CFO salary in the UK, 2026
A full-time chief financial officer in a UK company of twenty to two hundred people is paid a base of £110,000 to £180,000 in 2026, with a bonus of twenty to forty per cent and, in venture-backed companies, equity of half a per cent to one and a half per cent. These are the bands this practice briefs against for first and second CFO hires, not survey means across the whole market, and the London top end runs higher.
The package in one table
| Component | 2026 band | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Base salary | £110,000 to £180,000 | Midpoint £140,000, the figure the cost calculator assumes. |
| Bonus | 20 to 40 per cent | Usually tied to cash, a raise closing or an exit milestone rather than revenue alone. |
| Employer costs | £21,571 a year at the midpoint | Employer National Insurance and the statutory pension minimum, on top of base. |
| Search fee, year of hire | £35,000 to £46,200 | 25 to 33 per cent of first-year earnings for a retained search, on the base alone here. |
Equity
Half a per cent to one and a half per cent of fully diluted equity for a first CFO joining between Series A and Series C, vesting over four years with a one-year cliff. Pre-exit hires are more often paid a transaction bonus than a grant. Owner-managed businesses rarely offer equity and pay a higher base instead.
By stage and kind of company
| Company | Base band | What the seat is |
|---|---|---|
| Seed to Series A, first finance leader | £100,000 to £130,000 | Often a finance director title, or a fractional CFO rather than a full-time one. |
| Series A to B, first CFO | £120,000 to £160,000 | Owns the raise, board reporting and unit economics. Equity does most of the work in the offer. |
| Series B to D, scaling | £150,000 to £200,000 | Has built a function before: controller, FP&A, a team of five to fifteen. |
| Pre-exit or private-equity backed | £160,000 to £220,000 | Has sat through diligence on the selling side. Transaction bonus common. |
What moves the number
Whether a raise or a sale is in the next eighteen months
A CFO hired to run a Series B or a sale is paid for that event, and the package reflects it: a higher base, a bonus tied to completion, and equity or a transaction bonus. A CFO hired to run a profitable owner-managed business is paid for steadiness, and the base is lower while the bonus is more predictable.
The qualification the auditors and lenders will ask about
ACA, ACCA or CIMA adds to the base in companies with audits, debt or an acquirer in view, because those parties want the letters. Venture-backed companies raising rounds pay for modelling and investor experience and care less about the qualification, which widens the candidate pool and holds the base down.
The size of the team underneath
A CFO with a financial controller and a planning lead is paid for leading a function. A CFO who is the finance function, closing the books themselves, is a finance director in practice whatever the title, and the market pays accordingly. The team size is the honest way to place a brief in the band.
Regulated sectors
Fintech, insurance and anything with FCA permissions pays a premium for a CFO who has held a controlled function or faced a regulator, typically ten to twenty per cent on the base against an unregulated company of the same size.
London and the rest of the UK
London adds roughly ten to twenty per cent to the base against the rest of the UK for the same brief, and the top of every stage band above is a London figure. Manchester, Edinburgh, Bristol and Leeds pay towards the middle of the band for comparable roles, and remote-first companies increasingly pay a national rate regardless of where the CFO sits.
The fractional alternative, in the same units
A fractional CFO at the published UK band of £800 to £1,500 a day, two days a week for forty-six weeks, costs £73,600 to £138,000 a year, with no employer National Insurance, pension, holiday or search fee on top. Against a full-time midpoint of £140,000 plus £21,571 of employer costs, the fractional seat costs less until it needs about three days a week. The cost calculator runs the comparison at any day rate and any number of days, and the fractional CFO cost page sets out the monthly and annual figures.
Where the figures come from
The bands are the ones this practice briefs against when running a full-time CFO search for a company of twenty to two hundred people, cross-checked against offers made and accepted in the last year and against the published salary ranges on UK job adverts for the seat. They are not survey means across the whole market, which is why they are narrower than the job-board averages and why the page says what kind of company each row describes. How the numbers on this site are compiled covers the rest.
Common questions
What is the average CFO salary in the UK?
Averages across the whole market mix FTSE finance chiefs on seven figures with the first finance hire at a startup, so they mislead. For a company of twenty to two hundred people hiring a full-time CFO in 2026, the base is £110,000 to £180,000, with London and pre-exit roles above that.
How much does a startup CFO earn in the UK?
A first CFO joining a UK startup between Series A and Series B is typically paid a base of £120,000 to £160,000 with equity of half a per cent to one and a half per cent. Before Series A the role is usually a finance director or a fractional CFO at a day rate rather than a full-time chief financial officer.
What does a full-time CFO cost the company beyond salary?
Employer National Insurance and pension add roughly fifteen per cent to the base in the UK, and a retained search fee adds a quarter to a third of first-year earnings in the year of hire. A £150,000 CFO costs about £172,000 a year to employ and around £217,000 in the first year with a search fee, before bonus or equity.
How does a fractional CFO compare with a full-time CFO salary?
A fractional CFO at the published UK band of £800 to £1,500 a day, two days a week, costs £73,600 to £138,000 a year with no employer costs, pension or recruitment fee. Full-time wins when the seat genuinely needs five days: a team to run, a transaction to carry, or a board that wants the person in every room.
Do CFOs in the UK get equity?
In venture-backed companies, almost always: half a per cent to one and a half per cent for a first CFO, vesting over four years. In owner-managed and family businesses, rarely, and the base is higher to compensate. Private-equity-backed companies more often use a management incentive plan tied to the exit than ordinary options.
Full-time, or the part-time version first
Retained search runs a permanent CFO appointment end to end, and the CFO search page sets out how that search runs. The bench lists verified fractional CFOs with the day rate on the profile, for the company that wants the judgement before the headcount.