Fractional COO or an operations manager?
The short answer: a fractional COO brings the judgement for part of a week; an operations manager brings something different that is often confused with it. Here is what each one actually owns, what they cost on the same basis, and when to pick the other one.
What an operations manager actually is
A full-time hire running the day-to-day operations: process, scheduling, suppliers, and keeping the machine turning.
What each one owns
| A fractional COO | An operations manager |
|---|---|
| How the company runs, as a design question rather than a daily one | Execution of the process day to day |
| The cadence: what gets reviewed, by whom, and how decisions get made | Suppliers, scheduling and the operational detail |
| Removing the founder from every decision without losing the standard | Being present continuously for whatever arises |
| The hard structural calls, including about people | Keeping the thing running while somebody else redesigns it |
What neither of them does
Neither can fix a company where the founder will not let go. Both arrangements fail the same way, and it has nothing to do with the hire.
How each one fails
The fractional COO: Being brought in to do the operations rather than to design them, which two days a week cannot cover and was never the point.
An operations manager: Being asked to make structural decisions above their remit and authority, which is unfair to them and rarely works.
What they cost, on the same basis
A fractional COO charges £700 to £1,300 a day, and most engagements run one to three days a week. Salary plus employer costs, typically well below a COO's and appropriate for the work. The monthly and annual arithmetic for the fractional side, against a full-time equivalent, is on the cost page for this seat.
Pick an operations manager when
- The operation is understood and what you need is somebody running it daily
- There is a team that needs managing every day
- The problem is capacity rather than design
We would rather say that plainly than win an engagement that was the wrong shape. Nobody pays us to list on the bench, so there is nothing in it for us either way.
When you want both
A fractional COO designing how the company runs, with an operations manager executing it daily, is a strong and common pairing, and it costs far less than a full-time COO doing both.
Common questions
Is a fractional COO cheaper than an operations manager?
On a like-for-like basis it usually is, because you buy the days you need rather than all of them. A fractional COO runs £700 to £1,300 a day, most often one to three days a week. Salary plus employer costs, typically well below a COO's and appropriate for the work. But cheaper is the wrong question if the work genuinely needs the other one.
When should I pick an operations manager instead?
The operation is understood and what you need is somebody running it daily There is a team that needs managing every day The problem is capacity rather than design
Can I have both?
A fractional COO designing how the company runs, with an operations manager executing it daily, is a strong and common pairing, and it costs far less than a full-time COO doing both.