# Leadership Services

> Leadership Services is a UK consultancy that provides fractional and interim C-suite leaders (CFO, CIO, CTO, CMO, COO, CCO, CHRO, CISO and MD) from a bench of vetted senior directors, plus hands-on AI consultancy that builds working AI tools and automation. It works mainly with established UK scale-ups and owner-managed businesses of 30 to 1,000+ people. Engagements start within one week, from £1,795 per month, with no long-term tie-ins.

Leadership Services Limited, company number 11535514, 10 Watergate Row North, Chester, CH1 2LD. Email hello@leadership-services.co.uk, phone 0330 236 8932.

## AI and digital delivery

- [AI Consultancy UK: We Build It](https://leadership-services.co.uk/ai-consultancy/): UK AI consultancy that ships working software: custom AI tools, automation, SaaS replacement and AI portfolio design. Built to UK security guidelines.
- [IT Consulting Services UK for SMEs](https://leadership-services.co.uk/it-consulting-services/): IT consulting for UK SMEs: IT strategy, transformation, cyber security and vendor rationalisation from directors who have run IT. From £900/day.
- [Fractional Data Director UK | Part-Time CDO & AI Leadership](https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-data-ai-director/): Experienced fractional data director and AI leadership services from £1,795 per month. Data strategy, AI adoption, analytics governance, and CDO services for UK SMEs.

## Fractional directors

- [Fractional CFO UK | Part-Time Finance Director Services](https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-cfo-services/): Access experienced fractional CFO and part-time finance director services from £1,795 per month. Financial strategy, investor relations, and board reporting for UK SMEs.
- [Part-Time Finance Director UK | Part-Time FD Services](https://leadership-services.co.uk/part-time-finance-director/): Part-time finance directors and fractional FDs for UK SMEs and scale-ups from £1,795 per month. Board reporting, cashflow and banking. Starts in a week.
- [Fractional CIO UK | Part-Time CIO Services](https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-cio-services/): Fractional CIO services from £1,795 per month: an IT roadmap with budget, risk and board reporting, from a CIO on our bench within one week.
- [Fractional IT Director UK | Part-Time IT Director Services](https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-it-director/): Fractional IT director services for UK businesses from £1,795 per month. Board-level IT leadership part-time, without the full-time salary.
- [Fractional CTO UK | Part-Time CTO Services](https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-cto-services/): Fractional CTO and part-time CTO services for UK scale-ups from £1,795 per month. Technology strategy, architecture and delivery from a CTO on our bench.
- [Fractional CMO UK | Part-Time Marketing Director](https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-cmo-services/): Fractional CMO and fractional marketing director services for UK scale-ups, from £1,795 per month. Senior marketers from our bench, starting in a week.
- [Fractional COO UK | Part-Time COO Services](https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-coo-services/): Fractional COO and part-time COO services for UK scale-ups from £1,795 per month. An experienced operations leader from our bench within one week.
- [Fractional Commercial Director UK | Part-Time CCO Services](https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-commercial-director/): Experienced fractional commercial director and part-time CCO services from £1,795 per month. Commercial strategy, partnerships, pricing, and revenue growth for UK SMEs.
- [Fractional Sales Director UK | Fractional Sales Leadership](https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-sales-director/): Fractional sales director and fractional sales leadership for UK scale-ups, from £1,795 per month. Pipeline, team and revenue growth within a week.
- [Fractional HR Director UK | Part-Time CHRO Services](https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-hr-director/): Experienced fractional HR director and part-time CHRO services from £1,795 per month. People strategy, talent management, and HR leadership for UK SMEs and scale-ups.
- [Fractional Managing Director UK | Part-Time MD Services](https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-managing-director/): Experienced fractional managing director and part-time MD services from £1,795 per month. Business leadership, strategic direction, and general management for UK SMEs.
- [Fractional CISO UK | Part-Time Security Leadership Services](https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-ciso/): Experienced fractional CISO and part-time cybersecurity leadership from £1,795 per month. Cyber risk, security strategy, compliance, and board reporting for UK SMEs.
- [Leadership Consulting UK | Consultants Who've Run Firms](https://leadership-services.co.uk/leadership-consulting/): Leadership consulting for UK CEOs, MDs and boards from consultants who have run businesses themselves. Strategy and board advice from £900 a day.
- [Fractional Director Services UK](https://leadership-services.co.uk/services/): Experienced part-time directors across Finance, IT, Marketing, Operations, Sales, HR, Data, and more — from £1,795 per month. Start within five business days.

## Programmes and sprints

- [The 10-Day GTM Sprint for Scale-Ups](https://leadership-services.co.uk/gtm-sprint/): A fixed ten-day go-to-market sprint for B2B scale-ups with stalled growth: ranked accounts, positioning, deck and playbooks. We start Monday.
- [Sector Transformation Programmes UK](https://leadership-services.co.uk/transformation-programmes/): Fixed-outcome transformation programmes delivered by multi-director teams. Scale Ready, Exit Accelerator, Digital Lift, People First, Revenue Engine.
- [Transformation Directorate | Fractional C-Suite](https://leadership-services.co.uk/transformation-directorate/): Deploy 2 to 4 fractional directors as one coordinated programme. The Transformation Directorate gives UK SMEs cross-functional change leadership.
- [Scale Ready Programme | Fractional Leadership](https://leadership-services.co.uk/programme-scale-ready/): A coordinated CFO, CMO, and COO programme for high-growth UK businesses. Build the leadership infrastructure to scale beyond your revenue ceiling.
- [Revenue Engine | B2B Commercial Growth](https://leadership-services.co.uk/programme-revenue-engine/): Coordinated Sales Director and CMO programme to rebuild your B2B commercial engine. Lift pipeline, conversion, and revenue predictability.
- [People First Programme | HR & Culture Lift](https://leadership-services.co.uk/programme-people-first/): Coordinated HR Director and COO programme tackling attrition, management capability, and culture. Deliver people change that lasts in UK SMEs.
- [Exit Accelerator | Sale & Refinance Readiness](https://leadership-services.co.uk/programme-exit-accelerator/): A coordinated CFO, Commercial Director, and COO programme to maximise business valuation and prepare for a trade sale, MBO, or PE investment. From £6,000/month.
- [Digital Lift | Technology Transformation Programme](https://leadership-services.co.uk/programme-digital-lift/): Coordinated CTO and CIO programme delivering real digital transformation in UK SMEs. Modernise systems, automate work, lift productivity.

## Diagnostic audits

- [Leadership Readiness Audit UK](https://leadership-services.co.uk/leadership-readiness-audit/): Fixed-fee leadership readiness audit for UK SMEs. Identify capability gaps across the C-suite. Two to three week assessment, board-ready report.
- [Finance & Investor-Readiness Audit UK](https://leadership-services.co.uk/finance-investor-readiness-audit/): Fixed-fee CFO-led audit of your finance function, board reporting, and investor readiness. Two to three week diagnostic for UK SMEs.
- [Digital & Technology Audit UK](https://leadership-services.co.uk/digital-technology-audit/): Fixed-fee CTO-led digital and technology audit for UK SMEs. Assess IT, cyber, and digital roadmap. Two to three week board-ready diagnostic.
- [Growth & Revenue Audit UK](https://leadership-services.co.uk/growth-revenue-audit/): Fixed-fee commercial audit covering sales pipeline, marketing, and customer success. Two to three week diagnostic with prioritised growth actions.

## Coaching and mentoring

- [Executive Coaching & Mentoring UK](https://leadership-services.co.uk/coaching-and-mentoring/): Executive coaching and mentoring for UK founders, CEOs and MDs, delivered by experienced operators, not career coaches. From £150/hr.
- [Executive Coaching for CEOs UK | CEO Coaching Services](https://leadership-services.co.uk/coaching-and-mentoring/executive-coaching/): Executive coaching and CEO coaching from operators who have run businesses, not career coaches. Published rates from £150 an hour, free chemistry session.
- [Business Mentoring UK | SME Mentoring for Founders & MDs](https://leadership-services.co.uk/coaching-and-mentoring/business-mentoring/): Business mentoring for UK SME founders, MDs and owner-managers — durable senior advisory relationships with experienced operators, from £500/month. Published rates, free chemistry sessions, UK-wide.
- [Senior Leadership Team Coaching UK | SLT Coaching](https://leadership-services.co.uk/coaching-and-mentoring/leadership-team-coaching/): Senior leadership team and executive team coaching for UK SMEs, run by operators who have led senior teams. From £1,800 a session, free chemistry call.

## Sectors

- [Fractional Directors for UK Scale-Ups](https://leadership-services.co.uk/sector-scale-ups/): Build your scale-up's leadership bench: fractional CFOs, CMOs, CTOs and COOs for UK scale-ups, starting within one week. No equity, no long tie-ins.
- [Fractional Directors for UK Manufacturers](https://leadership-services.co.uk/sector-manufacturing/): Fractional CFOs, COOs and CTOs for UK manufacturers, drawn from our bench of senior operators. Deployed within one week, no long-term contracts.
- [PE-Backed Fractional Directors UK](https://leadership-services.co.uk/sector-pe-backed-businesses/): Fractional CFOs, COOs and CTOs for UK PE-backed portfolio companies: 100-day plans, value-creation delivery and exit readiness from our bench.
- [Professional Services Fractional Directors UK](https://leadership-services.co.uk/sector-professional-services/): Fractional CFOs, COOs and CMOs for UK professional services firms. Senior leaders from our bench on a part-time basis, starting within one week.
- [Fractional Directors for UK SaaS & Tech](https://leadership-services.co.uk/sector-saas/): Fractional CFOs, CTOs and CMOs for UK SaaS and tech businesses, drawn from our bench of senior operators. Starts within one week, no long tie-ins.

## Pricing and research

- [Fractional Director Pricing UK](https://leadership-services.co.uk/pricing/): Transparent pricing for fractional directors, audits and programmes: from £3,500 for a fixed-fee audit to £12,000/month for a Transformation Directorate.
- [UK Fractional Director Rate Report 2026 — Leadership Services](https://leadership-services.co.uk/rate-report-2026/): Independent benchmark report on UK fractional executive day rates and monthly retainers in 2026. CFO, CMO, CIO, CTO, COO, CPO. Free PDF download.
- [Free Business Leader Playbooks UK](https://leadership-services.co.uk/resources/): Ten practical playbooks for senior business leaders — Finance, IT, Marketing, Sales, Operations, HR, Data, Commercial, Engineering, Procurement. Free download.

## About

- [About Leadership Services | UK Fractional Director Bench](https://leadership-services.co.uk/about/): Leadership Services places UK fractional directors from a bench of 70+ vetted senior operators with growing businesses. From £1,795 per month. No long tie-ins.
- [David Bailey, Managing Director — Leadership Services](https://leadership-services.co.uk/about/david-bailey/): David Bailey is the Managing Director of Leadership Services, a UK consultancy placing fractional and interim C-suite directors with SMEs and mid-market businesses. 20+ years of senior IT and business leadership experience.
- [Why Leadership Services? | Expert Part-Time Directors UK](https://leadership-services.co.uk/why-leadership-services/): Why choose Leadership Services? Discover why 500+ UK businesses trust our part-time directors for strategic growth and expert leadership.
- [Our Bench of Fractional Directors UK](https://leadership-services.co.uk/team/): Meet our bench of 70+ vetted UK fractional directors: CFOs, CMOs, CIOs, CTOs, COOs and more. Same-week starts. From £1,795 per month.
- [Case Studies | Fractional Director Success Stories](https://leadership-services.co.uk/case-studies/): Browse 100+ case studies showing how fractional directors from Leadership Services deliver measurable results for UK businesses across 25+ industries.
- [Join Our Bench of Fractional Directors](https://leadership-services.co.uk/join-us/): Experienced board-level director looking for flexible, high-impact engagements? Apply to join the Leadership Services bench.
- [Client Terms and Conditions](https://leadership-services.co.uk/terms/): The client terms and conditions of business that apply to every Leadership Services fractional and interim leadership engagement.

## Insights (all)

- [Insights hub](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/): All articles
- [AI SEO: How to Stay Visible in AI Search (UK Guide 2026)](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/ai-seo-uk-guide/): AI SEO is how UK businesses get found and cited by Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT and Copilot. What has changed, what to do differently and who should own it.
- [AI in Accounting: A Practical Guide for UK Finance Teams](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/ai-in-accounting-uk/): AI in accounting can shorten routine finance work and improve visibility, but UK businesses need human review, data controls and a clear route from experiment to value.
- [What Is Generative Engine Optimisation? A Practical Guide](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/what-is-generative-engine-optimisation/): Generative engine optimisation helps UK businesses make useful, credible content easier for AI search systems to understand, cite and connect to prospective customers.
- [Part-Time CHRO for UK Manufacturing: A Practical Guide](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/part-time-chro-uk-manufacturing/): A part-time CHRO for UK manufacturing gives growing factories practical workforce planning, skills and people leadership without the cost of a full-time executive.
- [Fractional CCO vs Full-Time CCO Cost UK](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/fractional-cco-vs-full-time-cco-cost-uk/): Fractional CCO vs full-time CCO cost UK explained: compare salary, incentives, employer costs, flexibility and the commercial outcomes your business needs.
- [CHRO Day Rates UK 2026: What Should You Budget?](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/chro-day-rates-uk-2026/): CHRO day rates UK 2026 typically range from £700 to £1,800 a day, depending on scope, urgency and whether the brief is fractional, interim or transformational.
- [Part-Time CIO for UK Professional Services: A Practical Guide](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/part-time-cio-uk-professional-services/): A part-time CIO for UK professional services aligns technology, data, cyber security and AI with growth without the cost of a full-time technology executive.
- [Part-Time CPO for UK SaaS Businesses: A Practical Guide](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/part-time-cpo-uk-saas/): A part-time CPO for UK SaaS businesses turns user insight, product priorities and commercial goals into a focused roadmap without the cost of a full-time product executive.
- [Part-Time COO for UK Logistics Businesses: A Practical Guide](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/part-time-coo-uk-logistics/): A part-time COO for UK logistics businesses brings control to transport, warehouse operations, people, compliance and margin without the cost of a full-time executive.
- [Part-Time CFO for UK Healthcare Businesses: A Practical Guide](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/part-time-cfo-uk-healthcare/): A part-time CFO for UK healthcare businesses improves cash-flow forecasting, service-line margins, funding decisions and board reporting without a full-time executive hire.
- [Part-Time CTO for UK SaaS Businesses: A Practical Guide](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/part-time-cto-uk-saas/): A part-time CTO for UK SaaS businesses brings senior product, platform and security direction without the cost of a full-time technology executive.
- [Part-Time CMO for UK Professional Services: A Practical Guide](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/part-time-cmo-uk-professional-services/): A part-time CMO for UK professional services firms brings focused positioning, demand generation and commercial marketing leadership without a full-time executive hire.
- [How to Hire a Fractional CCO in the UK: A Practical Guide](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/how-to-hire-a-fractional-cco-uk/): How to hire a fractional CCO UK: define the commercial brief, test practical leadership evidence and agree a flexible engagement that moves revenue forward.
- [Part-Time CISO for UK Fintech: A Practical Guide](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/part-time-ciso-for-uk-fintech/): A part-time CISO for UK fintech businesses brings board-level cyber risk, regulatory readiness and incident leadership without the cost of a full-time security executive.
- [Part-Time CPO for UK Scaleups: A Practical Guide](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/part-time-cpo-uk-scaleups/): A part-time CPO for UK scaleups brings focused product strategy, prioritisation and senior leadership without the cost of a full-time chief product officer.
- [Part-Time CCO for UK B2B Businesses: A Practical Guide](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/part-time-cco-uk-b2b-businesses/): A part-time CCO for UK B2B businesses aligns sales, marketing and customer growth with a clear commercial plan, without the cost of a full-time executive hire.
- [Part-Time COO for UK SMEs: When and How to Hire One](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/part-time-coo-uk-smes/): A part-time COO for UK SMEs brings practical operating discipline, clearer KPIs and delivery focus without the cost or commitment of a full-time operations executive.
- [Part-Time CIO for UK Manufacturing: A Practical Guide](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/part-time-cio-uk-manufacturing/): Part-time CIO for UK manufacturing aligns systems, data and cyber security with growth — senior technology leadership without a full-time hire.
- [Interim Director Meaning UK: Definition, Role and When to Hire](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/interim-director-meaning-uk/): Interim director meaning UK: understand the role, when to hire one, how assignments work, legal responsibilities, cost and how to choose well.
- [CMO as a Service UK 2026: A Practical Guide](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/cmo-as-a-service-uk-2026/): CMO as a service UK 2026 gives growing businesses senior marketing direction, measurable priorities and board-level accountability without a full-time CMO hire.
- [Fractional Executive Market UK 2026: What MDs Need to Know](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/fractional-executive-market-uk-2026/): The fractional executive market UK 2026 gives MDs access to senior finance, technology, marketing, operations and people leadership without a full-time C-suite hire.
- [Fractional Sales Director UK 2026: What to Expect](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/fractional-sales-director-uk-2026/): Fractional sales director UK 2026 guidance for MDs: what the role delivers, when to hire, cost context, first-90-day priorities and how to choose well.
- [Growth Marketing Strategy SME UK: A Practical Guide for Founders](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/growth-marketing-strategy-sme-uk/): A practical growth marketing strategy SME UK founders can use to focus their audience, channels and budget on measurable, profitable demand.
- [CMO Salary UK 2026 vs Fractional Cost: Which Route Fits?](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/cmo-salary-uk-2026-vs-fractional-cost/): CMO salary UK 2026 benchmarks sit well above most SME budgets. Compare the true cost of a permanent CMO with a fractional CMO and choose the right route for growth.
- [Operations Director Salary UK 2026: What Should You Pay?](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/operations-director-salary-uk-2026/): Operations director salary UK 2026 benchmarks range from £71,250 to £108,250 in current UK data. Learn how scope, sector, location and total package change the right offer.
- [How to Hire a Fractional COO UK: A Practical Guide](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/how-to-hire-a-fractional-coo-uk/): How to hire a fractional COO UK: define the operational problem, set measurable outcomes and choose a senior operator who can start quickly without a full-time commitment.
- [Fractional CISO UK Day Rates 2026: What to Budget](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/fractional-ciso-uk-day-rates/): Fractional CISO UK day rates vary with scope, risk and experience. Use current contractor benchmarks to set a sensible budget and compare day-rate, retainer and permanent-hire options.
- [Fractional COO for Ecommerce UK: An Operations Guide](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/fractional-coo-for-ecommerce-uk/): A fractional COO for ecommerce UK businesses can bring order to fulfilment, stock, suppliers and customer experience while the founder focuses on growth.
- [Fractional CFO for Fundraising UK: A Founder’s Guide](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/fractional-cfo-for-fundraising-uk/): A fractional CFO for fundraising UK founders can build an investor-ready model, lead due diligence and give the board control of cash, valuation and the funding plan.
- [What Does a Fractional CFO Actually Do? A UK Business Guide](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/what-does-a-fractional-cfo-actually-do/): What does a fractional CFO actually do? They give growing UK businesses senior financial control, forecasting and decision support without the cost of a full-time CFO.
- [Fractional Director Day Rate 2026 UK: What Should You Pay?](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/fractional-director-day-rate-2026-uk/): Fractional director day rate 2026 UK benchmarks explained, with role, workload, location and engagement guidance for MDs and FDs.
- [NED vs Fractional Director UK: Which Is Right for Your Business?](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/ned-vs-fractional-director-uk/): NED vs fractional director UK: understand the practical, legal and commercial differences between independent board oversight and part-time executive leadership.
- [Interim CMO vs Fractional CMO UK: Which Is Right?](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/interim-cmo-vs-fractional-cmo-uk/): Interim CMO vs fractional CMO UK: compare speed, scope, cost and commitment so your business can choose the right senior marketing leadership.
- [How to Hire a Part-Time CMO in the UK: A Practical Checklist](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/how-to-hire-a-part-time-cmo-uk/): How to hire a part-time CMO in the UK: what to write in the brief, what to test at interview, how to structure days, and how to stay compliant from day one.
- [Chief Marketing Manager vs CMO (UK): What’s the Difference, and Which Do You Need?](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/chief-marketing-manager-vs-cmo-uk/): Chief marketing manager vs CMO UK: understand scope, reporting lines, and outcomes so you can hire the right level of marketing leadership for your growth stage.
- [Fractional Operations Director vs COO (UK): Which Role Do You Need?](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/fractional-operations-director-vs-coo-uk/): A fractional operations director vs COO comparison for UK SMEs: understand remit, decision rights, typical outcomes, and which leadership role fits your stage.
- [Fractional FD vs Fractional CFO (UK): Which One Do You Need?](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/fractional-fd-vs-fractional-cfo-uk/): Fractional FD vs fractional CFO UK: learn the real differences in scope, board responsibilities and typical costs so you hire the right finance leader at the right time.
- [Fractional Director UK 2026: The Complete Guide for SME Owners](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/fractional-director-uk-2026-complete-guide/): A fractional director is an experienced UK executive who joins your business part-time to deliver senior leadership without a full-time hire. Complete 2026 guide.
- [Part-time CMO cost UK 2026: rates, retainers and what you actually get](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/part-time-cmo-cost-uk-2026/): Part-time CMO cost UK 2026 ranges from day rates to monthly retainers. Learn typical budgets, what’s included, and how to size the role for your growth stage.
- [Chief Marketing Officer Salary UK (2026) vs Fractional CMO Cost: A Practical Comparison](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/cmo-salary-vs-fractional-cmo-cost-uk-2026/): Chief Marketing Officer salary UK benchmarks are useful for pay decisions — but they can overstate what you need. Compare full-time on-costs with fractional CMO pricing for UK SMEs.
- [How Much Does a CTO Cost in the UK? Salary, Day Rates and Fractional Options (2026)](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/how-much-does-a-cto-cost-uk/): How much does a CTO cost UK? Expect roughly £100k–£180k+ salary for many roles, £800–£1,050/day for contractors, or a fractional CTO from £1,795 per month.
- [Fractional CMO for Tech Startups UK: Cost, When to Hire, and What You Get](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/fractional-cmo-tech-startups-uk-cost/): Fractional CMO tech startups UK: what it costs, when to hire, and how a part-time CMO improves positioning, pipeline and CAC payback without a full-time salary.
- [Fractional Campaigns Director UK: When to Hire One (2026 Guide)](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/fractional-campaigns-director-uk/): A fractional campaigns director gives UK SMEs and mid-market businesses senior campaign leadership — multi-channel strategy, budget allocation, agency management, and performance accountability — with
- [Fractional CFO for UK Manufacturing: The 2026 Guide for MDs of £5-50m Businesses](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/fractional-cfo-manufacturing-uk-guide/): UK manufacturers are managing rising complexity — WIP accounting, inventory volatility, ESG reporting, tighter margins — with finance teams that have not grown at the same pace. A fractional CFO adds 
- [What Is a Non‑Executive Director (NED) in the UK? Duties, Value and Risks (2026)](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/what-is-a-non-executive-director-uk-2026/): If you’re asking what is a non executive director, it’s a board member who is not part of day‑to‑day management but is still legally responsible as a director — bringing independent oversight and chal
- [What Is a Fractional Executive? A UK Guide for 2026](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/what-is-a-fractional-executive-uk-2026/): What is a fractional executive? It’s a senior leader who joins your business part-time to deliver C‑suite impact without the cost of a full-time hire.
- [Coach vs Mentor: The Real Difference (And Which One You Actually Need)](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/coach-vs-mentor-uk-2026/): A coach helps you find your own answers through structured questioning; a mentor shares their own experience directly. Both are useful — the choice depends on where you are as a leader, what you're fa
- [How Much Does Executive Coaching Cost in the UK? (2026 Rates and Real Ranges)](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/how-much-does-executive-coaching-cost-uk-2026/): UK 2026 executive coaching costs £150–£500 per hour, £800–£2,400 per month on retainer, or £4,000–£12,000 per participant for structured programmes. Full breakdown of published rates, hidden charges, 
- [Operations Director Job Description UK (2026): Template, KPIs and Interview Scorecard](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/operations-director-job-description-uk-2026/): An operations director job description UK template for 2026, including responsibilities, KPIs, reporting line and a practical interview scorecard.
- [Fractional CTO Job Description Template (UK): Role, Responsibilities and KPI Examples](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/fractional-cto-job-description-template-uk/): Use this fractional CTO job description template UK businesses can adapt to hire part-time tech leadership: responsibilities, outcomes, KPIs and interview prompts.
- [Fractional COO Job Description Template (UK): Copy, Paste and Edit](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/fractional-coo-job-description-template-uk/): A fractional COO job description template UK businesses can copy, paste and tailor to hire a part-time operations leader with clear outcomes and decision-rights.
- [Fractional CIO Job Description Template (UK): Responsibilities, Skills and KPIs](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/fractional-cio-job-description-template-uk/): Use this fractional CIO job description template UK to hire senior technology leadership for strategy, cyber risk and delivery — without a full-time salary.
- [Fractional CMO Job Description Template UK (with responsibilities and KPIs)](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/fractional-cmo-job-description-template-uk/): Use this fractional CMO job description template UK to hire senior marketing leadership fast: scope, responsibilities, KPIs, and interview questions.
- [Fractional CFO Job Description Template (UK): A Practical Brief You Can Copy](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/fractional-cfo-job-description-template-uk/): Copy this fractional CFO job description template UK businesses can tailor to hire the right part-time finance leader fast — with deliverables, KPIs and reporting cadence.
- [How to Hire a Fractional CIO in the UK: A Practical Guide for SMEs](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/how-to-hire-a-fractional-cio-uk/): How to hire a fractional CIO UK: define outcomes, run a fair selection process, and choose a part-time CIO who can reduce risk and accelerate delivery.
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- [How Fractional Directors Drive Accountability: Practical Examples for SME Leaders](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/how-fractional-directors-drive-accountability-practical-examples-for-sme-leaders/): What is a Fractional Director and Why Are They Relevant for SMEs? A fractional director is a seasoned executive who provides their expertise to businesses on a part-time or contract basis, rather than
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- [Turning Conflict Into Collaboration: Leadership Skills That Transform Results](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/turning-conflict-into-collaboration-leadership-skills-that-transform-results/): Conflict in business is not just inevitable—it’s often necessary for progress. The real skill lies in transforming friction into fuel for improved teamwork, creative problem-solving, and ultimately be
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- [Struggling For Strategic Leadership? Here Are 10 Things You Should Know About Fractional Directors](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/struggling-for-strategic-leadership-here-are-10-things-you-should-know-about-fractional-directors/): If you’re running a growing business and finding yourself stuck on strategic decisions, you’re not alone. Many UK SMEs hit that awkward phase where they need senior leadership expertise but can’t just
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- [Struggling for Growth? 5 Signs It’s Time for a Part-Time Director](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/struggling-for-strategic-growth-5-signs-its-time-for-a-part-time-director/): Growth plateaus happen to the best of us. One day you’re cruising along nicely, hitting targets and expanding steadily. The next, you’re stuck in neutral whilst your competitors zoom past. If you’re a
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- [Marketing ROI Secrets: What SME Experts Don’t Want You to Know](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/marketing-roi-secrets-revealed-what-sme-experts-dont-want-you-to-know/): Most SME leaders think they understand marketing ROI. They divide revenue by marketing spend, multiply by 100, and call it a day. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: this approach is costing British b
- [How SMEs Can Use Data to Outsmart the Competition in 2025](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/how-smes-can-use-data-to-outsmart-the-competition-in-2025/): Data isn’t just for the big players anymore. In 2025, small and medium enterprises have access to the same sophisticated analytics tools that once cost millions and required massive IT departments. Th
- [AI, Cash Flow, and Growth: The SME Leader’s Guide to Thriving in 2025](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/ai-cash-flow-and-growth-the-sme-leaders-guide-to-thriving-in-2025/): Let’s be honest: 2025 feels like the year everything finally clicks for small and medium-sized businesses. AI isn’t some distant sci-fi concept anymore; it’s the secret weapon that’s helping SMEs punc
- [From Advice to Action: How Part-Time Directors Drive Real Change](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/from-advice-to-action-how-embedded-part-time-directors-drive-real-change/): You’ve heard it all before. Another consultant walks into your business, spends weeks understanding your challenges, produces a brilliant strategy document, presents their recommendations, and then… d
- [Techniques to Improve People Management as an MD or Senior Leader](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/techniques-to-improve-people-management-as-an-md-or-senior-leader/): As an MD or senior leader, people management can feel like a constantly shifting landscape. There’s never a single right answer, just a set of effective techniques to keep your team focused, engaged, 
- [The Modern Playbook: How to Prioritise as a Small Business Leader](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/the-modern-playbook-how-to-prioritise-as-a-small-business-leader/): Why Prioritisation Has Never Been More Crucial Every small business leader knows the feeling: an overflowing inbox, phone pinging with urgent requests, and a whiteboard full of big ambitions competing
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- [Is Your IT Keeping Up? 5 Signs It’s Time for an Upgrade](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/is-your-it-keeping-up-5-signs-its-time-for-an-upgrade/): Knowing when you need an IT upgrade can make the difference between growing and falling behind. Staying competitive means having technology that works with you, not against you. Your IT shouldn’t just
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- [The 15 Financial Metrics UK SMEs Should Track in 2026](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/key-financial-metrics/): Discover the 15 essential financial metrics that can make or break your business.
- [The Hidden Costs of NOT Having Financial Leadership](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/financial-leadership/): Discover the untold financial consequences of not having a finance director in your organization.
- [How to Assess the Financial Health of a UK SME (2026 Guide)](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/assess-financial-health/): Discover the secrets to assessing a company’s financial health with our comprehensive guide.
- [Writing a Winning Finance Strategy: a 4-Step Guide](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/finance-strategy-guide/): Discover the secrets to crafting a winning finance strategy with our comprehensive 7-step guide.
- [The Role of a Part-Time Finance Director in Mergers and Acquisitions](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/mergers-and-acquisitions/): Discover the invaluable role of a part-time finance director in navigating the complex world of mergers and acquisitions.
- [How Financial Mismanagement can Cripple Your Business](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/financial-mismanagement/): Discover the shocking truth about how financial mismanagement can wreak havoc on your business.
- [5 Silent Signs of Financial Distress in a Company](https://leadership-services.co.uk/insights/financial-distress/): Discover the subtle warning signs that indicate financial distress in a business.
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## Page content

