Fractional CIO Recruitment

Fractional CIO Executive Search

A fractional Chief Information Officer (CIO) provides board-level technology leadership on a part-time or flexible basis — giving your business the IT strategy, governance, and delivery oversight it needs without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire. Exec Capital places experienced fractional CIOs with PE-backed businesses, scale-ups, and established organisations across the UK as part of our fractional C-suite practice. Every search is run by our specialist team, with Adrian Lawrence FCA overseeing each mandate.

A fractional CIO typically works one to three days per week, operating as a genuine member of your leadership team — attending board meetings, owning technology decisions, and accountable for delivery, not just advice. We agree the search timetable with you at briefing, so the process runs at the pace your situation actually needs.

This page is written for business owners, chief executives, finance directors and investors who are deciding whether a part-time Chief Information Officer is the right answer to a gap in technology leadership. It explains what the role covers, when it fits and when it does not, how it compares with a fractional CTO, an IT managed service provider and an interim CIO, what the first six months of an engagement should produce, and how fractional CIO engagements are structured and paid for. If you are an experienced IT leader looking for fractional CIO jobs, there is a section for you further down the page.

What Is a Fractional CIO?

A fractional CIO is a senior technology executive who works with your organisation on a defined part-time basis — typically one to three days per week — providing board-level IT leadership without the cost or commitment of a permanent appointment. The role carries the same responsibilities as a full-time CIO: technology strategy, infrastructure governance, digital transformation, cybersecurity oversight, systems leadership, and IT team management. The difference is the time commitment and cost structure.

The CIO title overlaps with CTO in many organisations. Where a CTO focuses primarily on product and engineering, the CIO focuses on the internal IT function — systems, data, infrastructure, governance, and operational technology. Some businesses use the titles interchangeably. Exec Capital can advise on which profile best fits your requirement and can search across both disciplines.

Fractional CIOs typically work with a portfolio of clients simultaneously, bringing cross-sector experience from multiple business environments. This breadth of exposure — across different technology stacks, regulatory environments, and business models — is often more valuable than a leader with experience in a single company or industry.

In practice, a fractional CIO engagement is built around a fixed number of days each month rather than an open-ended consultancy budget. A common pattern is one or two set days on site each week or fortnight, with the remainder of the time used flexibly for board and committee meetings, supplier reviews, incident escalation and the reading and preparation that senior technology leadership requires. The fractional CIO sits on the executive team, usually reports to the chief executive or finance director, and is named as the person accountable for technology. That accountability is what separates the role from a consultant: a consultant writes a report and leaves; a fractional CIO owns the plan, makes the decisions and answers for the results at the next board meeting.

The “information” in Chief Information Officer matters. The role covers how a business collects, stores, protects and uses its information as well as the hardware and software that hold it. That means a good fractional CIO is as interested in data quality, access rights and retention as in servers and licences, and can explain technology risk in plain commercial language to a board that does not have a technologist on it. The full scope of the permanent role is set out in our CIO job description; a fractional CIO covers the same ground, prioritised to the days available.

Fractional CIO, Interim CIO, and IT Director — What’s the Difference?

Exec Capital recruits across all models. If you are unsure which structure fits your current situation, we can advise on your initial call.

The choice usually comes down to two questions: how many days of senior technology leadership the business genuinely needs each month, and for how long. A business that needs someone in the seat every day to run a crisis, a carve-out or a large implementation should be looking at an interim CIO. A business that is ready to make a full-time, long-term appointment should run a permanent search through our IT director and CIO recruitment practice. Some clients prefer a regular part-time leader on the payroll, which is covered by our part-time IT director recruitment service. The fractional CIO sits in the middle: ongoing, senior and accountable, but sized to the days the business can use well.

Other ways to hire a CIO are not mutually exclusive. A common sequence is an interim CIO to stabilise a situation, followed by a fractional CIO to keep governance in place, followed by a permanent appointment once the business has grown into the role. If you are weighing the first two options specifically, our guide to fractional CIO vs interim CIO sets out the trade-offs in more detail.

Fractional CIO vs Fractional CTO vs IT Managed Service Provider vs Interim CIO

Many of the businesses that call us about a fractional CIO are really asking a broader question: who should be responsible for technology here? The four options below are the ones most often confused. They are not interchangeable, and choosing the wrong one is an expensive mistake, so it is worth being clear about what each one owns.

Fractional CIO or fractional CTO?

