HR director salary · base, bonus and package, 2026
What an HR director earns, in base, bonus and package
An HR director salary in 2026 runs from £92,000 to £128,750, with a median of £110,250, on Robert Half’s national figures for a permanent HR director.
In London, Robert Half puts the median at £150,000.
Ashdown Group’s 2026 guide gives a national median of £118,280.
Company size and sector move the number more than the title does.
Base is only part of the package: bonus, pension and employer’s National Insurance sit on top.
When you hire an HR director through us, we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
How a brief runswhat we undertake
- 01Brief30-MINUTE SCOPING CALLDay 0
- 02Shortlist of 3–5VETTED · RATE BENCHMARK · IR35After the brief
- 03InterviewsYOU MEET THE SHORTLISTYour diary
- 04Scoped startFIRST-MONTH OUTCOMES AGREEDYou set the date
- 05Fractional, interim and permanentIR35 POSITION SET OUTOn every brief
Shortlist3–5
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire a HR director
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with HR Director candidates, their day rates and availability.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We scope the role and the days a week
- 03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
- 04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs
Pick a day that suits · live availability
On the board · last 3 months
HR leadership jobs on the board
HR director roles on the board
Fractional recruiting starts with the brief, not the CV pile. Send a HR Director brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five candidates, each through five-stage vetting.
01/ the role
What an HR director does, and what sets the pay
An HR director runs the people function: employee relations, reward, talent, learning, HR operations and the policies that keep the business on the right side of employment law.
Most sit on the leadership team and report to the chief executive.
For the full remit, see what an HR director does.
Company size sets the pay first.
Robert Walters puts a London HR director in a medium enterprise (50 to 250 staff) at £95,000–£160,000, and in a large enterprise (250+ staff) at £130,000–£220,000.
Exec Capital, a search firm, publishes base pay by revenue: £60,000–£90,000 below £20m, and £85,000–£145,000 in a business turning over £20m–£150m.
Sector comes next.
Exec Capital puts an HR director at an established bank or insurer at £130,000–£250,000 in base, in manufacturing and retail at £80,000–£150,000 at mid-market scale, and in the public sector and not-for-profit at £70,000–£130,000.
Experience and qualifications set where in the range an offer lands.
Robert Half places a candidate with above-average experience and specialised qualifications at the top of its range, £128,750.
For HR, the usual qualification is CIPD membership: its membership levels run from Foundation Member to Chartered Fellow, the grade for highly experienced professionals influencing at senior levels.
02/ scope
How to set the pay when you hire an HR director
1. Scope the seat before the salary
Write down the headcount, the countries, the HR team, the change programme and who the role reports to.
An HR director running a steady function of a few hundred people and one leading a restructure are different hires with different pay.
2. Choose the route
A permanent HR director suits a business that needs a senior owner of people every day; read how HR director recruitment runs.
If the need is senior judgement for part of the week, hire a fractional HR director.
If the seat is empty mid-restructure and needs a full-time leader for a fixed term, hire an interim HR director.
3. Assess against the work
The CIPD’s guidance on selection methods favours clear, objective, structured and transparent processes, with skill-based tasks alongside interviews.
For an HR director, that task might be a plan for a difficult consultation or a review of your reward structure.
4. Set base and bonus together
Exec Capital puts the annual bonus opportunity for a mid-market HR director at 15–25% of base.
The CIPD’s introduction to reward separates fixed base pay from variable pay such as bonuses, which is not guaranteed.
Decide which part rides on results before you make an offer.
5. Check before the offer
For an employee, you must check their right to work before they start.
Take references yourself, from people the candidate reported to.
What we do on an HR director brief
We recruit permanent, fractional, interim, part-time and temporary HR leaders, and non-executive directors.
We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, and every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.
Roles on the board are listed on HR director jobs.
03/ the board
What the board holds.
A read of the roles on the board on this page, counted as they stand: how each is engaged, whether the posting gives the days and the rate, and where the work happens.
On this board, last 90 days · 2 roles · HR leadership
Engagement
- Fractional2
Seat
- CHRO1
- HRD1
Days a week
- Stated in the posting1
- Not stated1
Day rate
- Verified rate0
- Estimated (est)0
- Rate not stated2
Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)
- Remote0
- Hybrid1
- On-site1
Newest posting on the board: 6 Oct 2026.
04/ the route
Fractional, interim or permanent?
Four taps. The answer names the route for the seat and the page that covers it.
The route · Fractional
A fractional HR director.The work fills part of the week, so buy the days it needs.
A fractional HR director holds the seat on agreed days for as long as the seat is needed, and works for other clients on the rest.
The route · Interim
An interim HR director.The work fills the week, and it has an end: a programme, a cover, a transaction.
An interim HR director takes the seat full time for that stretch and hands it over when it is done.
The route · Interim, then permanent
Interim now, a permanent HR director after.The seat is full time and long term, and the need is now.
An interim HR director holds it while the permanent search runs, so the seat is not left empty.
