Interim Chief information security officer services

Interim CISO Services · an interim CISO, briefed and shortlisted

Q: How much do interim CISO services cost?

Barclay Simpson publishes a UK interim CISO day rate of £1,000–£1,500. The total depends on the days committed and the length of the mandate. Fractional Quest publishes no fees of its own; each candidate on our shortlist states their rate.

Interim CISO services put an interim chief information security officer into your business full-time for a fixed term.

The CISO owns cyber and information security risk: the strategy, the controls, the incident plan and the board’s understanding of the risk.

This page sets out what the service covers, when interim is the right shape, what the market publishes on rates, and how we come back with a shortlist of 3–5, each with rate, availability and IR35 position set out.

Submit a brief → →

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

£1,000–£1,500

Interim day rate · Barclay Simpson

Full-time, fixed term

Commitment

15 minutes · video or phone

Book 15 minutes to hire an interim CISO

Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Interim CISO Services 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

Prefer email? Use the booking page →

Pick a day that suits · live availability

Open the booking calendar →

01/ the role

What interim CISO services cover

An interim CISO works full-time for a fixed term to cover a gap, lead a change or see a transaction through, then hands over.

Interim executives are hired for immediate impact: they expect to take decisions from the first week.

The service covers the information security strategy and risk register, security policies, controls and certification such as Cyber Essentials or ISO 27001, incident response planning and exercises, and supplier and third-party security assurance and board reporting on cyber risk.

If you are weighing the options, the same seat is also bought as fractional CISO services, part-time CISO services, virtual CISO services, or a permanent hire, set out on the CISO services hub.

What the seat does day to day is set out in the CISO role explained; executives looking for this work can see current CISO roles; the full cost picture is on the CISO cost guide.

02/ scope

What is in scope — and what is not

In scope

The information security strategy and risk register; security policies, controls and certification such as Cyber Essentials or ISO 27001; incident response planning and exercises; supplier and third-party security assurance; board reporting on cyber risk.

Not in scope

Hands-on security operations, monitoring and penetration testing are usually delivered by an engineering team or a managed provider; the CISO directs and assures them.

CISO or a neighbouring seat?

The CISO owns security risk; the CIO owns systems.

Keeping them separate gives the board an independent view of risk.

The scoping test: write down the three decisions you need the CISO to own in the next ninety days. If you cannot, you are not ready to brief.

03/ the route

Fractional, interim or permanent?

Four taps. The answer names the route for the seat and the page that covers it.

How much of the week does the work fill?

Is there a fixed end or a programme?

Does the seat sit on the board for years?

Is the need now, or can it wait for a search?

The route · Fractional

A fractional CISO services.

The work fills part of the week, so buy the days it needs.

A fractional CISO services holds the seat on agreed days for as long as the seat is needed, and works for other clients on the rest.

The fractional CISO services route Talk it through

04/ rates by stage

CISO rates what the published benchmarks say

Every figure is the named source’s own published band. Fractional Quest publishes no fees: each candidate on a shortlist states their own rate. Interim day rates apply to full-time weeks for the length of the mandate.

BenchmarkPublished figureSource

Fractional CISO day rate£1,200–£2,000Optima Europe

Interim CISO day rate£1,000–£1,500Barclay Simpson

Permanent CISO salary (25th–75th percentile)£96,250–£161,750Robert Half 2026

05/ comparison

Four ways to buy a CISO fractional, interim, part-time or permanent

The same CISO seat can be filled four ways. The difference is commitment, contract and how long you need it.

FractionalInterimPart-timePermanent

CommitmentDays a week, ongoingFull-time, fixed termSet days each weekFull-time, open-ended

Usual contractContract for services, often via the executive’s companyDay-rate contract for the mandateOften pro-rata employment; sometimes a contractorEmployment contract

Clients at onceA small portfolioOneOneOne

Best whenYou need CISO judgement every week, not every dayYou need full-time cover or a change led nowYou want the same person on the same days for the long termThe seat is full-time work for years

ExitNotice period, or convert to permanentHand-over at the end of the mandateEmployment noticeResignation or redundancy

06/ timing

When interim CISO services are the right call

Three situations where the interim shape beats the alternatives.

Scenario 01

Incident

After a breach

An incident has happened or nearly happened.

An interim CISO leads the response, the remediation and the regulator and customer conversations.

Scenario 02

Certification

A deadline to certify

A contract needs certification by a date.

An interim CISO runs the programme full-time until the audit is passed.

Scenario 03

Gap

The security lead has left

An interim CISO keeps the risk register, the controls and the board reporting live until the permanent hire arrives.

07/ vetting

How we vet the shortlist

Five stages: qualification, mandate fit, reference deep-dive, shortlist and analysis, kick-off.

01
Qualification screen
Verify Interim CISO Services 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/ how it runs

How an interim CISO engagement runs from brief to hand-over

Brief.

You tell us the scope, the start date and the length of the mandate, and what success looks like in the first ninety days.

A clear brief names the decisions the CISO will own.

Shortlist.

We come back with 3–5 interim chief information security officers against the brief, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, assessed through our five-stage vetting.

Mandate.

The interim CISO starts with a written mandate and a review point.

Interim executives are judged on the outcome of the mandate, and the good ones plan their hand-over from the first week.

Hand-over.

When the mandate ends the interim CISO hands over to the permanent appointment, often having helped to choose them.

09/ before you sign

Before you buy interim CISO services three checks

Standing.

Check professional standing and references before you sign: what the board should expect from its security lead; see the NCSC Cyber Security Toolkit for Boards.

Status.

Agree how the engagement will run in practice, because that decides its IR35 status; HMRC’s guidance for clients sets out who makes the status determination.

Scope.

Write down what is out of scope.

Hands-on security operations, monitoring and penetration testing are usually delivered by an engineering team or a managed provider; the CISO directs and assures them.

10/ questions

Interim CISO services FAQ

The questions people ask before bringing in an interim CISO.

The CISO seat’s full scope: the information security strategy and risk register; security policies, controls and certification such as Cyber Essentials or ISO 27001; incident response planning and exercises; supplier and third-party security assurance; board reporting on cyber risk. Hands-on security operations, monitoring and penetration testing are usually delivered by an engineering team or a managed provider; the CISO directs and assures them.

Barclay Simpson publishes a UK interim CISO day rate of £1,000–£1,500. The total depends on the days committed and the length of the mandate. Fractional Quest publishes no fees of its own; each candidate on our shortlist states their rate.

An interim CISO works full-time for a fixed term, usually to cover a gap or lead a change. A fractional CISO works a standing number of days each week, often for several clients, for as long as the business needs it.

A customer security questionnaire you cannot answer, a tender requiring certification, an incident, or an insurer or investor asking who owns cyber risk. Interim is the right shape when the work is full-time and time-bound.

It depends on how the engagement runs in practice — control, substitution and whether the CISO is part and parcel of your organisation. For medium and large private-sector clients, the client makes the status determination. Each candidate on our shortlist states their IR35 position.

You brief us on the scope, the days and the start date. We come back with a shortlist of 3–5 interim chief information security officers, each with day rate or salary, availability and IR35 position set out, assessed through our five-stage vetting.

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.

Book a call →Submit a brief