Interim management services
Interim management is full-time temporary cover: a senior operator in the seat 5 days a week for a defined period, usually 3 to 9 months. For a finance seat that is £15,333 to £28,750 a month. The same person at 2 days a week is £6,133 to £11,500, which is why the first question is not who to hire but how much of them you actually need.
When full-time cover is the right answer
The seat is empty and the work does not pause
A finance director has left mid-audit, or an operations lead has gone with a factory running. The job is not strategic advice, it is the daily running of a function that has nobody in it. Two days a week does not cover a seat somebody has to actually sit in.
There is a deadline with a date on it
A funding round, a system migration, an integration after an acquisition, a certification audit. Something has to be finished by a fixed date and the company needs somebody whose whole week belongs to it until it is.
A permanent search is running and will take months
A senior search honestly takes three to six months. Interim cover holds the function together while it runs, which also means the permanent hire is chosen on fit rather than on panic.
The company is in a situation it has not been in before
A turnaround, a restructure, a crisis nobody internally has handled. The value is someone who has done this specific thing several times before and is not learning on your money.
When it is not
This practice places both shapes, so there is nothing to defend here. Interim is the more expensive of the two by roughly 2.5 times at the same day rate, and in these four cases that money buys nothing the cheaper option would not.
The work is genuinely two days a week
If the function needs direction rather than operating, full-time cover is paying five days for two days of work. A fractional seat does the same job at the same day rate for a fraction of the monthly cost, and the figures below show the gap.
The role is permanent and you know it
If the seat is not going away, interim cover is a more expensive way to arrive at the hire you already know you need. Run the search and use interim only to hold the gap while it runs.
You want to try somebody before hiring them
That is a reasonable thing to want and interim is an expensive way to get it. A fractional engagement answers the same question over a longer window, at a lower monthly cost, and with less disruption if the answer is no.
Nobody internally can brief or receive the work
An interim leader with no counterpart leaves nothing behind. Whatever was fixed in six months starts drifting the week after they go, and the company has bought a pause rather than a change.
What it costs a month, by seat
What a company pays, not what an operator charges. Full-time is 5 days a week and the fractional column is 2, which is the most common commitment on the bench. Both run off the same published day rate, so the only thing separating them is how much of the week you are buying.
| Seat | Interim, 5 days a week | Fractional, 2 days a week |
|---|---|---|
| CFO | £15,333 to £28,750 | £6,133 to £11,500 |
| CMO | £13,417 to £24,917 | £5,367 to £9,967 |
| CTO | £15,333 to £26,833 | £6,133 to £10,733 |
| COO | £13,417 to £24,917 | £5,367 to £9,967 |
| Sales Director | £13,417 to £24,917 | £5,367 to £9,967 |
| Growth Lead | £11,500 to £21,083 | £4,600 to £8,433 |
| Product Lead | £13,417 to £23,000 | £5,367 to £9,200 |
| People Lead | £11,500 to £21,083 | £4,600 to £8,433 |
| CISO | £17,250 to £28,750 | £6,900 to £11,500 |
| Data Lead | £13,417 to £23,000 | £5,367 to £9,200 |
| General Counsel | £15,333 to £26,833 | £6,133 to £10,733 |
Monthly figures, calculated from the published day rates over billable weeks rather than calendar ones, so a month is not assumed to contain more working days than it does. Every day rate is public, and the calculator runs the same arithmetic on your own numbers.
What to agree before anybody starts
An interim engagement exists because something is uncertain, which makes the terms more important rather than less. These five are worth settling in writing.
- The end date, and what specifically has to be true by it
- Who the work is handed to, by name, and what they inherit
- Days a week, and whether that number can move without renegotiating
- Notice on both sides, since an interim engagement that cannot be ended early is a contract rather than cover
- Whether the engagement converting to permanent changes anything about what you pay
How to engage somebody
Two routes, and the first costs nothing. Browse the bench, find an operator whose background fits the gap, and book them directly: no fee is due on anyone you find that way, now or later. If you would rather not do the searching, Operator Search runs it for you at £0 to start and 10% of annualised value only if you appoint somebody, minimum £3,500, with a six-month replacement guarantee behind it.
Browse the bench or read how Operator Search is priced. If the seat is permanent rather than temporary, that is a different product and priced differently.
Common questions
What does interim management actually cost per month?
Full-time cover is charged on a day rate against the days worked, so the monthly cost is the day rate multiplied by the days in the month. Across the seats on this bench that lands between £11,500 and £28,750 a month for five days a week, depending on the seat and the sector. Every band is published by seat below and on the day rates page.
How is interim different from fractional?
Commitment, not seniority. The same operator at the same day rate is interim when they are with you full-time for a defined period and fractional when they are with you a day or two a week on an ongoing basis. Interim covers a seat; fractional directs a function. The monthly difference at the same day rate is roughly 2.5 times.
How long does an interim engagement usually run?
Most run between 3 and 9 months. Shorter than 3 and the handover costs more than the cover is worth, since a senior person needs several weeks before they are useful. Longer than 9 and the honest question is whether the role is permanent and should be hired for.
Can an interim become a permanent hire?
It happens, and there is no fee on this side if it does. What matters is agreeing before anybody starts what changes if it does, because discovering that question halfway through an engagement is how a good relationship turns into a negotiation.
Do you charge to find an interim executive?
Browsing the bench and booking somebody yourself costs nothing, and no fee is ever due on an operator you find that way. If you would rather we ran the search, that is a paid service with the price published on the Operator Search page.
What happens if the engagement is not working?
Notice on both sides, agreed in writing before it starts. An interim engagement exists because a situation is uncertain, so a contract that cannot be ended early is the wrong instrument for it.