Verity (PMOS UK)SyndicatedInterim
Interim Chief Executive Officer (Women's Health Charity)Interim management consultancy · interim consultancy · interim managers placed
Interim Management Consultancy · a consultancy firm, or an interim manager in the seat
Interim management consultancy is searched for two different things: a consulting firm that sells a team and an outcome, or an experienced interim manager who takes a seat in your business for a fixed term. Fractional Quest is a recruitment agency, not a consulting firm: we do not employ consultants or run consulting projects. We find the interim, fractional or permanent leader for your brief, and they contract with you directly.
Reviewed by Fractional Quest · updated 23 October 2026 · 4 sources linked below
- 3–5our shortlist
Fractional seats our founder has held
Climatise
One Up Productions
CK Delta
In the press
- Financial TimesThe executives going ‘fractional’, not freelance
- International FinanceRenting the C-suite, and why the fractional executive era has arrived
The agency
What interim management consultancy means
This page sets out what each is right for, how to tell which you need, and how an interim mandate is briefed. The board below shows current interim executive roles.
Interim consultancy in the consulting sense is a project: a firm scopes the work, staffs it with its own team, works alongside your managers and hands back a result. Your managers keep their seats and their decisions; the firm advises and delivers its part.
Interim management is a different purchase. An interim manager takes a line role — finance director, operations director, chief executive, HR director — full-time for a fixed term, with the authority of that role. They do not advise the person who decides; they are the person who decides, under a written mandate.
Fractional Quest is a recruitment agency, not a consulting firm: we do not employ consultants or run consulting projects. We find the interim, fractional or permanent leader for your brief, and they contract with you directly.
The people side of the same question: interim management consultants. The service through a recruitment agency: interim management agency. When the gap is a whole leadership team, not one seat: leadership consultancy.
On the board · last 90 days
Current interim executive roles on the board
From our jobs feed. Where a posting states no rate, “est” is our estimate from the seat’s published band; ◆ marks days a week the posting states.
8 of 8 roles
Function
Engagement
- Confidential clientOur mandate · available nowInterimInterim Chief Operating Officer
- Marie CurieSyndicatedInterimInterim Head of Edinburgh Hospice Transformation
- Scottish GovernmentSyndicatedInterimEOI - TP - Director of Internal Audit and Assurance
- MotorwaySyndicatedInterimInterim Head of Financial Control (3-6 month contract)
- VoyadoSyndicatedInterimHead of Revenue Enablement (Interim)
- TLT LLPSyndicatedInterimInterim General Counsel – Infrastructure & Energy Projects
- JuroSyndicatedInterimInterim Finance Director
Every fractional role in the UK is on the fractional jobs board.
Three seats
What does a fractional seat look like in practice?
Three fractional seats our founder has held. Real companies, named with their permission; we state only what the seat covered.
Fractional seats our founder has held
ClimatiseFractional · go-to-marketA carbon-reporting software company that needed go-to-market leadership before a full-time hire.
- Seat
- Fractional go-to-market lead
- Days
- Two days a week
- Scope
- Go-to-market
One Up ProductionsFractional · go-to-marketA production company that needed both the go-to-market strategy and its execution.
- Seat
- Fractional go-to-market: strategy and execution
- Days
- Two days a week
- Scope
- Go-to-market
CK DeltaFractional · technologyTechnology work: tech stack implementation.
- Seat
- Fractional technology lead
These are seats our founder has held, not placements.
The scope
Consultancy firm or interim manager — what each owns
A consultancy firm is right when. The work is a defined project with an output — a diagnostic, a cost review, a programme design — and you want a team, a method and capacity you do not have, while your own managers stay in charge.
An interim manager is right when. A seat is empty or a change needs one accountable leader with line authority now: a departure, a turnaround, an integration, a restructure, a system cutover. The interim runs the function and hands over at the end.
Out of scope either way. Neither replaces the board’s own accountability. Directors stay responsible for the company whoever they bring in, and an interim works to the mandate the board sets.
The test: if you need someone to tell you what to do, a consultancy can. If you need someone to do it, with authority over people and budget, you need an interim manager.
The process
How does a brief become a shortlist?
Six steps, one accountable person at each. We don’t promise a shortlist by a date; the weeks below are what a well-scoped brief usually takes.