### AI Consultancy UK: We Build It
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/ai-consultancy/

AI consultancy & implementation
AI Experts Who Build It, Not Just Advise On It

Most AI consultancy ends with a slide deck. Ours ends with software running
in your business — automations, internal tools, and systems you own
outright, delivered inside proper security guidelines.

Talk to us about AI See what we build

Built for
UK businesses that have tried AI pilots and want systems that actually run in production, not another strategy deck.

What you get
Working software

Delivery
Senior operators who write the code and hand over the documentation, so you own what we build.

Security
Governed by design

Adoption is no longer the problem

More than half of UK firms now use AI in some form — 54%, roughly double
the 25% recorded in 2024, according to
research
by the British Chambers of Commerce with the University of Essex. On the
face of it, that is a technology successfully adopted.

The same research found something more revealing:
95%
of those firms say AI has had no impact on their headcount . Whatever else
that means, it tells you the work has not meaningfully changed shape. Licences
have been bought. Staff are drafting emails faster. The underlying processes
are running exactly as they were.

That gap is almost never a model problem. It is that nobody has done the
engineering — connecting the model to your data, your systems and your
actual workflow, then running it reliably enough that people depend on it. That
engineering is what we do.

What we build

Every engagement ends with something running. These are the areas where we
see the clearest return.

Department and operations tools
Helpdesks, department management systems, and the routine checks a business runs on. Compliance checks that run themselves, documentation that stays current because the system chases it, and document control with proper versioning and audit trail.
Helpdesk and ticketing built around your actual process
Department management dashboards with real operational data
Automated compliance and quality checks on a schedule
Document control: versioning, approvals, retention, audit trail

Replacing SaaS you have outgrown
Subscription tools are priced per seat and shaped for the average customer. When you are bending your process to fit the tool, or paying for eighty per cent of features you never touch, a purpose-built replacement you own is usually cheaper within a couple of years — and it fits how you actually work.
CRM built to your pipeline, not a vendor template
Contract management with renewal and obligation tracking
Internal tools that retire per-seat licences
Migration and data handover from the incumbent

Finance automation
The repetitive work that quietly consumes a finance team: rekeying, reconciling, chasing, and assembling the same report every month. These are well-defined, rules-heavy tasks, which makes them some of the highest-return automation in any business.
Invoice and document data extraction
Reconciliation and exception reporting
Month-end pack assembly
Integration with Xero and existing finance systems

Web, search and AI visibility
Replacing slow legacy sites with headless builds that load in a fraction of the time, then making sure the content is found — by search engines and by the AI assistants people increasingly ask instead.
Headless site builds and migrations
Technical SEO, structured data and Core Web Vitals
AIEO: being cited by ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews
PPC automation and content production at volume

Agents and custom automation
Where a task needs judgement rather than a fixed rule, an agent can do the reading, drafting and routing while a person keeps the decision. Built against your own data, with the guardrails and logging that make it safe to run unattended.
Document and email triage
Research and drafting agents with source citation
Workflow orchestration across existing systems
Full technical documentation so your team can extend it

Your AI portfolio

There is no single right place to run AI. Most businesses need all three, split
deliberately — and the split is a security decision as much as a cost one.

Public subscriptions
ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and similar, bought per seat.
Strong for Fastest to deploy, always current, no infrastructure. Right for general productivity across a broad team.
Watch Per-seat cost scales badly. Data leaves your estate, so it needs a clear acceptable-use policy and staff who understand what must never be pasted in.

Aggregators and APIs
One commercial agreement giving access to several models, billed on usage.
Strong for You pick the right model per task and switch when a better one appears, without re-platforming. Usually the best value once usage is real and predictable.
Watch Needs someone who understands routing, cost control and rate limits, or spend drifts.

Local and private models
Models running on your own hardware or in your own tenancy.
Strong for Data never leaves your control. The answer to regulated work, commercially sensitive material, and clients who contractually forbid third-party processing.
Watch Capital or hosting cost, and capability trails the frontier models. Best used deliberately for the sensitive slice rather than everything.

Getting this split right is usually the single biggest lever on both AI cost and
AI risk. It is also the part most businesses never consciously decide.

Security is the constraint, not an afterthought

The fastest way to create a serious data problem is to let AI adoption happen
informally — staff pasting client material into whatever tool they found,
with no policy and no record. The tooling is rarely the risk. The absence of a
decision is.

We work to the
NCSC guidance on
AI and machine learning security and the
ICO
guidance on AI and data protection , and we document decisions as we go, so
what gets built can be explained to an auditor, an insurer or a client running
due diligence on you. Where the
EU AI Act reaches your
business, we factor its obligations into the design rather than retrofitting
them.

In practice that means an acceptable-use position everyone understands, sensitive
work routed to models that keep data inside your estate, logging on anything
running unattended, and a human decision point wherever the stakes justify one.

How we work

FIRST, FIND THE WORK
We map where repetitive effort actually sits — usually not where people assume. The output is a shortlist ranked by return and difficulty, and an honest note on anything not worth automating.

SHIP SOMETHING SMALL
One deliverable, scoped to land in weeks. Small enough to move quickly, useful enough that people notice. This is where you find out whether the approach suits your business before committing further.

BUILD OUT
With a working example and real usage data, we extend into the rest of the shortlist — and set the portfolio and governance so adoption scales without the risk scaling with it.

HAND OVER
Code, documentation and data are yours. Your team can run and extend what exists. We stay involved where you want us to, not because you are locked in.

Leadership as well as delivery

Some businesses need the build. Others need someone at board level who owns the
commercial application of data and AI, sets the governance, and holds the plan
together across departments. If that is closer to your situation, our
fractional Data & AI Director
service covers the leadership layer, and the two work well together —
direction set at the top, delivery happening underneath it.

Not sure which you need? A technology audit is the
cheapest way to find out.

Frequently asked questions

What makes this different from other AI consultancies?
Most AI consultancy ends at a recommendation: a roadmap, a use-case matrix, a prioritised backlog for someone else to build. We write the code. The engagement ends with systems running in your business and the documentation to maintain them. If you already know what you want built, you can skip the strategy stage entirely.

Is our data safe if we use AI?
It depends entirely on which tier you use and how it is configured, which is why we treat the AI portfolio as a design decision rather than a procurement one. Sensitive material can run on local or private models so nothing leaves your estate. General productivity work can sit on public subscriptions with an acceptable-use policy behind it. We follow the NCSC guidelines on AI and cyber security and the ICO guidance on AI and data protection, and we document the decision so it holds up under audit.

Can you really replace our SaaS subscriptions?
Sometimes, and we will tell you when the answer is no. Replacement makes sense when the subscription is expensive relative to how little of it you use, when you are distorting your process to fit the product, or when integration limits are causing manual rework. It rarely makes sense for commodity tools like email or accounting ledgers, where the vendor does it well and cheaply. We look at total cost over three years, including the maintenance you take on by owning the thing.

How long before we see anything working?
Weeks, not quarters. We scope a first deliverable that is small enough to ship quickly and useful enough to matter, so you have something running before committing to a larger programme. A department tool or a finance automation typically lands inside the first month.

Do we need an AI strategy first?
Not always. Businesses that have already identified the painful, repetitive work are better served by building something and learning from it. A strategy is genuinely useful when AI touches several departments at once, when regulation is involved, or when the board needs a governed plan before releasing budget. If you want the leadership layer rather than the delivery layer, our fractional Data & AI Director service covers that.

Who owns what you build?
You do. Code, documentation and data are yours, handed over as a matter of course rather than held as leverage. That is the point of building rather than renting.

Do you work with businesses that have no AI in place at all?
Yes, and that is often the easier starting point because there is nothing to unpick. We usually begin by mapping where the repetitive effort actually sits, then build against the two or three tasks with the clearest return.

Tell us what keeps eating time

The best first conversation is not about AI at all — it is about the
repetitive work nobody enjoys. Twenty minutes is usually enough for us to say
whether it is worth automating, and roughly what that would take.

Start the conversation Book a 45-minute call

### IT Consulting Services UK for SMEs
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/it-consulting-services/

← All director roles
IT Consulting for UK SMEs — By People Who Have Actually Run IT.
IT strategy, transformation, cybersecurity and vendor decisions delivered by directors who have sat in the CIO or IT Director seat — at day rates we publish openly.
Book a Discovery Call See fractional CIO service

Quick answer
What do IT consulting services cost for a UK SME?
Leadership Services' IT consultants are former CIOs and IT directors who deliver IT strategy, transformation, cyber security and vendor decisions for UK SMEs. Rates are published openly: £900–£1,500 per day, or £5,000–£15,000 per month on retainer. Discovery calls are free, and a consultant from our bench can usually start within one week.

The Problem This Solves

Most UK IT consulting is delivered by career consultants — people whose careers have been spent producing frameworks and slides, and whose experience of actually running an IT function is second-hand.
For UK SMEs, this produces a familiar and expensive pattern: a Big Four or mid-tier firm arrives, produces a strategic roadmap that reads well, presents it to the board, and leaves.
Six months later, none of it has landed because the person accountable for delivering the plan (the IT Director) was never really invested in it.
Leadership Services IT consulting is different in one specific way: every consultant in our network is first an experienced UK IT Director or CIO and second a consultant.
Advice comes from people who have sat in the seat you're either sitting in now or trying to fill.
That means the strategic recommendations are realistic against actual UK SME operating conditions — not FTSE 100 assumptions dressed down for smaller businesses.
And because we publish our rates openly (£900-£1,500 per day, £5,000-£15,000 per month on retainer engagements) — unlike almost every other UK IT consulting provider — you know what an engagement costs before we've even had the first conversation.
Discovery calls are 30 minutes and always free.

When Should You Hire?

You are a UK SME (£5m-£100m turnover) with an IT function that has grown without a strategic plan and you need senior perspective on what to do next
You are considering a major IT investment — ERP change, cloud migration, security overhaul, AI adoption — and you want independent expert view before committing spend
You have engaged a Big Four or mid-tier consulting firm before and been left with slides but no delivered change
You have a permanent IT Director or Head of IT who is capable but needs external senior challenge and pattern recognition on a specific strategic decision
You are preparing for exit, fundraise, or acquisition and need IT due diligence readiness or a clear IT strategic narrative for prospective buyers
You have a specific project (systems selection, cybersecurity uplift, MSP transition) that needs senior consulting input for 3-6 months but not an ongoing fractional CIO

90-Day Rapid Impact
Every engagement begins with a defined 90-day impact sprint.

DAYS 1-30
Discovery and Diagnosis
A free 30-minute discovery call establishes the specific IT question or challenge, the commercial context, and the shape of engagement that would deliver it. Within a week we come back with 1-2 shortlisted senior IT operators from our network, matched on your sector, current IT estate, and situation. A chemistry session with your chosen consultant runs 45 minutes; if it works, we contract for a defined engagement. Days 1-30 also cover initial stakeholder interviews and a documented view of the current IT estate — infrastructure, applications, vendors, team capability, and risk posture.
DAYS 31-60
Options and Recommendation
The consultant develops 2-3 realistic options for the strategic decision at hand — ERP path, cloud approach, security posture uplift, MSP arrangement, whatever the underlying question is. Options are costed, sequenced, and framed against your business's specific commercial priorities rather than generic best practice. This is where the consultant's operator experience matters most: they know which options actually work in UK SME conditions and which look good on a slide but fail in delivery. Deliverable: a written recommendation document that becomes the basis for the board decision.
DAYS 61-90
Decision Support and Delivery Handover
By day 90 the strategic decision should have been made or be close to it. The consultant supports the CEO, CFO, and IT team through the decision itself — pressure-testing the plan, sitting in on supplier meetings, reviewing contracts, and helping structure the internal governance for the delivery phase that follows. Many engagements conclude here; others extend into a longer advisory arrangement, or transition into a fractional CIO retainer with the same operator or another from our network.

Our 90-Day Guarantee
If the chemistry session does not produce a consultant you are confident to work with, we introduce you to another operator — or refund any fees paid. Genuine trust between consultant and client is a non-negotiable starting condition.

What They Deliver

IT Strategy and Roadmap Development
Time-bounded engagements developing a UK SME's 12-24 month IT strategy — where to invest, where to consolidate, where to divest. Delivered by an operator who has built and executed IT strategies at comparable scale, so the roadmap is realistic rather than aspirational. Typical engagement 3-4 months, involving stakeholder interviews, current-state assessment, options development, and a board-quality strategy document plus supporting evidence.
Cloud Migration and Digital Transformation Advisory
For UK SMEs planning a major cloud migration, ERP replacement, or wider digital transformation, IT consulting advisory covers the strategic case, vendor selection support, sequencing plan, risk assessment, and change readiness. The consultant does not deliver the migration themselves — that is the systems integrator's role — but they own the strategic direction, defend it at the board, and pressure-test the SI's proposals so you don't get sold work you don't need.
Cybersecurity Posture Reviews and CISO Advisory
Independent cybersecurity posture assessment for UK SMEs. Reviews existing controls, identifies material gaps against sector-appropriate benchmarks (Cyber Essentials, ISO 27001, sector-specific FCA/NHS/GDPR requirements), and recommends prioritised uplift actions. Delivered by consultants with genuine security operator experience — not sales-driven assessments produced by MSSPs looking to sell you their own product.
Vendor and MSP Rationalisation
Most UK SMEs above £10m turnover are paying too much across too many IT vendors — legacy contracts, overlapping licences, an MSP charging for services that are no longer needed. IT consulting engagements often identify 15-25% of the IT spend that can be safely removed within 6 months. The consultant leads vendor conversations, negotiates new terms, and structures a leaner vendor arrangement — with the internal IT team owning delivery afterwards rather than a consulting firm entrenching itself.
IT Due Diligence and Exit Preparation
For UK SMEs preparing for exit, acquisition, or fundraise, IT consulting delivers the readiness pack that a serious buyer or investor will expect: current-state assessment, technology risk register, IP position, cybersecurity posture, licensing compliance, and forward-looking IT investment case. This is not audit work; it is commercial narrative development that a savvy buyer's own IT diligence team will find credible and comprehensive.
AI Adoption Advisory for UK SMEs
The most common IT consulting question in UK 2026 SME boardrooms is 'what should we do about AI?' — and most of the advice available is either agency sales-driven or FTSE 100 case study material that doesn't apply. Leadership Services AI adoption advisory covers realistic use case identification, vendor and platform evaluation, data readiness, change management, and the honest counter-argument on where AI will not deliver near-term value at UK SME scale. Delivered by consultants who have implemented these decisions themselves rather than written thought pieces about them.

IT Consulting vs Fractional CIO vs Big Four Consulting vs MSP
Four modes of external IT support UK SMEs commonly conflate. They solve different problems, cost different amounts, and produce different outcomes.

Mode Primary use Duration Typical UK 2026 cost IT consulting (Leadership Services) Time-bounded strategic advisory on specific IT decisions 3-6 months £5,000-£15,000/month Fractional CIO Ongoing IT leadership at board level, functional accountability 12+ months £4,000-£10,000/month Big Four / mid-tier IT consulting Project-based delivery of frameworks and strategy documents 3-12 months £1,800-£3,500/day MSP (Managed Service Provider) Ongoing IT service delivery, infrastructure, service desk 12+ months £30-£150 per user per month Freelance IT consultant Individual project scope, specialist expertise 1-6 months £600-£1,000/day
IT consulting from Leadership Services sits between the fractional CIO (which is an ongoing embedded role) and Big Four consulting (which is expensive slide production). If you know the specific decision you need to answer in the next 3-6 months, IT consulting is usually the sharper spend. If you need continuous senior IT leadership month-on-month, a fractional CIO is the better fit. Most UK SMEs eventually use both at different times.

Investment

Free
30-min discovery call — no obligation, no commitment
Discovery
£900 – £1,500
per day — senior IT operator, published rates
Day rate
£5,000 – £15,000
per month retainer — 3-6 month engagements typical
Standard engagement
Included
coaching bundled where the engagement crosses into leader development
Bundled with coaching

All engagements are flexible, with no long-term tie-ins. View full pricing .

Coaching Bundled Where the Engagement Crosses Into Leader Development
Every IT consulting engagement can include structured executive coaching at no additional cost.

Most IT consulting engagements naturally cross into leader development — the CEO or MD facing an unfamiliar technology decision often benefits as much from reflective space as from technical advice. Where that's the case, Leadership Services adds structured executive coaching to the retainer at no additional fee. The same senior operator who is consulting on the IT strategy also coaches the CEO or MD on how they are showing up to make the decisions. This blended model is often the highest-return arrangement we offer for IT consulting engagements.

Explore coaching & mentoring Explore executive coaching

Frequently Asked Questions

What is IT consulting?
IT consulting is time-bounded strategic advisory to UK businesses on the technology decisions that materially affect their commercial performance — infrastructure investment, cloud strategy, cybersecurity posture, AI adoption, ERP or CRM selection, vendor rationalisation, IT due diligence. It sits between an ongoing fractional CIO engagement (which is a permanent leadership role) and a project-based systems integrator engagement (which is delivery). At Leadership Services we deliver IT consulting through experienced UK operators — former CIOs, IT Directors, and CTOs — rather than career consultants.

How much does IT consulting cost in the UK in 2026?
UK 2026 IT consulting rates typically run £900-£1,500 per day for senior operators, or £5,000-£15,000 per month on defined retainer engagements. Leadership Services publishes our rates openly. Big Four and mid-tier consulting firms typically charge £1,800-£3,500 per day for equivalent seniority, plus overheads. Our engagement structures are generally 3-6 months with monthly or fortnightly checkpoints plus between-session availability. Discovery calls (30 minutes) and chemistry sessions (45 minutes) are always free.

How is IT consulting different from a fractional CIO?
IT consulting is a time-bounded advisory engagement focused on a specific strategic decision or transition (typically 3-6 months). A fractional CIO is an ongoing embedded leadership role (typically 12+ months). If you know the specific question you need answered — 'should we move to the cloud?', 'which ERP should we choose?', 'is our cyber posture adequate?' — IT consulting is usually the right spend. If you need continuous senior IT leadership sitting at your board table month after month, a fractional CIO is the better fit. Many UK SMEs eventually use both — starting with IT consulting to answer a specific question, then extending into a fractional arrangement for ongoing leadership.

How is Leadership Services IT consulting different from Big Four or mid-tier firms?
Three practical differences. First, every consultant in our network is a former IT Director or CIO — someone who has sat in the seat and delivered the outcomes they're now advising on. Big Four consultants are often career consultants; the pattern recognition is different. Second, our engagement model is retainer-based and rate-published — you know the total cost up front. Big Four engagements typically start with a scope and grow through change orders. Third, we do not sell delivery capacity. We do not have systems integration teams looking for follow-on work, so the strategic recommendations are genuinely independent.

What size of UK business is IT consulting appropriate for?
Most Leadership Services IT consulting engagements are with UK SMEs between £5 million and £100 million turnover — the band where IT complexity is significant enough to need senior advisory but where a full-time CIO hire is not yet economically justified. Below £5 million turnover, a shorter fractional or interim engagement usually fits better than a formal consulting engagement. Above £100 million, businesses typically have permanent CIO leadership and IT consulting is engaged more selectively for specific decisions rather than broad strategy.

Do you deliver the recommendations, or do we implement them ourselves?
We deliver the strategic advisory work — recommendations, decision support, vendor engagement, pressure-testing. Implementation is typically done by your internal IT team plus specialist delivery partners (systems integrators, MSPs, security specialists). We deliberately do not sell delivery capacity, because we've seen how it distorts strategic advice. Some clients ask us to remain engaged in a smaller advisory capacity during the implementation phase — that's fine, and typically runs at a much lower monthly commitment than the initial engagement.

Can IT consulting cover cybersecurity specifically?
Yes. Cybersecurity posture reviews are one of the most common IT consulting engagement types we deliver in 2026 — covering current controls assessment, gap analysis against sector-appropriate benchmarks (Cyber Essentials, ISO 27001, FCA operational resilience, DORA), and prioritised uplift recommendations. Delivered by consultants with genuine security operator experience, so the assessment is honest rather than sales-driven. For clients who need ongoing security leadership rather than a one-off review, see our fractional CISO service .

Do you have IT consultants with sector-specific experience?
Yes. Our IT consulting network covers manufacturing, professional services, financial services, retail, healthcare, education, and technology sectors. Sector fit matters more in IT consulting than in most other consulting types — manufacturing IT (ERP, MES, IT/OT integration) is fundamentally different from professional services IT (practice management, DMS, client portals) or financial services IT (regulatory reporting, DORA compliance). We match clients to consultants primarily on sector experience, then on the specific decision at hand.

How quickly can IT consulting start?
Typical UK 2026 timeline is 2-4 weeks from initial enquiry to first working day. Discovery call within 2-5 working days; shortlist of 1-2 consultants within a week of the discovery call; chemistry sessions in the following week; engagement contracted and first working session within 7-14 days after that. Existing Leadership Services fractional director clients can activate IT consulting alongside their fractional engagement immediately.

