Part-time executive recruitment · UK
A part-time recruitment agency for finance
Part-time executive recruitment is its own discipline: the shortlist has to be leaders who have already run a function on fewer days, not full-time candidates willing to compromise.
We scope the seat, the days and the engagement route with you in 15 minutes, then search and screen against that brief and send a shortlist of three to five, each with day rate or pay, availability and IR35 position.
- Shortlist of 3–5
- Day rate or pay, availability and IR35 on each
- References we take ourselves
- Every kind of executive brief
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 scope the role
Tell us the situation, the days and the start date. We come back with part-time executive candidates, their day rates and availability.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We scope the days and the pattern
- 03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
- 04Fractional, interim, part-time and permanent briefs
Pick a day that suits · live availability
On the board · last 3 months
Part-time executive roles on the board
No Part-time executive roles on the board right now.
We only show real vacancies from the last three months, read from the Fractional Quest pipeline — we never pad the board. New roles appear here as the pipeline finds them.
Looking? Build your repo once on Fractional Quest and every role on the board is read against it.
Sign up now →01/ definition
What a part-time recruitment agency should do
A good part-time recruitment agency does more than relabel a full-time search.
It tests whether the seat genuinely works on fewer days, recommends the engagement route, and finds leaders with evidence of running a function part of the week.
These are the five things to expect.
FEASIBILITY
Checks the seat fits the days
A full-time job squeezed into two days fails. The agency should push back on a remit that is too wide for the pattern, and say so before the search starts.
Checks the seat fits the days. A full-time job squeezed into two days fails. The agency should push back on a remit that is too wide for the pattern, and say so before the search starts.
Recommends employment or day rate. Whether the leader joins your payroll part-time or works on a day rate through their own company changes the shortlist, the cost and the paperwork. A good firm explains both.
Finds leaders who are not applying. The strongest part-time candidates are rarely answering adverts. The search should approach people with the right track record directly, not just repost your role.
Asks how they ran it on fewer days. Track record in the seat is not enough. The screen should test how the candidate kept the function moving on days off: the deputy, the cadence, the decisions written down.
Sets out terms side by side. Each candidate on the shortlist should come with day rate or pay, available days, start date and IR35 position, so you compare like with like.
02/ scope
What the agency takes on
Be clear what you are handing over and what stays with you.
A part-time search moves best when both sides know where the line is.
- Testing the remit against the days you can fund
- Advising on employment or day-rate engagement
- Researching and approaching candidates
- First-round screening against your brief
- References we take ourselves
- A written shortlist with terms side by side
- The final interview and choice (you)
- The contract and its legal drafting (you or your adviser)
- The IR35 status determination, where you are a medium or large client
- Onboarding and the first-month plan
03/ which model
Is the hire part-time, fractional or full-time?
Set the days and the term to see which kind of search you need.
Our parent company is a fractional recruitment agency that runs fractional, interim, part-time and permanent briefs, so one call covers whichever the slider lands on.
The model that fits · executive
Part-time
A fixed slice of the week on a set pattern — the same days each week, often on a part-time contract or a day-rate arrangement.
Book a part-time executive search →Our framing, not a measured rule: the lines between the four models blur, and many briefs could run two ways.
04/ alternatives
Agency search against the other routes
You can fill a senior part-time seat several ways.
Each suits a different situation.
→ Advertise when the seat is common; search when the right person is unlikely to be looking.
05/ rates
What part-time executives charge
Before you brief a firm, know the market.
These are published UK part-time and fractional day-rate bands, each with its source named.
Our part-time day rates guide covers every seat in more detail.
- Part-time / fractional CFO£700–£1,400FD Capital 2026
- Part-time / fractional Finance Director£600–£1,000FD Capital 2026
- Part-time / fractional Financial Controller£400–£650Accountancy Capital 2026
- Part-time / fractional CTO£1,000–£1,600Leadership Services 2026
- Part-time / fractional CMO£750–£1,400Connectd 2026
- Part-time / fractional COO£800–£1,400Connectd 2026
- Part-time / fractional CIO£800–£2,000Exec Capital 2026
- Part-time / fractional CEO£800–£1,500FD Capital 2026
Bands are as each source publishes them; permanent day equivalents are the salary band ÷ 220 working days, our arithmetic. Recruiter guides are named, not linked. Rates vary with sector, scope and location.