The simplest test is to ask what the technology is for. If your business sells software, or its customer experience depends on a platform your own developers build, the senior technology leader you need is probably a fractional CTO, whose time goes on product architecture, engineering teams and release quality. If your business runs on technology it buys — an ERP, a CRM, Microsoft 365, line-of-business applications, a network, a data warehouse — and the challenge is choosing, integrating, securing and governing those systems, you need a CIO. Some businesses need both; a growing SaaS company may have a CTO running product engineering and later add a CIO to own internal systems, security certification and data governance. When the long-term answer is a full-time product technology leader, our CTO recruitment team runs that search.

Fractional CIO or IT managed service provider?

This is the comparison we are asked about most, and the honest answer is that it is rarely either/or. A managed service provider (MSP) is a supplier: it delivers IT services to a contract and service levels, and it does that well when the contract is well written and properly managed. What an MSP cannot be is the independent person on your side of the table who decides what the contract should say, checks whether the service levels are being met, challenges the renewal price, and tells the board when the provider is the problem. Many mid-sized businesses have outsourced IT for years with no one in-house senior enough to oversee the relationship. A fractional CIO fills that gap. In most engagements the MSP stays in place and the fractional CIO becomes its client-side owner, which usually improves the service and often reduces the cost.

Fractional CIO or interim CIO?

Both are experienced CIOs engaged on a day rate rather than a salary. The difference is intensity. An interim CIO works full-time for a fixed period because the situation demands daily senior attention: a cyber incident, a failed implementation, a CIO who has walked out, a carve-out with a hard separation date. A fractional CIO works a set number of days each month on an ongoing basis because the business needs senior judgement and accountability, but not every day. Many fractional CIOs also take interim assignments, so the same person can sometimes step up for a period and then step back down to a fractional pattern once the pressure is off.

When Does a Business Need a Fractional CIO?

No CIO in post — scale-up has outgrown founder-level IT

Scale-ups and PE-backed businesses commonly reach a point — typically 50 to 250 employees — where the technology function has grown beyond what a founder or IT manager can lead strategically. Systems are fragmented, governance is informal, and technology is becoming a bottleneck on growth rather than an enabler of it. A fractional CIO takes ownership of the technology function immediately, without a lengthy permanent search.

Digital transformation or major systems implementation

Businesses mid-way through a significant technology programme — ERP rollout, cloud migration, CRM implementation, data platform build — frequently find that project management alone is insufficient. They need experienced executive leadership to manage vendor relationships, hold delivery teams accountable, resolve escalations at board level, and ensure the programme delivers its commercial objectives. A fractional CIO provides this leadership without requiring a full-time hire for what may be a 12 to 24-month programme.

Cybersecurity or compliance exposure

Organisations that have identified gaps in their security posture, or face regulatory requirements — GDPR, ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials, FCA technology risk, SOC 2 — without the internal capability to address them need experienced technology governance leadership. A fractional CIO assesses the current risk position, builds a remediation roadmap, and owns the compliance programme on behalf of the board.

Pre-investment or exit preparation

Technology due diligence is a standard part of PE investment and M&A processes. Investors assess IT infrastructure maturity, data governance, cybersecurity posture, system scalability, and technology team capability. A fractional CIO prepares the technology function for external scrutiny — addressing known weaknesses, building documentation, and providing credible leadership narrative for investors and advisers.

CIO departure or leadership gap

When a CIO leaves unexpectedly or gives notice, critical technology programmes lose their executive sponsor and ongoing initiatives are at risk. A fractional CIO maintains continuity — managing the technology team, protecting ongoing programmes, and preserving board confidence — without the time pressure of recruiting a permanent replacement under duress.

First senior technology appointment

Businesses that have managed technology informally through a senior developer or IT manager often reach a point where they need strategic technology leadership for the first time. A fractional CIO is frequently the right model for this first appointment — bringing experienced thinking without the full-time cost, and helping the business understand what permanent technology leadership needs to look like before committing to a hire.

Is a Fractional CIO Right for You?

The situations above describe moments when businesses typically call us. The scenarios below are the ones where, in our experience, a fractional CIO is most clearly the right format rather than a permanent hire, an interim or simply a better supplier. If two or more of them describe your business, it is worth a conversation.

A mid-sized firm without IT leadership

The most common fractional CIO client is a well-run, profitable business of a few hundred people that has never had a technology leader on its executive team. IT has been looked after by an IT manager, an operations director or the finance director, alongside everything else. Spend has crept up through licences, subscriptions and projects nobody quite owns, and the board has started asking questions — about cyber risk, about whether the systems will cope with the next stage of growth, about why the last project overran — that nobody in the room can answer with confidence. A full-time CIO would be under-used and over-priced at this size. A fractional CIO on a few days a month gives the board a named, accountable technology executive and gives the IT manager someone senior to report to and learn from.

