Verity (PMOS UK)SyndicatedInterim
Interim Chief Executive Officer (Women's Health Charity)Interim recruitment consultancy · interim executives for every seat
Interim Recruitment Consultancy · interim executives found, briefed and shortlisted
An interim recruitment consultancy finds interim executives and managers for a fixed-term role — a gap, a change or a transaction — and puts them in front of the company that needs them. In recruitment, "consultancy" means the recruiter: the consultants are the people who run the search, not the interims. 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 an interim recruitment consultancy does
This page sets out what an interim recruitment consultancy does, the two ways the interim can be contracted, and what to ask before you brief one. The board below shows current interim executive roles.
An interim recruitment consultancy takes a brief for a fixed-term senior role, searches for interims who have done that job before, assesses them against the brief and presents a shortlist. The company chooses, and the interim starts — often within days or weeks rather than the months a permanent search takes.
It is not a management consultancy. A management consultancy sells advice and a project team; an interim recruitment consultancy finds one person to take the seat. If you are not sure which you need, interim management consultancy compares them.
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 same service by seat: interim recruitment agency. For interim managers across every function: interim management agency. How a search for an interim runs: interim executive search.
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
What an interim recruitment consultancy should do — and what it should not
It should. Help you write the mandate; search for interims who have done the job, not just held the title; assess and reference them; and set out each candidate’s day rate, availability and IR35 position so you compare like with like.
It should not. Send unscreened CVs, present a candidate without their agreement, or leave the contracting model unclear. You should know from the first call who the interim will contract with.
The rules. Recruitment businesses in Great Britain work under the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003, which set out how they deal with hirers and candidates. The Recruitment and Employment Confederation is the industry’s trade body.
Ask one question first: will the interim contract with us, or with you? The answer decides who invoices, who carries the relationship and how IR35 is handled.
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
Two ways an interim is contracted
Interim recruitment consultancies work on one of two models. Neither is wrong; know which one you are signing up to.
| Introduction (our model) | Supply through the provider | |
|---|---|---|
| Who the interim contracts with | You, directly — usually through their own company | The provider, which contracts with you |
| Who invoices you | The interim | The provider |
| Who determines IR35 status | You, as the client, where the off-payroll rules apply | You, as the client; the provider in the chain usually pays the interim |
| Best when | You want a direct relationship with the leader in the seat | You want one supplier contract and one invoice |
| Commercials | Agreed in writing per engagement | Agreed in writing with the provider |
The decision
When to brief an interim recruitment consultancy three situations
Match the shape to the work, not the title.
- GapA seat is empty nowA resignation or exit leaves a senior seat empty mid-year. An interim holds it full-time while the permanent search runs.
- ChangeA programme with an end dateAn integration, system cutover or restructure needs a full-time leader for a defined period, then a hand-over.
- Not interimThe work is part of every week, for yearsIf the need is senior judgement on set days, ongoing, a fractional leader fits better than an interim. We recruit both.
Vetting
How do we vet an interim executive?
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.
before you brief
Five questions for an interim recruitment consultancy ask them on the first call
Who contracts with whom? Introduction or supply — see the table above. With us, the interim contracts with you directly.
Who runs the search? Ask who will speak to candidates and who will present them. You want the person who understands your brief.
What is assessed? Mandates delivered and references from the people who appointed them, not only the CV. Our five stages are published at how we vet.
Is IR35 on the shortlist? Each candidate’s IR35 position should be set out, and the engagement written to match how it will actually run.
What are the commercials? In writing, before any CV is sent. Ours are agreed per engagement; there is no fee on this site.
how we work
If the answer is a leader, not an interim recruitment 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 Recruitment and Employment Confederation — the trade body for the recruitment industry, which sets professional standards for its members; the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 — the regulations that govern how recruitment agencies and employment businesses deal with hirers and candidates; the Institute of Interim Management — the professional body for interim managers and executives.
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 Recruitment Consultancy questions, answered
A recruitment business that finds interim executives and managers for fixed-term senior roles. "Consultancy" here means the recruiter, not a management consultancy: it finds one person to take the seat rather than selling a project.
In practice, yes — "consultancy" and "agency" are used interchangeably in recruitment. What differs between providers is the contracting model (introduction or supply), the seats they cover and how they assess. Our interim recruitment agency page sets out the seats.
It depends on each candidate’s availability, which is set out on the shortlist. Interims expect short notice, but senior people often finish one mandate before starting the next, so a start date is agreed rather than assumed.
Often, if both sides want it and the contract allows it. Check the terms on conversion in writing before the interim starts.
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 executive 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.
