IT director jobs · IT director vacancies · Permanent, interim and fractional
IT director jobs · permanent, interim and fractional
IT director jobs are the senior roles that run a company’s IT: its infrastructure, systems, service desk, suppliers and IT team, with the IT budget and the plan to keep it all working. They come as permanent full-time posts, interim assignments and fractional or part-time seats. The board below shows the IT director and related technology leadership roles on our board, with permanent roles first where the posting says full-time.
We recruit permanent, interim, fractional and part-time technology leaders, and non-executive directors. Hiring rather than looking? On every brief we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or 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 IT director
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with IT Director 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
IT director jobs jobs on the board
No IT director jobs roles on the board in the last three months. Showing technology leadership roles instead.
Current IT director roles on our board
Fractional Quest is a fractional recruitment agency: send a IT Director brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.
01/ the role
IT director jobs: what the board holds
The board on this page holds the IT director roles on our board, filed with the CIO seat they sit under in our taxonomy: IT director, head of IT at director level, and director of technology services, in every mode of work. Roles whose posting says full-time come first. Interim, fractional and part-time roles follow, and where a posting states how the role is engaged, the listing says so. When there are few, the board widens to the CTO and CISO seats beside it, and says that it has.
What the seat does
The ONS’s occupational classification (SOC 2020) describes information technology directors as the people who plan, organise, direct and co-ordinate the work and resources needed to provide and run IT infrastructure and services: networks, devices, servers and the software on them. Its list of tasks includes developing the IT strategy with other senior managers, setting the IT budget to deliver agreed service levels, deciding IT staffing, and prioritising and scheduling major IT projects.
One seat, several ways to hold it
A permanent IT director is employed full-time and owns IT for years. An interim IT director holds the seat for a fixed period, to cover a departure or carry a migration, an office move or a carve-out. A fractional IT director holds it for agreed days a week, often in a business too small for a full-time IT leader but too reliant on its systems to go without one. The job title is the same; the contract, the days and the tax position are not.
IT director or CIO?
The ONS lists chief information officer and IT director as related titles in the same unit group. In practice the IT director usually runs IT delivery, and the CIO sets IT strategy and sits with the board; in a mid-sized business the IT director is often the top IT seat and does both. If you are looking at the seat above, see CIO jobs.
02/ scope
How to get an IT director job
1. Run IT services and teams first
The ONS says there are no pre-set entry requirements, though candidates usually hold a degree or equivalent and substantial relevant experience, and a variety of professional and postgraduate qualifications is available. The usual path runs through IT manager and head of IT. The Government Digital and Data framework’s IT service manager career path, up to head of IT service management, shows the service side of that climb.
2. Show the level
SFIA’s levels of responsibility run from Follow to Set strategy, inspire, mobilise; an IT director works near the top of that scale. BCS’s Chartered IT Professional (CITP) registration is assessed on written evidence of competence and conduct. Neither is required, but both give a hiring panel something to test against.
3. Own security, not only uptime
In many businesses the IT director is also the person responsible for cyber security. The NCSC’s Cyber Essentials is the government-recommended minimum standard, built on a short set of technical controls, and a growing number of buyers ask suppliers to hold it. The NCSC’s 10 Steps to Cyber Security is written for medium and large organisations with someone dedicated to managing cyber security. Bring examples of both to an interview.
4. Pick the route in
Not every IT director job is permanent. Fractional IT director jobs hold the seat for set days a week, and interim CIO jobs often take IT directors for a fixed period. If you work through your own company, the off-payroll working rules (IR35) may apply: status turns on how the engagement runs, and a medium or large client makes the determination. Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
03/ related roles
IT director jobs by type
The pages we keep for the IT director seat and the CIO seat above it, one per kind of role or question. We recruit permanent, interim, fractional and part-time IT leaders.
04/ vetting
How we vet IT directors
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify IT Director 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
05/ it director vacancies
IT director vacancies what the postings ask for
IT director vacancies are advertised under several titles: IT director, head of IT, director of IT services, technology director and, in some sectors, IT and digital director. A head of IT in a large business can carry the same work as an IT director in a smaller one, so read the scope rather than the title.
Read each vacancy for what the seat owns: infrastructure and cloud, business systems, the service desk, cyber security, suppliers and contracts, or all of them. Ask who it reports to (the CEO, the CFO, the COO or a CIO) and whether a separate security lead exists. Seats with security at their centre are listed under CISO jobs.
Ask whether the title means a seat on the board. An IT director is not a company director unless formally appointed; a director appointed to the board is legally responsible for running the company, as Companies House sets out. Most IT director vacancies are senior management roles, not board appointments.
06/ permanent it director jobs
Permanent IT director jobs the market and the pay
Permanent IT director jobs are full-time employed roles, and they are the ones listed first on this page. Robert Half’s 2026 London salary tables put a full-time IT director at £111,250 at the 25th percentile, £130,500 at the median and £158,500 at the 75th percentile (Robert Half, London). Robert Half is a recruiter, these are its own starting-salary projections, and they are London figures, not a national rate.
Base pay is one part of a permanent package. Bonus, pension, on-call cover and notice period vary with the size of the business and its sector. For pay across the CIO seat above, in permanent, interim and fractional roles, see our CIO salary guide.
Some permanent IT director searches are run by a headhunter rather than an open advert. Our CIO headhunter page sets out how a permanent search for the senior IT seat works from the hiring side.
07/ questions
IT director jobs FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in an IT director.
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.