What happens after the IT consulting engagement ends?
Three common paths. First, the engagement concludes cleanly — decisions have been made, the recommendation is being delivered by the internal team, and no further advisory input is needed. Second, the engagement transitions into an ongoing fractional CIO or fractional IT Director retainer — same operator (or a different one from our network) at a lower monthly commitment supporting delivery. Third, the engagement transitions into a much lighter monthly advisory retainer (1 day per month) to keep the strategic thread warm through the delivery phase. All three are valid; we work backwards from what the client actually needs.

Is IT consulting confidential?
Absolutely. All discussions between IT consultant and client are strictly confidential. Where an engagement is sponsored by the business or an investor, we provide structured progress updates on the agreed engagement outcomes only — never on the specific content of consultant-client conversations, technical assessments, or strategic options. The commercial value of the engagement depends on genuine confidentiality; anything that erodes that erodes the value.

Do you offer IT consulting for AI adoption specifically?
Yes — and it is now one of the most common engagement types we run in 2026. AI adoption advisory for UK SMEs typically covers three phases: use case identification (which business processes will genuinely benefit from AI at your scale, and which are hype), vendor and platform evaluation (Microsoft Copilot vs OpenAI vs Anthropic vs sector-specific solutions), and change readiness (data quality, workflow redesign, skills, governance). Delivered by consultants who have implemented AI adoption themselves rather than written thought pieces about it.

Ready to begin?
Tell us about your business and we'll talk through whether IT Consulting for UK SMEs — By People Who Have Actually Run IT. is the right fit.
Get Started

### Fractional Data Director UK | Part-Time CDO & AI Leadership
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-data-ai-director/

← All director roles
Data and AI That Deliver Commercial Advantage. Not Just Interesting Dashboards.
Most businesses are sitting on data that could transform their decisions — and doing nothing with it. A fractional Data & AI Director changes that.
Get Started

Quick answer
What is a fractional data and AI director and how much does it cost?
A fractional data and AI director sets data strategy, governance and practical AI adoption for your business on a part-time basis. Leadership Services' fractional data and AI directors start from £1,795 per month, typically £1,795–£5,000. A director from our bench can usually start within one week, with no long-term tie-in.

The Problem This Solves

The gap between the data a business collects and the commercial intelligence it generates is one of the most consistent sources of unrealised value in UK SMEs.
Dashboards exist but are not used.
AI tools are purchased but not embedded in commercial practice.
Data science projects are initiated but never reach production.
The analytics team is technically skilled but disconnected from the commercial questions that matter to the CEO and board.
The root cause is almost always a leadership gap, not a technical one.
Without a senior director who can translate commercial questions into analytical priorities, govern data appropriately, and drive the adoption of AI and analytics tools across the business, the investment in data capability generates insight without impact.
A fractional Data & AI Director from Leadership Services is a board-level data leader who owns the commercial application of data and artificial intelligence across the business — from data governance and infrastructure through to AI strategy, model deployment, and the cultural change required to make data-driven decision-making a real operational practice rather than an aspiration.

When Should You Hire?

You are generating significant data but lack the leadership to turn it into actionable insight, competitive advantage, or new revenue streams
You want to adopt AI but do not know where to start, which tools are appropriate, or how to govern their use safely
Your data is siloed across multiple systems and teams, creating inefficiency and preventing accurate reporting at board level
You are investing in data infrastructure, BI tools, or AI platforms and need senior leadership to own the strategy and vendor selection
You face data governance or regulatory obligations — GDPR, sector-specific requirements — and need senior accountability for data risk
Your leadership team is making decisions based on poor-quality, inconsistent, or delayed data and you need that to change

90-Day Rapid Impact
Every engagement begins with a defined 90-day impact sprint.

DAYS 1-30
Discovery & Quick Wins
Data landscape audit: assessment of data quality, infrastructure, governance, and analytics capability. Identification of the top commercial questions the business cannot currently answer from its data, and the three AI or analytics initiatives most likely to generate rapid, measurable commercial value.
DAYS 31-60
Build & Execute
Priority initiatives live: highest-value analytics use cases in development, data governance framework established, and the most commercially significant data quality issues being actively addressed. Board-level data and AI briefing delivered — translating technical capability into commercial opportunity language.
DAYS 61-90
Deliver & Embed
Data and AI strategy embedded: a 12-month roadmap for the data infrastructure, analytics capability, and AI deployment priorities that will generate the greatest commercial advantage. First AI initiatives in production, generating measurable impact on the commercial or operational metrics that matter most to the business. Within 90 days, the business will have a clear data and AI strategy, at least one AI initiative generating measurable commercial value, and a Director who is accountable for the commercial outcomes of every data and AI investment.

What They Deliver

Data Strategy & Roadmap
A commercially grounded data strategy defining your data vision, priority use cases, technology architecture, and the capabilities your business needs to become genuinely data-driven. Aligned to growth objectives and delivered as a board-ready, prioritised roadmap with clear investment requirements and expected outcomes.
AI Strategy & Implementation
Practical AI strategy identifying the highest-ROI AI opportunities in your business — from workflow automation to predictive analytics and generative AI. Includes safe pilot design, vendor selection, governance frameworks, and team enablement to turn AI from a boardroom aspiration into operational commercial reality.
Data Governance & Quality
Establishment of data governance frameworks, data ownership accountabilities, data quality standards, and master data management processes. Builds the trusted data foundation that reliable reporting, advanced analytics, and effective AI all depend upon — without which investment in those capabilities is wasted.
Analytics & Business Intelligence
Design and delivery of analytics capabilities that give your leadership team the data visibility they genuinely need. Covers BI tool selection and implementation, dashboard design, KPI frameworks, and embedding a data-informed decision-making culture across functions — replacing gut instinct with evidence.
Data Engineering & Architecture Oversight
Senior oversight of data engineering, data warehouse, and data lake architecture decisions. Ensures your data infrastructure is scalable, cost-effective, and fit for purpose — whether building from scratch on modern cloud platforms or rationalising a complex, expensive legacy data estate.
GDPR & Regulatory Data Compliance
Senior accountability for data privacy compliance — GDPR, sector-specific regulations, and emerging AI governance requirements. Manages data protection risk at board level, maintains audit documentation, oversees DPO responsibilities, and ensures regulatory obligations are met without unnecessarily constraining commercial data use.

Investment

£1,795 – £5,000
per month — no recruitment fees, no long-term contracts
Full-Time Hire
£120,000 – £180,000
per year plus benefits, recruitment fees, and on-costs

All engagements are flexible, with no long-term tie-ins. View full pricing .

Coaching Included for the CEO or MD
Every fractional Data & AI director engagement now includes structured coaching for the person the director reports to.

Data and AI strategy fails at CEO level more often than at technical level — because the CEO cannot fully engage with the trade-offs the data team is trying to surface. Every Leadership Services fractional Data & AI director engagement now includes structured monthly coaching for the CEO or MD at no additional cost. The coaching focuses on the strategic decisions that data leadership forces: what to measure, what to automate, where to invest, and how to lead a data-driven organisation.

Explore coaching & mentoring Executive coaching for CEOs & MDs

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a fractional data director do?
A fractional data director provides senior data leadership on a part-time basis. They own your data strategy, analytics capability, data governance, and AI adoption programme — operating as the most senior data leader in your business. Unlike a data analyst or data engineer, a fractional data director works at the strategic level: defining the data vision, managing the data team, presenting to the board, and ensuring data and AI investments deliver measurable commercial value.

How much does a fractional data director cost in the UK?
A fractional data director or part-time CDO from Leadership Services ranges from £1,795 to £5,000 per month, depending on the number of days required and the complexity of your data environment. This compares to a full-time Data Director or CDO salary of £120,000 to £180,000 per year in the UK plus on-costs and benefits. For most SMEs, a fractional engagement provides the strategic data leadership they need at a fraction of the permanent hire cost.

What is the difference between a fractional data director and a fractional AI director?
A Data Director focuses on data strategy, analytics, governance, and data infrastructure — ensuring your data assets are well-managed and commercially exploited. A Fractional AI Director focuses specifically on AI adoption: strategy, use-case identification, pilot design, governance, and team enablement. In practice, these disciplines are inseparable — you cannot build effective AI without strong data foundations. Leadership Services provides professionals who span both, giving you integrated data and AI leadership.

Can a fractional data director help us adopt AI safely?
Yes — AI governance and safe adoption is a core responsibility of Leadership Services’ fractional data and AI directors. They build acceptable use policies, data handling guidelines, prompt hygiene standards, and audit trails for AI usage. They also identify which AI tools are appropriate for your business and data environment, design safe pilot programmes, and ensure the business is adopting AI in a way that delivers measurable ROI rather than just generating noise.

How quickly can a fractional data director get started?
Most engagements begin within one to two weeks. Leadership Services maintains a bench of pre-vetted fractional data leaders and can move quickly to match you with the right person. There is no lengthy recruitment process — once we understand your data priorities, technology environment, and business context, we introduce the most suitable director and typically begin with a rapid data landscape assessment and strategic review within the first two weeks.

What sectors benefit most from a fractional data and AI director?
Sectors generating significant volumes of customer, transaction, or operational data benefit most — including financial services, retail and e-commerce, healthcare, technology, manufacturing, and professional services. However, virtually any business with ambitions to improve decision-making, automate processes, or build AI-powered capabilities will benefit from senior data leadership. Our fractional data directors are matched to each client based on sector experience and the specific data challenges they face.

Ready to begin?
Tell us about your business and we'll talk through whether Data and AI That Deliver Commercial Advantage. Not Just Interesting Dashboards. is the right fit.
Get Started

### Fractional CFO UK | Part-Time Finance Director Services
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-cfo-services/

← All director roles
Financial Clarity. Investor-Ready. Cost-Controlled.
A fractional CFO for UK SMEs — board-level finance leadership without the full-time hire. Your business is making financial decisions it cannot fully see, and a fractional CFO changes that within 30 days.
Get Started

Quick answer
What is a fractional CFO and how much does it cost?
A fractional CFO is an experienced finance director who works with your business one to three days a week instead of full time. Leadership Services' fractional CFOs start from £1,795 per month, typically £1,795–£6,000 depending on days required. Directors from our bench usually start within one week, with no long-term tie-in.

The Problem This Solves

Growing businesses reach a point where financial complexity outpaces internal capability.
Management accounts arrive late.
Cash flow forecasts are unreliable.
Investors ask questions the finance function cannot answer with confidence.
The board makes strategic decisions with incomplete financial information — and the CEO spends more time firefighting financial uncertainty than leading the business.
The problem is rarely the quality of the people involved.
It is the absence of senior financial leadership: someone who has built financial infrastructure in comparable businesses before, who knows what investor-grade reporting looks like, who can challenge the numbers with the authority of a CFO and the commercial instincts of a business builder.
A fractional CFO from Leadership Services fills that gap within a week.
No recruitment process, no notice period, no six-month onboarding.
Your director takes full ownership of the financial function — board reporting, cash management, investor relations, controls — and delivers the financial clarity your business needs to grow with confidence.
This is not consultancy.
Your fractional CFO is accountable for outcomes, sits at your leadership table, and drives results.

When Should You Hire?

You are raising investment or preparing for a funding round and need credible financial leadership to present to investors
Your business is scaling quickly but lacks the financial infrastructure, controls, or reporting to support that growth
You are planning an acquisition, merger, or management buyout and need expert transaction support
You want to improve cash flow visibility, financial forecasting, and board-level reporting but cannot justify a full-time hire
You are approaching an exit and need to maximise valuation and ensure your financials are investor-ready
Your finance function is operational but lacks strategic direction — you need a leader who can challenge the numbers and drive decisions

90-Day Rapid Impact
Every engagement begins with a defined 90-day impact sprint.

DAYS 1-30
Discovery & Quick Wins
Financial landscape assessment: review of management accounts, cash flow position, controls framework, and board reporting quality. Identification of the three highest-priority financial risks and quick wins. First board-level financial update delivered by your fractional CFO — with clear, accurate, actionable insight.
DAYS 31-60
Build & Execute
Controls improvement and reporting upgrade: management accounts restructured to board standard, cash flow forecasting rebuilt for accuracy, and key financial controls implemented or strengthened. Investor or lender briefing materials updated to reflect current financial position with clarity and confidence.
DAYS 61-90
Deliver & Embed
Strategic financial direction established: 12-month financial plan aligned to business strategy, fundraising roadmap defined if relevant, and KPI dashboard operational at board level. The financial function is no longer reactive — it is a forward-looking strategic asset that gives the CEO and board genuine decision-making confidence. Within 90 days, your business will have board-quality financial reporting, a reliable cash flow forecast, and a CFO who understands your numbers as well as you do — and can present them to any investor, board member, or acquirer with confidence.

What They Deliver

Financial Strategy
A clear, board-aligned financial strategy covering capital allocation, growth funding, profitability improvement, and long-term planning. Your fractional CFO translates business goals into a financial roadmap that gives the CEO, board, and investors the confidence and clarity to make high-stakes commercial decisions with precision.
Investor Relations & Fundraising
End-to-end support for equity and debt fundraising, including financial modelling for investor decks, due diligence preparation, data room management, term sheet negotiation, and ongoing post-investment reporting. Your fractional CFO becomes the primary financial interface between your business and its investors or lenders.
Board & Management Reporting
Timely, accurate board packs, management accounts, and KPI dashboards that give your leadership team genuine financial visibility. Your fractional CFO presents directly at board level, ensuring financial information is correctly interpreted and used to inform strategic decisions rather than simply recorded and filed.
Cash Flow & Working Capital Management
Active management of cash flow forecasting, working capital cycles, and treasury position. Identifies liquidity risks before they become crises, optimises debtor and creditor terms, and ensures the business always has a clear, accurate, forward-looking view of its cash requirements and available headroom.
Financial Controls & Governance
Establish or strengthen internal financial controls, audit readiness, and compliance frameworks appropriate to your stage and sector. Reduces financial risk, improves reporting accuracy, ensures regulatory obligations are met, and positions the business correctly for growth investment, due diligence, or a future exit process.
M&A, Exit & Transaction Support
Expert guidance through acquisitions, disposals, and exit planning. Your fractional CFO leads financial due diligence, build-up and valuation modelling, vendor negotiations, and closing mechanics — ensuring you realise the maximum achievable value from every significant commercial transaction the business undertakes.

Investment

£1,795 – £6,000
per month — no recruitment fees, no long-term contracts
Full-Time Hire
£130,000 – £200,000
per year plus benefits, recruitment fees, and on-costs

All engagements are flexible, with no long-term tie-ins. View full pricing .

Coaching Included for the CEO or MD
Every fractional CFO engagement now includes structured coaching for the person the CFO reports to.

Financial leadership is only half of what a fractional CFO brings to a growing business. The other half is the effect it has on the person running the company. Every Leadership Services fractional CFO engagement now includes structured monthly coaching for the CEO or MD at no additional cost — one-to-one sessions focused on the strategic and financial decisions that emerge from the CFO's work. Your fractional CFO already sits at your leadership table; extending that relationship into formal coaching gives you finance leadership and CEO development in one retainer.

Explore coaching & mentoring Executive coaching for CEOs & MDs

Further reading

What a fractional CFO actually does
Fractional CFO cost vs a full-time hire
How to hire a fractional CFO
Fractional FD vs outsourced CFO
Fractional CFOs for startups
Fractional CFOs for SaaS businesses

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a fractional CFO do?
A fractional CFO provides board-level financial leadership on a part-time basis. Their responsibilities include financial strategy, investor relations, board reporting, cash flow management, financial controls, and M&A support. Unlike a management accountant or bookkeeper, a fractional CFO operates at the strategic level — advising the CEO, presenting to the board, and making decisions that directly influence how the business grows, funds itself, and manages risk.

How much does a fractional CFO cost in the UK?
A fractional CFO from Leadership Services starts from £1,795 per month, with engagements typically ranging from £1,795 to £6,000 per month depending on the number of days required and the complexity of your financial needs. This compares to a full-time Finance Director or CFO salary of £130,000 to £200,000 per year in the UK, plus employer on-costs, benefits, and recruitment fees — making the fractional model significantly more cost-effective for most SMEs.

What is the difference between a fractional CFO and a part-time finance director?
The terms are often used interchangeably in the UK market, and the roles overlap significantly at SME level. A Finance Director traditionally focuses on financial operations, reporting, and compliance, while a CFO is typically a board-level role emphasising financial strategy, capital markets, and investor relations. Leadership Services provides fractional professionals who operate at both levels, bringing CFO-quality strategic thinking combined with hands-on finance director capability.

How quickly can a fractional CFO get started?
Most engagements begin within two to four weeks of an initial conversation. There is no lengthy recruitment process, no notice period to wait out, and no onboarding delays. Once we understand your business context, growth stage, and priorities, we match you with a fractional CFO from our network whose sector experience and technical background are directly relevant to your situation. Many clients have their fractional CFO attending their first board meeting within the first month.

Do I need a full-time CFO or will a fractional CFO be sufficient?
For most UK SMEs with turnover up to £50 million, a fractional CFO provides everything they need. A full-time CFO is typically only justified when the business has highly complex multi-entity structures, requires daily on-site financial leadership, or is preparing for a major public market transaction. Until then, a fractional model delivers the same strategic expertise, board credibility, and financial oversight — with the flexibility to scale the engagement as your business grows.

What sectors do your fractional CFOs specialise in?
Our fractional CFOs and part-time finance directors have sector experience spanning professional services, technology, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, education, and not-for-profit organisations. We match each client with a director whose sector background, regulatory knowledge, and growth-stage experience are directly relevant to your business — ensuring they can make an immediate and commercially meaningful contribution to your financial strategy from day one.

How is a fractional CFO in the UK different from a fractional FD?
In the UK 2026 market, fractional CFO and fractional FD are used almost interchangeably at SME scale. Historically 'CFO' signalled a listed or PE-backed company and 'FD' signalled owner-managed private companies, but that distinction has largely eroded. What matters more than the title is whether the individual has genuine board-level operator experience or is primarily a strong controller re-branded. Leadership Services provides both fractional CFO and fractional FD engagements from the same operator network — the title used typically reflects your business's existing naming convention rather than a different service.

How much does a fractional CFO cost in the UK in 2026?
UK 2026 fractional CFO rates typically run £900–£1,400 per day depending on seniority, sector complexity, and time commitment. Common engagement structures: 2–4 days per month at £3,500–£5,500/month for a £5–15m turnover business, 4–6 days per month at £4,500–£7,000/month for £15–30m businesses, and 6–8 days per month at £5,500–£9,000/month for £30–50m businesses. Compared to a permanent full-time CFO at £130k–£200k+ total compensation plus recruitment fees and on-costs, the fractional model works out at 25–40% of the fully-loaded cost.

Can I hire a fractional CFO in the UK on a rolling monthly retainer?
Yes — most UK 2026 fractional CFO engagements are structured as monthly retainers with a defined day commitment and a rolling notice period (typically 30 or 60 days). This is deliberately more flexible than permanent employment while still giving both sides commitment. Leadership Services engagements can start on 2–3 weeks' notice from initial enquiry, subject to chemistry sessions with the shortlisted operator. First-100-day scope is typically documented at the outset, then reviewed at 90 days and rolled forward or amended as the business changes.

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Tell us about your business and we'll talk through whether Financial Clarity. Investor-Ready. Cost-Controlled. is the right fit.
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### Part-Time Finance Director UK | Part-Time FD Services
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/part-time-finance-director/

← All director roles
Board-Grade Finance Leadership. Two Days a Week.
A part-time finance director gives your SME the financial discipline of a much larger business — without the six-figure salary or the six-month recruitment.
Get Started

Quick answer
What does a part-time finance director cost in the UK?
A part-time finance director from Leadership Services costs from £1,795 per month, and most SMEs pay £1,795–£4,500 depending on days and complexity. You get board reporting, cashflow control and banking relationships from an experienced FD on our bench, usually starting within one week and with no long-term contract.

The Problem This Solves

Owner-managed businesses reach a point where the numbers matter more than they used to — but hiring a full-time FD costs £90,000 to £150,000 plus benefits, and the workload does not justify that.
So the finance function is left to a bookkeeper, an outsourced accountant, or an office manager stretched too thin.
Management accounts arrive weeks after month-end.
The cashflow forecast lives in the founder's head.
Board reporting is a spreadsheet the accountant emailed last quarter.
The bank asks for information nobody in the business can produce on demand.
A part-time finance director from Leadership Services fills that gap in a week.
Two or three days a week, an experienced FD takes ownership of the finance function — monthly close, board reporting, cashflow, banking, controls, and finance team management.
You get the financial rigour of a proper FD at a third of the cost, with none of the recruitment risk.
This is finance leadership, not accountancy.
Your PT-FD sits at your management table, challenges your assumptions, and helps you make better commercial decisions with real numbers behind them.

When Should You Hire?

Your business is turning over £2m–£30m and you are running finance from a bookkeeper plus an outsourced accountant — but the numbers arrive too late to act on
The bank or a lender is asking for monthly management accounts, cashflow forecasts, or covenant reporting that your current setup cannot reliably produce
You are the founder or MD and you still write the cashflow forecast yourself — because nobody else in the business can
You want board-quality management accounts, a proper monthly close, and a real 13-week cashflow — but you cannot justify a full-time FD at £120,000+
You are preparing to sell the business in the next 2–3 years and need to tidy up controls, reporting, and governance before due diligence starts
You have a finance team of one or two people who need managing, upskilling, and directing by someone with actual FD experience

90-Day Rapid Impact
Every engagement begins with a defined 90-day impact sprint.

DAYS 1–30
Take Control
Full review of your existing management accounts, cashflow position, banking relationships, and finance team. Identification of the three highest-priority issues — usually late month-end, weak cashflow visibility, or an under-supported finance team. First board-standard monthly pack delivered by your PT-FD within the first month. Your first proper 13-week rolling cashflow forecast in place.
DAYS 31–60
Tighten & Report
Monthly close reduced to a reliable ten-day cycle. Board pack redesigned to a one-page KPI dashboard plus supporting detail. Banking pack refreshed so covenant reporting and facility reviews go smoothly. Controls tightened where they matter — bank reconciliations, purchase approvals, credit control. Finance team roles clarified and workload rebalanced.
DAYS 61–90
Lead the Numbers
Twelve-month financial plan built with the MD and shareholders, aligned to the commercial plan. Rolling forecast operating monthly. KPIs owned by the operational leaders, not just finance. A part-time FD who is now the trusted financial voice in the business — challenging the numbers at the management meeting, presenting cleanly at the board, and freeing the owner to focus on customers and growth instead of firefighting the finance function.

What They Deliver

Board & Management Reporting
A monthly management pack you can actually read — one-page KPI dashboard, variance vs plan, cashflow, working capital, headline P&L. Delivered inside ten working days of month-end, presented to the board or shareholders by an FD who understands your business, not read out by an accountant who does not.
Cashflow & Working Capital
A proper 13-week rolling cashflow forecast that reflects reality, not the accounts system's default. Active management of debtor days, creditor terms, and stock. Early warning on liquidity pinch points so you can act before the bank does. Cash discipline that becomes cultural, not a scramble at month-end.
Banking & Lender Relationships
Your PT-FD manages the day-to-day relationship with your bank and any lenders — covenant reporting, facility reviews, quarterly information packs, and refinancing conversations. Banks respond better to an experienced FD than to a bookkeeper. Your borrowing capacity and terms improve accordingly.
Controls, Governance & Compliance
The unglamorous but essential work: bank reconciliations done properly and on time, purchase approval limits enforced, credit control disciplined, VAT and PAYE never missed, statutory accounts filed early. The controls layer that makes the business investible, saleable, and audit-ready — without over-engineering it for the stage you are actually at.
Finance Team Leadership
Your PT-FD manages, mentors, and develops your existing finance team — whether that is a bookkeeper, an assistant accountant, or a two-person finance function. Weekly one-to-ones, clear role definitions, work prioritised properly, and gaps identified. You get a functional, motivated finance team without paying to recruit and retain a full-time head.
Commercial Business Partnering
The part of the job most non-FDs miss: sitting at the management table, challenging the sales forecast, sanity-checking the marketing spend, questioning the operations plan. Your PT-FD is the financial conscience of the business — the person who asks 'what does this actually cost, and what does it actually earn?' about every decision that matters.

Investment

£1,795 – £4,500
per month — no recruitment fees, no long-term contracts
Part-Time Finance Director
£90,000 – £150,000
per year plus 20% on-costs, benefits, and recruitment fees
Full-Time FD

All engagements are flexible, with no long-term tie-ins. View full pricing .

Coaching Included for the CEO or MD
Every part-time finance director engagement now includes structured coaching for the person the FD reports to.

Owner-managed businesses need more than monthly numbers — they need a leadership relationship that helps the founder or MD make sharper commercial decisions. Every Leadership Services part-time finance director engagement now includes structured monthly coaching for the CEO or MD at no additional cost. Your fractional FD becomes the finance leader; the coaching component makes the CEO more effective in the seat.

Explore coaching & mentoring Executive coaching for CEOs & MDs

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a part-time FD and a fractional CFO?
In practice, very little — the terms are used interchangeably in the UK market. If there is a distinction, it is one of positioning. A part-time FD tends to be described in the context of an owner-managed SME turning over £2m–£30m that needs board-grade finance leadership two or three days a week. A fractional CFO tends to sit with a growth-stage or PE-backed business focused on investor relations, fundraising, and M&A. The person delivering the work is often the same — the label depends on what the business needs from them first. Read our full comparison: [Part-time FD vs fractional FD](/insights/fractional-fd-vs-fractional-cfo-uk/).

