Log my CareSyndicatedFractional
Fractional CPOProduct Consultancy · fractional, interim and permanent product leaders
Product Consultancy · fractional chief product officer or product director, briefed and shortlisted
product consultancy from Fractional Quest means a fractional chief product officer or product director working in your business on a fractional, interim or permanent basis. Fractional Quest is a recruitment agency, not a consulting firm: we do not employ consultants or sell a team. We find a fractional chief product officer or product director for your brief — fractional, interim or permanent — 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 a product consultancy covers
This page sets out what a product consultancy engagement covers, how fractional, project and interim compare, how it runs. The board below shows current product leadership roles.
Product consultancy at leadership level is about ownership, not advice. The chief product officer owns what gets built and why: product strategy, the roadmap, discovery and the product team.
Fractional Quest is a recruitment agency, not a consulting firm: we do not employ consultants or sell a team. We find a fractional chief product officer or product director for your brief — fractional, interim or permanent — and they contract with you directly.
A CPO consultant is usually a fractional CPO consultant — a chief product officer on a standing weekly commitment. See fractional CPO.
The seat in more depth: CPO services · CPO recruitment agency · CPO consultants.
On the board · last 90 days
Current product leadership 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.
10 of 10 roles
Function
Engagement
- NationwideSyndicatedContractHead of Internal Communications
- Marie CurieSyndicatedInterimInterim Head of Edinburgh Hospice Transformation
- Estée Lauder CompaniesSyndicatedContractEstee Lauder - Counter Lead - Boots Battersea - 4 days per week - 1 year contract
- E.ON NextSyndicatedContractHead of Growth Delivery
- AND DigitalSyndicatedContractPlatform Security & Compliance Lead (Contract)
- MotorwaySyndicatedInterimInterim Head of Financial Control (3-6 month contract)
- Scottish GovernmentSyndicatedInterimEOI - TP - Director of Internal Audit and Assurance
- Lloyd'sSyndicatedTemporaryChief of Staff to the Chief Commercial Officer / CEO Lloyd's Americas - 12 Month FTC
- Marks & SpencerSyndicatedContractHead of Finance Controllership - 18 Month Fixed Term Contract
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 engagement covers — and what it does not
In scope. Product vision, strategy and roadmap; customer discovery and prioritisation; product management practice and team; pricing and packaging input; product metrics and outcomes.
Not in scope. How the product is engineered is the CTO’s domain; go-to-market execution sits with marketing and sales. A CPO consultant decides what to build and why.
The neighbouring seats. The CPO decides what to build; the CTO decides how to build it.
When companies look for product consultancy: A roadmap driven by the loudest customer, engineers building without clear priorities, a founder who is still the product manager, or product–market fit in question.
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
Four ways to buy product expertise fractional, project, interim or permanent
The same product problem can be bought four ways. The difference is who does the work, for how long, and who is accountable afterwards.
| Fractional product leader | Project consultancy firm | Interim executive | Permanent hire | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What you buy | A fractional chief product officer or product director, days a week | A defined deliverable | A leader full-time for a fixed term | A full-time leader for years |
| Who does the work | One named senior person | A team, often with a partner who sold it | One named senior person | Your employee |
| Accountable after | Yes — they stay | No — the project ends | Until the hand-over | Yes |
| Best when | You need senior judgement every week, not every day | The work is a one-off with a clear output | You need full-time cover or a change led now | The seat is full-time work for years |
| Usual contract | Contract for services, often via the leader’s company | Statement of work | Day-rate contract for the mandate | Employment contract |
The decision
When product consultancy is the right call
Three situations, and the shape that fits each.
- Founder as PMThe founder is still the product managerA fractional CPO takes over the roadmap and installs product practice so the founder can step back.
- Loudest customerA roadmap driven by requestsEngineers build whatever the biggest customer asked for. A fractional product leader resets priorities on evidence.
- ScaleFrom one PM to a teamAn interim or fractional CPO builds the product function and its rituals.
Vetting
How do we vet a product consultant?
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.
how it runs
How our product consultancy works from brief to the first ninety days
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. A good brief names the decisions the product leader will own.
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 consultant 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.
Cadence. A fractional product leader works best on fixed days with a standing slot with the CEO. Review the days each quarter. An interim works to a written mandate with review points and a hand-over date.
fractional or firm
Fractional product consultant or a product consultancy firm? who stays accountable
Product consultancy firms usually sell a discovery sprint, a design project or a build. They leave a backlog; somebody still has to decide what to build next quarter.
A fractional product consultant is a different purchase: one senior person who holds the brief week after week and answers for the outcome. A fractional chief product officer sets strategy, installs product practice and coaches product managers on a standing weekly commitment.
Out of scope either way. How the product is engineered is the CTO’s domain; go-to-market execution sits with marketing and sales. A CPO consultant decides what to build and why.
Standing. Check professional standing before you sign: the GOV.UK Service Manual — a public reference for agile delivery, user research and service design.
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
Product Consultancy questions, answered
Product consultancy puts senior product expertise into a business. Through Fractional Quest that means a fractional chief product officer or product director on a fractional, interim or permanent basis, owning: product vision, strategy and roadmap; customer discovery and prioritisation; product management practice and team.
Fractional Quest is a recruitment agency, not a consulting firm: we do not employ consultants or sell a team. We find a fractional chief product officer or product director for your brief — fractional, interim or permanent — and they contract with you directly. You get one named senior person rather than a team sold by a partner, and they stay accountable for as long as you need them.
Fractional when you need senior product judgement every week but not every day; a project consultancy when the work is a one-off with a clear deliverable; interim when you need full-time cover or a change led now; permanent when the seat is full-time work for years.
It depends on the shape, the days and the sector, and no source we can verify publishes a band for this seat. Fractional Quest publishes no fees; each candidate on a shortlist states their own rate, so you compare like with like.
It depends on how the engagement runs in practice — control, substitution and whether the product consultant is part and parcel of your organisation, not on the label "consultant". For medium and large private-sector clients the client makes the status determination. Every candidate on our shortlist states their IR35 position.
At leadership level: product strategy, discovery, the roadmap, product practice and the outcomes the product is measured on. Through Fractional Quest it is owned by a named fractional or interim product leader.
The CPO decides what to build; the CTO decides how. A product company with engineers but no clear priorities usually needs the product leader first.
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.
