COO sets priorities with the managers and resolves cross-team capacity decisions.

The appointment owns

The fractional COO sets priorities with the managers and resolves cross-team capacity decisions.

Another owner retains

Managers retain day-to-day delivery; the CEO keeps company strategy and reserved investment approvals.

How should you assess COO 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

Operating system

Ask how the candidate has made priorities visible across multiple teams.

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.

How much of the week does the work fill?
Is this a defined assignment with an end?
For a continuing part-week role, is this an employee?

The working pattern · fractional

A fractional COO

An external executive owns a continuing remit on agreed days. Set the decision rights and cover between those days.

Read the fractional COO hiring brief →

What must happen before the COO starts?

Write the operating decisions, reporting line and delegated authority.

A clear startChoose a part of the brief

Part 01 / 04

Mandate

Write the operating decisions, reporting line and delegated authority.
  1. 1

    Mandate

    Write the operating decisions, reporting line and delegated authority.

  2. 2

    Evidence

    Give access to delivery measures, budgets, current risks and team structure.

  3. 3

    Cadence

    Set working days, management meetings and escalation between days.

  4. 4

    First choice

    Select one live operating decision for the COO and managers to make together.

A useful COO brief names the decision, the working pattern and the evidence before it names a candidate.

What should the brief say?

Hire Fractional COO begins with operating priorities, a stated working pattern and the evidence you will ask every candidate to show.

15 minutes · video or phone

Brief us on a COO

Tell us what the role must own, how it will work and when it must start.

  1. 01A brief built around the decisions and working pattern.
  2. 02A shortlist of 3–5 with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
  3. 03Five-stage vetting before a candidate reaches you.
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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
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