06/ calculator
What the hire will cost you
Model a part-time executive at the days you need against a permanent executive.
The slider runs across the published band for a part-time CFO: £700–£1,400 a day (FD Capital 2026).
Cost over 12 months
£109,200
104 working days · 2 d/wk · 12 mo · before tax
Fractional costs less over 12 months£146,725
Part-time CFO, 12 months£109,200
Part-time CFO, a month at 2 d/wk£9,093
Permanent CFO, same period£255,925
Part-time CFO, 12 months$144,679
Part-time CFO, a month at 2 d/wk$12,047
Permanent CFO, same period$339,075
Converted from £ at $1.3249 per £1 (Bank of England spot rate), 2 Oct 2026. A conversion, not a US market rate. Source ↗
Part-time CFO, 12 months€128,266
Part-time CFO, a month at 2 d/wk€10,681
Permanent CFO, same period€300,610
Converted from £ at €1.1746 per £1 (Bank of England spot rate), 2 Oct 2026. A conversion, not a EU market rate. Source ↗
Our arithmetic, indicative. Permanent = the £176,500 Robert Half 2026 median salary pro rata for the same months, plus 15% employer NI, plus a 30% search fee on the annual base (UK retained search runs 25–35%, Headhunters.co.uk). Excludes pension, bonus and equity.
At 4.7 days a week a permanent hire costs less.
Our arithmetic. Permanent a month = the salary ÷ 12 plus 15% employer NI, plus the 30% search fee spread over 12 months — the calculator’s inputs. Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for each step.
07/ over two years
Part-time, interim or permanent over 24 months
The same seat three ways, at the days a week and day rate set in the calculator. Each crossover is computed, not typed.
- The part-time CFO at 2 days a week never passes permanent inside 24 months.
- Interim passes permanent at month 8.
Our arithmetic, cumulative. Permanent = the salary’s 30% search fee in month 0, then salary ÷ 12 plus 15% employer NI each month. Interim = the midpoint of the published interim band (£1,100 a day, FD Capital 2026) × 5 days × 4.33 weeks. Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for each month.
Illustration only: one way a part-time CFO’s week can divide at 2 days a week for you. Each block is half a day.
08/ decision
When to use a search firm
Not every part-time hire needs an agency.
These are the situations where one earns its place.
Which sounds like you?
A finance, technology or chief executive seat on part of the week shapes the business. Getting it wrong costs months. A structured search with references lowers the risk.
- → Board-level seat
- → Investor or lender interest
- → No obvious internal candidate
You advertised a three-day role and heard from full-time candidates hoping to negotiate up, or from people without the seniority. A search targets leaders who want the pattern.
- → Applicants want full-time
- → Seniority gap in responses
- → Weeks spent screening
You do not know whether the role should be employed part-time or engaged on a day rate. A firm that handles both can set out the trade-offs before you commit.
- → IR35 questions unanswered
- → Payroll or benefits uncertain
- → Board wants a recommendation
Your board wants to see a field, not one name. A shortlist of three to five with terms side by side makes the decision easier to make and to defend.
- → Board sign-off needed
- → One contact’s introduction only
- → Wish to compare rates
09/ tax and IR35
How a part-time executive is engaged
General position under UK rules, with the HMRC source for each point. Not tax advice — check your own case with your accountant.
01 · DEDUCTIBLE
Fees are a business expense
Fees, like a salary, are deductible against profits when incurred wholly and exclusively for the trade (HMRC BIM37000), with corporation tax at the 25% main rate.
02 · WHO DECIDES
Status turns on how the work runs
Medium and large clients make the off-payroll status determination themselves; for a small private-sector client, the executive’s own company does (HMRC off-payroll guidance).
03 · WHAT HMRC LOOKS AT
Substitution, control, mutuality
Whether a substitute could genuinely be sent, who decides how the work is done, and whether either side must offer or accept further work. HMRC’s CEST tool walks through the same questions.
04 · ON THE PAYROLL
A part-time employee is an employee
Hired on a part-time contract, the executive has the same rights as a comparable full-time worker, pro rata (gov.uk part-time worker rights), and you pay employer NI on their salary.