You outsource IT and nobody is overseeing the provider

Outsourcing day-to-day IT to a managed service provider is sensible for many mid-sized businesses. The risk is that the business also outsources the judgement. If the same provider designs the solution, delivers it, reports on its own performance and proposes the renewal, nobody independent is testing whether you are getting good service at a fair price. A fractional CIO takes the client-side seat: reviewing the contract and service levels, setting clear performance measures, running quarterly service reviews, checking that security controls are actually in place rather than assumed, and leading any re-tender. This is often the quickest route to a measurable return on a fractional appointment, because the first contract renewal the fractional CIO handles can be worth a good deal more than the engagement costs.

Cyber risk, Cyber Essentials and board accountability

Boards are now expected to treat cyber risk as a business risk they own, not a technical matter delegated to IT. The government’s Cyber Governance Code of Practice, published with the National Cyber Security Centre, sets out what directors should be doing on cyber risk management, strategy, people, incident planning and response, and assurance. Many mid-sized boards find it hard to meet those expectations without a senior technology executive to translate them into a plan and report against it.

At a more practical level, customers and contracts increasingly ask for evidence of basic cyber hygiene. The NCSC describes Cyber Essentials as the government-recommended minimum standard for organisations of all sizes, built on five technical controls: firewalls, secure configuration, security update management, user access control and malware protection. Cyber Essentials Plus adds independent technical testing that the controls work in practice. A fractional CIO typically owns the route to certification and, more importantly, makes sure the controls stay in place after the certificate is issued. Where the security workload is heavy enough to justify a dedicated specialist, we also run CISO recruitment, and a fractional CIO can help define that role before it is filled.

ERP or core system selection

Replacing an ERP, finance system, CRM or core operational platform is one of the largest and riskiest investments a mid-sized business makes, and most businesses only do it once a decade. That means the people running the selection rarely have recent experience of doing it. Vendors and implementation partners, by contrast, do it every week. A fractional CIO who has been through several selections redresses that imbalance: defining requirements that reflect how the business really works, running a fair and documented selection, testing references properly, negotiating licence and implementation terms, and setting up programme governance before the first invoice arrives. Once the system is chosen, the same person can remain as executive sponsor through implementation, which is often where fractional engagements expand for a period before settling back down.

Operational resilience for FCA-regulated firms

Regulated financial services firms carry technology obligations that unregulated businesses do not. Under the FCA’s operational resilience rules, in-scope firms — including banks, building societies, insurers, larger investment firms and payment and e-money institutions — must identify their important business services, set impact tolerances for each, map the people, processes, technology and third parties behind them, and test their ability to stay within tolerance in severe but plausible scenarios. The transition period ended on 31 March 2025, and the FCA’s operational resilience insights and observations make clear that firms are expected to keep mapping, testing and self-assessments current, review them at least annually, and manage third-party dependencies actively.

For a smaller regulated firm, much of that work is technology work, and a fractional CIO is often the most proportionate way to own it. In larger firms within the enhanced tier of the Senior Managers and Certification Regime, accountability for operations and technology usually sits with the holder of the Chief Operations function; our SMF24 hiring guide explains how that role is approved and what it covers, and a fractional CIO will typically report into that person rather than hold the function. Firms building out their regulatory leadership at the same time frequently pair a fractional CIO with a fractional compliance officer covering SMF16 and SMF17, which remain pre-approved roles — a combination that gives a small firm senior technology and compliance cover without two full-time salaries.

When a fractional CIO is not the right answer

We would rather tell you early than place the wrong format. A fractional CIO is probably not right if the main need is hands-on engineering or product development (look at a fractional CTO), if the business needs a full-time leader in the building every day for the next six months (look at an interim CIO), or if the only problem is a slow support desk (look at the service provider’s contract first). It is also not a substitute for an IT team: a fractional CIO leads and governs, and needs either internal staff or a capable provider to do the day-to-day work. We will say so on the first call if we think one of these applies.