How much does a part-time finance director cost in the UK?
Most UK part-time FD engagements run £1,795 to £4,500 a month depending on the size of the business, the number of days per month required, and the complexity of the finance function. A typical SME turning over £5m–£15m needs two to three days a week from an experienced FD, which lands around £2,800–£3,800 per month. That compares with £90,000 to £150,000 per year plus 20% on-costs for a full-time equivalent — a saving of £70,000–£110,000 a year, with no recruitment fee, no notice period, and no six-month onboarding. See the [UK Fractional Director Rate Report 2026](/rate-report-2026/) for a full benchmark of day rates and monthly retainers.

How many days a week does a part-time FD work with my business?
Most SMEs need two to three days a week from their PT-FD. Some need only one day a week — typically businesses under £3m turnover where the finance function is simple but the board reporting still needs to be right. Larger businesses (£15m+) or companies going through a transaction, funding round, or system change may need four days for a few months, then step back down to two. The engagement flexes with the business.

How quickly can a part-time FD start?
Within a week for most engagements. We match you to a shortlist of two or three suitable directors from our network within 48 hours of the initial call. Interviews and reference checks are done in the following few days. Your PT-FD is on-site or on the numbers within seven working days of you deciding to proceed — compared with three to six months for a permanent FD hire once you factor in recruitment, notice period, and onboarding.

Do I need a part-time FD or can my accountant do this?
Your external accountant does compliance work — statutory accounts, corporation tax, VAT returns, sometimes payroll. That is not the same as finance leadership. A part-time FD sits inside your business, owns the numbers, manages your finance team, presents at the board, and takes commercial decisions with you. If your monthly management accounts arrive three weeks late, if your cashflow forecast lives in the founder's head, if the bank asks questions you cannot answer without emailing the accountant — you do not need more accountancy, you need finance leadership. That is the PT-FD's job.

What happens if I outgrow a part-time FD?
Roughly a third of our PT-FD engagements convert into a full-time hire within 18–24 months — usually when the business scales past £30m turnover, closes a growth funding round, or acquires another business. When that happens we help you make the transition: your PT-FD stays engaged through the recruitment process and handover, ensuring continuity of controls, banking relationships, and board reporting. You do not lose the institutional knowledge — you graduate to the full-time equivalent with the finance function already running properly.

Ready to begin?
Tell us about your business and we'll talk through whether Board-Grade Finance Leadership. Two Days a Week. is the right fit.
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### Fractional CIO UK | Part-Time CIO Services
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-cio-services/

← All director roles
Information That Drives Decisions. Systems That Support Growth.
When information systems are fragmented and data is unreliable, every leadership decision is made with one hand tied behind its back.
Get Started

Quick answer
What is a fractional CIO and how much does it cost?
A fractional CIO is a senior technology leader who sets IT strategy, governance and transformation for your business on a part-time basis. Leadership Services' fractional CIOs start from £1,795 per month, typically £1,795–£5,500. A CIO from our bench can usually start within one week, with no long-term tie-in.

The Problem This Solves

Information architecture is one of the least visible and most consequential sources of business underperformance.
Disconnected systems that do not talk to each other.
Management reports that take three days to produce and are already out of date when they arrive.
Customer data scattered across five different platforms.
Operational decisions made on gut feel because the data to support them does not exist in a usable form.
Board meetings spent debating the numbers rather than acting on them.
A fractional CIO from Leadership Services is a board-level information systems leader who takes ownership of the entire information architecture: the systems that collect data, the processes that manage it, the governance that protects it, and the reporting infrastructure that turns it into strategic intelligence.
They are not the person who manages the IT helpdesk — they are the person who ensures that the right information reaches the right decision-makers in the right format at the right time.
In an era where data is the primary source of competitive advantage, that is a critical leadership function.

When Should You Hire?

✔️ Your technology spending is significant but you lack senior IT leadership to oversee it
✔️ You’re planning a digital transformation, system migration, or ERP implementation
✔️ IT decisions are being made reactively rather than as part of a coherent strategy
✔️ You need to align technology investment with business growth objectives
✔️ Cybersecurity, data governance, or compliance has become a board-level concern
✔️ You’re scaling rapidly and your IT infrastructure needs to keep pace

90-Day Rapid Impact
Every engagement begins with a defined 90-day impact sprint.

DAYS 1-30
Discovery & Quick Wins
Information systems audit: assessment of all core business systems, data flows, reporting infrastructure, and information governance. Identification of the data quality issues, system disconnects, and reporting gaps that are most directly limiting commercial decision-making. First board-level systems briefing delivered.
DAYS 31-60
Build & Execute
Priority integrations and reporting improvements live: the highest-impact information gaps addressed, management reporting upgraded to deliver accurate, timely, and board-ready commercial intelligence. Data governance framework established, with GDPR compliance reviewed and remediated where required.
DAYS 61-90
Deliver & Embed
Information strategy established: a 12–24 month roadmap for the systems, data infrastructure, and governance improvements that will give the business a sustainable information advantage. Board-level KPI dashboard operational — giving leadership real-time visibility of the metrics that drive commercial performance. Within 90 days, the board will have accurate, timely information for every significant commercial decision — and a CIO who is accountable for the quality and availability of that information at all times.

What They Deliver

IT Strategy & Roadmap
A clear, board-level technology strategy aligned with your commercial objectives. Your fractional CIO assesses your current IT landscape, identifies gaps and opportunities, and builds a prioritised roadmap that connects technology investment directly to business outcomes.
Digital Transformation
End-to-end oversight of digital change programmes — from scoping and vendor selection through to implementation and adoption. Your fractional CIO ensures projects are delivered on time, on budget, and with measurable business impact rather than becoming costly IT experiments.
Vendor & Contract Management
Strategic management of your technology suppliers, licensing agreements, and outsourced services. Your fractional CIO renegotiates contracts, consolidates vendors where appropriate, and ensures you are getting genuine value from every technology pound spent.
Cybersecurity & Risk
Board-level oversight of your cybersecurity posture, including risk assessment, incident response planning, staff awareness, and compliance with frameworks such as Cyber Essentials, ISO 27001, and GDPR. Your fractional CIO ensures security is treated as a business risk, not just an IT task.
Data & Cloud Strategy
Strategic planning for data management, cloud migration, and infrastructure modernisation. Your fractional CIO evaluates cloud readiness, designs migration strategies, and ensures your data architecture supports analytics, AI readiness, and operational efficiency.
IT Team & Capability Building
Assessment and development of your internal IT team, whether that means restructuring, hiring, upskilling, or establishing an outsourced model. Your fractional CIO ensures you have the right people and processes to support your technology ambitions long-term.

Investment

£1,795 – £5,500
per month — no recruitment fees, no long-term contracts
Full-Time Hire
£120,000 – £190,000
per year plus benefits, recruitment fees, and on-costs

All engagements are flexible, with no long-term tie-ins. View full pricing .

Coaching Included for the CEO or MD
Every fractional CIO engagement now includes structured coaching for the person the CIO reports to.

IT and digital transformation programmes need leadership sponsorship to succeed — not just an IT leader. Every Leadership Services fractional CIO engagement now includes structured monthly coaching for the CEO or MD at no additional cost. The coaching focuses on the strategic and organisational decisions technology transformation forces: how much to invest, what to build vs buy, how to sequence change, and how to lead the organisation through it. Your fractional CIO handles the technology; the coaching makes sure the CEO can lead the change.

Explore coaching & mentoring Executive coaching for CEOs & MDs

Further reading

The fractional CIO guide for mid-market firms
What a fractional CIO costs in 2026
How to hire a fractional CIO
CIO vs CTO: which do you need?
Part-time CIOs for manufacturers
Part-time CIOs for professional services
Fractional CIO job description template

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a fractional CIO do?
A fractional CIO provides strategic IT leadership on a part-time basis. They align technology with business strategy, oversee digital transformation, manage vendor relationships, address cybersecurity risks, and ensure your IT investments deliver commercial value. Unlike an IT manager, they operate at board level, focusing on strategic direction rather than day-to-day technical support.

How is a fractional CIO different from a fractional CTO?
A CIO focuses on the strategic application of technology within the business — IT governance, vendor management, digital transformation, and information security. A CTO typically focuses on product technology, software development, and technical architecture. For most SMEs, a fractional CIO is the better fit unless you are building a technology product. Leadership Services can advise on which role suits your needs.

How much does a fractional CIO cost in the UK?
Fractional CIO services through Leadership Services typically cost between £1,795 and £5,500 per month, depending on the number of days required and the complexity of your IT environment. This compares to £120,000–£190,000 per year for a full-time CIO, plus benefits, pension, and recruitment fees.

When should a business hire a fractional CIO?
Consider a fractional CIO when your IT spending exceeds £100k per year but you lack strategic oversight, when you’re planning a major system change or digital transformation, when cybersecurity has become a board-level concern, or when technology decisions are being made reactively without a coherent strategy. Businesses between 30 and 500 employees often find this the ideal model.

Can a fractional CIO manage our existing IT team?
Yes. A fractional CIO can provide leadership and direction to your existing IT staff or outsourced IT provider. They set strategy, define priorities, establish governance frameworks, and mentor your team — giving your IT function senior leadership without the cost of a full-time executive. Many clients find this dramatically improves IT performance and accountability.

How quickly can a fractional CIO start?
Most fractional CIO engagements through Leadership Services begin within 5 business days. After an initial consultation to understand your technology landscape and business objectives, we match you with a CIO from our network who has relevant sector and technical experience. There are no lengthy recruitment processes or agency timelines.

Fractional CIO services by location

We deliver fractional CIO engagements across the North West of England and North Wales from our Chester head office. If you're searching for a fractional IT director in a specific city, start here:
Fractional CIO Chester
Fractional CIO Manchester
Fractional CIO Liverpool
Fractional CIO Warrington
Fractional CIO Wrexham

Ready to begin?
Tell us about your business and we'll talk through whether Information That Drives Decisions. Systems That Support Growth. is the right fit.
Get Started

### Fractional IT Director UK | Part-Time IT Director Services
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-it-director/

← All director roles
Fractional IT Director: Board-Level IT Leadership, Part-Time
A fractional IT director gives your business the strategic technology leadership of a full-time IT director — for a fraction of the cost, with no long-term tie-in.
Book a discovery call See our fractional CIO service

Quick answer
What is a fractional IT director and how much does it cost?
A fractional IT director provides board-level IT leadership, covering strategy, suppliers, security and projects, for a few days a month. Leadership Services' fractional IT directors start from £1,795 per month, with most clients paying £3,500–£5,500. Directors from our bench usually start within one week, with no long-term tie-in.

The Problem This Solves

For most UK SMEs and mid-market businesses, IT has quietly become the single biggest source of both risk and untapped opportunity.
Systems that should be delivering competitive advantage are instead delivering downtime, spiralling licence costs, and reports the board cannot rely on.
Cyber threats are treated reactively.
Digital transformation projects run late and over budget.
And critical technology decisions get made by the finance director or the MD because no one at the board table has the right expertise.
A fractional IT director from Leadership Services solves this by putting an experienced, board-level IT leader inside your business — on a part-time basis.
Sometimes called a fractional CIO or part-time IT director, this is the same executive role played by full-time IT directors in larger organisations, delivered on a rolling monthly contract from one to four days a month.

When Should You Hire?

✔️ Your annual IT spend is over £100k but there's no senior IT leader accountable for how it's spent
✔️ The MD, FD or founder is making technology decisions they shouldn't be making
✔️ Cybersecurity has become a board-level concern but there is no board-level owner for it
✔️ You're planning an ERP, CRM, or cloud migration and need someone senior to run it
✔️ You need someone who can talk to the board in business terms and to IT teams in technical terms
✔️ A full-time IT director would cost £110,000–£160,000 and you don't need one full-time yet

90-Day Rapid Impact
Every engagement begins with a defined 90-day impact sprint.

DAYS 1-30
Discovery & Quick Wins
IT landscape audit: assessment of core systems, infrastructure, applications, data flows, cyber posture, vendor contracts, and internal team capability. Identification of the biggest quick wins — the technology issues most directly limiting commercial performance. First board briefing delivered.
DAYS 31-60
Build & Execute
Priority projects underway: the highest-impact IT initiatives moved into delivery. IT governance framework established. Board-level KPIs and reporting live. Cybersecurity baseline (Cyber Essentials or equivalent) achieved or scheduled. Contract renegotiations kicked off where value is being lost.
DAYS 61-90
Deliver & Embed
IT strategy signed off: a 12–24 month technology roadmap tied directly to your commercial plan. Board-level dashboard operational. Internal team development plan in place. Cyber-risk register maintained. Within 90 days, the business has an IT function that is accountable, strategic, and demonstrably delivering value — with a fractional IT director on the board who owns every part of it.

What They Deliver

IT Strategy & Roadmap
A board-level IT strategy that connects technology spend to commercial outcomes. Your fractional IT director builds a prioritised 12–24 month roadmap, defends it at the board table, and delivers against it — in exactly the way a full-time IT director would, on the days you need them.
Cybersecurity & Compliance
Board-level oversight of your cyber posture. Cyber Essentials, Cyber Essentials Plus, ISO 27001, and GDPR are treated as business-risk decisions, not IT tasks. Your fractional IT director owns the cyber-risk register and reports on it at every board meeting.
Digital Transformation Delivery
Whether it's an ERP replacement, a CRM rollout, a cloud migration, or a data platform build, your fractional IT director takes ownership of the programme end-to-end — vendor selection, contract negotiation, delivery oversight, and benefits realisation. This is the role most IT projects fail without.
Vendor & Licence Management
Most SMEs are overpaying for software and hardware by 20–40%. Your fractional IT director audits your suppliers, renegotiates contracts, consolidates licences, and holds vendors to account against SLAs. In most engagements, the annual saving covers the fractional IT director's fee several times over.
IT Team Development
Assessment and development of your existing IT team — whether that means restructuring, mentoring, hiring, or moving to a fully outsourced model. Your fractional IT director gives your internal team senior leadership without replacing them.
Board Communication
Translation of technology into commercial language for the board, and translation of commercial priorities into a delivery roadmap for the IT team. Most organisations lack someone who can do both credibly. This is what a fractional IT director does at every meeting.

Investment

£1,795 – £8,000
per month — from one to four days per month, no recruitment fees, no long-term contracts
Fractional IT Director
£110,000 – £160,000
per year plus benefits, recruitment fees, and full on-costs
Full-Time IT Director

All engagements are flexible, with no long-term tie-ins. View full pricing .

Coaching Included

Every fractional IT director engagement includes coaching and mentoring for your internal IT lead or senior team member — at no additional cost. This is deliberate: it means your business grows its own IT capability alongside the director's contribution, so the value of the engagement outlasts the engagement itself.

Explore coaching & mentoring

Further reading

Does your business need an IT director?
What the IT director function covers
The fractional IT director guide
Fractional vs interim IT director
IT directors for construction firms

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between a fractional IT director and a fractional CIO?
None, in practice. The titles are used interchangeably across UK industry. Both are board-level roles responsible for the strategy, oversight, and delivery of a business's technology function. Some businesses use 'CIO' — traditionally more information-systems focused — and some use 'IT director' — traditionally more infrastructure and operations focused. In modern SMEs and mid-market businesses, the same person does both. We match you to the right director based on your business, not the job title.

How much does a fractional IT director cost in the UK?
Engagements start from £1,795 per month for one day of executive time. Most clients settle at two or three days a month, in the £3,500–£5,500 range. That is materially less than the £110,000–£160,000 fully-loaded cost of a full-time IT director at the same seniority, and without the recruitment fees, benefits, national insurance, and multi-year commitment that come with a permanent hire.

How is a fractional IT director different from an IT consultant?
An IT consultant is engaged for a specific project or advisory piece and is not accountable for outcomes at the board table. A fractional IT director is a member of your senior leadership team — they attend board meetings, own the IT strategy, and are personally accountable for what the technology function delivers. Think director-level accountability, on a part-time contract.

How quickly can a fractional IT director start?
Most engagements begin within one week of the first discovery call. If there's a critical situation — a live cyber incident, a stalled ERP project, a failing supplier — we can often be onsite within 48 hours. There is no lengthy recruitment process because we already have 500+ pre-vetted senior directors across our network.

Do you work with SMEs or only larger businesses?
Both. Our typical clients range from 30-employee owner-managed businesses through to £50m+ turnover mid-market companies. The common thread is that they've reached the point where board-level IT leadership is required, but a full-time IT director isn't yet justified. Fractional leadership is designed exactly for that gap.

What sectors do your fractional IT directors work in?
We deliberately place directors with genuine sector experience. Common sectors for our IT-side engagements include manufacturing, professional services, retail, food and drink, healthcare, financial services, logistics, and technology businesses. On the first discovery call we will confirm we have the right sector fit before proceeding.

Where in the UK do you work?
We deliver nationally. Our head office is in Chester (Cheshire), and we have particularly strong coverage across the North West — including Manchester, Liverpool, Warrington, Wrexham, and the wider Cheshire and Merseyside business communities. See our fractional IT director city pages for details of local engagements.

Fractional IT Director services by location

We deliver fractional IT director engagements across the North West of England and North Wales from our Chester head office. If you're searching in a specific city, start here:
Fractional IT Director Chester
Fractional IT Director Manchester
Fractional IT Director Liverpool
Fractional IT Director Warrington
Fractional IT Director Wrexham

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### Fractional CTO UK | Part-Time CTO Services
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-cto-services/

← All director roles
Technology That Works For The Business. Not Against It.
Technology decisions made without board-level expertise cost UK businesses millions every year — a fractional CTO stops that within the first month.
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Quick answer
What is a fractional CTO and how much does it cost?
A fractional CTO is an experienced technology leader who owns architecture, engineering and technology decisions part-time. Leadership Services' fractional CTOs start from £1,795 per month, typically £1,795–£5,000 depending on scope. A CTO from our bench can usually start within one week, with no long-term contract.

The Problem This Solves

Most UK SMEs are making significant technology investments without a qualified senior leader at the table.
Vendors recommend solutions that suit their margins, not your business.
ERP projects overrun.
Cyber risk is unquantified and under-governed.
The IT team is good at keeping the lights on but has no mandate or skill to lead transformation.
And the board makes technology decisions with less rigour than it applies to any other significant investment.
The consequences are expensive: systems that do not integrate, digital transformation programmes that consume budget without delivering change, and a growing gap between the technology capability of the business and the demands of its growth ambitions.
The risk compounds every year the gap is allowed to persist.
A fractional CTO from Leadership Services closes that gap within the first month.
Your director is vendor-neutral, board-ready, and experienced in leading technology through the specific challenges of UK businesses at your stage and scale.
They own the technology strategy, hold vendors to account, manage the roadmap, and give the board the informed, commercially grounded technology governance it has been missing.
This is leadership, not consultancy — and the difference is accountability.

When Should You Hire?

Your technology strategy lacks direction and you are making IT decisions reactively rather than from a clear roadmap
You are undertaking digital transformation and need experienced leadership to own delivery and manage vendors
Your business is scaling and your existing IT infrastructure is not keeping pace with growth
You want board-level technology representation without the overhead of a permanent CTO or IT Director salary
You face increasing cybersecurity risk and compliance obligations but lack senior technical governance
You are evaluating or procuring significant technology investments and need an independent, expert perspective

90-Day Rapid Impact
Every engagement begins with a defined 90-day impact sprint.

DAYS 1-30
Discovery & Quick Wins
Technology landscape audit: assessment of current infrastructure, vendor contracts, security posture, and digital maturity. Identification of the top three technology risks and the most valuable near-term investments. First board-level technology briefing delivered — in business language, not technical jargon.
DAYS 31-60
Build & Execute
Vendor review and roadmap development: existing contracts reviewed, underperforming suppliers placed on notice, and a draft 12–24 month technology investment roadmap developed and validated with the CEO. Cyber security quick-wins implemented, with a full risk remediation plan prioritised and costed.
DAYS 61-90
Deliver & Embed
Technology governance established: board-level technology KPIs live, IT investment decisions governed by a clear framework, and the technology roadmap approved and owned at senior leadership level. The technology function is visibly aligned with business strategy — and the board is making confident, informed decisions for the first time. Within 90 days, your board will have a clear technology strategy, an independently validated view of your cyber risk, and a fractional CTO who is driving the roadmap with full commercial accountability.

What They Deliver

Technology Strategy & Roadmap
A 12–24 month technology roadmap aligned to your P&L, operational goals, and competitive environment. Covers infrastructure, platforms, digital products, and the technology capabilities your business needs to operate efficiently and scale effectively — with investment prioritised by commercial impact rather than technical preference.
Digital Transformation Leadership
End-to-end ownership of digital transformation programmes — from process digitisation and legacy system migration through to new digital channel development. Delivered with full commercial accountability, measurable milestones, and direct management of all internal and external delivery resources to ensure programmes actually land.
IT Governance & Compliance
Policies, controls, audit documentation, and board reporting that keep your business compliant with relevant frameworks — Cyber Essentials, ISO 27001, GDPR, and any sector-specific regulatory obligations. Gives the board accurate, timely visibility of technology risk and the governance confidence to operate with assurance.
Vendor & Contract Management
Independent management of technology suppliers, software vendors, and outsourced IT partners. Includes contract reviews, SLA enforcement, competitive benchmarking, and supplier consolidation to cut waste. Your fractional CTO acts as the commercial counterparty to your technology vendors, ensuring value for money and performance accountability.
Cybersecurity Oversight
Senior ownership of your cybersecurity posture — risk assessment, security architecture review, incident response planning, and ongoing board-level governance. Ensures technology risk is translated into business language, accurately reported at board level, and managed proactively through appropriate controls and vendor relationships.
Technology M&A Due Diligence
Expert technology assessment during acquisitions, integrations, or divestments. Identifies technical debt, architecture vulnerabilities, integration complexity, and hidden capability gaps so your board and advisers can make fully informed, commercially sound transaction decisions and negotiate appropriate risk protections before any agreement is signed.

Investment

£1,795 – £5,000
per month — no recruitment fees, no long-term contracts
Full-Time Hire
£120,000 – £180,000
per year plus benefits, recruitment fees, and on-costs

All engagements are flexible, with no long-term tie-ins. View full pricing .

Coaching Included for the CEO or MD
Every fractional CTO engagement now includes structured coaching for the person the CTO reports to.

Product-led businesses live and die by the CEO's ability to engage with the technical decisions the CTO surfaces — architecture bets, build vs buy, technical debt, product roadmap trade-offs. Every Leadership Services fractional CTO engagement now includes structured monthly coaching for the CEO or MD at no additional cost. The coaching helps the CEO develop the judgement to lead a technical business without becoming the bottleneck on every technical decision.

Explore coaching & mentoring Executive coaching for CEOs & MDs

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a fractional CTO do?
A fractional CTO provides board-level technology leadership on a part-time basis. They own the technology strategy, IT roadmap, vendor management, security governance, and digital transformation agenda for your business. Unlike an IT manager who handles day-to-day operations, a fractional CTO operates at the strategic level — advising the CEO and board, aligning technology investment with business outcomes, and ensuring your organisation’s technology capabilities match its ambitions.

What is the difference between a fractional CTO, IT Director, and CIO?
A part-time IT Director typically manages technology infrastructure, operations, and IT delivery within a business. A CTO is more product and innovation-focused, often owning the technology vision and engineering leadership. A CIO aligns information systems with business strategy and governance. In practice for UK SMEs, these roles overlap significantly. Leadership Services provides fractional technology leaders who operate across all three dimensions — strategy, governance, and delivery — matched to your specific context.

How much does a fractional CTO cost in the UK?
A fractional CTO or part-time IT director from Leadership Services ranges from £1,795 to £5,000 per month, depending on engagement scope and the number of days required. This compares to a full-time CTO or IT Director salary of £120,000 to £180,000 per year in the UK plus employer on-costs, benefits, and recruitment fees. For most SMEs, a fractional engagement delivers the strategic technology leadership they need at a fraction of the permanent hire cost.

Can a fractional CTO lead a digital transformation programme?
Yes. Leading digital transformation is a core capability of Leadership Services’ fractional CTOs. They take ownership of the transformation programme — defining the vision, selecting the right technologies, managing delivery partners, and ensuring the programme delivers measurable business outcomes. Because they have guided multiple businesses through similar journeys, they bring a practical, risk-aware approach that avoids the expensive mistakes common in first-time transformation programmes.

How quickly can a fractional CTO or IT Director get started?
Most engagements begin within one to two weeks of an initial consultation. There is no recruitment process, no notice period, and no lengthy onboarding. We match your business with a fractional CTO from our network based on your industry, technology stack, and growth stage. Our fractional IT directors join your team and start contributing immediately — attending leadership meetings, reviewing your technology landscape, and delivering a strategic assessment within the first weeks.

What industries do your fractional CTOs and IT Directors specialise in?
Our fractional CTOs and part-time IT directors have sector experience spanning professional services, financial services, healthcare, education, manufacturing, retail, and not-for-profit organisations. We carefully match each client with a technology leader whose industry background and regulatory knowledge are directly relevant to your business, ensuring they understand your constraints and can contribute at pace from day one.

