Portfolio careers · how they work
What is a portfolio career?
The short answer · updated
A portfolio career is a working life made of several roles held at the same time instead of one full-time job. For senior people it usually combines fractional executive roles, interim assignments, non-executive directorships, advisory work and sometimes a part-time employed role, each with its own client, days and contract.
What a portfolio career looks like
The common thread is that no single employer takes all of the person’s working week.
A finance leader might act as fractional CFO for two growing companies, chair one audit committee as a non-executive director, and take an occasional interim assignment between them.
The pieces usually fall into a few kinds:
- Fractional roles. An executive seat for an agreed number of days a week or month, held over months or years. See what fractional work is.
- Interim assignments. A full-time role for a fixed period: cover, a turnaround or a programme.
- Non-executive directorships. A seat on a board, with a few days a month of preparation and meetings. See what a non-executive director does.
- Advisory work. A set number of hours for a founder, an investor or a board committee.
- Employed part-time roles. A role on the payroll for part of the week, alongside the rest.
Portfolio career pros and cons
For it: variety across companies and sectors; choice over the work and the days; income from several clients rather than one; and a way to keep working at a senior level on fewer days than a full-time executive job.
Against it: income is less predictable; there is no employer pension, sick pay or holiday pay unless a role is employed; time goes on finding the next client; and each client expects you to be available when it needs you, which is hard to guarantee to four of them at once.
Most people who make it work keep one or two anchor roles that cover their fixed costs, and add shorter pieces around them.
How to build a portfolio career
Start with the seat you can sell: the job you have done at a senior level and could do part-time for a company that cannot afford it full-time.
Clients buy a clear offer, such as fractional CFO for venture-backed software companies, more readily than a list of skills.
Then win the first role before you leave the last one if you can, from people who already know your work.
Add a second only when the first is running well.
Our guide to becoming a fractional executive sets out the steps, from the offer to the contract.
Plan the calendar.
Agree days with each client in writing, keep some time unallocated for the weeks when one of them needs more, and say no to work that would clash with a commitment already made.
Tax, status and setting up
Working for several clients usually means working for yourself for at least part of the portfolio.
GOV.UK’s working for yourself guide explains when you need to report income to HMRC and set up a business, and that you can run a business and be employed at the same time.
Most senior people work as a sole trader or through their own limited company; a company makes you a director, with the duties of a company director.
Status is decided role by role.
A fractional or interim role through your own company may fall within the off-payroll working rules (IR35); for a medium or large client the client makes the determination, and HMRC’s check employment status for tax tool is one way to test it.
A portfolio can hold roles inside and outside IR35 at the same time.
Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
How a portfolio career is paid
Each piece is paid in its own way: fractional and interim roles by the day or on a monthly retainer, non-executive directorships by an annual fee, advisory work by the hour or the month, and employed roles by salary.
Total income is the sum of the pieces, less the costs of running your own business.
We do not publish an income figure for a portfolio, because it depends entirely on the mix.
For the components, our rate calculator converts day rates to monthly and annual sums, and each seat’s salary and day-rate page sets out published figures with their sources, such as fractional CFO salary.
Finding portfolio roles
Most portfolio roles come from people who have worked with you.
The rest come from boards and investors looking for a particular seat, from recruiters, and from job boards that list part-time and fractional roles.
We recruit fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent executives, and non-executive directors.
See the current fractional jobs on our board, and where to find fractional executives for how companies look for them.
Questions people ask
What is a portfolio career?
A working life made of several roles held at once, such as fractional executive roles, interim work, non-executive directorships and advisory work, instead of one full-time job.
Is a portfolio career the same as fractional work?
Not quite.
Fractional work is one kind of role, an executive seat for part of the week; a portfolio career is the whole mix, which often includes several fractional roles.
Do I need a limited company for a portfolio career?
No. Many people work as a sole trader, some through a limited company, and some hold employed roles in the mix.
Take advice on which suits your clients and your tax position.
Can I have a portfolio career and a job?
Yes.
GOV.UK notes that you can run a business and be employed at the same time; check your employment contract for any limits on outside work.
How does IR35 apply to a portfolio career?
Role by role.
Each engagement through your own company is assessed on how it runs in practice under the off-payroll working rules, so one portfolio can hold roles inside and outside IR35.
How do I start a portfolio career?
Define the seat you can sell, win a first role from people who know your work, then add pieces one at a time.
Our guide to becoming a fractional executive sets out the steps.