What a Fractional CIO Delivers

Technology strategy and roadmap

• Develop a technology strategy aligned with business objectives and growth plans
• Build a clear technology roadmap covering architecture, infrastructure, and systems
• Prioritise technology investment for maximum commercial impact
• Provide board and investor-level technology narrative

Digital transformation leadership

• Lead digital transformation programmes from executive level
• Manage vendor relationships and hold delivery teams accountable
• Ensure major systems implementations deliver on time and on budget
• Drive organisational adoption of new technology platforms

Cybersecurity and IT governance

• Assess and strengthen cybersecurity posture and incident response capability
• Implement IT governance frameworks appropriate to business scale and regulatory context
• Ensure compliance with relevant standards — ISO 27001, Cyber Essentials, GDPR, FCA technology risk
• Build and maintain technology risk frameworks for board and investor reporting

Infrastructure and systems leadership

• Assess and improve technology infrastructure for scalability and reliability
• Evaluate and rationalise software and systems landscape
• Lead cloud migration, ERP, CRM, or data platform programmes
• Ensure technology systems support operational efficiency and growth

IT team leadership and capability

• Lead and develop internal IT teams and technology functions
• Manage third-party technology suppliers and managed service providers
• Support recruitment and development of technology staff
• Build scalable technology functions aligned with business growth

Data and information management

• Establish who owns which data, who can access it and how long it is kept
• Improve the quality and consistency of management information drawn from core systems
• Set sensible rules for the use of AI tools on company data before problems arise
• Work with the finance director on reporting, so the board sees one version of the numbers

What a Fractional CIO Typically Delivers in Month 1, Month 3 and Month 6

Every engagement is different, and we agree the outcomes with you at the start. But clients reasonably want to know what “good” looks like before they commit, so the outline below is the pattern a well-run fractional CIO engagement usually follows. It assumes two to four days a month in the early stages; more days mean more pace, not a different sequence.

Month 1: understand, stabilise and report

• Listen first. Meetings with the board, the executive team, the IT team and the main suppliers, to understand what the business needs from technology and where it is falling short.
• Map the estate. A single list of systems, contracts, licences, renewal dates, spend and owners — often the first time one has existed.
• Check the basics of security. Backups tested, administrator access reviewed, multi-factor authentication confirmed, patching verified, incident contacts known.
• Deal with anything urgent. Expiring contracts, unsupported systems or open security gaps that cannot wait for a strategy.
• First board report. A short, plain-English assessment of where technology stands, the main risks and what the fractional CIO proposes to do about them.

Month 3: a plan the board has approved

• Technology strategy and roadmap tied to the business plan, with costs, priorities and what will not be done.
• Governance in place. A regular technology report to the board, a risk register with owners, and a simple decision process for new spend.
• Supplier management working. Service levels agreed and measured, quarterly reviews diarised, and a view on which contracts to renegotiate or re-tender.
• Quick wins delivered. Typically licence rationalisation, closed security gaps and the removal of one or two persistent operational irritants.
• Major decisions framed. If an ERP selection, cloud move or security certification is needed, the business case and approach are ready for approval.

Month 6: delivery under way and the role reviewed

• Programmes moving. The first major initiative is in delivery with clear governance, and the fractional CIO is acting as executive sponsor rather than project manager.
• Security evidenced. Certification achieved or scheduled, an incident response plan tested, and the board receiving regular assurance rather than reassurance.
• Team stronger. The internal IT lead has clearer objectives and is taking on more, and any gaps in the team have been defined and, where needed, filled.
• Investor-ready story. For PE-backed and pre-exit businesses, a technology section for the value creation plan or data room that will stand up to due diligence.
• A formal review. Are the days right? Should the engagement scale up for a programme, settle down to a lighter governance rhythm, or begin planning a permanent appointment?

That six-month review is a point we encourage every client to diarise from the start. A fractional CIO should be making themselves easier to replace over time, not harder, and the best ones are open about when the business has outgrown the fractional model.

Fractional CIO Day Rates and Cost

Fractional CIO day rates vary widely, and we do not think a single published range helps anyone. What a business pays depends on the factors below, and we give clients specific day-rate guidance for their brief on the initial call. For sourced pay data on permanent technology leadership roles, see our technology salary guide.

The comparison with a permanent CIO is not just salary against day rate. A permanent appointment brings base salary plus employer National Insurance, pension, benefits, bonus, a recruitment fee, notice periods on both sides, and the cost of the role being filled full-time whether or not there is a full-time job to do. A fractional engagement is paid only for the days used, with no employment on-costs, and can be scaled up or down as the work changes. For most businesses at the size where a fractional CIO makes sense, that makes the fractional model a fraction of the total cost of a permanent appointment. Exec Capital provides pay and day-rate guidance as part of the initial briefing call.