Fractional CTO services by location

We deliver fractional CTO engagements across the North West of England and North Wales from our Chester head office. If you're searching for a fractional technology director in a specific city, start here:
Fractional CTO Chester
Fractional CTO Manchester
Fractional CTO Liverpool
Fractional CTO Warrington
Fractional CTO Wrexham

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### Fractional CMO UK | Part-Time Marketing Director
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-cmo-services/

← All director roles
Marketing That Fills The Pipeline. Not Just The Awards Cabinet.
If your marketing spend cannot be tied directly to revenue, something fundamental is wrong — a fractional CMO fixes it within 90 days.
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Quick answer
What is a fractional CMO and how much does it cost?
A fractional CMO is a senior marketing leader who builds your strategy, pipeline and marketing team one to three days a week. Leadership Services' fractional CMOs start from £1,795 per month, typically £1,795–£5,000. A CMO from our bench can usually start within one week, with no long-term tie-in.

The Problem This Solves

There is a version of marketing that looks very busy and achieves very little.
Brand refreshes that consume months of budget.
Social media that generates engagement but no leads.
Agency relationships that persist year after year without anyone holding the agency to revenue accountability.
Content programmes that build an audience of the wrong people.
And a marketing function that is creatively impressive but commercially unaccountable.
The CEO knows something is wrong — marketing is expensive, the team is hard-working, but the pipeline is not filling.
The problem is the absence of a senior commercial leader who insists that every marketing pound is justified by its contribution to revenue.
That is exactly what a fractional CMO provides.
A fractional CMO from Leadership Services is a revenue-focused marketing leader who takes ownership of your entire marketing function — strategy, team, agencies, channels, and measurement.
They bring the discipline of commercial accountability and the experience of having built demand engines in comparable businesses.
Marketing stops being a cost centre and starts being a pipeline machine.
Within 90 days, you will know exactly which channels are working, which are not, and where every pound of marketing budget is going.

When Should You Hire?

Your marketing activity is generating noise but not pipeline — you need strategic direction, not more tactical execution
You are entering a new market, launching a new product, or repositioning your brand and need senior marketing leadership to own it
You have a junior marketing team that needs structure, direction, and a senior leader to develop their capabilities
Your business is growing but marketing investment is not keeping pace — you need someone to build the case and lead the function
You are preparing for investment or exit and need to demonstrate a credible, scalable marketing capability to investors
You are spending on agencies and channels without a clear strategy or measurable return on investment

90-Day Rapid Impact
Every engagement begins with a defined 90-day impact sprint.

DAYS 1-30
Discovery & Quick Wins
Marketing audit: full review of all active channels, campaigns, agency relationships, and marketing technology. Analysis of current lead generation metrics, cost per acquisition, and pipeline contribution by channel. First board-level marketing report delivered — showing exactly what is working, what is not, and where the immediate opportunities lie.
DAYS 31-60
Build & Execute
Strategy realignment and quick wins: lowest-performing channels paused or restructured, agency briefs rewritten around commercial outcomes, and the highest-potential demand generation activities intensified. Pipeline reporting restructured to give the CEO and board real-time visibility of marketing’s contribution to revenue.
DAYS 61-90
Deliver & Embed
Demand engine operational: a coherent 12-month marketing strategy aligned to revenue targets, with a clear channel mix, content plan, and quarterly milestones. Marketing and sales aligned around a shared pipeline definition and shared accountability for revenue. The marketing function is no longer a creative department — it is a commercial asset. Within 90 days, you will have board-level visibility of marketing ROI by channel, a functioning pipeline contribution framework, and a fractional CMO who is accountable to revenue targets — not activity metrics.

What They Deliver

Marketing Strategy & Planning
A clear, commercially grounded marketing strategy aligned to your revenue targets and growth objectives. Covers market positioning, target audience definition, channel mix strategy, and messaging hierarchy — delivered as a 12-month activity plan with explicit commercial goals, budget allocation, and measurable success criteria.
Brand Positioning & Messaging
Sharp brand positioning that differentiates you in your market and resonates with your target buyers. Includes messaging frameworks, value proposition development, and brand guidelines that bring consistency and credibility across all channels — ensuring your brand builds recognition and trust with every customer interaction.
Demand Generation & Pipeline
Systematic demand generation programmes that build awareness, generate qualified inbound leads, and feed your sales pipeline consistently. Covers content marketing, SEO, paid media, events, and account-based marketing — each channel measured against pipeline contribution and cost per acquisition rather than vanity metrics.
Marketing Team Leadership
Direct leadership of your in-house marketing team or agency partners — setting priorities, developing individual capabilities, establishing quality standards, and maintaining delivery accountability. Your fractional CMO acts as the most senior marketing voice on the leadership team, bridging strategy and execution effectively.
Marketing Technology & Analytics
Assessment and optimisation of your marketing technology stack — CRM, marketing automation, analytics platforms, and attribution tools. Ensures your investment is properly tracked, measured against revenue outcomes, and continuously improved. Eliminates the technology shelfware that plagues many SME marketing functions.
Customer Acquisition & Retention
Strategies that systematically reduce customer acquisition cost, improve conversion rates at every funnel stage, and increase customer lifetime value. Combines market segmentation, buyer journey analysis, and channel optimisation to build a more efficient, scalable, and profitable marketing operation over time.

Investment

£1,795 – £5,000
per month — no recruitment fees, no long-term contracts
Full-Time Hire
£100,000 – £170,000
per year plus benefits, recruitment fees, and on-costs

All engagements are flexible, with no long-term tie-ins. View full pricing .

Coaching Included for the CEO or MD
Every fractional CMO engagement now includes structured coaching for the person the CMO reports to.

Marketing leadership rarely fails on strategy. It fails when the CEO cannot fully engage with the commercial discipline a good CMO brings — pricing decisions, brand trade-offs, growth investment prioritisation. Every Leadership Services fractional CMO engagement now includes structured monthly coaching for the CEO or MD at no additional cost. The coaching focuses on the commercial and leadership decisions that emerge from the marketing function, so the CMO's work translates into business impact rather than orphaned campaigns.

Explore coaching & mentoring Executive coaching for CEOs & MDs

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a fractional CMO do?
A fractional CMO provides senior marketing leadership on a part-time basis. They own your marketing strategy, brand positioning, demand generation, and team leadership — operating as the most senior marketer in your business without the cost of a full-time hire. Unlike a marketing manager focused on execution, a fractional CMO sets strategic direction, holds agencies accountable, presents to the board, and ensures marketing is directly contributing to revenue growth.

How much does a fractional CMO cost in the UK?
A fractional CMO or part-time marketing director from Leadership Services ranges from £1,795 to £5,000 per month, depending on the number of days required and the scope of the engagement. This compares to a full-time Marketing Director or CMO salary of £100,000 to £170,000 per year in the UK, plus employer on-costs, benefits, and recruitment fees. Most SMEs find the fractional model delivers superior value — particularly when their marketing needs are strategic rather than full-time operational.

What is the difference between a fractional CMO and a part-time marketing director?
In the UK market, the terms are broadly interchangeable. A Marketing Director typically leads the marketing function within a single business, while a CMO is a board-level role with broader commercial accountability. Leadership Services’ fractional marketing leaders operate at both levels — bringing CMO-quality strategic thinking combined with a hands-on marketing director approach. The right fit depends on your business size, marketing maturity, and what you need from the engagement.

Can a fractional CMO manage our marketing agency?
Yes — and this is one of the most common use cases. Many UK businesses spend significant sums on marketing agencies without the internal senior expertise to brief them properly, hold them accountable, or evaluate their performance. A fractional CMO takes ownership of your agency relationships: setting strategy, writing briefs, reviewing output, managing contracts, and ensuring agency activity is delivering measurable commercial results.

How quickly can a fractional CMO get started?
Most engagements begin within one to two weeks. After an initial discovery call to understand your marketing challenges, target market, and business objectives, we match you with the right fractional CMO from our network. There is no recruitment process or lengthy onboarding — your part-time marketing director joins your leadership team and starts delivering from day one, typically beginning with a structured marketing audit and strategic assessment.

Do I need a full-time Marketing Director or will fractional be enough?
For most UK SMEs and scale-ups, a fractional CMO provides the senior marketing leadership they need. A full-time CMO is typically justified only when the organisation has a large marketing team requiring daily senior oversight, is running multiple simultaneous brand campaigns at scale, or is at a stage where marketing is the primary driver of very high-velocity growth. Until that point, a part-time marketing director delivers the same strategic capability at a significantly lower cost.

What is the difference between a fractional CMO, a fractional marketing director, and a part-time head of marketing?
In the UK 2026 market these three terms are used almost interchangeably by most providers, and clients often use them as synonyms. The subtle distinctions in practice: 'fractional CMO' emphasises strategic senior operator at C-suite level, 'fractional marketing director' emphasises board-level marketing leadership without the CMO title (common in mid-market businesses that use 'director' rather than 'chief'), and 'part-time head of marketing' typically signals a slightly less senior operator or a smaller business that hasn't yet formalised its leadership team. Leadership Services covers all three engagement types — what varies is the senior operator we match you with, not the underlying service.

How is a fractional marketing director different from a marketing agency?
A fractional marketing director sits inside your business as part of your leadership team — they own outcomes, attend board meetings, and are accountable to you personally. A marketing agency sits outside your business and delivers specific outputs against a scope of work. The two are complementary, not substitutes: a fractional marketing director often manages your agencies alongside your internal team. Common UK 2026 pattern: fractional marketing director £3,500–£7,500/month coordinating one or two specialist agencies (paid media, PR, content), rather than trying to be the specialist directly.

What UK 2026 salary and day rate benchmarks apply to marketing leadership roles?
Full-time CMO total compensation £175k–£280k+ at mid-market scale (£100m–£500m turnover). Marketing Director £75k–£160k total comp at SME scale (£5m–£100m turnover). Head of Marketing £55k–£105k at smaller SMEs. Fractional CMO / fractional marketing director day rates typically £900–£1,500 per day at genuine board-level seniority, with monthly retainers of £3,500–£7,500 covering 4–8 days of work per month plus between-session availability. Full pricing detail is in our 2026 Rate Report.

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Tell us about your business and we'll talk through whether Marketing That Fills The Pipeline. Not Just The Awards Cabinet. is the right fit.
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### Fractional COO UK | Part-Time COO Services
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-coo-services/

← All director roles
Operations That Scale With The Business. Not Against It.
A fractional COO or part-time operations director builds the operational engine that lets you scale without breaking — embedded in your leadership team from week one.
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Quick answer
What is a fractional COO and how much does it cost?
A fractional COO is an experienced operations leader who builds the processes, KPIs and operating rhythm a growing business needs, part-time. Leadership Services' fractional COOs start from £1,795 per month, typically £1,795–£6,000. A COO from our bench can usually start within one week, with no long-term contract.

The Problem This Solves

Every fast-growing UK SME reaches a point where operational complexity starts to fight back.
Margins erode as headcount grows but processes do not.
The MD spends more time on operational firefighting than on strategy.
Departments run their own systems, their own metrics, and sometimes their own agendas.
The business scales — but it scales on effort, not on infrastructure.
A fractional COO, sometimes called a part-time operations director, is the executive who owns operational leadership for a UK SME on two to four days a week.
They install the operating rhythm, the KPI framework, the process discipline, and the cross-functional accountability that most businesses lose sight of somewhere between £2m and £15m turnover.
In 2026 the fractional operations model has become the default for UK SMEs turning over £2m to £50m — because a full-time COO costs £120,000-£200,000 total, takes three to six months to hire, and often over-serves a business that only needs the discipline two or three days a week.
Your fractional COO takes ownership of operational strategy, chairs the weekly management meeting, holds functional leaders to their KPIs, and runs the transformation programmes that convert growth into profitability.
This is not consultancy — your COO is accountable for outcomes, sits at your leadership table, and delivers results.

When Should You Hire?

Your business is growing rapidly but operational processes, systems, and team structures are struggling to keep pace
Margin is being eroded by operational inefficiency and you need senior leadership to diagnose the root causes and fix them
You are scaling into new geographies, channels, or service lines and need an experienced operator to lead that expansion
Your CEO or MD is spending too much time on operational issues rather than strategy and business development
You are implementing new ERP, CRM, or operational technology and need senior leadership to own the programme
You are preparing for growth investment or exit and need to demonstrate scalable, well-governed operations to acquirers

90-Day Rapid Impact
Every engagement begins with a defined 90-day impact sprint.

DAYS 1-30
Discovery & Quick Wins
Operational assessment: mapping of core processes, identification of the highest-cost inefficiencies, review of team structures, key person dependencies, and systems performance. First operational board report delivered — translating operational complexity into commercial risk and opportunity language that the full board can act on.
DAYS 31-60
Build & Execute
Priority improvements live: the top three operational bottlenecks being actively addressed, the most significant process waste reduced, and the operational reporting framework established. Team accountability clarified, management cadences set, and operational performance visible for the first time at board level.
DAYS 61-90
Deliver & Embed
Scaling infrastructure established: the process architecture, systems framework, and organisational design that allows the business to grow its revenue without a proportionate increase in operational cost or management overhead. The CEO is spending more time on the business and less time in it. Within 90 days, the business will have identified and begun addressing its three highest-cost operational inefficiencies, established a functioning operational performance framework, and an experienced COO who owns the agenda and is accountable for the results.

What They Deliver

Operational Strategy
A clear operational blueprint aligned to your growth strategy — covering organisational design, core process architecture, technology requirements, and the operational capabilities your business needs to deliver its plan. Includes a prioritised improvement roadmap with clear owners, timelines, and commercial impact estimates.
Process Improvement & Efficiency
Structured diagnosis and redesign of core business processes to eliminate waste, reduce cost, and increase throughput. Uses lean methodology and data-driven analysis to identify where operational improvements will have the greatest positive impact on margins, customer experience, and management bandwidth.
Scaling & Growth Infrastructure
Building the systems, processes, team structures, and governance frameworks that allow your business to scale without losing quality, speed, or control. Ensures operational capacity is always ahead of commercial ambition — so growth creates value rather than chaos in your organisation.
Supply Chain & Vendor Management
Strategic oversight of supply chain, outsourced operations, and key supplier relationships — including sourcing strategy, contract negotiation, performance management, and resilience planning. Reduces operational risk, improves service levels, and ensures your supply base supports rather than constrains your business objectives.
People & Organisational Design
Designing the right organisational structures, team accountabilities, and management processes to support business objectives at your current and next stage of growth. Works alongside HR and senior leaders to build the operational culture and management cadences that deliver consistent high performance.
Technology & Systems Implementation
Ownership of major operational technology programmes — ERP, CRM, workflow automation, and data platforms. Manages vendors, internal stakeholders, and delivery workstreams to ensure implementations are on time, within budget, and actually deliver the operational benefits that justified the investment decision.

COO vs Operations Director vs Managing Director
The three titles overlap but genuinely mean different things at UK SME scale. Here is how the roles differ in practice:

Role Focus Reports to Typical UK business scale 2026 total cost Managing Director P&L ownership across the whole business — commercial, operations, finance, people Board or shareholders £1m-£50m+ turnover £100k-£200k full-time COO End-to-end operations, cross-functional delivery, and operational strategy CEO or Managing Director £10m-£100m+ turnover £120k-£220k full-time · fractional £2,500-£6,000/mo Operations Director Day-to-day operations, process discipline, service delivery, supply chain MD or COO £2m-£50m turnover £85k-£140k full-time · fractional £1,795-£4,500/mo Head of Operations Operational execution within one function or business unit Ops Director or COO £2m-£30m turnover £55k-£90k full-time
In practice most UK SMEs under £30m turnover need operations director-level leadership rather than a full COO. The fractional model gives you the same seniority at a fraction of the cost. See the UK Fractional Director Rate Report 2026 for full benchmarks across all seven C-suite roles.

Investment

£1,795 – £5,000
per month — no recruitment fees, no long-term contracts
Full-Time Hire
£110,000 – £180,000
per year plus benefits, recruitment fees, and on-costs

All engagements are flexible, with no long-term tie-ins. View full pricing .

Coaching Included for the CEO or MD
Every fractional COO engagement now includes structured coaching for the person the COO reports to.

Operational excellence programmes almost always surface leadership tensions — between the CEO who set direction and the COO who now owns delivery. Every Leadership Services fractional COO engagement now includes structured monthly coaching for the CEO or MD at no additional cost. The coaching focuses on the strategic direction, delegation, and leadership rhythm that lets the COO execute without the CEO becoming an operational bottleneck.

Explore coaching & mentoring Executive coaching for CEOs & MDs

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a fractional COO or operations director cost in the UK in 2026?
UK fractional COO engagements typically run £1,795-£6,000 per month depending on scale and complexity, with day rates between £700 and £2,000. A typical UK SME turning over £5m-£25m needs a fractional COO two to three days a week, which lands around £3,500-£5,500 per month. That compares with £120,000-£220,000 total annual cost for a full-time equivalent, before recruitment fees. See the UK Fractional Director Rate Report 2026 for full 2026 benchmark data.

What is the difference between a fractional COO and a part-time operations director?
In practice, very little — the terms are used interchangeably in the UK 2026 fractional market. Some providers use 'fractional COO' for engagements at £8m+ turnover businesses and 'part-time operations director' at £2m-£8m. The person delivering the work is often the same senior operator; the title reflects the scale and positioning of the role rather than a genuine difference in seniority or scope.

When should an SME hire a fractional COO instead of a full-time COO?
Most UK SMEs under £30m turnover cannot justify a full-time COO — the workload does not fill five days a week and the £120k-£200k total cost is disproportionate to the value. A fractional COO at two to three days a week (£3,500-£5,500 monthly) delivers the same operational leadership, the same board presence, and the same accountability at roughly one third the cost, with none of the recruitment lead time. Above £30m turnover the calculus shifts and a full-time hire often becomes the right move — a good fractional COO will actively help you make that transition when the time comes.

What does a fractional COO actually do in the first 90 days?
The first 30 days is diagnostic — end-to-end operational assessment, KPI framework review, cross-functional interviews, and identification of the three highest-priority operational risks. Days 31-60 install the fixes: operating rhythm redesigned, weekly management meeting restructured, KPI dashboard live at board level, first process improvement programme underway. Days 61-90 deliver: measurable operational improvements documented, second wave of change initiatives launched, and a 12-month operational plan agreed with the leadership team. See our 90-Day Rapid Impact plan on this page for the detailed sequence.

How quickly can a fractional operations director start?
Within one week for most engagements. We match you to a shortlist of two or three suitable directors from our UK network within 48 hours. Interview and reference checks complete in the following few days. Your fractional operations director is on-site or in the numbers within seven working days — compared with three to six months for a permanent operations director hire once you factor in recruitment, notice period, and onboarding.

Do fractional COOs work with other clients at the same time?
Yes — that is what makes the model economically viable at the day rates involved. A typical UK fractional COO holds two to four concurrent engagements at one to three days per week each. Reputable providers will disclose current client load on request and decline engagements where they cannot commit the required time. Anyone claiming to give you their full attention for a two-day-a-week retainer is either lying about client load or is not actually working elsewhere.

What sectors do your fractional COOs work with?
The Leadership Services fractional COO network spans professional services, manufacturing, SaaS and technology, ecommerce and retail, healthcare services, and PE-backed businesses across the UK. Every director is matched to your sector, business stage, and operational challenge. We do not deploy a generalist and hope for the best — sector-specific operational experience is a hard match criterion.

How is a fractional COO measured — what does success look like?
Success is defined in writing before the engagement starts. Typical KPIs include: on-time delivery of the 90-day operational plan; measurable improvement in a specific operational metric (fulfilment time, customer complaint rate, gross margin, project delivery rate) within the first six months; and reduction in the operational load carried personally by the MD or CEO. Every engagement is accountable to written outcomes, reviewed quarterly at board level.

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Tell us about your business and we'll talk through whether Operations That Scale With The Business. Not Against It. is the right fit.
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### Fractional Commercial Director UK | Part-Time CCO Services
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-commercial-director/

← All director roles
Commercial Strategy That Grows Revenue Across Every Channel.
When pricing, sales, and marketing are pulling in different directions, a fractional Commercial Director aligns them around a single, profitable commercial engine.
Get Started

Quick answer
What is a fractional commercial director and how much does it cost?
A fractional commercial director aligns pricing, sales, marketing and partnerships around profitable growth, working a few days a month. Leadership Services' fractional commercial directors start from £1,795 per month, typically £1,795–£5,000. A director from our bench can usually start within one week, with no long-term tie-in.

The Problem This Solves

Commercial underperformance is often not a sales problem or a marketing problem — it is an alignment problem.
Sales teams are selling to the wrong customers because the ICP is vague.
Pricing is inconsistent because no one owns the pricing strategy.
Partnerships that looked promising on paper are generating no revenue because there is no commercial infrastructure to support them.
And marketing is generating the wrong type of demand because no one has defined what the right type looks like.
A fractional Commercial Director from Leadership Services is a board-level commercial leader who owns the full revenue architecture — pricing, sales strategy, marketing alignment, partnerships, and commercial performance management.
They are not a specialist in one part of the commercial function; they are the integrating force that makes all the parts work together.
In businesses where the commercial engine is fragmented and underperforming, this integration role is often the single most valuable leadership intervention available.

When Should You Hire?

You need someone to own the entire commercial function — from pricing and contracts through to sales and partnerships — but cannot justify a full-time hire
Your revenue growth is inconsistent and you need a senior commercial leader to impose structure, strategy, and accountability
You are entering a new market, launching a new product, or repositioning commercially and need experienced leadership
Your pricing strategy is unclear, underperforming, or not keeping pace with the value you deliver to customers
You are building or managing a channel, reseller, or strategic partnership programme and need senior commercial oversight
You are preparing for investment or sale and need to demonstrate a credible, structured, and scalable commercial operation

90-Day Rapid Impact
Every engagement begins with a defined 90-day impact sprint.

DAYS 1-30
Discovery & Quick Wins
Commercial architecture audit: assessment of pricing strategy, go-to-market coherence, sales and marketing alignment, channel performance, and partnership value. Identification of the three commercial changes that will generate the fastest revenue improvement. First board-level commercial strategy review delivered.
DAYS 31-60
Build & Execute
Priority commercial improvements live: pricing model reviewed and rationalised, sales and marketing ICP aligned, the highest-potential partnerships actively supported with a commercial framework, and commercial performance reporting established at board level.
DAYS 61-90
Deliver & Embed
Commercial strategy embedded: a 12-month commercial plan with clear revenue targets by channel, segment, and geography. Pricing framework approved and adopted. Commercial Director owning the full revenue architecture and accountable to the board for delivery against agreed milestones. Within 90 days, the business will have a coherent commercial strategy, aligned sales and marketing execution, and a fractional Commercial Director who is accountable for the revenue outcomes the strategy is designed to deliver.

What They Deliver

Commercial Strategy
A clear commercial strategy defining your revenue model, pricing architecture, target markets, customer segments, and the commercial levers required to achieve growth objectives. Aligns sales, marketing, and product around a single, coherent commercial narrative that the whole business can execute.
Pricing & Revenue Optimisation
Strategic review and redesign of your pricing model — from cost-plus to value-based, subscription, or tiered approaches. Analyses competitive positioning, customer willingness to pay, and margin dynamics to build a pricing strategy that grows revenue, improves margin, and positions your offer correctly.
Partnerships & Channel Development
Identification, development, and active management of strategic partnerships, channel partners, and reseller relationships. Builds the commercial frameworks, partner enablement programmes, incentive structures, and governance processes that transform aspirational partnerships into a reliable, scalable, and measurable additional revenue channel for the business.
Contract & Commercial Risk Management
Senior oversight of all customer contracts, commercial terms, and complex procurement negotiations. Ensures your commercial agreements legally and commercially protect the business, accurately reflect the full value you deliver, include appropriate risk and liability protections, and build sustainable, profitable long-term customer relationships throughout the commercial lifecycle.
Market Expansion
Leadership of commercial expansion into new sectors, geographies, or customer segments — combining rigorous market sizing and analysis, structured go-to-market planning, low-risk pilot programmes, and disciplined commercial execution to build a sustainable, profitable new market presence without wasted investment or unfocused, low-return activity.
Commercial Performance Management
Design and implementation of commercial KPIs, management dashboards, and performance review frameworks. Provides the board and CEO with accurate, timely visibility of revenue performance and the commercial health of the business across all active channels, customer segments, products, and geographic markets.

Investment

£1,795 – £5,000
per month — no recruitment fees, no long-term contracts
Full-Time Hire
£120,000 – £180,000
per year plus benefits, recruitment fees, and on-costs

All engagements are flexible, with no long-term tie-ins. View full pricing .

Coaching Included for the CEO or MD
Every fractional commercial director engagement now includes structured coaching for the person the commercial director reports to.

Commercial leadership surfaces the hardest CEO decisions — pricing discipline, margin protection, customer profitability, saying no to bad revenue. Every Leadership Services fractional commercial director engagement now includes structured monthly coaching for the CEO or MD at no additional cost. The coaching focuses on the commercial judgement calls that emerge from the commercial function — the ones that only the CEO can make and that most CEOs make less well than they think.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does a fractional commercial director do?
A fractional commercial director provides board-level commercial leadership on a part-time basis. They own the revenue strategy, pricing, partnerships, and alignment between sales, marketing, and product. Unlike a sales director focused on pipeline, or a marketing director focused on brand, a commercial director takes a holistic view of how the business creates and captures value — and drives the structural and strategic changes required to improve commercial performance across the full revenue system.

How much does a fractional commercial director cost in the UK?
A fractional commercial director from Leadership Services ranges from £1,795 to £5,000 per month, depending on scope and the number of days required. This compares to a full-time Chief Commercial Officer salary of £120,000 to £180,000 per year plus employer on-costs, benefits, and recruitment fees. The fractional model gives you access to the same calibre of commercial leadership at a fraction of the permanent hire cost, with the flexibility to scale the engagement as your commercial agenda evolves.

