Managing director salary · base, bonus and package, 2026
What a managing director earns, by company size and ownership
A managing director salary depends first on the business: its size, who owns it, and whether the MD runs the whole company or one division.
For full-time chief executives and senior officials, the ONS’s nearest group, the range runs from £63,161 to £151,903, median £99,944.
Exec Capital, a recruiter, puts a mid-market MD (£20m–£200m revenue) at £130,000–£280,000 in base pay.
Base is only part of the package: bonus, pension, employer’s National Insurance and often equity sit on top.
When you hire a managing director through us, 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 a managing director
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Managing 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
Managing director jobs on the board
Managing director roles sit with chief executive roles on our board.
Managing director roles on the board
Fractional recruiting starts with the brief, not the CV pile. Send a Managing Director brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five candidates, each through five-stage vetting.
01/ the role
What a managing director does, and what sets the pay
The Institute of Directors describes the managing director or chief executive as the most senior full-time executive of the company, responsible for its performance against the board’s strategy, and treats the two titles as virtually the same role.
For the role in full, see what does a managing director do.
Ownership and size set the pay more than the title does.
Exec Capital’s 2026 MD salary guide puts an owner-managed business with £3m–£15m revenue at £75,000–£120,000 base, £15m–£50m at £110,000–£175,000 and £50m–£150m at £160,000–£250,000.
A PE-backed MD ranges from £120,000–£175,000 (enterprise value £20m–£75m) to £220,000–£350,000+ (£250m+).
Scope comes next.
Exec Capital’s director guide says a standalone MD, the most senior executive in the business, is paid like a chief executive: £120,000–£400,000 base depending on size.
A divisional MD inside a larger group sits at £130,000–£280,000 at mid-market scale, reflecting the narrower remit.
Against the other director seats in the same mid-market table, the MD band has the highest floor: finance director £100,000–£250,000, operations director £110,000–£280,000, sales director £110,000–£280,000 base, marketing director £120,000–£300,000 and HR director £100,000–£250,000.
For each seat in detail, see finance director salary, sales director salary, marketing director salary and HR director salary.
02/ scope
How to set the pay when you hire a managing director
1. Scope the seat before the salary
Write down what the role runs (a whole company or one business in a group), who it answers to, whether it carries a board seat, and who reports in.
A brief that does not say whether the MD owns the profit and loss account draws the wrong shortlist.
Our managing director job description sets out the headings.
2. Choose the route
A permanent MD suits a business that needs someone running it every day for years; read how managing director recruitment runs.
For cover after a departure, a turnaround or a sale, bring in an interim managing director on a day rate.
For set days a week, often beside an owner stepping back, a fractional managing director may fit.
3. Set base, bonus and equity together
The CIPD’s introduction to reward separates fixed base pay from variable pay, which is not guaranteed.
Exec Capital puts an owner-managed MD’s annual bonus at 10–20% of base in a £3m–£15m business, rising to 20–40% at £50m–£150m revenue.
In a PE-backed business it runs from 25–40% to 40–60% of base, with equity on top.
4. Agree notice before the offer
Exec Capital says twelve months is the standard notice period for an MD in a mid-market business, and six months is common in smaller businesses.
A long notice period protects the business once the MD is in post, and delays the start of the one you are hiring.
What we do on a managing director brief
We recruit permanent, fractional, interim, part-time and temporary executives, and non-executive directors.
We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, and every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.
Roles on the board are listed on managing director 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 · 1 role · Managing director
Engagement
- Interim1
Days a week
- Stated in the posting1
- Not stated0
Day rate
- Verified rate0
- Estimated (est)0
- Rate not stated1
Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)
- Remote0
- Hybrid1
- On-site0
Newest posting on the board: 18 Sept 2026.
04/ the route
Fractional, interim or permanent?
Four taps. The answer names the route for the seat and the page that covers it.
The route · Fractional
A fractional managing director.The work fills part of the week, so buy the days it needs.
A fractional managing director holds the seat on agreed days for as long as the seat is needed, and works for other clients on the rest.
The route · Interim
An interim managing director.The work fills the week, and it has an end: a programme, a cover, a transaction.
An interim managing director takes the seat full time for that stretch and hands it over when it is done.
The route · Interim, then permanent
Interim now, a permanent managing director after.The seat is full time and long term, and the need is now.
An interim managing director holds it while the permanent search runs, so the seat is not left empty.
The route · Permanent
A permanent managing director.A full-time seat that sits at the table for years is a permanent hire.
