Interim FP&A salary · day rates, 2026
What an interim FP&A manager earns, by the day and by the assignment
An interim FP&A salary is a day rate, not a salary.
FD Capital’s 2026 figures put an interim FP&A manager at £375–£550 a day and a senior FP&A or head of FP&A interim at £475–£700, both outside IR35.
Morgan McKinley’s 2026 contract rates put an FP&A manager at a London SME at £335–£375 a day with up to three years’ experience, rising to £425–£500+ with more than five.
The rate covers full-time work for a fixed period, with no salary, pension or paid holiday behind it.
When you hire an interim FP&A manager through us, we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with 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 an interim FP&A manager
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Interim FP&A 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 FP&A jobs on the board
No Interim FP&A roles on the board in the last three months. Showing interim finance leadership roles instead.
Finance planning roles on the board
Fractional Quest is a fractional recruitment agency: send a Interim FP&A brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.
01/ the role
How an interim FP&A manager is paid, and why the unit is the day
An interim FP&A manager runs the planning cycle full-time for a defined period: a budget season, a reforecast, a model rebuild, a fundraise, a planning-system implementation or cover for a leaver.
FD Capital puts a typical interim FP&A manager assignment at 3–9 months, a head of FP&A at 3–12 months and fundraising modelling at 6–16 weeks.
That makes the day rate the real unit of pay.
There is no salary, no employer pension and no paid holiday, and the interim carries the gaps between assignments.
Across all functions, the Institute of Interim Management’s 2026 survey puts the average assignment at 10.0 months, the average gap between assignments at 3.2 months and the average days billed in a year at 148.
An interim who works through their own company pays themselves through salary and dividends from what the company earns, after its costs and Corporation Tax.
The day rate is the company’s income, not the interim’s take-home pay.
02/ scope
How to hire an interim FP&A manager
1. Define the deliverable and its end
Say what the interim must hand over and by when: an approved budget, a rebuilt model, a reforecast, a planning tool live.
An assignment with a named end is easier to price and easier to staff.
2. Decide IR35 status at the start
If your business is medium or large, you make the status determination for the engagement and give the interim your reasons.
Settle it before you go to market, because it changes the rate candidates quote.
3. Match the level to the work
A manager runs an existing planning cycle.
A head of FP&A designs one, or rebuilds it after it has failed.
FD Capital prices planning-platform implementation support at £450–£650 a day and fundraising modelling at £500–£750, so a project with either in scope sits above the manager band.
What we do on an interim brief
We recruit interim, fractional, part-time, temporary and permanent finance professionals, and non-executive directors.
We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, and every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.
Planning roles on the board are listed on fractional FP&A 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 · interim finance leadership
Engagement
- Interim2
Days a week
- Stated in the posting1
- Not stated1
Day rate
- Verified rate1
- Estimated (est)1
- Rate not stated0
Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)
- Remote1
- Hybrid0
- On-site1
Newest posting on the board: 12 Sept 2026.
04/ rates by stage
Interim FP&A salary day rates by level and source
Day rates as each publisher states them, all 2026. FD Capital quotes outside IR35 for limited company contractors; Morgan McKinley publishes contract day rates by years of experience (0–3 · 3–5 · 5+). Both are recruiters. The IIM figures cover every interim function, not finance alone.
05/ economics
Interim pay and IR35: who decides, and what it changes
Tax status turns on how the engagement runs, not on the title or the contract alone.
Under the off-payroll working rules (IR35), a medium or large client makes the status determination; for a small client outside the public sector, the interim’s own company decides.
The rules apply contract by contract, so one interim can have engagements on both sides.
HMRC’s CEST tool gives its view on a specific engagement; our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
It shows in the rates.
FD Capital quotes its interim FP&A rates outside IR35 and says PAYE umbrella rates are typically 15–20% higher, to cover employer on-costs.
Across all functions, the IIM’s 2026 survey puts the average interim day rate at £949 outside IR35 and £830 inside.
06/ vetting
How we vet interim FP&A managers
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify Interim FP&A 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
07/ interim fp&a day rate
Interim FP&A day rate by experience and market
The interim FP&A day rate rises with experience and with the money the business handles.
Morgan McKinley’s 2026 contract rates put an FP&A manager at a London SME at £335–£375 a day with up to three years’ experience, £365–£450 with three to five and £425–£500+ with more than five.
In London banking the same three bands run £375–£425, £425–£475 and £475–£600.
Outside London the bands sit lower.
Morgan McKinley puts an FP&A manager at a large company in the South West at £350–£500 a day across its experience levels, and in the Northern Home Counties at £350–£500.
FD Capital’s single band for an interim FP&A manager, £375–£550, sits across all of them.
08/ interim head of fp&a
Interim head of FP&A day rates
An interim head of FP&A designs or rebuilds the planning function rather than running it.
FD Capital puts a senior FP&A or head of FP&A interim at £475–£700 a day, on assignments of 3–12 months.
Morgan McKinley’s 2026 bands run from £420–£450 a day at a London SME with up to three years’ experience to £500–£600+ with more than five, and from £600–£700 to £800–£1,200 in London banking.
At a large company in the Northern Home Counties they run £460–£625.
09/ the year
Interim FP&A salary, annualised
No interim is paid a salary, but the day rate can be set against one.
At FD Capital’s £375–£550 for an interim FP&A manager, 220 days would bill £82,500–£121,000.
At the IIM’s all-function average of 148 days billed in a year, the same rates bill £55,500–£81,400.
Both are our arithmetic, a comparison and not a salary.
For an interim head of FP&A at £475–£700 a day, 220 days would bill £104,500–£154,000 and 148 days £70,300–£103,600 (our arithmetic).
A full month of interim FP&A manager cover, at about 22 working days, comes to £8,250–£12,100 (our arithmetic).
That is the client’s cost; the interim pays their own pension, holidays, insurance and the gaps between assignments out of it.
For scale, Robert Half’s 2026 median for a permanent FP&A manager is £74,250 in base salary, before bonus, pension and employer’s National Insurance.
See FP&A salary for the permanent benchmarks in full.
10/ the other routes
Interim, permanent or fractional: which pay basis fits
Interim cover buys a full-time FP&A manager for a fixed period.
A permanent hire is paid a salary and package; see FP&A salary.
If the planning work fits into a day or two a week all year, a fractional FP&A lead on a day rate may cost less over the same months; see fractional FP&A salary.
11/ questions
Interim FP&A salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in an interim FP&A manager.
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.
