Interim COO · Chief Operating Officer · Fixed term
Interim COO · what one does, how long, what it costs
An interim COO is a Chief Operating Officer who takes the whole operations seat, full-time, for a fixed term: through a departure, a turnaround, an integration or a scale-up that has outgrown its processes. They own the operating model, delivery, cost and suppliers while they are there, then hand over.
Across every discipline, the Institute of Interim Management’s 2026 survey puts the average assignment at 10.0 months. Below: what an interim COO does stage by stage, what one costs, and how the role differs from a fractional or permanent COO. We recruit interim, fractional, part-time, temporary and permanent operations leaders.
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
In the press
Fast Company 16 leaders on when fractional C-suite hires make sense · 24 Jun 2026
Leaders split on part-time C-suite hires: some back them for a defined mandate, others want a full-time owner for work that needs one daily. Operations in a turnaround usually needs the second.
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire an interim COO
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with interim COO 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
Interim COO jobs on the board
Live interim and fractional COO roles
Fractional recruiting starts with the brief, not the CV pile. Send a interim COO brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five candidates, each through five-stage vetting.
01/ the role
What is an interim COO? The whole seat, for a fixed term
What is an interim COO? A senior operator who runs the COO seat in full for a set period, usually to change how the business runs, then leaves. The Institute of Interim Management defines interim management as leadership by an independent, board or near-board level manager or executive, over a finite time span, and lists change, transformation, turnaround and crisis management among the work it covers. That is most interim COO work.
Delivers the change, not only the diagnosis
An operations consultancy diagnoses and recommends; an interim COO does that and then implements it with your team, and answers for the result. The IIM calls this consultancy with implementation. It is why boards bring in an interim when the plan exists but nobody senior is free to run it.
Where the seat sits
The COO usually sits beside the CEO, owning the operating model across the business; an operations director runs a function, site or region one level down, and has its own interim route. Board status depends on the role played, not the title: under the Companies Act, “director” includes any person occupying the position of director, by whatever name called. For the permanent remit, see what a COO does.
02/ scope
How to hire an interim COO
Describe the operating problem and the outcome before the title: margin back to plan, an integration finished, a site network running to one model, a permanent COO in post. Agree the reporting line and what the interim can change without the board. Decide the contract: through the interim’s own limited company, or as a fixed-term employee whose contract ends on a set date or when a task is done.
Test candidates on your own data, such as a walk through your operating metrics, and take references from the chief executives or chairs on their last two assignments. To hire an interim COO through us, brief us on the interim COO hiring page; we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.
03/ economics
What an interim COO costs the day rate, and what moves it
An interim COO is paid a day rate for the days worked, usually five a week, with no bonus, pension or notice period on top. Exec Capital, a recruiter, publishes a band of £800 to £2,000 a day for an interim COO in its 2026 Executive Salary Guide. Where a COO lands in that band depends on the size of the business, how urgent the problem is and how much has to change.
For context across all disciplines, not for COOs alone, the IIM’s 2026 Interim Management Survey puts the average interim day rate at £907 and the private-sector average at £1,004. Treat those as the floor for senior interims, not as a COO rate.
Against a permanent hire, Exec Capital’s COO salary guide reports Glassdoor’s UK median for a full-time COO as £137,834, before employer costs. For part-time operations leadership, see what a fractional COO costs.
04/ comparison
Interim, fractional or permanent three ways to fill the seat
The same COO seat, filled three ways. Choose by how many days the work needs and whether it has an end.
05/ vetting
How we vet interim COOs
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify interim COO 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
06/ interim coo
Interim COO: what one does, stage by stage
An interim COO works through an assignment in stages. The IIM’s guide to interim management names five: entry, diagnosis, proposal, implementation and exit. In operations the diagnosis is often the shortest and the implementation the longest.
Entry and diagnosis
The first days go on the numbers and the floor: delivery and service metrics, the cost base, supplier performance, the people plan and where the operating rhythm breaks. Where operations include sites and physical risk, the HSE’s Leading health and safety at work sets out the leadership actions expected of directors and board members, and belongs in the first review.
The proposal
Then a plan to the CEO or board: what to fix first, what to stop and what the operating model should look like at the end. The IIM expects an interim to challenge the original brief where the diagnosis points elsewhere.
Implementation
Running the change with the team. Restructuring has rules: when a business or a service changes hands, TUPE can transfer employees with their terms and continuity of employment, and proposed redundancies above a legal threshold need collective consultation, which Acas sets out step by step. An interim COO should plan the timetable around both.
Exit and handover
A leadership team that can run the new model, the decisions written down and, often, help appointing the permanent COO. For that search, see our COO headhunter page.
07/ interim coo vs fractional coo
Interim COO vs fractional COO: the whole seat, or part of it
Interim COO vs fractional COO comes down to days and duration. An interim COO takes the whole seat, full-time, for a fixed term, and is there for the daily decisions a turnaround or an integration throws up. A fractional COO takes part of the seat, one to three days a week, with no set end, bringing operating discipline to a business that does not need a full-time COO yet.
Choose interim when operations need a full-time owner now. Choose fractional when the business needs someone senior to set the operating rhythm, fix processes and coach the team, part of the week. For a regular reduced-hours role, see part-time COO jobs.
08/ when to hire
When to hire an interim COO and for how long
Four situations account for most interim COO briefs. A departure: the COO leaves mid-year with customers and the team watching. A turnaround: margin, delivery or cash has slipped and the operating model needs fixing now. A transaction: an acquisition whose deal case assumes two businesses become one, or a carve-out that has to stand alone. Growth outpacing process: a scale-up whose systems and team were built for a smaller company.
How long? Tie the term to the outcome, with a review part-way through. Across all disciplines the IIM’s 2026 survey puts the average assignment at 10.0 months; it is an all-discipline average, not a COO rule. For interim leadership across the C-suite, see interim executive recruitment.
09/ questions
Interim COO FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in an interim COO.
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.