What is the difference between a fractional commercial director and a fractional sales director?
A fractional sales director focuses primarily on the sales function — team leadership, pipeline management, and revenue execution. A fractional commercial director has a broader remit, encompassing pricing strategy, commercial contracts, partnerships, channel development, and the alignment of marketing and product with revenue objectives. Many businesses engage a commercial director when they need a senior leader who can oversee the full commercial picture rather than one functional area.

Can a fractional commercial director help with pricing strategy?
Yes — pricing is one of the most commercially impactful areas where a fractional commercial director can add value. Many UK SMEs undercharge for their products or services, or use pricing structures that create friction rather than revenue. A fractional commercial director analyses your cost base, competitive positioning, and customer value drivers to build a pricing strategy that improves margin, reduces churn, and positions your offer correctly in the market.

How quickly can a fractional commercial director get started?
Most engagements begin within one to two weeks of an initial consultation. Leadership Services matches you with a fractional commercial director whose sector experience, commercial model expertise, and growth-stage background are directly relevant to your business. There is no recruitment process, no lengthy notice period, and no extended onboarding — your fractional commercial director joins the leadership team and begins contributing to commercial decisions immediately.

What sectors do your fractional commercial directors specialise in?
Our fractional commercial directors have experience across B2B services, technology and SaaS, financial services, professional services, manufacturing, healthcare, and business services. We match engagements based on your customer type, commercial model complexity, and growth priorities — ensuring the commercial director you work with understands the dynamics of your market and can make an immediate, relevant contribution to your commercial strategy.

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Tell us about your business and we'll talk through whether Commercial Strategy That Grows Revenue Across Every Channel. is the right fit.
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### Fractional Sales Director UK | Fractional Sales Leadership
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-sales-director/

← All director roles
Revenue That Grows Every Quarter. Not Just Some of Them.
Unpredictable pipeline and inconsistent sales performance are leadership problems — a fractional Sales Director fixes both.
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Quick answer
What is a fractional sales director and how much does it cost?
A fractional sales director builds your sales strategy, pipeline discipline and team performance on a part-time basis. Leadership Services' fractional sales directors start from £1,795 per month, typically £1,795–£5,000 depending on days. A director from our bench can usually start within one week, with no long-term contract.

The Problem This Solves

Sales underperformance is rarely a talent problem at the individual level.
It is almost always a leadership problem.
The team lacks clear structure, consistent process, and the senior commercial accountability that drives repeatable performance.
Pipeline reviews happen but nothing changes.
Forecasts are optimistic and wrong.
Deals stall because no one has the seniority to escalate them.
The CEO ends up back in the sales process when they should be running the business.
The missing ingredient is a senior sales leader who owns revenue outcomes — not just activity metrics.
A fractional Sales Director from Leadership Services is that leader.
They join your business as the de facto head of sales, take full accountability for the commercial function, and drive the structural and behavioural changes that turn unpredictable revenue into consistent, scalable growth.
They have done it in comparable businesses before.
They know what a high-performing sales team looks like.
And they will not accept the explanations for underperformance that a leadership team has grown accustomed to hearing.

When Should You Hire?

Revenue growth has plateaued and your existing sales leadership lacks the seniority or fresh perspective to break through
You have a sales team but no senior leader to develop them, set standards, and drive consistent performance
You are entering a new market or launching a new product and need an experienced sales leader to own go-to-market execution
Your pipeline is unpredictable and you lack the forecasting rigour and sales process discipline to manage it effectively
You need to build or rebuild a sales function — from hiring and onboarding through to territory management and incentive structures
You are preparing for investment or acquisition and need to demonstrate a structured, scalable, and credible commercial operation

90-Day Rapid Impact
Every engagement begins with a defined 90-day impact sprint.

DAYS 1-30
Discovery & Quick Wins
Commercial assessment: full pipeline audit, CRM review, and structured assessment of the sales team’s capability, process, and culture. Identification of the immediate pipeline opportunities being mismanaged, the process gaps creating forecast inaccuracy, and the coaching priorities for each individual on the team.
DAYS 31-60
Build & Execute
Accountability infrastructure live: structured pipeline reviews in place, deal qualification framework adopted, weekly one-to-ones running with clear performance expectations, and the CRM being used as a revenue management tool rather than an administrative burden. Forecast accuracy improving week on week.
DAYS 61-90
Deliver & Embed
Commercial engine operational: a go-to-market strategy aligned to the highest-potential customer segments, a sales team that is performing to clear standards, and a pipeline that gives the CEO and board reliable, forward-looking revenue visibility. Revenue is growing and the CEO is out of the sales process. Within 90 days, you will have a structured pipeline, a disciplined sales team, and a fractional Sales Director who is accountable for hitting the commercial targets agreed at the start of the engagement.

What They Deliver

Sales Strategy & Go-to-Market
A commercially grounded sales strategy defining target markets, ideal customer profiles, sales channels, competitive positioning, and the revenue model required to hit growth objectives. Translated into an executable, accountable sales plan with clear territory allocation, pipeline targets, and quarterly milestones.
Sales Team Leadership & Development
Direct leadership of your sales team — setting performance standards, running structured pipeline reviews, coaching individuals on deals and skills, and embedding the accountability culture that distinguishes high-performing commercial teams. Your fractional sales director joins as the de facto head of sales.
Pipeline Management & Forecasting
Rigorous pipeline management disciplines, deal qualification frameworks, and forecasting processes that give the board accurate, reliable revenue visibility. Eliminates the uncertainty and optimism bias that undermines most SME sales forecasts and consistently surprises CEOs at the end of each quarter.
CRM & Sales Technology
Assessment and optimisation of your CRM, sales enablement tools, and AI-powered sales technology. Ensures your team uses the right tools with the right disciplines — turning your CRM from an administrative burden into a genuine revenue management system that drives accountability and insight.
Key Account Management
Strategic oversight of your most important customer relationships — building structured account plans, identifying cross-sell and expansion opportunities, and ensuring key accounts receive the senior commercial attention required to protect and grow long-term revenue from the customers your business depends on most.
Sales Hiring & Onboarding
Expert leadership of sales team recruitment — defining the right roles, writing competency scorecards, running rigorous interview processes, and building structured onboarding programmes that accelerate new hire time-to-productivity and reduce the significant commercial cost of making a poor sales hire.

Investment

£1,795 – £5,000
per month — no recruitment fees, no long-term contracts
Full-Time Hire
£100,000 – £160,000
per year plus benefits, recruitment fees, and on-costs

All engagements are flexible, with no long-term tie-ins. View full pricing .

Coaching Included for the CEO or MD
Every fractional sales director engagement now includes structured coaching for the person the sales director reports to.

Sales leadership almost always surfaces something the CEO does not want to see — pipeline discipline gaps, customer concentration risk, sales team performance issues that have been drifting for months. Every Leadership Services fractional sales director engagement now includes structured monthly coaching for the CEO or MD at no additional cost. The coaching gives the CEO reflective space to engage with what the sales director is surfacing, rather than avoid it.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does a fractional sales director do?
A fractional sales director provides senior sales leadership on a part-time basis. They own revenue strategy, sales team performance, pipeline management, and go-to-market execution — operating as the most senior sales leader in your business. Unlike a sales manager focused on activity, a fractional sales director sets strategic direction, coaches the team, manages key customer relationships, and ensures the commercial function is structured and led in a way that delivers predictable, scalable revenue growth.

How much does a fractional sales director cost in the UK?
A fractional or part-time sales director from Leadership Services ranges from £1,795 to £5,000 per month, depending on the number of days required and engagement scope. This compares to a full-time Sales Director salary of £100,000 to £160,000 per year in the UK, plus employer on-costs, bonus targets, benefits, and recruitment fees. For most SMEs with a sales team of under 20 people, the fractional model delivers superior return on investment.

Can a fractional sales director manage my existing sales team?
Yes. Leadership and development of the existing sales team is typically the primary focus of a fractional sales director engagement. Your part-time sales director joins as the de facto head of sales — setting standards, running pipeline reviews, coaching individuals, and embedding the disciplines and culture that drive consistent performance. They complement and develop your existing team rather than replacing them.

Can a fractional sales director help implement AI sales tools?
Yes. Our fractional sales directors are experienced in deploying AI-powered sales technology, including CRM automation, predictive lead scoring, conversation intelligence platforms, and AI-driven pipeline forecasting tools. They assess which tools are appropriate for your business, manage implementation, and train the team to use them effectively — ensuring technology investment translates into genuine productivity gains rather than shelfware.

How quickly can a fractional sales director get started?
Most engagements begin within one to two weeks. Following an initial consultation, Leadership Services matches you with a fractional sales director whose sector experience, sales methodology, and growth-stage background are relevant to your business. There is no recruitment process, no notice period, and no long onboarding — your part-time sales director joins the team and typically begins with a rapid commercial assessment, identifying the most important levers to pull to accelerate revenue growth.

What sectors do your fractional sales directors specialise in?
Our fractional sales directors have sector experience spanning B2B professional services, technology and SaaS, financial services, manufacturing, logistics, healthcare services, and business services. We match each engagement based on your target customer type, sales cycle complexity, and growth stage — ensuring the fractional sales director you work with has directly relevant experience of selling in your market and leading teams at your stage of commercial maturity.

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Tell us about your business and we'll talk through whether Revenue That Grows Every Quarter. Not Just Some of Them. is the right fit.
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### Fractional HR Director UK | Part-Time CHRO Services
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-hr-director/

← All director roles
People Strategy That Retains Your Best — and Removes Your Biggest Risk.
High attrition, poor culture, and employment risk are not HR problems — they are leadership failures with commercial consequences.
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Quick answer
What is a fractional HR director and how much does it cost?
A fractional HR director leads people strategy, employment risk, culture and HR operations for a few days a month. Leadership Services' fractional HR directors start from £1,795 per month, typically £1,795–£4,500. A director from our bench can usually start within one week, with no long-term tie-in.

The Problem This Solves

People problems are commercial problems.
A 30% annual attrition rate is not just disruptive — it is a direct tax on every commercial relationship and operational process in the business.
A toxic culture does not just affect morale — it drives away the exact senior talent you cannot afford to lose.
An HR function that is reactive, compliance-focused, and disconnected from commercial strategy is not managing people risk — it is storing it up.
A fractional HR Director from Leadership Services is a board-level people and culture leader who takes ownership of the full HR agenda — talent strategy, retention, culture development, organisational design, and employment risk management.
They are not a generalist HR manager operating from a policy manual.
They are a senior leader who understands the commercial consequences of every people decision, who has designed leadership teams for scale-ups, restructured organisations through periods of growth and change, and built the cultures that attract and keep the people ambitious businesses need.

When Should You Hire?

Your business is growing quickly and people challenges — hiring, retention, culture, and structure — are consuming disproportionate senior management time
You lack a senior HR leader and employment decisions are being made without the strategic expertise or legal rigour they require
You are restructuring, acquiring, or merging and need senior HR leadership to manage the people implications carefully
Your leadership team is underperforming and you need someone to lead an objective assessment and development programme
You want to build a high-performance culture but lack the senior HR expertise to design and embed the people practices that enable it
You are experiencing high staff turnover and need a strategic diagnosis of the root causes and a credible retention programme

90-Day Rapid Impact
Every engagement begins with a defined 90-day impact sprint.

DAYS 1-30
Discovery & Quick Wins
People audit: assessment of attrition data, engagement indicators, organisational structure, employment risk exposure, and current HR capability. Identification of the three highest-risk people issues and the talent gaps most likely to limit commercial delivery. First board-level people strategy review.
DAYS 31-60
Build & Execute
Priority interventions live: the most significant employment risks addressed, a retention programme designed for the roles with highest attrition impact, and a structured people KPI framework established. Management capability review completed and development priorities identified.
DAYS 61-90
Deliver & Embed
People strategy operational: a 12-month people plan aligned to business growth strategy, a talent acquisition framework for priority roles, and the management processes and culture initiatives most likely to improve engagement and retention. The HR function is now a commercial enabler — not a compliance function. Within 90 days, the board will have a clear view of its highest people risks, an active retention programme for critical roles, and an HR Director who is accountable for people outcomes — not just process compliance.

What They Deliver

People Strategy
A commercially grounded people strategy aligned to your business plan — covering workforce planning, talent acquisition priorities, development investment, retention programmes, and the organisational design required to deliver commercial objectives. Presented to the board as a strategic investment, not an overhead cost line.
Talent Acquisition & Employer Brand
Strategic oversight of talent acquisition — defining the roles your business needs, building rigorous hiring processes, and developing an employer brand that attracts the best people in competitive talent markets. Creates sustainable, scalable hiring capability rather than reactive responses to immediate vacancies.
Leadership Development
Structured programmes to develop your leadership team’s capability — identifying gaps, building individual development plans, establishing coaching frameworks, and planning succession for critical roles. Ensures your management layer has the skills and judgement to support the scale and complexity your business is heading towards.
Culture & Engagement
Active diagnosis and purposeful development of your organisational culture — identifying what drives or undermines employee engagement, designing the leadership practices and management behaviours that strengthen it, and measuring progress against meaningful, leading indicators of cultural health and employee commitment.
HR Governance & Employment Law
Senior ownership of your employment framework — ensuring contracts, policies, and procedures are legally compliant, commercially appropriate, and consistently applied across the organisation. Manages complex or senior-level employee relations issues with the expertise, authority, and commercial judgement those situations require.
Organisational Design & Change
Expert leadership of organisational redesign — building the right structures, roles, and accountabilities to support business strategy at your next stage of growth. Manages change sensitively and effectively, significantly reducing the people risk that accompanies major restructuring or strategic transitions.

Investment

£1,795 – £4,500
per month — no recruitment fees, no long-term contracts
Full-Time Hire
£100,000 – £160,000
per year plus benefits, recruitment fees, and on-costs

All engagements are flexible, with no long-term tie-ins. View full pricing .

Coaching Included for the CEO or MD
Every fractional HR director engagement now includes structured coaching for the person the HR director reports to.

People strategy fails when the CEO does not model what the HR director is trying to embed — clarity of decision-making, structured feedback, difficult conversations happening in the room rather than the corridor. Every Leadership Services fractional HR director engagement now includes structured monthly coaching for the CEO or MD at no additional cost. The coaching focuses on the leadership behaviours that make the HR director's work actually take root in the business.

Explore coaching & mentoring Executive coaching for CEOs & MDs

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a fractional HR director do?
A fractional HR director provides board-level people leadership on a part-time basis. They own your people strategy, talent management, organisational design, culture development, and senior HR governance. Unlike an HR manager focused on administration and compliance, a fractional HR director operates strategically — advising the CEO on people-related decisions, managing complex employee relations at senior level, and ensuring your people practices directly support your commercial objectives.

How much does a fractional HR director cost in the UK?
A fractional HR director or part-time CHRO from Leadership Services ranges from £1,795 to £4,500 per month, depending on the number of days required and the scope of your people agenda. This compares to a full-time HR Director or CHRO salary of £100,000 to £160,000 per year in the UK, plus employer on-costs, benefits, and recruitment fees. For most SMEs, the fractional model provides expert people leadership at a significantly lower investment.

What is the difference between a fractional HR director and an HR consultant?
An HR consultant typically delivers a specific project — a policy review, a restructuring, a training programme — and then leaves. A fractional HR director is an embedded member of your leadership team. They attend board meetings, advise the CEO, manage ongoing people challenges, and take strategic ownership of your people agenda. The key difference is accountability and continuity: a fractional HR director has a stake in the long-term health of your people function, not just the completion of a project.

Can a fractional HR director help with a restructuring or redundancy process?
Yes. Restructuring and redundancy processes are among the most sensitive and legally complex challenges any business faces. A fractional HR director brings the experience to manage these processes correctly — ensuring legal compliance, protecting the business from tribunal risk, communicating clearly with affected employees, and maintaining morale and trust among the wider team. Having senior HR leadership through a restructuring is not optional; the risks of getting it wrong are significant.

How quickly can a fractional HR director get started?
Most engagements begin within one to two weeks. Following an initial consultation to understand your people priorities, business stage, and immediate challenges, Leadership Services matches you with the right fractional HR director from our network. There is no recruitment process, no lengthy onboarding, and no notice period to wait out. Your part-time HR director joins the leadership team and can begin contributing to people decisions immediately.

Do I need a full-time HR director or will fractional be enough?
For most UK SMEs and scale-ups with up to several hundred employees, a fractional HR director provides the senior people leadership they need. A full-time CHRO is typically justified when the business has a large, complex workforce, a substantial dedicated people team requiring daily senior oversight, or is navigating an exceptionally high-velocity period of hiring. Until that point, a part-time HR director delivers the same strategic expertise and board-level credibility at a fraction of the permanent cost.

Ready to begin?
Tell us about your business and we'll talk through whether People Strategy That Retains Your Best — and Removes Your Biggest Risk. is the right fit.
Get Started

### Fractional Managing Director UK | Part-Time MD Services
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-managing-director/

← All director roles
Leadership That Drives the Whole Business Forward — Not Just One Function.
When the business needs senior leadership across every function simultaneously, a fractional MD provides the strategic command that makes everything else work.
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Quick answer
What is a fractional managing director and how much does it cost?
A fractional managing director provides senior leadership across the whole business, covering strategy, performance and the leadership team, for a few days a month. Leadership Services' fractional MDs start from £1,795 per month, typically £1,795–£6,000. An MD from our bench can usually start within one week, with no long-term contract.

The Problem This Solves

Not every business challenge is a functional one.
Sometimes the challenge is leadership itself — a capability vacuum at the top, a board that needs an experienced operator to run the business while the founder steps back, or a period of transformation so complex that it requires a senior leader with the breadth to hold the whole picture.
A fractional Managing Director from Leadership Services provides board-level operational leadership across the full business — owning the P&L, leading the leadership team, managing stakeholder relationships, and driving the strategic agenda at the most senior level.
This is a different engagement to a functional fractional director.
The fractional MD is the most senior person in the day-to-day business: setting the tone, making the calls, and accountable for the overall performance of the organisation during the engagement.
Common use cases include: a founder stepping back from operational management, an interim period between permanent MD appointments, a post-acquisition integration leadership requirement, or a business in distress that needs experienced, authoritative operational leadership to stabilise and recover.

When Should You Hire?

You are a founder-CEO looking to step back from day-to-day management to focus on strategy, investment, or other ventures, and need a trusted MD to run the business
Your business is between permanent MD appointments and needs experienced general management leadership to maintain performance and momentum
You are a private equity investor or board that needs a hands-on operational MD to drive performance in a portfolio company
Your business is in a turnaround situation and requires a senior, authoritative leader with the experience to stabilise operations and build a recovery plan
You are scaling into new markets or territories and need a senior general manager to lead that expansion on the ground
You need someone to lead the senior team, hold them accountable, and drive cross-functional alignment while the business navigates a complex strategic transition

90-Day Rapid Impact
Every engagement begins with a defined 90-day impact sprint.

DAYS 1-30
Discovery & Quick Wins
Full business assessment: structured review of commercial performance, operational health, financial position, team capability, and stakeholder relationships. Board-level situation report delivered — giving the board, founder, or investors an accurate, unvarnished view of the business as it stands and the priorities for immediate action.
DAYS 31-60
Build & Execute
Leadership established: the management team aligned around clear priorities, performance expectations set, the most urgent commercial and operational risks being actively managed, and the board receiving regular, accurate, board-quality updates. The business is being led with clarity and accountability.
DAYS 61-90
Deliver & Embed
Strategic momentum built: a 6–12 month business plan agreed and in execution, the leadership team performing to standard, commercial performance improving, and the MD accountable to the board for delivery against agreed milestones. The transition plan — whether to a permanent appointment or an expanded engagement — is clearly defined. Within 90 days, the business will be under clear, experienced leadership with a defined strategic plan, a high-performing management team, and measurable improvement in the commercial and operational metrics that matter most to the board and shareholders.

What They Deliver

General Management Leadership
Day-to-day general management of the business — leading the senior leadership team, setting performance expectations, resolving cross-functional issues, and ensuring execution against the plan. Your fractional MD operates with the full authority and accountability of a permanent Managing Director in every interaction.
Strategic Planning & Execution
Development and delivery of the business strategy — from annual planning and budget setting through to strategic initiative management and quarterly review. Ensures the business has clear direction, the right priorities, and the management discipline to deliver its plan consistently and at pace.
Board & Stakeholder Management
Primary management interface with your board, investors, and key external stakeholders. Your fractional MD prepares board reporting, manages investor expectations, and ensures the relationship between management and governance is productive, transparent, and consistently focused on the commercial outcomes that matter most.
P&L Accountability
Full P&L accountability — overseeing financial performance, managing the annual budget cycle, driving cost efficiency, and ensuring the business delivers its financial commitments. Works closely with the Finance Director or CFO to maintain rigorous financial governance, controls, and commercial discipline.
Leadership Team Development
Development of your senior leadership team — identifying individual capability gaps, managing director-level performance rigorously, building succession plans for every critical role, and creating the management operating rhythm and accountability culture that drives consistently high performance across all business functions.
Turnaround & Change Management
Senior leadership of business turnaround or complex change programmes — stabilising operations, rebuilding stakeholder confidence, identifying the structural and commercial changes needed to restore performance, and executing them with the pace, authority, and commercial discipline that difficult situations genuinely demand.

Investment

£1,795 – £6,000
per month — no recruitment fees, no long-term contracts
Full-Time Hire
£150,000 – £250,000
per year plus benefits, recruitment fees, and on-costs

All engagements are flexible, with no long-term tie-ins. View full pricing .

Coaching Included for the Founder or Owner
Every fractional MD engagement now includes structured coaching for the founder or owner.

A fractional MD engagement is usually about transferring day-to-day leadership from a founder or owner to an external operator — often the hardest transition a business ever goes through. Every Leadership Services fractional MD engagement now includes structured monthly coaching for the founder or owner at no additional cost. The coaching focuses on the personal and strategic dimensions of stepping back from operational leadership: how to hold the fractional MD to account without micromanaging, how to shape strategy without owning delivery, and how to prepare for what comes next.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What does a fractional managing director do?
A fractional managing director provides full general management leadership on a part-time basis. They take accountability for the overall performance of the business — leading the senior team, owning the P&L, driving strategic execution, and acting as the primary management voice with the board and investors. Unlike a business consultant who advises, a fractional MD makes decisions, holds the team accountable, and takes responsibility for business outcomes over the duration of the engagement.

How much does a fractional managing director cost in the UK?
A fractional managing director from Leadership Services ranges from £1,795 to £6,000 per month, reflecting the seniority and breadth of the role. This compares to a full-time MD or CEO salary of £150,000 to £250,000 per year in the UK, plus employer on-costs, bonus, benefits, and recruitment fees. For businesses that need high-calibre general management leadership without a permanent executive commitment, the fractional model delivers significant cost efficiency.

How is a fractional MD different from an interim MD?
An interim managing director is typically a full-time, short-term appointment — brought in to cover a gap or deliver a specific transition. A fractional MD is part-time and can be a longer-term arrangement — working two to three days per week on an ongoing basis. The fractional model suits businesses that need consistent, senior general management leadership but do not require or cannot justify a full-time executive. Interim suits businesses that need full-time coverage for a defined period.

Can a fractional MD work with private equity-backed businesses?
Yes. Private equity portfolio companies are a common use case for fractional MD engagements. PE-backed businesses often require experienced, hands-on general management leadership that can drive performance against an investment plan while managing a sophisticated investor relationship. Leadership Services’ fractional MDs have worked with PE-backed businesses across a range of sectors and deal sizes — bringing the commercial rigour and reporting discipline that PE investors expect.

How quickly can a fractional MD get started?
Most engagements begin within two to four weeks of an initial conversation. Given the seniority and breadth of the fractional MD role, we take care to match each client with the right individual — someone whose general management experience, sector background, and leadership style are well-aligned to your specific context. There is no lengthy recruitment process, but we do invest time in ensuring the match is right before an engagement begins, protecting both parties.

What is the difference between a fractional MD and a non-executive director?
A non-executive director (NED) provides governance oversight, challenge, and advice — typically attending board meetings and contributing strategic perspective without operational involvement. A fractional managing director is an operational executive role: they manage the business, lead the team, and take accountability for performance. The fractional MD sits in the executive team, not on the board as a governance function. Many businesses benefit from both — a fractional MD for operational leadership and a NED for independent governance.

How much of an MD's time does a UK business actually need?
It depends on business size and stage. UK 2026 benchmarks: a £2–5m turnover business typically needs 1–2 days per week of MD time, a £5–15m business 2–4 days, a £15–30m business 3–5 days, and £30m+ businesses typically need full-time MD leadership. The specific 'part-time MD' or 'fractional MD' model works well in the £2–30m band. Above £30m the strategic and operational complexity usually justifies a permanent hire, though transitional fractional engagements often bridge the gap while a permanent MD is being recruited.

What is a part-time MD and what do they actually do in the first 100 days?
A part-time managing director takes on the strategic direction and cross-functional leadership of a business on a defined cadence — typically 1–4 days per week. In the first 30 days they typically focus on business context and 1:1s with the leadership team; days 31–60 on identifying the 3–5 commercial priorities and any burning issues; days 61–100 on driving the leadership team to shared commitment on those priorities and starting to visibly move the numbers. Concretely: monthly board pack quality goes up, decisions get made faster, and the founder / owner gets their weekends back. Every Leadership Services fractional MD engagement now also includes structured mentoring for the founder or owner at no additional cost.