10/ guide
How a part-time executive search runs
A part-time executive search starts with the brief, and the brief starts with the outcome.
“A part-time CFO” is a title; “a finance lead on two days a week who can take us through a debt raise and build a monthly board pack” is a brief.
The outcome tells the search firm which track record to look for and which candidates to rule out early.
Next comes the pattern.
Agree the number of days, whether they are fixed or flexible, whether any must be on site, and what happens when something urgent lands on an off-day.
A pattern that is vague at brief stage becomes a dispute three months in.
Then the route.
If the executive will be managed and paid like your other staff, a part-time employment contract fits, and the Part-time Workers Regulations give them pro rata parity with full-time colleagues.
If they will run their own company and work independently, a day rate may fit, assessed under the off-payroll working rules — where a medium or large client makes the status determination and a small client leaves it to the executive’s own company.
The search itself is research, approach and screening.
We approach leaders with the right record directly, test each one on how they have run a seat on fewer days, and take references ourselves.
You see a shortlist of three to five, each with day rate or pay, available days, start date and IR35 position.
Finally, the choice and the contract are yours.
The executive you choose contracts with you.
If the right answer turns out to be a leader shared across several businesses, our parent company runs that search too as a fractional recruitment agency, and the parent site lists fractional executive search firms to compare approaches.
For seat-specific detail before you brief anyone, our hubs cover the most common part-time hires: part-time CFO, part-time CTO, part-time CMO and part-time COO.
10.1/ choosing a firm
How to choose a part-time recruitment agency and what to ask
Choose on evidence and clarity, not claims.
Any firm can say it specialises in part-time leadership; ask it to show you how.
The answers to a handful of direct questions will tell you more than any website.
Check the basics too.
Employment agencies and employment businesses in Great Britain operate under the Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003, which set rules on how they deal with both hirers and candidates.
Ask how the firm handles candidate consent before your brief is shared and before a name is put forward.
Questions to ask before you brief
How do you test whether a candidate has run a seat on fewer days?
Who takes the references, and how many?
Will you tell me if the remit is too wide for the days?
Can you present employed and day-rate candidates side by side?
What will each shortlist entry tell me?
Who exactly will run my search?
Warning signs
A shortlist promised before the brief is written; claims about the size of a candidate base that cannot be checked; no view on IR35 or employment route; and candidates presented without their available days or rate.
10.2/ executive recruitment
Part-time executive recruitment by seat
Part-time executive recruitment looks different seat by seat.
Finance is the most common brief: a part-time CFO or finance director to own cash, reporting and funding.
If that is your gap, the parent site’s guide to how to hire a part-time CFO sets out the hiring steps.
Operations is the next most frequent, and the parent site covers how to hire a part-time COO for a leader who builds the operating rhythm.
Technology and marketing searches put more weight on the team underneath.
A part-time CTO needs an engineering lead who can run the day-to-day; a part-time CMO needs either an in-house team or agencies to direct.
The search should test the candidate’s record of leading through others, not just doing the work.
Seekers can see what is open on our part-time jobs board and on the parent site’s fractional jobs UK board.
11/ process
How we run the search
What we undertake on every brief, run by Fractional Quest, our parent company.
- 01
Brief
A 15-minute call on the seat, the outcome, the days and pattern, and the start date you want.
DAY 0 - 02
Scope
We agree the remit against the days and recommend employment or a day rate, with the IR35 position explained.
BRIEF AGREED - 03
Search
We approach leaders with the right record directly and screen against the brief, including how they ran a seat on fewer days.
SCREENING - 04
Shortlist
Three to five candidates, each with day rate or pay, available days, start date, IR35 position and references we took ourselves.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5 - 05
Start
You interview and choose. The executive you choose contracts with you.
YOU CHOOSE
12/ the family
Executive search across Fractional Quest
Part-Time Quest is part of Fractional Quest.
When the brief is fractional, interim or permanent, the parent site covers it.
The parent firm: fractional, interim, part-time and permanent executive search.
How executive search firms work for part-week seats, and how to compare them.
Every fractional and part-week executive role on the parent board.
13/ questions
Questions, answered
For hiring managers, and for executives looking for the role.
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Start with the brief.
Fifteen minutes to scope the seat, the days and the start date.