Fractional executive search firms

The “Big Five”, sometimes abbreviated SHREK after the firms’ initials, are Spencer Stuart, Heidrick & Struggles, Russell Reynolds Associates, Egon Zehnder and Korn Ferry.

All five are profiled above, with the founding year, reach and practice areas each publishes on its own site.

Spencer Stuart, Heidrick & Struggles and Russell Reynolds each list a London office on their own sites.

No firm in this guide publishes a fee schedule.

UK retained search runs 25–35% of the candidate’s approximate first-year base salary, with 30% the most common headline rate for mid-market roles and minimum fees of £30,000–£40,000 at established firms (Headhunters.co.uk, March 2026).

Executive Recruit puts retained search at 20–35%, paid in three staged instalments, and contingent recruitment at 15–25% of base salary on placement; by role, CEO searches run 30–33% and CFO searches 28–33% (£40,000–£80,000).

Always ask for a written fee letter rather than relying on published ranges.

We don’t rank firms by size: our method takes each firm’s facts from its own About pages, and we have not sourced a like-for-like revenue comparison.

What Korn Ferry’s own site does show is breadth — it calls itself “a global consulting firm that powers performance”, with executive search one capability among organisation strategy, assessment and succession, total rewards and leadership development.

Founded in Los Angeles in 1969, it does not publish an office or country count on its About pages.

See our Korn Ferry review.

Retained search is paid in staged instalments — Executive Recruit describes three — whatever the outcome, is exclusive to one firm, and pays for market mapping and assessment before anyone signs.

Contingency search is paid only on placement, at 15–25% of base salary (Executive Recruit), is usually non-exclusive, and is uncommon at genuine C-suite level, because a firm paid only if its candidate wins has little reason to invest in research.

Use a fractional executive when you need senior capability for a phase — a fundraise, a transformation, a first finance function — or want to test whether the role needs to be full-time at all.

They work part-time, typically 1–3 days a week.

Use an interim when the seat is empty and someone must run it full-time until the permanent hire starts, as the BBC’s interim Director-General did while its search ran (BBC Annual Report 2025/26).

Use a retained search when the appointment is permanent and identity-defining — a CEO, a public-company CFO, a board chair — and justifies a fee of 25–35% of approximate first-year base salary (Headhunters.co.uk).

Among the firms on this page, Odgers (formerly Odgers Berndtson) is the only UK-headquartered retained search firm, based in London.

Boyden presents itself as a partner-led federation without a named HQ city.

Spencer Stuart and Heidrick & Struggles are headquartered in Chicago and Russell Reynolds Associates in New York; Korn Ferry was founded in Los Angeles; Egon Zehnder does not state an HQ city on its own site.

Fractional Quest, the publisher of this page, is UK-based and recruits fractional, interim and permanent executives.

None of the seven retained firms on this page publishes a standard timetable, so we don’t quote one.

The best public example is the BBC’s: its Director-General resigned on 9 November 2025, Egon Zehnder supported the search, an interim held the role, and the permanent appointment started on 18 May 2026 — just over six months (BBC Annual Report 2025/26; our arithmetic on the dates).

We put no clock on our own fractional shortlist either: you meet 3–5 candidates, and start dates depend on each candidate’s existing commitments.

The Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants (AESC), founded in 1959 and headquartered in New York, is the executive search industry’s self-regulator; member firms commit to its Code of Professional Practice.

Two firms on this page, Odgers and Boyden, state AESC membership on their own websites; the others are commonly cited as members.

It matters as a baseline, not a guarantee of fit — see aesc.org/about-aesc for AESC’s own description, and its member-firm directory to check a firm.

Three things, in practice.

Fee model: search firms usually work retained — paid in staged instalments, exclusively — while recruitment agencies usually work on contingency, paid on placement and often non-exclusively (Executive Recruit puts contingent fees at 15–25% of base salary).

Method: search firms approach senior leaders who are not on the job market; agencies usually work from candidates who have applied.

Level: search firms work at C-suite, board and senior functional level; agencies cover broader white-collar roles.

The boundary blurs in the middle, at senior director and VP level.

Retained firms commonly offer a replacement guarantee: if the placed executive leaves or is let go within an agreed window, the firm runs a replacement search at no further search fee.

It does not refund the fee, and the length of the window varies by firm, so get it in the fee letter.

We don’t rank them, and we would be wary of anyone who does without published outcomes — us included, since we are one of them.

What separates fractional executive platforms in practice: whether you meet named candidates or browse a database; the fee basis, in writing; how candidates are vetted; and the IR35 position on the brief.

The checklist above sets out the questions, and the firm cards set out what each firm publishes.

The useful firm for a growth-stage company is the one that can put in front of you a leader who has built the function before, part-time, at a day rate you can carry.

The seven retained firms on this page are built for permanent appointments: Heidrick & Struggles is the one that describes “on-demand talent solutions” on its own site, and Boyden and Odgers run interim practices.

For a fractional brief, ask any firm the questions in the checklist above.

Ours: a shortlist of 3–5 and five-stage vetting.

We recruit fractional, interim and permanent executives, and we publish this page: you bring a brief and we come back with a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate or pay, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.

We take no referral fees from any firm on this page, and none is a partner or client.

Judge conduct, because no audited league table exists.

Check AESC membership on AESC’s own member-firm directory; ask whether the firm holds an exclusive agreement for the assignment, as the AESC candidate bill of rights expects; for a board seat, check the GOV.UK list of Voluntary Code signatories and how the firm builds a diverse longlist (FRC guidance).

Then get the fee, its instalments and any replacement window in a written fee letter, and ask who will actually run the search.

The section above sets out each check.

Of the firms on this page: Odgers is headquartered in London, and its holding company is registered at 20 Cannon Street (Companies House); Spencer Stuart, Heidrick & Struggles and Russell Reynolds each list a London office on their own sites.

For Korn Ferry, Egon Zehnder and Boyden, check each firm’s own office pages.

Fractional Quest, the publisher of this page, is UK-based, takes briefs nationwide and recruits fractional, interim and permanent executives.

More in executive search firms in London.

Ask before you sign anything.

With us, browsing the board and applying is free.

They are built for permanent appointments.

Of the firms on this page, Heidrick & Struggles describes an on-demand talent offer on its own site, and Boyden and Odgers run interim practices.

For part-time roles, the board above and fractional recruiters are the more direct route.

On the board above, drawn from our jobs feed, and on fractional jobs UK.

The fractional CFO, fractional CMO and fractional CEO hubs carry their own boards.

It depends on the seat.

As one published example, FD Capital puts a fractional CFO at £700–£1,400 a day; two days a week across 46 weeks at that band is £64,400–£128,800 in gross billings from one mandate — our arithmetic, before tax and expenses.

The calculator above models your own numbers, and the rate calculator covers other seats.

If you work through your own limited company, the off-payroll working rules decide how the engagement is taxed, and a medium or large client makes the status determination (HMRC).

We set out an IR35 position on every brief; status still turns on how the engagement works day to day.