How does a fractional MD differ from a non-executive director (NED)?
A fractional MD is an executive role — they run the business, make decisions, and are accountable for delivery on their contracted days. A NED is a non-executive role — they provide independent challenge, contribute to governance, and attend board meetings but do not run day-to-day operations. Same person could conceivably wear both hats in different businesses but never both roles in the same business. Fractional MD costs £4,000–£8,000 per month; NED costs £15,000–£40,000 per year (as a fee, not salary). See our companion guide on non-executive director vs fractional director for a fuller comparison.

When does a founder-CEO need to hire an MD (or fractional MD)?
Four common UK 2026 triggers: (1) the founder-CEO is working 60+ hours a week and no longer has time for strategic thinking or genuine rest, (2) the business has grown past the founder's operational bandwidth — usually around £5m turnover and 20–25 employees, (3) the founder is preparing for exit or fundraise and the business needs to demonstrate leadership depth beyond the founder, (4) the founder wants to focus on the areas of the business they are genuinely best at (product, sales, external relationships) rather than being pulled into everything. If any two of these apply, an MD conversation is overdue.

Ready to begin?
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### Fractional CISO UK | Part-Time Security Leadership Services
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/fractional-ciso/

← All director roles
Cyber Security Governed at Board Level. Not Hoped For.
A single cyber incident can destroy years of value — a fractional CISO ensures your board is governing cyber risk, not ignoring it.
Get Started

Quick answer
What is a fractional CISO and how much does it cost?
A fractional CISO is a senior cyber security leader who owns risk, compliance and board reporting on security, part-time. Leadership Services' fractional CISOs start from £1,795 per month, typically £1,795–£5,000 depending on scope. A CISO from our bench can usually start within one week, with no long-term contract.

The Problem This Solves

Cyber security is the most consistently under-governed risk in UK SMEs.
Boards know it matters, the IT team has some controls in place, and the business has a cyber insurance policy that has never been tested.
But the cyber risk has never been formally quantified, the incident response plan has never been rehearsed, and no one at board level is accountable for the security posture of the organisation.
That gap is precisely what adversaries — criminal, competitive, and state-level — exploit.
The average cost of a cyber breach for a UK SME is now over £19,000, and the reputational consequences frequently exceed the direct financial loss.
For businesses handling sensitive client data, operating in regulated sectors, or processing significant customer transaction volumes, the risk is even more acute.
A fractional CISO from Leadership Services provides board-level accountability for cyber security — not as a technical specialist who manages firewalls, but as a senior leader who translates cyber risk into commercial language, builds the governance framework the board needs to manage it responsibly, and owns the security posture of the business with full executive accountability.

When Should You Hire?

You are facing increasing cyber threats, a recent security incident, or regulatory pressure but lack senior security leadership to respond
You need to achieve a security certification — Cyber Essentials, ISO 27001, SOC 2 — and require an experienced leader to own the programme
Your board is asking questions about cyber risk and you need someone who can answer them authoritatively and drive the right actions
You hold sensitive customer data, operate in a regulated sector, or are subject to supply chain security requirements from enterprise customers
You are preparing for acquisition, investment, or contract tendering where security maturity will be scrutinised during due diligence
Your security spend is growing but lacks strategic direction — you need independent oversight of your security vendors and investments

90-Day Rapid Impact
Every engagement begins with a defined 90-day impact sprint.

DAYS 1-30
Discovery & Quick Wins
Cyber risk assessment: structured evaluation of the current security posture, control gaps, compliance obligations, and the specific threat vectors most relevant to your sector and business model. Board-level cyber risk briefing delivered — translating technical risk into commercial and legal exposure terms the full board can act on.
DAYS 31-60
Build & Execute
Priority controls implemented: the highest-risk gaps addressed with specific technical and process controls, incident response plan developed and tested, and staff awareness programme initiated. Cyber Essentials or ISO 27001 compliance pathway established where required by customer or regulatory obligations.
DAYS 61-90
Deliver & Embed
Cyber governance framework operational: board-level cyber KPIs live, regular security reporting embedded into board governance, and the CISO accountable for the ongoing security posture of the business. Cyber risk is now a known, governed quantity — not an unknown, unmanaged liability. Within 90 days, your board will have a quantified view of cyber risk, a functioning incident response capability, and a fractional CISO who is accountable for the security posture of the business.

What They Deliver

Cybersecurity Strategy & Roadmap
A pragmatic, risk-based cybersecurity strategy aligned to your business context, regulatory obligations, and evolving threat landscape. Covers the security controls, investments, and capabilities required to protect the business — prioritised by actual commercial risk rather than technical completeness or vendor preference.
Risk & Control Assessment
A structured assessment of your current security posture against best-practice frameworks — including Cyber Essentials, ISO 27001, and NIST CSF. Identifies critical gaps, quantifies risk in business terms, and produces a prioritised remediation roadmap the board can understand, own, and act upon.
Security Governance & Compliance
Establishment and ongoing management of security governance: policies, standards, audit schedules, and board-level reporting. Ensures your business meets its compliance obligations — GDPR, sector regulations, and customer contractual requirements — with clear accountability and appropriate documentation maintained at all times.
Incident Response Planning
Development of incident response playbooks, facilitation of tabletop exercises, and coordination of external vendor relationships. Ensures the business is genuinely prepared to respond to a cyber incident quickly and effectively — protecting operations, data, and reputation when a security event occurs.
Identity & Access Management
Senior oversight of identity and access management — MFA rollout, least-privilege access frameworks, privileged access governance, and full identity lifecycle management. Addresses one of the most frequently exploited attack vectors facing UK SMEs in a structured, proportionate, and commercially sensible manner.
Vendor & Supply Chain Security
Assessment and management of security risk across your supplier and technology vendor relationships. Includes security questionnaire frameworks, third-party risk assessments, and contractual security requirements — protecting your business from the increasingly common threat of cyber incidents originating through your supply chain.

Investment

£1,795 – £5,000
per month — no recruitment fees, no long-term contracts
Full-Time Hire
£130,000 – £200,000
per year plus benefits, recruitment fees, and on-costs

All engagements are flexible, with no long-term tie-ins. View full pricing .

Coaching Included for the CEO or MD
Every fractional CISO engagement now includes structured coaching for the person the CISO reports to.

Cyber security leadership only works when the CEO fully engages with risk trade-offs — how much to invest, what residual risk to accept, how to handle an incident when one lands. Every Leadership Services fractional CISO engagement now includes structured monthly coaching for the CEO or MD at no additional cost. The coaching focuses on the risk leadership decisions security programmes force, so the CISO's work translates into genuine organisational resilience.

Explore coaching & mentoring Executive coaching for CEOs & MDs

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a fractional CISO do?
A fractional CISO provides board-level cybersecurity leadership on a part-time basis. They own the security strategy, cyber risk posture, compliance programme, and incident response capability for your business. Unlike a technical security engineer, a fractional CISO operates at the strategic level — translating cyber threats into business risk, managing security vendors, presenting to the board, and making the governance decisions that protect the organisation from financial, reputational, and regulatory harm.

How much does a fractional CISO cost in the UK?
A fractional CISO from Leadership Services ranges from £1,795 to £5,000 per month, depending on scope and the number of days required. This compares to a full-time CISO salary of £130,000 to £200,000 per year in the UK, plus employer on-costs, benefits, and recruitment fees. For most UK SMEs and mid-market businesses, the fractional model provides the board-level security leadership they need to manage cyber risk effectively at a fraction of the permanent hire cost.

Does my business need a CISO or just a managed security service provider?
These are complementary, not interchangeable. A managed security service provider (MSSP) delivers technical security tools and monitoring. A CISO provides the strategic leadership, governance, and commercial judgement to direct those services effectively. Without a CISO, many businesses spend on security technology without a coherent strategy, overpay for the wrong services, and lack the board-level accountability to manage security risk properly. A fractional CISO ensures your security investment is directed intelligently.

Can a fractional CISO help achieve ISO 27001 or Cyber Essentials certification?
Yes. Supporting certification programmes — including Cyber Essentials, Cyber Essentials Plus, and ISO 27001 — is a common engagement type for Leadership Services’ fractional CISOs. They own the certification programme end-to-end: gap assessment, remediation planning, policy development, audit preparation, and coordination with certification bodies. Many clients achieve Cyber Essentials within three months and ISO 27001 within twelve months of engaging a fractional CISO.

How quickly can a fractional CISO get started?
Most engagements begin within one to two weeks of an initial consultation. There is no lengthy recruitment process, no notice period, and no extended onboarding. Leadership Services matches you with a fractional CISO whose sector experience and regulatory background are relevant to your business. They join your leadership team, conduct an initial security assessment, and begin building the risk and governance framework appropriate to your organisation’s size and risk profile.

What sectors do your fractional CISOs specialise in?
Our fractional CISOs have experience across financial services, professional services, healthcare, technology, legal, manufacturing, and not-for-profit sectors. Many SMEs in regulated industries — financial services, healthcare, legal — face particularly acute security and compliance obligations. We match each engagement with a fractional CISO who understands your sector’s regulatory environment, threat landscape, and the security expectations of your enterprise customers and supply chain partners.

Ready to begin?
Tell us about your business and we'll talk through whether Cyber Security Governed at Board Level. Not Hoped For. is the right fit.
Get Started

### Leadership Consulting UK | Consultants Who've Run Firms
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/leadership-consulting/

← All director roles
Leadership Consulting for UK SMEs — By Operators, Not Career Consultants.
Senior advisory to CEOs, MDs, and boards on the strategic, organisational, and personal decisions that define a UK business. Delivered by directors who have run businesses themselves, at rates we publish openly.
Book a Discovery Call See coaching & mentoring

Quick answer
What does leadership consulting cost in the UK?
Leadership Services' leadership consultants are experienced operators, not career consultants, advising CEOs, MDs and boards on strategy, organisation and major decisions. Rates are published openly: £900–£1,500 per day, or £5,000–£15,000 per month on retainer, and discovery calls are free. A consultant from our bench can usually start within one week.

The Problem This Solves

Most leadership consulting is delivered by career consultants — people whose careers have been spent consulting, whose training is in consulting methodology, and whose experience of actually running a business is second-hand.
That model produces frameworks and slides but rarely produces judgement.
For UK SME CEOs and MDs facing consequential decisions — fundraise, restructure, exit, senior hire, category pivot — what you usually need is not another framework.
You need a senior operator who has faced comparable decisions themselves, who can pressure-test your thinking, and who tells you what they honestly think rather than what a slide deck says.
Leadership Services leadership consulting is different in one specific way: every consultant in our network is first an experienced UK operator (a former CEO, MD, or C-suite director) and second a consultant.
Advice comes from lived experience, not methodology.
And because we publish our rates — unlike almost every other leadership consulting provider — you know what the engagement costs before we have even had the first conversation.
Discovery calls are free and take 30 minutes.

When Should You Hire?

You are a UK SME CEO or MD facing a consequential decision (fundraise, exit, restructure, senior hire, category pivot) and want senior external judgement, not a framework
Your board or investor group expects strategic advisory input that goes deeper than your existing team can provide
You have engaged consulting firms before and been left with slides but no real change in how the business operates
You want time-bounded advisory support on a specific commercial challenge — not an ongoing role
You want senior advisory pricing to be published and predictable rather than opaque and negotiated

90-Day Rapid Impact
Every engagement begins with a defined 90-day impact sprint.

DAYS 1-30
Discovery and Scope
A free 30-minute discovery call establishes the specific business challenge, the commercial outcome you want, and the shape of engagement that would deliver it. Within a week we come back with 1–2 shortlisted senior operators from our network, matched to your sector, situation, and personal working style. A chemistry session with the consultant of your choice runs 45 minutes; if it works, we contract for a defined engagement. If not, we introduce another consultant.
DAYS 31-60
Diagnostic and Direction
The consultant establishes the real agenda of the engagement — usually different from the surface agenda in the initial brief. Days 31–60 typically involve deep 1:1 sessions with the CEO/MD, structured stakeholder interviews with the leadership team or board, and a written diagnostic summarising the specific commercial and organisational choices ahead. Deliverable: a working document that becomes the basis for the decisions the engagement is designed to inform.
DAYS 61-90
Decision and Delivery
By day 90 the specific decisions the engagement was designed to inform should have been made, or be genuinely close to a decision. The consultant supports the CEO/MD through the decision itself — not as an approver, but as a sounding-board and pressure-tester. Many engagements conclude here; others extend into a longer advisory arrangement with the same operator.

Our 90-Day Guarantee
If the chemistry session does not produce a consultant you are confident to work with, we introduce you to another operator or refund any fees paid. Genuine trust between consultant and client is a non-negotiable starting condition.

What They Deliver

Strategic Advisory Engagements
Time-bounded engagements focused on a specific commercial decision or transition: fundraise preparation, exit readiness, restructure, category pivot, senior hire specification, board dynamics review. Engagements typically 3–6 months with monthly or fortnightly sessions plus between-session availability. Delivered by an operator who has faced comparable decisions themselves.
CEO & MD Sounding-Board Sessions
Structured 90-minute sessions on a monthly or fortnightly cadence with a senior operator, focused on the current decisions the CEO or MD is working through. Less structured than coaching, more directive than mentoring: the consultant shares their own view of what they would do, but keeps the ownership of the decision with you. Common UK 2026 use case for CEOs who don't yet have a NED or trusted advisor.
Board & Senior Team Advisory
Board-facing advisory: preparing for a specific board discussion, working with the chair on board dynamics, or supporting a new CEO through their first year with an inherited board. Also senior-team-facing work: supporting the CEO through a difficult leadership team dynamic or a senior hire specification. Delivered by consultants who have themselves sat at UK SME board tables.
Sector Deep-Dives
For CEOs or MDs facing a decision in a sector or situation they have not personally worked in before (e.g. first international expansion, first PE process, first acquisition), we match you with a consultant who has done exactly that. The consulting engagement compresses the pattern recognition of years of prior work into a defined 3–6 month engagement.
Business Consultant Engagements for UK SMEs
For UK SMEs looking for a business consultant — someone senior to help think through strategy, growth, operations, or a specific commercial decision — Leadership Services engagements sit between traditional management consulting (expensive, framework-heavy, slide-driven) and freelance business consultants (variable quality, no institutional backing). Our business consultant engagements are delivered by directors who have run UK SMEs themselves: former CEOs, MDs, and functional directors who have made the decisions they are now advising on. Typical engagements are 3-6 months at £5,000-£15,000 per month retainer, or £900-£1,500 per day for shorter-scope work. Discovery calls are free and 30 minutes. If you're looking for a business consultant in the UK and want to work with someone who has genuinely operated a business at your scale — rather than consulted about businesses at that scale — this is the model that fits.
Coaching-Adjacent Delivery
Many leadership consulting engagements naturally blend into executive coaching as the working relationship deepens. Where the engagement is primarily about the leader's own development (rather than a specific commercial decision), our companion coaching and mentoring service is usually the sharper fit. Consultants and coaches in the Leadership Services network can transition an engagement between the two modes without changing operator, so the working relationship remains continuous.
Free Discovery Calls
Every engagement starts with a free 30-minute discovery call to establish the specific business challenge and the shape of engagement that would deliver it. Chemistry sessions with the shortlisted consultant are also free. You commit to nothing until you have met the consultant and are confident in the working relationship.

Leadership consulting vs management consulting vs coaching vs fractional director
Four different modes of external senior support. UK SMEs typically use a combination — the right choice depends on what you actually need.

Mode Primary use Duration Typical UK 2026 cost Leadership consulting Strategic advisory to CEOs/MDs on specific commercial decisions 3–6 months £5,000–£15,000/month Management consulting Project-based delivery of specific frameworks or transformations 3–12 months £800–£2,000/day Executive coaching Structured reflection and leader development 6–12 months £800–£2,400/month Fractional director Ongoing operational leadership at board level 12+ months £1,500–£8,000/month
Leadership consulting sits at the intersection of the other three: more directive than coaching, more strategic than management consulting, less operational than a fractional director. UK 2026 pattern: many CEOs use two or three of these modes concurrently rather than choosing between them.

Investment

Free
30-min discovery call — no obligation, no commitment
Discovery
£900 – £1,500
per day — senior operator, published rates
Day rate
£5,000 – £15,000
per month retainer — 3-6 month engagements typical
Standard engagement
Included
coaching bundled where the engagement crosses into leader development
Bundled with coaching

All engagements are flexible, with no long-term tie-ins. View full pricing .

Coaching Bundled Where the Engagement Crosses Into Leader Development
Every leadership consulting engagement can include structured executive coaching at no additional cost.

Most consulting engagements start with a specific commercial challenge but naturally cross into leader development as the working relationship deepens. Where that happens, Leadership Services adds structured executive coaching to the retainer at no additional fee — the same senior operator who is consulting on the strategic decisions also coaches the CEO or MD on how they are showing up to make them. This blended model is often the highest-return arrangement we offer.

Explore coaching & mentoring Explore executive coaching

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a business consultant do for UK SMEs?
A business consultant for a UK SME provides senior external perspective on the strategic and operational decisions that shape the business — growth strategy, market entry, organisational design, commercial model, exit planning, or specific transitional challenges. The best business consultants for UK SMEs are typically experienced operators — people who have run businesses at similar scale — rather than career consultants who have only advised. At Leadership Services, every business consultant in our network is a former CEO, MD, or senior director who has faced the decisions they are advising on. Engagements typically run 3-6 months at £5,000-£15,000 per month or £900-£1,500 per day, with a free 30-minute discovery call and 45-minute chemistry session before any commitment.

How much does a business consultant cost in the UK in 2026?
UK 2026 business consultant rates vary widely. Freelance business consultants typically charge £500-£900 per day. Senior operator-consultants (like the Leadership Services network) charge £900-£1,500 per day, or £5,000-£15,000 per month on retainer. Management consulting firms (McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Big Four) charge £1,800-£4,000+ per day for equivalent seniority plus significant overhead. Boutique strategy firms sit between at £1,200-£2,500 per day. What you're paying for varies more than the rate implies: operator-consultants bring first-hand experience of running a UK SME, whereas larger firms bring frameworks, research capacity, and analyst support. For most UK SMEs between £5m and £100m turnover, operator-consultants deliver better return on spend.

What's the difference between a business consultant and a management consultant?
In practice the terms overlap significantly, but there is a meaningful distinction. Business consultants typically work with owner-managed SMEs on the whole-business decisions the CEO or MD is facing — growth strategy, commercial priorities, team structure, personal decisions about the business. Management consultants (particularly at Big Four and mid-tier firms) typically work with larger organisations on specific functional or transformational programmes — operating model change, systems selection, cost programmes, M&A integration. The engagement structure is different too: business consulting is usually a retainer or day rate with a single senior consultant; management consulting is usually a project with a team. For UK SMEs the business consulting model tends to fit better because SME CEOs are looking for someone to think alongside them, not a team to run a workstream.

What is leadership consulting?
Leadership consulting is senior advisory to CEOs, MDs, and boards on the strategic, organisational, and personal decisions that define a UK business. It sits between executive coaching (which is focused on the leader's own development) and management consulting (which is focused on delivering specific frameworks or transformations). At Leadership Services we deliver leadership consulting through experienced UK operators — former CEOs, MDs, and C-suite directors — rather than career consultants, because the value of the advisory relationship depends on the consultant having faced comparable decisions themselves.

How is leadership consulting different from management consulting?
Management consulting is typically project-based delivery of a specific outcome (a strategy document, a due diligence report, an operating model design). Leadership consulting is a relationship focused on developing the CEO's or MD's own judgement on the decisions ahead. Management consultants deliver deliverables and move on; leadership consultants stay in relationship while the CEO makes the decisions. Both have their place — sometimes you need both simultaneously on the same challenge.

How is leadership consulting different from executive coaching?
Executive coaching uses structured questioning to help the leader find their own answers; leadership consulting is more directive — the consultant shares their view of what they would do, drawing on their own operator experience, while keeping ownership of the decision with the client. Coaching engagements are typically 6–12 months focused on leader development; consulting engagements are typically 3–6 months focused on a specific commercial challenge. Many Leadership Services engagements blend both modes.

How much does leadership consulting cost in the UK in 2026?
UK 2026 leadership consulting typically ranges £900–£1,500 per day for senior operators, or £5,000–£15,000 per month on a defined retainer engagement. Leadership Services publishes our rates openly across all engagement types. Most engagements run 3–6 months with monthly or fortnightly sessions plus between-session availability. Discovery calls (30 min) and chemistry sessions (45 min) are always free.

Who typically engages leadership consulting?
UK SME CEOs and MDs facing a consequential decision — fundraise, restructure, exit preparation, category pivot, senior hire specification, first international expansion, first PE process. Also boards and chairs supporting a new CEO through their first year, or working through board dynamics. Common client profile: UK business between £5m and £50m turnover, founder-led or PE-backed, where the specific decision at hand is one the internal team cannot fully advise on because they don't have prior experience of it.

How is Leadership Services leadership consulting different from other UK providers?
Two things. First, every consultant in our network is first an experienced UK operator (former CEO, MD, C-suite director) and second a consultant. Most UK leadership consulting is delivered by career consultants who have never run a business themselves. Second, we publish our rates openly — hourly, retainer, and engagement pricing all available on the service page. Almost every other UK leadership consulting provider operates enquiry-only pricing, which damages trust with UK SME buyers who are used to knowing what things cost.

How quickly can a leadership consulting engagement start?
The typical UK 2026 timeline is 2–4 weeks from initial enquiry to first working session. Discovery call within 2–5 working days; shortlist of 1–2 consultants within a week of the discovery call; chemistry sessions within the following week; engagement contracted and first session within 7–14 days after that. Existing Leadership Services fractional director clients can activate leadership consulting alongside their fractional engagement immediately.

Do you offer ongoing advisory or is leadership consulting always time-bounded?
Most leadership consulting engagements are time-bounded (3–6 months focused on a specific decision or transition). Some clients continue with the same consultant on a lighter-touch monthly advisory retainer afterwards — typically once a month for pattern recognition and ongoing pressure-testing rather than active consulting. Others transition into a mentoring relationship, which is our more open-ended long-term advisory mode. The right structure depends on what the client actually needs — we work backwards from that rather than pushing a fixed engagement shape.

Is leadership consulting confidential?
Absolutely. Everything discussed in a leadership consulting session is confidential between consultant and client. Where an engagement is sponsored by the business or an investor, we provide structured progress updates on the agreed engagement outcomes only — never on the specific content of consultant–client conversations. The value of the engagement depends on genuine confidentiality; anything that erodes that erodes the value.

Ready to begin?
Tell us about your business and we'll talk through whether Leadership Consulting for UK SMEs — By Operators, Not Career Consultants. is the right fit.
Get Started

### Fractional Director Services UK
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/services/

Fractional Directors. Eleven Specialisms. One Standard.
Senior executive leadership for UK businesses from 30 to 1,000+ people. Started in five business days. Owned end-to-end.
Get Started Start with an Audit

Every Leadership Services director is a senior practitioner with at least 15 years of executive experience. They join your business as part of the leadership team, take ownership of the outcome, and remain accountable until it is delivered.

Finance & Commercial

Fractional CFO
From £1,795 per month
Financial strategy, controls, investor relations
Read more → Part-Time Finance Director
From £1,795 per month
Monthly close, cashflow, banking, board reporting
Read more → Fractional Commercial Director
From £1,795 per month
Pricing, margin, customer profitability
Read more → Fractional Sales Director
From £1,795 per month
Pipeline, team performance, revenue
Read more →

Technology & Data

Fractional CIO
From £1,795 per month
IT strategy, transformation, governance
Read more → Fractional CTO
From £1,795 per month
Product engineering, architecture, scale
Read more → Fractional CISO
From £1,795 per month
Cyber security, compliance, risk
Read more → Fractional Data & AI Director
From £1,795 per month
Data strategy, analytics, AI adoption
Read more →

Operations & People

Fractional COO
From £1,795 per month
Operations, process, delivery
Read more → Fractional HR Director
From £1,795 per month
People strategy, culture, capability
Read more →

Marketing & Leadership

Fractional CMO
From £1,795 per month
Brand, demand generation, digital
Read more → Fractional Managing Director
From £1,795 per month
Strategic direction, board, leadership
Read more →

Coaching & Mentoring

Executive Coaching & Mentoring
From £150/hr
1:1, team coaching, six-month programmes — by operators
Read more →

Consulting & Advisory

Leadership Consulting
From £900/day
Senior advisory to CEOs, MDs and boards on the strategic decisions that define a business
Read more → IT Consulting Services
From £900/day
Time-bounded IT strategy, transformation, and cybersecurity advisory delivered by former CIOs and IT Directors
Read more →

Not sure which director you need?
Start with a fixed-price audit. A senior director will diagnose the actual problem and recommend the engagement that delivers the greatest commercial impact.
Explore audits
Specialist sector experience

Manufacturing
PE-Backed Businesses
Scale-Ups

Ready to find your director?
Tell us about your business, your challenges, and the outcome you're after — we'll match you with the director who can deliver the greatest commercial impact.
Get Started

### The 10-Day GTM Sprint for Scale-Ups
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/gtm-sprint/

Transformation programme · fixed scope
The 10-Day GTM Sprint

Built for scale-ups. You have product-market fit and a real order book — but
growth has stalled and nobody can say exactly why. We start Monday and you see
the first output by Friday.

Talk to us about a sprint See what you get

Built for
B2B technology and SaaS scale-ups with proven product-market fit, typically between £2m and £30m revenue and growing. Not a startup service — you need customers, revenue and a sales motion already in place.

Duration
10 working days

Team
Senior GTM operators who have run go-to-market for scale-ups at your stage.

