Interim Executive Recruitment · Interim Management UK
Hire an interim executive
for the gap · Interim Executive Jobs
Interim executive recruitment for UK companies: a full-time interim CEO, CFO, CTO, COO, CMO or HR Director on a fixed-term assignment, shortlisted against your brief.
- UK average interim day rate £907 (IIM 2026)
- Assignments average 10 months
- Every C-suite seat
- 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 talk through the gap
Tell us the situation and the start date. We come back with interim executive 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
Fractional recruiting starts with the brief, not the CV pile. Send a brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five candidates, each through five-stage vetting.
Interim executive jobs · last 3 months
Interim executive jobs on the board
- InterimSyndicatedInterim Chief Executive Officer (Women's Health Charity)
Verity (PMOS UK) · United Kingdom
Rate not stated3 d/wk - InterimExclusiveInterim Chief Operating Officer
Confidential client (Fractional Quest mandate) · London
Rate not stated5 d/wk
Interim roles across the C-suite. Each role page carries its own board.
01/ definition
What is interim executive recruitment?
Finding a senior leader who will run a function full-time for a fixed term — a vacancy, a turnaround, a deal, a programme — and then hand over.
Interim management is the model; interim executive search is how you find the right person.
01 · cadence
The seat, five days a week.
An interim executive holds the role in full — the team, the budget, the decisions — rather than advising from outside it.
02/ scope
Which interim roles we recruit
Every C-suite and director seat, full-time and fixed-term. Each role has its own page with published day rates.
- Interim CEO
- Interim CFO and Finance Director
- Interim CTO and CIO
- Interim COO and Operations Director
- Interim CMO and Marketing Director
- Interim CHRO and HR Director
- Interim CRO and Sales Director
- Interim CPO, CISO and General Counsel
- Temporary staff below director level
- Project contractors
- Day-to-day agency temps
- Consultancy teams
- Outsourced functions
- Permanent-only searches
03/ alternatives
Interim executive vs fractional, consultancy and permanent
Four ways to fill a senior seat, and when each wins.
→ Interim covers the whole seat for a period; fractional covers part of it indefinitely.
04/ rates
Interim executive day rates, UK 2026
Exec Capital publishes an interim day-rate band for each C-suite role; the IIM’s annual survey gives the market-wide averages.
Straightforward cover sits at the lower end of each band, transformation and turnaround at the top.
- Interim CEO£1,000–£3,500Exec Capital
- Interim CFO£700–£2,000Exec Capital
- Interim COO£800–£2,000Exec Capital
- Interim CIO£800–£2,000Exec Capital
- Interim CMO£700–£2,000Exec Capital
- Interim CTO£800–£1,800Exec Capital
- Interim HR Director£500–£1,800Exec Capital
- Interim Sales Director£600–£1,800Exec Capital
IIM 2026 also reports an average assignment of 10 months, 148 days billed a year and a 3.2-month average gap between assignments.
05/ calculator
What an interim executive costs
Model a fixed-term interim executive against a permanent executive over the same period.
£1,350 a day is within the published CFO band (£700–£2,000, Exec Capital).
Interim cost for the term
£175,500
130 working days · 5 d/wk · 6 mo · before tax
Interim costs more over 6 months£34,414
Interim executive, the term£175,500
Permanent executive, same period£141,086
Interim executive, the term$232,520
Permanent executive, same period$186,925
Converted from £ at $1.3249 per £1 (Bank of England spot rate), 2 Oct 2026. A conversion, not a US market rate. Source ↗
Interim executive, the term€206,142
Permanent executive, same period€165,719
Converted from £ at €1.1746 per £1 (Bank of England spot rate), 2 Oct 2026. A conversion, not a EU market rate. Source ↗
Our arithmetic, indicative. Permanent = the £161,241 median CFO pay (Glassdoor, via FD 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 the day rate 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 executive’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 executive 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 executive
The four situations behind most interim management assignments in the UK.
Which sounds like you?
A departure, long-term leave or a failed hire leaves a C-suite seat empty mid-plan.
- → Continuity now
- → Time to hire well
- → Clean handover
Cash, trading or delivery has broken down and needs a leader with nothing to prove and no career to protect.
- → Cash first
- → Cost and structure
- → Stakeholders
A sale, an acquisition, a refinancing or a new PE owner’s first 100 days.
- → Due diligence
- → Integration
- → Value creation
An ERP, a replatform, an AI plan, a regulatory deadline — with a date and no internal owner.
- → Defined outcome
- → Fixed term
- → Handover
08/ guide
Hiring an interim executive: what to get right
Interim management is the practice of bringing in an experienced executive, full-time, for a defined period.
The Institute of Interim Management’s 2026 survey — the UK’s long-running benchmark — puts the average interim day rate at £907, rising to £1,004 in the private sector, with assignments averaging 10 months.