The route · Permanent
A permanent HR director.A full-time seat that sits at the table for years is a permanent hire.
There is time to run a search, so run one.
05/ rates by stage
HR director salary by source, place and company size
Permanent HR director pay as each publisher states it, all 2026 except the ONS (2025, provisional). Robert Half publishes starting salary projections (base); Ashdown Group publishes a range and median by region; Robert Walters publishes ranges and its average of advertised roles; Exec Capital publishes base pay by company size and sector. Robert Half, Ashdown Group, Robert Walters and Exec Capital are recruiters.
06/ economics
What the salary costs the business, beyond the base
A salary is not the whole cost of an employee.
For 2026 to 2027, employer’s National Insurance is 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year (HMRC rates and thresholds).
Under automatic enrolment, the employer must pay at least 3% into a workplace pension on qualifying earnings, and those earnings include bonuses (GOV.UK).
Many schemes pay more.
On Robert Half’s £110,250 median, employer’s National Insurance comes to about £15,800 a year and the minimum pension contribution to about £1,300, on qualifying earnings of £6,240–£50,270.
That puts the cost at about £127,400 before any bonus or benefits (our arithmetic).
The bonus is pay too.
At Exec Capital’s 15–25% of base for a mid-market HR director, budget employer’s National Insurance on the bonus as well as the base.
07/ vetting
How we vet HR directors
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify HR Director tenure, sector context and stage fit.
SOURCING - 02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — stage, board dynamics, timing.
MATCHING - 03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent past clients — real outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY - 04
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5
08/ hr director salary uk
HR director salary UK: the national benchmarks side by side
The national figures measure different things.
Robert Half’s HR director salary UK range, £92,000–£128,750 with a median of £110,250, is a starting-salary projection built from its own placements and third-party vacancy data.
Ashdown Group’s national range runs from £83,234 to £153,326, with a median of £118,280.
Robert Walters publishes ranges by region and company size rather than one national figure.
For an official view, the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings puts full-time human resource managers and directors (SOC 2020 code 1136) at a median of £57,529 in 2025, with the range running from £43,676 to £78,677.
That group includes HR managers, so it sits well below director pay.
Read it as the floor of the profession, not the price of the seat.
09/ hr director salary london
HR director salary London, and the regions
The HR director salary London employers pay sits at the top of every source.
Robert Half puts it at £125,000–£175,000, with a median of £150,000, 36% above its national midpoint.
Ashdown Group gives a London median of £135,000.
Robert Walters puts a London HR director at an average of £130,000 in a medium enterprise and £180,000 in a large one.
Outside London, Ashdown Group’s medians run from £125,000 in the South East and £120,536 in the East to £118,421 in Scotland, £117,391 in the West and East Midlands, £116,379 in the South West, £113,445 in Yorkshire and the North West, £112,500 in the North East and £111,570 in Wales.
Robert Walters’ large-enterprise averages are £126,000 in the North, £109,000 in the South and £102,341 in the Midlands.
Exec Capital puts London and the South East at about 15–25% above equivalent HR director roles in the Midlands and the North.
Set a London offer against the London figures, not the national ones.
10/ human resources director salary
Human resources director salary by company size and sector
Exec Capital publishes the human resources director salary by the size of the business.
Below £20m in revenue, base runs £60,000–£90,000, and the HR director is often the only senior people professional.
Between £20m and £150m, it runs £85,000–£145,000, with a small team and a seat on the executive.
By sector, Exec Capital puts established banks and insurers at £130,000–£250,000 in base, manufacturing and retail at £80,000–£150,000 at mid-market scale, and the public sector and not-for-profit at £70,000–£130,000.
Robert Walters’ split by headcount points the same way: in every region it surveys, a large enterprise pays more than a medium one.
Size also brings duties.
An employer with 250 or more employees must report its gender pay gap each year, and the HR director usually owns that report.
11/ the seats either side
The seat below: head of HR, and the CHRO above
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On Robert Half’s 2026 figures, a head of HR earns £62,500 to £80,750, with a median of £70,000, and £95,250 in London.
An HR manager’s median is £62,000.
In a smaller business the head of HR is often the most senior people professional, doing much of a director’s job without the title.
Pay the scope, not the title.
See head of people salary for that seat by region and company size.
The seat above pays more.
Robert Half puts a chief human resources officer or chief people officer at a median of £147,000 nationally and £200,000 in London.
See CHRO salary for that seat in full.
12/ the other routes
Salary, day rate or retainer: the other ways to pay for the seat
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A permanent salary buys an HR director every day, with notice on both sides.
An interim is paid by the day for full-time cover over a fixed period; see interim HR director salary for the day rates.
A fractional HR director works part of the week on a day rate or monthly fee; see fractional HR director salary.
The three are paid on different bases, so compare the total cost for the days you need, not the headline numbers.
13/ questions
HR director salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a HR director.
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Bring the brief. We architect the team.
A shortlist of 3–5 with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.