- Day 001The 15-minute callThe seat, the engagement shape, the days or hours, the start date and the budget. No account needed; a call or a written brief.You and us
- Week 102Scope agreed in writingThe outcome the seat exists for, which days, and how the engagement will run for IR35. A brief that describes a person rather than a job, we rewrite with you.Us
- Weeks 1–203Search and approachWe approach people who aren’t looking and verify prior tenure in the seat at your scale and stage.Us
- Weeks 2–304References, taken by usFrom recent clients and boards: what they delivered, not what they titled it.Us
- Week 305Shortlist of three to fiveEach with day rate or salary, availability and IR35 position set out. You interview and decide.You
- Week 406Kick-offScope, first-month outcomes and the contract agreed before day one.You, them and us
Against the alternatives
Interim management consultancy firm, interim manager or permanent hire
Three ways to buy senior capability for a change. The difference is who holds the authority and who answers for the result.
| Consultancy firm | Interim manager (placed by us) | Permanent hire | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you buy | A project and a team | One leader in a line role for a fixed term | A leader for years |
| Authority | Advisory; your managers decide | The seat’s own authority, set in a mandate | The seat’s own authority |
| Who does the work | The firm’s team | The interim, through your team | Your employee, through your team |
| Best when | The work is a one-off with a clear output | A seat is empty or a change needs leading now | The seat is full-time work for the long term |
| Usual contract | Statement of work | Day-rate contract for the mandate, often via the interim’s company | Employment contract |
The decision
Which interim consultancy fits the problem
Three situations, and the shape that fits each.
- Empty seatA senior leader has goneAn interim manager holds the seat full-time, keeps the function running and hands over to the permanent appointment. A consultancy cannot hold a line role.
- ProgrammeA change with a deadlineAn integration, restructure or turnaround needs one accountable leader. Brief an interim with a written mandate; buy specialist project support under them if needed.
- DiagnosisNot yet sure what is wrongA short consultancy diagnostic may be the right first step. Once the problem is clear, the person who fixes it is usually an interim or a fractional leader.
Vetting
How do we vet an interim manager?
Five stages before anyone reaches a shortlist of three to five.
- Pedigree screenTenureWe verify prior tenure in the seat, at the scale and stage you need. No consultant presenting as an executive.
- Mandate fitFitFit to your stage, sector and the problem the seat exists to solve, not a CV keyword.
- Reference deep-diveVerifyWe take references ourselves, from recent clients and boards: what they delivered, not what they titled it.
- ShortlistShortlistThree to five candidates, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
- Kick-offStartScope, first-month outcomes and the contract agreed before day one.
The full process is on how we vet.
the mandate
How an interim management mandate is set outcome, authority, end date
The outcome. What must be true at the end: the audit signed, the integration complete, the business stable and handed to a permanent leader. Interim managers are judged on the mandate, so write it down.
The authority. Which decisions the interim can take alone, which need the board, and who reports to them. An interim without authority is an expensive adviser.
Review points and the end date. Agree checkpoints and how the mandate ends: a hand-over to the permanent appointment, or to the business-as-usual team. Good interims plan the hand-over from the first week.
The contract. Most interim managers work through their own company on a day-rate contract for the mandate. How the role runs in practice decides IR35 status, not the word "consultancy" on the contract.
interim or fractional
Interim management or a fractional leader? full-time now, or days each week
An interim manager is full-time for a fixed term: right for a gap, a crisis or a change that needs every day. A fractional leader holds the same seat a set number of days a week, open-ended: right when the work needs senior judgement every week but not every day.
Many interim mandates end with the business asking the interim to stay on fractionally. We recruit both shapes, and the permanent appointment when the seat is ready for it; the interim recruitment agency page sets out the interim side by seat.
The Institute of Interim Management is the professional body for interim managers: see the Institute of Interim Management. For individual management consultants, the equivalent body is the Institute of Consulting, part of the CMI.
how we work
If the answer is a leader, not an interim management consultancy brief to shortlist
Brief. A scoping call on the problem, the shape (fractional days, an interim mandate or a permanent seat), the start date and what success looks like in the first ninety days.
Shortlist. We search for your brief and come back with a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate or salary, availability and IR35 position set out, assessed through our five-stage vetting.
