Permanent, Fractional and Interim Senior Recruitment for UK Firms

Exec Capital provides senior executive recruitment for UK firms across the substantive engagement models that senior leadership now operates within — permanent, fractional, and interim. The substantive engagement question — should the firm hire permanent, fractional, or interim senior leadership for the role at hand — has moved from edge case to mainstream over the past decade. Strong firms now actively choose between these models based on the substantive role context rather than defaulting to permanent. Strong searches start with the engagement question worked through explicitly rather than treated as a settled assumption.

Our practice covers UK senior appointments across all three engagement models, all senior functions (CEO, CFO, COO, CMO, CTO, CHRO, CRO, CCO and the broader senior team), and all firm contexts from founder-led businesses through PE-backed and listed firms. Every senior mandate is led personally by Adrian Lawrence FCA. For senior CFO appointments specifically, see our sister firm FD Capital — the primary specialism in our portfolio for senior finance roles. For senior NED and board appointments, see NED Capital — our specialist sister firm for senior boards.

The three engagement models

Permanent senior recruitment. The substantively traditional engagement — substantive ongoing leadership accountability, full senior commitment, substantive equity participation in many cases, and the substantive expectation of multi-year tenure. Strong fit where the role substantively warrants ongoing senior commitment, where continuity of senior relationships matters, and where substantive equity or long-term incentive structures are part of the substantive role attraction. Permanent senior search at Exec Capital uses retained executive search methodology — see our Executive Search service for the substantive treatment of methodology.

Fractional senior leadership. Substantive senior leadership at substantively reduced time commitment — typically one to three days per week. Strong fit where the firm needs substantive senior expertise but not substantive full senior commitment — common pattern at scale-ups Series A-B, at substantive specialist functions where full-time senior leadership is not yet warranted, and at firms where the substantive senior role has substantive cyclical or seasonal dimensions. See our Fractional Executive Recruitment service.

Interim senior leadership. Substantive senior leadership for substantive defined-term scope — typically three to twelve months. Strong fit where the substantive work has a defined end point: substantive transformation programmes, substantive succession or sickness gaps, substantive M&A integration, and substantive crisis response. Common at all firm sizes from scale-up through listed. See our Interim Executive Recruitment service.

The substantive engagement-model decision

Five dimensions warrant explicit treatment when deciding between permanent, fractional and interim for a specific senior role.

The substantive scope of work. Is the senior accountability substantively ongoing (favours permanent), substantively part-time across an extended horizon (favours fractional), or substantively defined-term (favours interim)?

The substantive cost calibration. Permanent senior leadership at full UK senior compensation including substantive equity participation; fractional at typically 30-60% of full senior compensation calibrated to time commitment; interim at substantive day-rate premiums (typically 20-40% above full-cost-equivalent permanent compensation) reflecting the substantive flexibility and the substantive defined-term commitment.

The substantive timeline. Permanent senior search typically runs 8-16 weeks end to end; fractional senior search typically runs 4-8 weeks; interim senior search can run as fast as 1-2 weeks where speed is the substantive priority and the candidate pool is genuinely available.

The substantive candidate pool. The candidate pool for permanent senior leadership is substantively different from the pool for fractional senior leadership, which is substantively different again from the pool for interim senior leadership. Strong candidates self-select substantively into one or two of these models rather than all three.

The substantive senior team interface. Permanent senior leaders integrate substantively into the senior team; fractional senior leaders operate as substantive senior advisors with substantive operating accountability; interim senior leaders operate substantively as defined-term senior leaders with substantive scope but defined exit. The substantive senior team integration model warrants explicit treatment at the brief.

Senior roles we recruit across all engagement models

C-Suite roles. CEO, CFO, COO, CMO, CTO, CIO, CHRO, CRO, CCO, CPO, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Customer Officer, Chief Experience Officer, Chief Digital Officer, Chief AI Officer, Chief Sustainability Officer. See our C-Suite Recruitment hub for the full set with role-specific service pages.

Director-tier roles. Managing Director, Finance Director, Operations Director, Sales Director, Marketing Director, HR Director, Technical Director, IT Director, Commercial Director. See our Directors hub.

Senior board roles. Chair, Senior Independent Director, Audit Committee Chair, Remuneration Committee Chair, NED appointments. See our NED Recruitment service or our specialist sister firm NED Capital.

FCA-regulated firm senior roles. SMF holders across SMF1 (CEO), SMF3 (Executive Director), SMF4 (CRO), SMF5 (Head of Internal Audit), SMF9 (Chair), SMF14 (Senior Independent Director), SMF16 (Compliance Oversight), SMF17 (MLRO), SMF24 (COO). See our FCA-Regulated Firm Recruitment hub.

Sectors and contexts

Our senior search practice covers UK firms across all substantive sectors — financial services, technology and SaaS, healthcare and life sciences, manufacturing, energy and utilities, retail and consumer, media and creative, professional services, real estate, leisure and hospitality, public sector, and not-for-profit. Strong senior search work calibrates to the substantive sector context — the substantive candidate pool, the substantive sector-specific seniority dimensions, and the substantive sector-specific commercial and regulatory dimensions all warrant explicit treatment.

Our senior search practice also covers substantive firm contexts — founder-led businesses, scale-ups across Series A through pre-IPO, PE-backed portfolio companies, listed UK firms, family offices, and substantive UK operations of international firms. The substantive firm context shapes the substantive search work materially — strong searches address this rather than treating all senior search as a single generic exercise.

Further reading

For substantive treatment of the engagement-model decision specifically, see our Fractional, Interim or Permanent guide. For role-specific senior hiring guides, see our CEO hiring guide, CFO hiring guide, COO hiring guide, and the rest in our Knowledge Centre.

For substantive treatment of UK senior compensation across the three engagement models — permanent compensation including base, bonus and equity; fractional compensation calibrated to time commitment; interim day rates and substantive premium calibration — see our Executive Compensation Guide and Equity and Incentives Guide.

For senior CFO appointments specifically, see our sister firm FD Capital. For senior NED and board appointments, see our sister firm NED Capital. For senior accountancy-qualified roles including Heads of Internal Audit and senior audit partner appointments, see our sister firm Accountancy Capital.