Hire an Interim CEO · Interim CEO Jobs UK
Interim CEO Jobs · hire an interim CEO
for the gap, or hire a CEO
Hire an interim CEO — a full-time interim chief executive on a fixed-term assignment, usually 6–12 months — to lead through a departure, a turnaround or a sale while the board finds the permanent answer. Or browse live interim CEO jobs UK-wide below.
- £1,000–£3,500 a day (Exec Capital)
- Full-time, fixed-term
- 6–12 months typical
- Shortlist of 3–5
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 an interim CEO
Tell us the situation and the start date. We come back with interim CEO candidates, their day rates and availability.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We scope the assignment and the start date
- 03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
- 04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs
Pick a day that suits · live availability
Interim CEO jobs · last 3 months
Live Interim CEO jobs
01/ definition
What is an interim CEO?
An interim CEO is the chief executive, full-time, for a fixed term, appointed by the board. Not an adviser and not a part-time fractional CEO: the person who runs the company until the job is done or the permanent CEO arrives.
01 · cadence
The CEO seat, five days a week.
An interim CEO takes full executive authority — the leadership team, the plan, the stakeholders and the board relationship.
02/ scope
What an interim chief executive owns
The interim CEO carries executive accountability for the term; the leadership team keeps running its functions.
- Strategy and the operating plan
- The board and investor relationship
- Leadership team decisions and changes
- Cash, funding and lender confidence
- Key customer and partner relationships
- Turnaround or sale process
- Culture and communication through change
- Handover to the permanent CEO
- Functional delivery (finance, ops, sales)
- Day-to-day line management
- Routine reporting production
- Project-level execution
- Recruitment below the leadership team
- Operational process design
03/ alternatives
Interim CEO vs fractional, chair and permanent
The same seat, four ways of filling it.
→ Interim runs the whole company for a period; fractional supplies part-time CEO leadership, often alongside a founder.
04/ rates
Interim CEO day rates, UK 2026
Published figures only, each with its source. Complexity sets the rate: SME cover sits at the bottom of the band, listed, PE-backed and turnaround mandates at the top.
- Interim CEO, SME / mid-market£1,000–£1,800Exec Capital 2026
- Interim CEO, listed / PE-backed£1,800–£3,500+Exec Capital 2026
- Interim CEO, full-time£1,200–£2,500FD Capital 2026
Six months at five days a week (about 130 working days) is roughly £130,000–£455,000 on the Exec Capital band — our arithmetic. Exec Capital also notes turnaround specialists above £3,500 a day.
05/ calculator
What an interim CEO costs
Model a fixed-term interim CEO against a permanent Chief Executive Officer over the same period.
£1,400 a day is within the published Interim CEO, SME band (£1,000–£1,800, Exec Capital 2026).
Interim cost for the term
£182,000
130 working days · 5 d/wk · 6 mo · before tax
Interim costs more over 6 months£34,927
Book a 15-minute call →Our arithmetic, indicative. Permanent = the £168,083 median UK CEO pay (Glassdoor, via Exec Capital) pro rata for the same months, plus 15% employer NI, plus a 30% search fee on the annual base (UK retained search runs 25–35%, Headhunters.co.uk). Excludes pension, bonus and equity.
06/ tax
Is an interim CEO tax-deductible?
General position under UK rules, with the HMRC source for each point. Not tax advice — check your own case with your accountant.
01 · DEDUCTIBLE
The fees are a business expense
An interim CEO’s fees, like a salary, are deductible against profits when incurred wholly and exclusively for the trade (HMRC BIM37000). At the 25% main rate, each £1,000 of fees costs a profitable company £750 after relief.
02 · EMPLOYER NI
Employer NI follows IR35 status
A permanent CEO carries employer National Insurance at 15% (gov.uk). An interim engaged through their own company carries none when the engagement is outside IR35; inside IR35, the fee-payer deducts tax and NI and pays employer NI. Status depends on how the engagement runs in practice.
03 · WHO DECIDES
IR35 status, by company size
Medium and large clients determine the interim’s status themselves; for a small private-sector client, the interim’s own company decides (HMRC off-payroll guidance).
07/ decision
When to hire an interim CEO
Four situations where boards hire an interim CEO — and where most interim CEO jobs come from.
Which sounds like you?
The CEO resigns, is removed or falls ill, and the board needs steady leadership while it runs a proper search.