Engagement Basis: Days per Month, Day Rate and IR35

How a fractional CIO is engaged matters almost as much as who you engage. The structure below is the one we use and recommend, and we agree each element with you before the search starts so there are no surprises at offer stage.

Days per month

Fractional CIO engagements are usually agreed as a number of days per month rather than per week, which gives both sides flexibility around board cycles, holidays and busy periods. Lighter governance and supplier oversight roles may need only a few days a month; engagements that include leading a major programme need more, at least while it is in delivery. We help you set a realistic starting commitment, build in a review point, and agree in advance how additional days are approved if an incident or opportunity needs them.

A day rate inclusive of our fee

We quote fractional and interim engagements on a single day rate that is inclusive of our fee. The figure you approve is the figure you pay for each day worked; there is no separate placement fee to budget for, and you can see exactly what the engagement costs each month. If you later decide to make the fractional CIO permanent, the terms for doing so are set out in advance in our terms of business.

Retained or contingent search

Most fractional CIO assignments are handled on our day-rate model described above. Where a client wants a permanent CIO or IT director, we offer retained and contingent options, and our guide to retained vs contingent executive search explains how they differ and which suits which situation. Either way, the work included is the same: briefing, market mapping, direct approach, assessment against your brief, referencing, offer management and onboarding support.

IR35 and employment status

Most fractional CIOs work through their own limited company, which means the off-payroll working rules (IR35) need to be considered for each engagement. If your business is a medium or large company, or in the public sector, you are responsible for deciding the worker’s employment status and issuing a status determination statement with your reasons; for small private sector clients, the contractor’s own company makes that assessment. HMRC sets out the client’s obligations in its guidance on off-payroll working for clients, and its Check Employment Status for Tax tool gives HMRC’s view on a particular engagement. Verify the current rules on gov.uk before you rely on them, as thresholds and guidance are updated from time to time. A genuinely fractional CIO who works for several clients, controls how the work is done and is engaged for defined outcomes is a different proposition from a full-time employee in all but name, and we help clients structure engagements accordingly. Our article on IR35 rules for senior executive engagements covers the practical points; it is not a substitute for advice from your own accountant or tax adviser.

Other terms worth agreeing

• Scope and authority. What the fractional CIO can decide and sign off alone, and what goes to the executive or board.
• Notice. A sensible notice period on both sides, long enough to hand over properly.
• Conflicts. Confirmation that the fractional CIO’s other clients do not compete with you, and how any supplier relationships are declared.
• Confidentiality and data access. Clear terms on access to your systems and information, and on returning it at the end.
• Insurance. Professional indemnity cover held by the fractional CIO’s company, and whether your directors’ and officers’ policy should extend to them.

The Fractional CIO Search Process

Our process is the same whether the role is one day a month or three days a week. We agree the timetable with you at briefing, and we keep you updated at each stage so you know where the search stands.

Sectors We Place Fractional CIOs In

• Technology, SaaS and software businesses — digital-native organisations needing strategic IT governance alongside product and engineering leadership
• Financial services and fintech — FCA-regulated businesses with complex technology risk and compliance requirements
• PE and VC-backed portfolio companies — businesses preparing technology functions for investment scrutiny or value creation plans
• Professional services — law firms, accountancy practices, and consulting businesses managing sensitive data and regulatory technology requirements
• Manufacturing and engineering — operational technology, ERP programmes, and Industry 4.0 transformation
• Healthcare and life sciences — businesses with clinical systems, data governance, and CQC or MHRA technology requirements
• Retail and e-commerce — businesses managing complex systems landscapes across trading, logistics, and customer data
• Property and real estate — proptech businesses and traditional property organisations undergoing digital transformation

Who we place fractional CIOs with. Our clients are typically owner-managed and family businesses appointing their first senior technology leader; private equity investors and their portfolio companies, where technology is part of the value creation plan or the exit story; smaller FCA-regulated firms that need senior technology ownership for operational resilience and supplier oversight; charities, membership bodies and education providers running on ageing systems; and multi-site businesses bringing together systems after acquisitions. What they have in common is a real need for senior technology judgement and accountability, and not enough work — yet — for a full-time CIO.