There is time to run a search, so run one.
05/ rates by stage
Managing director salary by ownership and company size
Permanent pay as each source states it. The ONS figures are gross annual pay of full-time employees in April 2025, for chief executives and senior officials (SOC 2020 1111), the nearest ONS group to the MD title. The Exec Capital figures are base salary from its own 2025–26 searches; the Robert Walters figures are basic salaries from roles it saw advertised. Both are recruiters. Base pay excludes bonus and equity.
06/ economics
What the salary costs the business, beyond the base
A salary is not the whole cost of an employee.
For 2026 to 2027, employer’s National Insurance is 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year (HMRC rates and thresholds), and the rates apply to directors too.
Under automatic enrolment, the employer must pay at least 3% into a workplace pension on earnings between £6,240 and £50,270 a year, including bonuses (GOV.UK).
That band caps the legal minimum well below an MD’s salary; Exec Capital says employer contributions of 5–10% of base are standard for an MD.
The bonus is pay too.
HMRC treats a cash bonus as earnings, with PAYE tax and Class 1 National Insurance deducted through payroll, so budget employer’s National Insurance on the bonus as well as the base.
Exec Capital puts a car allowance at £7,500–£15,000 a year, or a company car, at most MD levels.
If the MD is a director and the contract guarantees employment, or a notice period, of more than two years, the Companies Act requires the members to approve it first, with exceptions such as a wholly-owned subsidiary.
07/ vetting
How we vet managing directors
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify Managing 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
08/ managing director salary uk
Managing director salary UK: the official figure and the market bands
The ONS does not publish a figure for the managing director title.
Its nearest group is chief executives and senior officials (SOC 2020 1111) in the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.
For about 112,000 full-time employee jobs in April 2025, the range runs from £63,161 to £151,903, with a median of £99,944.
The ONS mean is higher, at £158,728.
The ONS figures are gross pay to employees, including bonuses paid through payroll.
Self-employed income is excluded, so they describe an MD on a salary, not an owner taking profits.
The managing director salary UK recruiters quote is higher because it describes larger businesses.
Exec Capital’s bands start at £75,000–£120,000 base for an owner-managed business with £3m–£15m revenue and reach £220,000–£350,000+ at a PE-backed business worth £250m or more.
Read any single figure as one view of the market, then find the band your business sits in.
09/ managing director salary london
Managing director salary London, and the regions
The managing director salary London employers pay sits above the national figure.
For chief executives and senior officials working in London, the ONS regional table gives a full-time median of £126,978 in April 2025, across about 45,000 jobs.
The national median for the same group is £99,944.
Exec Capital says director salaries in London and the South East typically run 10–20% above the regional UK average for equivalent roles, with the premium most marked in roles paying £150,000 or more.
That figure covers director roles in general, not MDs alone.
For most other regions the ONS sample for this group is too small for a reliable median, and it does not publish one.
Robert Walters, a recruiter, publishes MD pay for manufacturing and engineering in two regions.
In the Midlands it gives £90,000–£130,000 at a business with 50–250 staff and £130,000–£200,000 at one with 250 or more.
In the North it gives £90,000–£130,000 and £120,000–£175,000.
Outside those, start from the national range and the band for your business size and ownership.
10/ managing director vs CEO salary
Managing director vs CEO salary: one seat, two titles
Where the managing director runs the whole company, the job is the chief executive’s under another name, and Exec Capital says the pay mirrors its CEO benchmarks.
Its 2026 CEO guide gives base pay of £70,000–£130,000 at an early-stage startup, £120,000–£250,000 at an SME (£5m–£50m revenue) and £200,000–£400,000 in the mid-market (£50m–£250m).
The managing director vs CEO salary gap opens in a group.
There the chief executive leads the whole group and each MD runs one business inside it, so the MD’s pay reflects the narrower scope: Exec Capital puts a divisional MD at £130,000–£280,000 at mid-market scale.
For the top seat’s pay by company size, see CEO salary.
11/ the other routes
Salary, day rate or retainer: the other ways to pay for the seat
Read this sectionClose this section
A permanent salary buys a managing director every day, with notice on both sides.
An interim MD is paid by the day for full-time cover over a fixed period; see interim managing director salary for the day rates.
A fractional MD works set days a week on a day rate or monthly fee; see fractional managing director salary.
The three are paid on different bases, so compare the total cost for the days you need, not the headline numbers.
12/ questions
Managing director salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a managing 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.