Interim executive recruitment is how you find that person.
Many UK interim management agencies (interim service providers) earn a margin on every day the interim bills.
If you want to compare firms before choosing, our independent list of UK interim recruitment agencies sets out who does what.
Budget from the published band for the role, not a general average.
Exec Capital’s 2026 guide runs from £500–£1,800 a day for an interim HR Director to £1,000–£3,500 for an interim CEO; each role page below carries the detail, with a calculator comparing interim cost against a permanent hire over the same months.
Write the outcome into the brief.
An interim executive is hired to leave something finished — a function stabilised, a deal closed, a programme live, a successor in post.
The brief should say what that is and when.
Choose between interim and fractional deliberately.
If the seat needs a full-time owner for a few months, hire an interim.
If it needs senior judgement a day or two a week for the foreseeable future, a fractional executive costs less and stays longer.
08.1/ interim manager
Hire an interim manager: interim, consultant or contractor?
The words get used loosely, so define them before you brief anyone.
The Institute of Interim Management describes interim management as business solutions delivered by an independent, board or near-board level manager or executive over a finite time span, covering work such as change, turnaround, crisis management and strategy.
It separates professional interims from other temporary or fixed-term resources: they consult, plan and implement, then exit, and they take responsibility for delivering results, not just offering advice (IIM guide to interim management).
That is the practical test when you hire an interim manager.
A consultant advises and leaves the decision with you.
A contractor delivers a defined piece of work.
An interim executive holds the seat, makes the decisions and is accountable for them until the handover.
If you need the seat held, recruit an interim; if you need a report, hire a consultancy.
Ask about conduct as well as experience.
The IIM’s code of professional conduct, binding on its members, covers how interims take on assignments, how they behave during them and how they conduct themselves at the end.
Each role page carries its own detail: start with hiring an interim CEO or hiring an interim CFO.
08.2/ interim management UK
Interim management UK: what it is and when a business uses it
The Institute of Interim Management defines interim management as the provision of business solutions by an independent, board or near-board level manager or executive “over a finite time span” (IIM guide to interim management).
In practice, interim management in the UK means a senior executive who takes a seat full-time, for a fixed term, with the authority to decide, and leaves once the outcome is delivered.
Businesses use it for a gap after a departure, a turnaround, a transaction or a programme with a deadline.
Change leads: in the IIM’s Interim Management Survey 2026, change or transformation management was the primary nature of 37% of interims’ last assignments, and turnaround or restructuring 13% (IIM survey 2026).
The same survey found the day rate remains the predominant basis of pay, with over three-quarters of roles paid that way, and the fixed-term contract the second most common.
A typical engagement is full-time for a term agreed at the start, contracted either through the interim’s own limited company or as a fixed-term employee.
Interim management in London works the same way, and many interims are based close by: 52.5% of the interims who answered the IIM’s 2026 survey live in London and the South East.
For a London brief, say how many days a week the role needs to be on site, since that shapes who is available.
Each seat has its own page: hire an interim CFO, hire an interim CTO, hire an interim CMO or hire an interim COO.
08.3/ interim management services
Interim management services: what you are buying, and how we run a brief
Interim management services come in several shapes, so know which one you are buying.
The IIM’s guide lists specialist interim service providers, executive search firms and mainstream recruiters with interim practices, and consultancies with interim management associates.
It also notes that when an interim comes through a service provider, the provider takes a margin; when you buy direct, you negotiate the day rate with the interim (IIM guide).
Interim management consultants and interim management consultancies sit between advice and delivery.
A management consultant diagnoses and recommends; the IIM calls interim work “consultancy with implementation”, where the interim is equipped to implement the recommendations and is held accountable for the results.
If what you want is a consultancy, the Chartered Management Institute’s Chartered Management Consultant status, run with the Management Consultancies Association, is the profession’s own standard.
If you need the seat held, recruit an interim, usually engaged through their own company under a contract for services rather than an employment contract.
How we run a brief: a call on the situation, the outcome and the term; a search and screen against it through the five stages on our vetting page; then a shortlist of three to five interim executives, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
You interview and choose.
To compare other firms first, see our guide to interim recruitment agencies.
09/ contract
Executive interim management: how an assignment is contracted
An interim management assignment is usually contracted through the interim’s own limited company, on a fixed-term agreement that sets out the scope, the term, the day rate, the days a week and notice on each side.
Some interim management agencies instead supply the interim and bill a margin on each day; we recruit against your brief and the interim contracts with you.
Either way, the scope is the outcome from the brief.
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.
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 we run the search
What we undertake on every brief: an interim executive search, run against your brief.
- 01
Brief
A 30-minute call on the assignment, the start date and what the interim executive 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
Questions, answered
Hiring an interim executive, or looking for interim executive jobs.