The Benefits of a Fractional CIO

• Board-level technology leadership at significantly lower cost than a permanent hire
• Often available sooner than permanent candidates, who may be tied to long notice periods
• Flexible engagement that scales with your technology programme
• Cross-sector experience from multiple technology environments and business models
• Objective external perspective on your technology landscape and risks
• Investor-ready technology governance and IT risk narrative
• Bridge leadership while a permanent CIO search is conducted
• Independent, client-side oversight of outsourced IT providers and their contracts
• A clear owner for cyber risk who reports to the board in plain language

The benefit clients mention most often after the first few months is less tangible: someone senior now owns technology. Decisions that used to drift get made, suppliers are held to account, and the board stops being surprised. That is what you are really paying for, and it is why the quality of the individual matters more than the format. A fractional CIO who has done the job at the right scale, in a comparable business, will add more in two days a month than a less experienced leader would in a week.

Fractional CIO Jobs and Roles: Information for Candidates

If you found this page looking for fractional CIO jobs or fractional CIO roles, welcome. Exec Capital works with experienced Chief Information Officers, IT directors and heads of IT who build portfolio careers across several clients, and we are always keen to hear from people with a track record of leading technology at board level. Fractional CIO roles come to us through client briefs rather than job boards, and many are filled through our network before they are advertised anywhere. The best way to be considered is to register with us as a candidate, telling us the sectors you know, the systems and programmes you have led, any regulated-sector or security experience, your location and on-site flexibility, and how many days a month you have available. You can also browse our current executive opportunities, which include fractional, interim and permanent technology leadership roles when we are able to advertise them.

What clients look for in a fractional CIO is consistent: evidence that you have owned technology at executive level rather than advised on it, experience at a similar scale of business, sound judgement on suppliers and cyber risk, and the ability to explain technology to a non-technical board. Candidates who can show specific outcomes — a selection run, a contract renegotiated, a certification achieved, a programme recovered — are the ones we can place most readily.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a fractional CIO?

A fractional CIO is a senior technology executive who works with your business on a part-time or defined-day basis — typically one to three days per week — providing board-level IT leadership without the cost or commitment of a full-time permanent appointment.

What is the difference between a CIO and a CTO?

A CIO (Chief Information Officer) typically focuses on internal IT — infrastructure, systems, data governance, cybersecurity, and operational technology. A CTO (Chief Technology Officer) typically focuses on product and engineering — software development, technology architecture, and technical innovation. In smaller businesses the roles often overlap or are combined. Exec Capital can advise on which profile best fits your brief and can search across both disciplines.

How much does a fractional CIO cost?

The cost depends on the number of days per month and the day rate, which varies with the complexity of the brief, the regulatory context and the specialism required. We quote a single day rate that is inclusive of our fee, so you pay only for the days worked, with no employment on-costs. We give specific day-rate guidance for your brief on the initial call.

How quickly can you place a fractional CIO?

It depends on the brief, how specialised it is and how quickly interviews can be arranged on your side. We agree the timetable with you at briefing and keep you updated throughout. Fractional CIOs are often able to start sooner than permanent candidates because they are not tied to long notice periods with a single employer.

Can a fractional CIO lead a digital transformation programme?

Yes — digital transformation leadership is one of the most common reasons businesses appoint a fractional CIO. An experienced fractional CIO takes executive ownership of the programme, manages vendors, holds delivery teams accountable, and reports progress to the board throughout. This is particularly valuable for businesses running major ERP, cloud migration, or CRM implementation programmes that need senior oversight but not a full-time hire.

Do you also recruit interim and permanent CIOs?

Yes. Exec Capital recruits across all three models: interim CIOs for short-notice, full-time requirements, and permanent CIO and IT director appointments for businesses ready to make a long-term hire. We also place interim IT directors where that title fits the organisation better.

Do you recruit fractional CIOs outside London?

Yes. Exec Capital recruits fractional CIOs across the UK — London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Edinburgh, and all major business centres. Many fractional CIO engagements are partly or fully remote, which significantly expands the available candidate pool.

Is a fractional CIO better than an IT managed service provider?

They do different jobs. A managed service provider runs your IT under a contract; a fractional CIO sits on your side, sets the strategy, decides what the provider should deliver and holds it to account. Most businesses that appoint a fractional CIO keep their provider and get better value from it as a result.

Does IR35 apply to a fractional CIO?

It can. If the fractional CIO works through their own company and your business is medium or large, you must decide their employment status for each engagement and issue a status determination statement. The answer depends on how the engagement actually works in practice, so it should be assessed case by case using HMRC’s guidance and, where needed, professional advice.

How do I find fractional CIO jobs?

Most fractional CIO roles are filled through specialist recruiters and networks rather than advertised openly. Register with Exec Capital as a candidate with details of your experience, sectors and availability, and check our current opportunities page for technology leadership roles we are able to advertise.