- → Reassure staff and customers
- → Keep the plan moving
- → Buy time for the search
Trading, cash or lender confidence has broken down and the business needs decisive leadership now.
- → Cash first
- → Cost and structure
- → Lender and creditor plan
Preparing for exit, running a sale process or handling a new PE owner’s first months.
- → Equity story
- → Management presentations
- → Value-creation plan
The founder is stepping back and the company needs a professional CEO for a period before the long-term choice.
- → Governance in place
- → Leadership team settled
- → Clean handover
08/ guide
Hiring an interim CEO: what to get right
Agree the mandate at board level first. An interim CEO needs a clear answer to one question: what must be true when they leave? Stabilised trading, a completed sale, a refinanced balance sheet, a permanent successor in post. Write it down with a date, and brief against it.
Decide between interim and fractional. If the company needs someone running it full-time, hire an interim CEO. If a founder is staying in the business and needs senior support a day or two a week, a fractional CEO is the better fit — Exec Capital puts two days a week at £5,000–£10,000 a month.
Budget from the published bands. Exec Capital’s 2026 guide puts interim CEO day rates at £1,000–£3,500: £1,000–£1,800 for SME and mid-market cover, £1,800–£3,500 for complex listed or PE-backed work, and more for turnaround specialists. FD Capital quotes £1,200–£2,500 a day, or £24,000–£50,000 a month, full-time. A permanent CEO in an SME is £120,000–£250,000 base before on-costs and a retained search fee of 25–35%.
Test the track record against your situation. An interim chief executive who has run three sale processes is a different hire from one who has taken a business through a restructuring. Take references from the chairs and investors of recent assignments; we take our own before anyone reaches a shortlist.
Plan the exit from day one: the permanent search, the handover and how the interim will be introduced to staff, customers and lenders. If you are looking for interim CEO jobs rather than hiring, the live board below lists current interim CEO roles, and fractional CEO jobs cover the part-time market.
08.1/ board appointment
Hire an interim CEO: director, chair and governance
Before you hire an interim CEO, decide whether they will join the board as a statutory director. Most do, because running the company means taking the decisions a board delegates to its chief executive. Companies House guidance is plain that a director’s duties under the Companies Act 2006 still apply to someone who acts as a director without being formally appointed (Companies House: being a company director). Appointing the interim chief executive to the board formally, and filing the change at Companies House, is usually cleaner than leaving the position unclear.
Keep the chair and chief executive roles apart. For listed companies, the UK Corporate Governance Code says the two roles should not be exercised by the same individual. Private companies are not bound by the Code, but the reasoning carries over: it is why an executive chair is a bridge, not a substitute for an interim CEO who runs the business.
Put the practicalities in the brief: the delegated authorities, directors’ and officers’ insurance, who the interim reports to and how the board will review progress. If the finance seat is also empty, see hiring an interim CFO; for every interim C-suite role, see interim executive recruitment.
09/ contract
Interim CEO jobs: how the mandate is contracted
Interim CEO jobs are usually contracted as a fixed-term services agreement through the interim’s own company, setting out the board mandate, the term, the day or monthly rate and notice on each side. Where the interim is appointed a statutory director, that appointment carries its own duties alongside the services agreement.
IR35 status turns on how the assignment runs in practice, not on what the contract calls it. HMRC looks at substitution, control and whether either side must offer or accept further work, and a statutory directorship needs particular care. Medium and large clients make the status determination; for a small private-sector client, the interim’s own company does (HMRC off-payroll guidance). See the IR35 guide.
TEST 1
Substitution
Whether the interim’s company could send a suitably qualified substitute, and whether that right is genuine in practice.
What HMRC looks atTEST 2
Control
Who decides how the work is done, as distinct from what the assignment must deliver.
What HMRC looks atTEST 3
Mutuality
Whether either side is obliged to offer or accept work beyond the agreed assignment.
What HMRC looks at10/ process
How to hire an interim CEO with us
What we undertake on every brief.
- 01
Brief
A 30-minute call on the assignment, the start date and what the interim CEO must have delivered by the end of the term.
DAY 0 - 02
Search
We search and screen against that brief: track record at your stage and in your situation, and references we take ourselves.
SCREENING - 03
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5 - 04
Start
You interview and choose. The interim you choose contracts with you.
YOU CHOOSE
11/ questions
Interim CEO FAQ
Hiring an interim Chief Executive Officer, or looking for interim CEO jobs.
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Hiring an interim CEO? Start with the brief.
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