Contract. You choose; the leader contracts with you directly, usually through their own company for fractional and interim work. Agree how the engagement will run in practice, because that decides its IR35 status — HMRC’s guidance for clients sets out who makes the determination.
Standing. Check professional standing before you sign: the Institute of Interim Management — the professional body for interim managers and executives; the Institute of Consulting — the professional body for individual consultants, part of the CMI; GOV.UK guidance on being a company director — directors stay responsible whoever they bring in.
The right route
Agency, recruiter, interim or permanent?
Three taps. Say how much senior work there is, for how long, and whether it is one leader or a run of hires; the tool names the route.
The route · Fractional recruiter
An embedded fractional recruiter.
A hiring plan to work through below the leadership team is a talent-acquisition job: a recruiter inside your business for part of the week, paid for their time. We don’t supply them; the page below explains the role.
The route · Non-executive director
A non-executive director.
Independent oversight and constructive challenge, not executive direction. We recruit NEDs through the same brief process.
The route · Advisor
An advisor, not yet a seat.
Less than a day a week of senior input is advisory. Buy it as a scoped engagement; when it grows into a day or more, brief us for a fractional executive.
The route · Interim
An interim executive.
Four or five days for a fixed period is interim: cover for a departure, a turnaround or a transaction. The IIM puts the UK average at £907 a day and ten months.
The route · Permanent
A permanent search.
Four or five days of work, ongoing, is a full-time seat. We recruit permanent executives through the same brief process.
The route · Fractional executive
Brief a fractional recruitment agency.
Senior judgement for part of the week: a fractional CFO, CTO, CMO or COO on one to three days. We come back with a shortlist of three to five, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
We recruit executives. We don’t supply embedded fractional recruiters; where that is the right route, the tool says so.
Clients
What do companies say about our fractional work?
From a company where our founder has held a fractional seat. Name and logo given with the client’s permission.
“Excellent fractional support for building both our go-to-market strategy and our execution.”
Charlie AndersonDirector, One Up ProductionsWhere we are
Where is Fractional Quest?
Where we are
71–75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9JQ
Fractional Quest Ltd, registered in England and Wales, no. 17322105. This is our registered office; meetings are by appointment, and most briefs start on a 15-minute call.
Questions
Interim Management Consultancy questions, answered
The phrase covers two things. A consulting firm that runs interim projects with its own team, alongside your managers; or a provider that places an interim manager in a line role for a fixed term. Fractional Quest is neither a consulting firm nor an employer of interims: we recruit the interim manager, who contracts with you directly.
A consultant advises and delivers a defined piece of work; an interim manager takes the seat and the decisions, with line authority, for the length of a mandate. If you need advice, buy consultancy. If you need someone to run the function, hire an interim.
Usually a consulting engagement for a fixed period, staffed by a firm’s team. Buyers also use it to mean an interim executive on a day rate. Ask which you are being offered: one named person in a line role, or a team working to a statement of work.
As long as the mandate needs. It is agreed in writing at the start with review points, and ends with a hand-over to the permanent appointment or the business-as-usual team.
Fractional Quest is a recruitment agency, not a consulting firm: we do not employ consultants or run consulting projects. We find the interim, fractional or permanent leader for your brief, and they contract with you directly.
A consultancy firm prices its own way; we cannot speak for it. For a leader in the seat, it depends on the seat, the days and the length of the mandate. Fractional Quest publishes no fees; each candidate on a shortlist states their own rate or salary, so you compare like with like.
It depends on how the engagement runs in practice — control, substitution and whether the interim manager is part and parcel of your organisation — not on the label "consultant" or "consultancy". For medium and large private-sector clients the client makes the status determination. Every candidate on our shortlist states their IR35 position.
Sources
Where does every figure on this page come from?
The primary publisher for each number, linked. Where a figure is our own arithmetic, the page says so where it appears.
- HMRC
- legislation.gov.uk
- 1Understanding off-payroll working (IR35) HMRCStatus depends on how the engagement runs; medium and large clients make the determination.
- 2Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 HMRCEmployer National Insurance at 15% above £5,000 a year.
- 3
- 4Employment Agencies Act 1973 legislation.gov.ukThe law a recruitment agency works under; no fee to a work-seeker.