Investment
On application

The problem this solves

Most stalled growth in a B2B scale-up is not a product problem or an effort
problem. It is that the go-to-market motion was built for an earlier, smaller
version of the business and nobody has redesigned it since. What got a scale-up
to its first few million in revenue is rarely what takes it to the next stage. The message that won your first
thirty customers does not land on an enterprise buyer. The target list is
whoever answered the phone. The deck has been edited by six people and now says
nothing. The sales team is working hard against material that does not help them.

The usual options are both poor. A permanent CMO takes three to four months to
hire and another three to have an opinion worth acting on. An agency takes a
retainer and produces activity. Neither gives you a working motion this quarter.

A sprint is deliberately the opposite shape: fixed scope, fixed duration, senior
people only, and the output is material your team uses rather than
recommendations for someone else to implement.

Where it sits

The sprint fills the gap between diagnosis and long-term leadership. You can
enter at any point.

Diagnose
Growth & Revenue Audit

Two to three weeks, £4,500. Tells you where the commercial problem is
and what it is costing you. Ends in a report and a recommendation.

About the audit
Fix
The 10-Day GTM Sprint

Ten working days. Builds the motion: ranked accounts, positioning, narrative,
deck, playbooks and tooling. Ends in assets your team uses.

You are here
Run
Fractional CMO or Commercial Director

Six to twelve months, one to four days a month. Holds the motion, builds the
team, and owns the number alongside you as the scale-up grows.

About fractional CMOs

What you get

Named deliverables, handed over and owned by you. Not strategy theatre.

Market data set and ICP tiering
A built market data set, then segmentation and ideal customer profile tiering down to named account level. Not a persona document — a ranked list your sales team can work through on Monday.

Persona mapping and messaging
Who you are selling to, what they care about, and the language that lands. Mapped per persona and per tier, so the message changes appropriately between a technical buyer and a finance signatory.

Pitch deck and sales narrative
A standard pitch deck built on the agreed narrative, ready for the team to use rather than a template to finish off.

GTM playbook and partner playbook
How the motion runs, written down: who does what, in what order, with what assets. Plus a separate partner playbook where channel or reseller leverage is part of the route to market.

Competitive intelligence agent
An interactive competitive intel tool, not a static battle card PDF that is out of date within a quarter. Your team queries it as deals come up.

Interactive sales tools
Working tools for the sales team, with full technical documentation handed over so you own and can extend them after the sprint ends.

Case studies and enablement
Written case studies and the enablement material to use them, including compliance messaging where you sell into a regulated buyer.

Scope is agreed before the sprint starts. A sprint tackles one problem
properly rather than all of them partially.

How the ten days run

DAYS 1–2
Immersion and market build. The team goes deep on your product, current pipeline, win and loss patterns, and existing material. The market data set is built in parallel. By the end of day two the working hypothesis on where growth is actually blocked is agreed with you — not presented to you in week six.

DAYS 3–5
Segmentation, ICP tiering and messaging. Accounts are ranked into tiers, personas mapped, and the core narrative written and tested against your own sales conversations. First visible output lands with you by Friday of week one.

DAYS 6–8
Asset build. Pitch deck, playbooks, competitive intelligence tooling and enablement material are produced against the agreed narrative. You review in progress rather than at the end, so nothing is a surprise.

DAYS 9–10
Handover and enablement. The team is trained on the material, the tooling is documented, and you leave with a working motion and a named owner for each asset. Where a second sprint is warranted, the scope for it is agreed here rather than assumed.

When businesses call us

A sprint is usually triggered by something specific rather than a planning cycle.

Your CMO or commercial lead has just left and the pipeline is exposed.
You have product-market fit but scale-up growth has flattened and nobody can say precisely why.
The board or your investors are pushing for enterprise traction on a timeline that a permanent hire cannot meet.
You are entering a new market or geography and the existing message does not translate.
A funding round or sale process is coming and the commercial story needs to hold up to diligence.
Sales and marketing are each working hard and blaming each other.

Who delivers it

Sprints are run by senior commercial operators from the Leadership Services
network — people who have held CMO and commercial director roles in B2B
technology businesses, including a FTSE 100 software company and
private-equity-backed SaaS, and who have run go-to-market for scale-ups at the
stage you are at now. Between them they have taken products into the UK, US
and European markets and built the enablement that made those launches work.

There is no junior delivery layer. The people who scope your sprint are the
people who do the work, which is the only way ten days is realistic.

Investment

Price on application

A sprint is a fixed-scope engagement staffed by senior operators for ten full
working days, so it sits above the £4,500 Growth & Revenue Audit. We
price each sprint against the problem you need solved — tell us the
situation and we will give you a firm figure, not a range.

Frequently asked questions

Is ten days really enough to change anything?
Ten days is enough to produce the assets and the decisions — the ranked target list, the narrative, the deck, the playbooks and the tooling. It is not enough to deliver a quarter of pipeline. The sprint gets you a working motion and a trained team; the results follow from running it. Where a business needs more, we scope a second sprint rather than stretching the first.

Is this suitable for a startup?
Usually not. A sprint rebuilds a go-to-market motion that already exists — it assumes you have paying customers, a sales process and enough market feedback to work from. Pre-revenue startups still searching for product-market fit need discovery and experimentation, which is a different job. Scale-ups past that point are exactly who this is for.

How is this different from a Growth & Revenue Audit?
The audit diagnoses. It tells you where the commercial problem sits and what it is costing you, and it ends in a report and a recommendation. The sprint builds. It ends in assets your team uses. Most businesses are better off doing the audit first if they are not sure what is wrong, and going straight to a sprint if they already know.

What happens when the ten days are up?
You own everything produced, including the documentation for any tooling. Some clients run it themselves from there. Others move onto a fractional CMO or Commercial Director to hold the motion for the next six to twelve months. A few book a second sprint for a different problem. None of those is assumed in the price.

Who actually does the work?
Senior operators only — people who have held CMO and commercial director roles in B2B technology businesses, including FTSE 100 and private-equity-backed SaaS. There is no delivery layer of junior staff behind them. That is why the engagement is ten days rather than ten weeks.

What do you need from us?
Access and decisions. Roughly two to three hours of founder or commercial lead time across the ten days, access to your CRM and existing material, and someone empowered to make a call when a choice needs making. Sprints slow down when decisions have to wait for a monthly meeting.

Is this only for technology scale-ups?
It is built for B2B technology and SaaS scale-ups that already have product-market fit. The method travels to other B2B scale-ups with a considered sales motion, and we have run it in industrial and professional services settings. We will say so if we think your situation is a poor fit rather than take the work.

Tell us where growth is stuck

A twenty-minute conversation is enough for us to say whether a sprint is the
right shape for your scale-up — or whether an audit or a fractional
director would serve you better. We will tell you if it is not a fit.

Start the conversation Book a 45-minute call

### Sector Transformation Programmes UK
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/transformation-programmes/

Sector Transformation Programmes
Named, packaged programmes with defined outcomes — built around the challenges your sector and stage demand.
Get Started View Pricing

Transformation as a Product

Sector Programmes are Leadership Services’ highest-value offering: fixed-scope, outcome-defined transformation programmes delivered by a coordinated team of fractional directors — designed from the ground up around the specific challenges of a business type, not the generic requirements of a functional role. Unlike individual fractional director engagements, Sector Programmes have a defined beginning, a clear arc, and a measurable end state. They are built around the real-world transformation journeys that businesses like yours need to complete — raising growth capital, accelerating towards exit, lifting digital capability, building the people and culture foundations for sustained performance, or rebuilding a stalled commercial engine. Each programme is named, costed, and structured because the challenge it addresses has a known shape and a proven solution path. Sector Programmes are not consulting projects. They are delivered by fractional directors who own the outcomes, sit at the leadership table, and are accountable for results — not recommendations.

Our Transformation Programmes
Six named, packaged programmes — built around the transformation journey your business needs.

The 10-Day GTM Sprint
10 working days · Price on application
For B2B technology scale-ups with product-market fit where growth has stalled and the go-to-market motion needs rebuilding fast.
Read more → Scale Ready
6–12 months · £5,500–£9,500/month
For businesses growing fast and building the infrastructure to keep pace.
Read more → Exit Accelerator
6–18 months · £6,000–£10,500/month
For owner-managed businesses preparing for a trade sale, MBO, or PE investment in the next 12–24 months.
Read more → Digital Lift
4–9 months · £4,500–£8,000/month
For businesses that know digital transformation is essential but have never had the senior technology leadership to make it real.
Read more → People First
4–9 months · £4,000–£7,500/month
For high-growth businesses where culture, attrition, and management capability are limiting commercial performance.
Read more → Revenue Engine
4–8 months · £4,500–£7,500/month
For B2B businesses where growth has stalled and the commercial engine needs a rebuild.
Read more →

Need cross-functional transformation with two or more directors working as a team?
The Transformation Directorate deploys a coordinated multi-director team with a single point of accountability — for complex, multi-workstream change programmes.
Explore the Transformation Directorate
Frequently Asked Questions

What are Leadership Services sector programmes?
Sector programmes are pre-packaged transformation engagements that combine multiple fractional directors into a coordinated team with a defined scope, milestone plan, and timeline. Each programme targets a specific business situation: Scale Ready (growth), Exit Accelerator (sale or refinancing), Digital Lift (technology and data), People First (organisation and culture), and Revenue Engine (commercial growth). Each programme runs between six and eighteen months.

How do sector programmes differ from individual fractional directors?
An individual fractional director is the right choice when the gap is in one function — Finance, Technology, Marketing, and so on. Sector programmes are the right choice when meaningful change is required across multiple functions simultaneously. The programme model includes a Transformation Lead who coordinates the directors, owns dependencies, and reports a single milestone plan to the board, removing the burden of cross-functional coordination from the in-house team.

Which sector programme should I choose?
Choose Scale Ready if the business is scaling and core systems, processes, or governance are creaking. Choose Exit Accelerator if the business is preparing for sale, refinancing, or major investment in the next eighteen to twenty-four months. Choose Digital Lift if technology and data are constraining commercial outcomes. Choose People First if culture, capability, or organisational design are the binding constraint. Choose Revenue Engine if commercial growth has stalled.

What does a sector programme cost?
Sector programmes are typically £15,000 to £40,000 per month depending on the number of directors deployed, the scope of the transformation, and the duration of the engagement. Each programme includes the Transformation Lead, the named functional directors, structured board reporting, and a clear milestone plan. Pricing is fixed monthly, with no day-rate variability, so the business can plan with certainty.

How long does a sector programme take?
Most sector programmes run between six and eighteen months. Scale Ready and Revenue Engine programmes typically run six to twelve months. Exit Accelerator and Digital Lift engagements typically run twelve to eighteen months. People First engagements vary based on the scale of organisational change required. Every programme is reviewed at three- and six-month milestones with a clear option to extend, scale, or close out.

Can sector programmes be customised?
Yes. Each programme has a defined core scope and a default team composition, but every engagement is tailored to the client's specific business situation, sector, and existing in-house capabilities. Where a programme needs to extend significantly beyond its standard scope, we recommend the bespoke Transformation Directorate model instead, which is designed for transformations that do not fit a packaged programme.

Which programme fits your business?

Book a 15-minute discovery call. We'll match you to the right programme — or recommend an audit first.

Get Started

### Transformation Directorate | Fractional C-Suite
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/transformation-directorate/

← All programmes
The Transformation Directorate
Multi-director team. Single managed programme. Coordinated transformation.
Get Started

Why Multi-Director Programmes?
Most fractional engagements fail not because the director isn't capable, but because real transformation needs more than one function moving at once.

Single directors hit a functional ceiling
A single fractional director, however capable, can only drive transformation within their own functional domain. A fractional CFO can fix the financial infrastructure, but cannot simultaneously restructure the commercial operation, lead the technology transformation, and redesign the operational architecture.

Real change is cross-functional
Most significant business challenges are cross-functional — they require financial, commercial, operational, and technology change happening in parallel, with the three or four workstreams aligned around a single, coherent transformation agenda.

Hiring three separately creates a coordination problem
The conventional alternative is to engage multiple fractional directors independently. But this creates a coordination problem that is often worse than the original challenge: three directors with three separate briefs, three billing relationships, and no mechanism for ensuring their work is aligned rather than conflicting.

Conflicts that derail transformation
The CFO is building a financial model based on operational assumptions the COO has already changed. The Sales Director is promising a product capability the CTO has deprioritised. The HR Director is designing a structure the COO is about to restructure.

Our answer: 2–4 directors operating as one team
The Transformation Directorate solves this by deploying two to four fractional directors as a single, managed programme — with joint planning, shared client intelligence, coordinated delivery, and a single point of accountability for the overall transformation. This is not three fractional directors who happen to work in the same business. It is a leadership team, operating as a team, delivering a transformation that none of them could have achieved individually.

How It Works

Composition

2–4 directors, one team
2–4 fractional directors from Leadership Services' network, selected for functional complementarity and sector experience. Each director is matched to the specific demands of their functional workstream, and the team as a whole is matched to the business's growth stage, sector, and transformation objectives.
Coordination

Managed as a programme
The programme is managed through a shared planning framework, monthly joint director sessions, and a single programme dashboard that gives the CEO and board visibility of all workstreams simultaneously. Leadership Services provides programme coordination — ensuring the directors are aligned, that dependencies between workstreams are actively managed, and that the overall transformation is advancing against agreed milestones.
Pricing

Single bundled fee
£4,500–£12,000 per month depending on director count, engagement intensity, and programme duration. All engagements priced as a single programme — not as three separate retainers. Programme durations of 3, 6, or 12 months, with the option to extend. No long-term contracts beyond the agreed programme term.

Typical configurations
Three of the most commonly deployed Transformation Directorate configurations — each a proven response to a specific business challenge.

Sales + Marketing + Operations
B2B stalled growth

Commercial engine not generating consistent pipeline, and operational infrastructure not keeping pace with commercial ambition.
Directors Fractional Sales Director + Fractional CMO + Fractional COO
Duration 6–12 months
Investment £6,500–£9,000/month
CFO + Commercial + Operations
Pre-exit preparation

The business needs to demonstrate investor-grade financials, a scalable commercial operation, and operational efficiency simultaneously to maximise valuation.
Directors Fractional CFO + Fractional Commercial Director + Fractional COO
Duration 9–18 months
Investment £7,500–£11,000/month
CTO + CIO + CISO
Full technology transformation

A business that needs to overhaul its technology strategy, information systems, and cybersecurity posture simultaneously, without losing operational continuity.
Directors Fractional CTO + Fractional CIO + Fractional CISO
Duration 6–12 months
Investment £6,500–£10,000/month

Why the Directorate beats three separate retainers

Three separate fractional directors
£6,000–£12,000/month in total retainer fees
Coordination overhead falls on the CEO
Three separate briefs and relationships to manage
Three independent programmes with conflicts to resolve
The Transformation Directorate
Programme price typically 10–20% below equivalent retainer cost
Single point of accountability, single dashboard
Workstreams aligned through joint planning and shared intelligence
Transformation delivers cross-functional outcomes that three independent engagements never achieve

The CEO manages one programme, not three directors. The board monitors one dashboard, not three separate reporting formats. And the transformation delivers outcomes that the functional sum of three independent engagements never achieves — because the value of cross-functional transformation lies precisely in the integration, not just the component parts.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Transformation Directorate?
The Transformation Directorate is Leadership Services' tier-three engagement where multiple fractional directors are deployed as a coordinated team to lead a significant business transformation — typically across two or more functions such as Finance, Technology, Operations, and Commercial. A Transformation Lead chairs the directorate, sets cadence, manages dependencies, and reports progress directly to the board or shareholders.

When is the Transformation Directorate the right engagement?
It is the right model when a business has identified that meaningful change is needed across more than one function, and the in-house leadership team does not have the time, capacity, or specific expertise to lead the transformation while running the day-to-day business. It is also commonly used during the first hundred days post-acquisition, in the eighteen months leading to exit, or when responding to a structural shift in the market.

How is the Transformation Directorate structured commercially?
The directorate is structured as a single monthly retainer covering all participating directors and the Transformation Lead, with a defined scope, milestone plan, and steering cadence. Typical engagements run for six to eighteen months and combine three to five fractional directors. The structure is materially cheaper than a permanent executive team of equivalent calibre and allows the business to ramp up or down as the transformation progresses.

Who chairs the Transformation Directorate?
Every directorate is chaired by a Transformation Lead — typically a former CEO, COO, or MD with deep cross-functional experience and a track record of delivering transformations end-to-end. The Lead sets the cadence, manages dependencies between functional directors, escalates issues, and provides a single point of accountability to the board or shareholders. The Lead is the role most often missing from in-house transformations that fail to deliver.

How does the Transformation Directorate differ from a management consultancy engagement?
The Transformation Directorate places experienced operators inside the business with named functional accountabilities, not advisors writing reports. Each director is a fractional executive — they own outcomes, hold their teams accountable, attend the board, and stay until the work is done. There are no junior consultants billing rate cards, no PowerPoint hand-offs, and no recommendations that are never implemented.

What is the difference between the Transformation Directorate and Sector Programmes?
Sector Programmes are pre-packaged transformation engagements tailored to specific business situations — Scale Ready, Exit Accelerator, Digital Lift, People First, and Revenue Engine — with defined scope and milestones. The Transformation Directorate is the bespoke equivalent, designed for transformations that do not fit neatly into one of the packaged programmes and require a custom combination of directors and milestones.

Ready to begin?

Book a discovery call to discuss whether The Transformation Directorate is right for your business.

Get Started

### Scale Ready Programme | Fractional Leadership
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/programme-scale-ready/

← All programmes
Scale Ready
Build the financial, commercial, and operational foundations your business needs to scale to the next level — without breaking what is already working.
Get Started

For
High-growth businesses — typically VC or PE-backed, or ambitious owner-managed — between £5m and £25m revenue or 50–250 employees, where commercial growth is outpacing operational infrastructure.

Team
Fractional CFO + Fractional CMO + Fractional COO

Duration
6–12 months

Investment
£5,500–£9,500/month

The Problem This Solves

High-growth businesses consistently face the same structural challenge: the business grows commercially faster than its infrastructure can follow.
Financial controls designed for a ten-person team fail at fifty.
Marketing spend increases without the commercial rigour to ensure it is generating pipeline rather than noise.
Operational processes that worked at £2m ARR create chaos at £12m.
The founding team is brilliant at the things that got the business here — but the things required to take it to the next level require a different kind of leadership.
The result is a growing gap between commercial ambition and operational reality: forecasts that are wrong, investors who are asking uncomfortable questions, a management team that is working harder than ever but achieving less, and a CEO who is spending most of their time managing functional fires rather than leading the business.
Scale Ready closes that gap in six to twelve months — building the financial infrastructure, commercial engine, and operational architecture that allows the business to scale with confidence.

What Happens

MONTH 1-2
Joint diagnostic: all three directors conduct a structured assessment of the financial, commercial, and operational landscape simultaneously — identifying the highest-priority gaps in each function and agreeing a coordinated programme plan. Quick wins implemented in each workstream: management accounts upgraded, pipeline reporting established, and the top two operational bottlenecks addressed.
MONTH 3-6
Foundation building: the financial infrastructure is rebuilt to investor-grade standard, the commercial demand engine is operational and generating qualified pipeline, and the operational architecture — processes, systems, and team design — is rebuilt for scale. Directors meeting monthly to align priorities and ensure workstream coherence.
MONTH 7-12
Scale preparation: the business is now operating on solid financial, commercial, and operational foundations. The CFO is leading investor relations and preparing fundraising materials. The CMO is running a demand engine that consistently generates qualified pipeline. The COO has built the operational infrastructure to support the next growth phase. Exit from programme with all three workstreams handed to permanent hires or ongoing fractional retainers.

Outcomes Delivered

Investor-grade financial infrastructure — management accounts, financial model, and board reporting that meet institutional investor expectations
A functioning commercial demand engine that generates consistent, qualified pipeline and reduces customer acquisition cost
Operational processes and team structures designed for the business’s next growth stage — not its last one
CFO-quality investor relations capability — with a fractional CFO who can present to investors, manage the data room, and lead the fundraising narrative
Measurable improvement in all three functional areas within the first 90 days of the programme
A clear plan for transitioning the fractional leadership to permanent hires or ongoing retainers — so the business retains what was built

Investment

Scale Ready is priced as a single programme from £5,500 to £9,500 per month depending on director count and engagement intensity — significantly below the combined cost of three separate fractional retainers, and a fraction of the £600,000+ annual cost of three full-time C-suite hires. There are no long-term contracts beyond the agreed programme term, and the programme can be scaled or adjusted as business needs evolve.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Scale Ready programme?
Scale Ready is a packaged six- to twelve-month engagement for scale-ups crossing key revenue or headcount thresholds — typically £5 million to £25 million revenue, or fifty to two hundred and fifty employees. It combines fractional finance, operations, and people leadership delivered as a coordinated team, focused on the governance, systems, and management capability needed to support the next stage of growth without breaking the business.

Who is Scale Ready designed for?
It is for ambitious founder-led or owner-managed businesses that have proved the model and now need to scale operations, financial discipline, and management capability ahead of the next growth chapter. Typical triggers include an upcoming funding round, a step-change in customer demand, the impending exit of the founder or first executive, or the realisation that the current processes will not survive a doubling of headcount.

What does the Scale Ready programme cover?
Scale Ready covers financial controls and management reporting, operational scalability, governance and board cadence, organisational design, key-hire planning and succession, systems and process maturity, and management capability development. The programme also includes a Transformation Lead who chairs the engagement, manages dependencies, and reports progress to the founders or board.

How is the Scale Ready programme delivered?
A Transformation Lead leads the programme, supported by a fractional CFO, a fractional COO, and a fractional HR Director. Each director works between one and three days per week depending on the scope. The team operates as the senior leadership group during the engagement, attending board meetings and management meetings, and is fully accountable for delivering the agreed milestones.

How much does the Scale Ready programme cost?
Scale Ready is typically £15,000 to £25,000 per month depending on the number of director days required and the scope of the engagement. The fee covers the Transformation Lead, all participating fractional directors, monthly reporting, and milestone reviews. Compared with hiring an equivalent in-house executive team, Scale Ready typically costs between thirty and fifty per cent of the equivalent fully-loaded salaries.

How long does the Scale Ready programme run?
Most Scale Ready engagements run between six and twelve months, depending on the maturity of the business at the start of the engagement and the pace of underlying growth. The programme is reviewed at three- and six-month milestones with a clear option to extend, scale up, scale down, or transition to a smaller ongoing fractional engagement.

Ready to begin?

Book a discovery call to discuss whether Scale Ready is right for your business.

Get Started

### Revenue Engine | B2B Commercial Growth
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/programme-revenue-engine/

← All programmes
Revenue Engine
Rebuild your commercial engine — and deliver predictable, growing revenue that the board can plan around.
Get Started

For
B2B businesses with revenues between £2m and £30m where revenue has plateaued, pipeline visibility is poor, or sales and marketing are not aligned.

Team
Fractional Sales Director + Fractional CMO

Duration
4–8 months

Investment
£4,500–£7,500/month

The Problem This Solves

Revenue plateaus in B2B businesses almost always have the same structural cause: the commercial engine has not been redesigned for the next growth phase.
The sales team that worked brilliantly at £3m revenue does not have the process discipline, market coverage, or account management rigour to grow to £10m.
The marketing approach that generated initial customers does not scale to fill a pipeline of the size the next growth stage requires.
And because sales and marketing are not aligned — different definitions of a qualified lead, different views on what the ideal customer looks like, different ideas about what the commercial priority is — both functions are working hard but not working together.
Revenue Engine is a joint Sales Director and CMO programme that rebuilds the commercial engine from first principles — aligning sales and marketing around a shared strategy, deploying a disciplined pipeline management process, and building the demand generation capability that delivers consistent, qualified leads into a well-run sales process.

What Happens

MONTH 1-2
Commercial audit and alignment: the fractional Sales Director and CMO jointly audit the current pipeline, marketing performance, sales process, and go-to-market strategy. A shared Ideal Customer Profile is agreed, pipeline metrics are established, and the commercial strategy is aligned between the two functions for the first time. Quick wins identified and implemented: the highest-converting sales activities intensified, the lowest-performing marketing channels paused.
MONTH 3-6
Revenue engine operational: pipeline reporting in place and accurate, demand generation programme live and generating qualified leads into the sales process, sales team working to a shared qualification framework, and CRM being used as a revenue management tool. Forecast accuracy improving and the board receiving reliable revenue visibility for the first time.
MONTH 7–8
Sustainable growth established: the commercial engine is self-sustaining — consistent demand generation, disciplined pipeline management, and a sales team that performs to a standard the business can rely on. Exit from programme with a 12-month commercial plan handed to the board and the commercial team performing independently.

Outcomes Delivered

Predictable, growing pipeline — with a reliable forward-looking view of revenue that the CEO and board can plan around
Aligned sales and marketing — a shared ICP, shared pipeline definition, and shared accountability for revenue that eliminates the commercial dysfunction of misaligned functions
Measurably improved sales conversion rates at every stage of the pipeline
Demand generation programme generating consistent, qualified inbound leads — reducing dependence on outbound prospecting and referrals
CRM and sales technology deployed as revenue management tools — not administrative burdens
A commercial team and marketing function that can sustain revenue growth independently of continued fractional support

Investment

Revenue Engine is priced from £4,500 to £7,500 per month for the two-director programme over four to eight months — significantly below the cost of a single permanent Sales Director or Marketing Director hire, and a fraction of the combined cost of two senior commercial hires. The return on investment is direct: a business that increases revenue by £1m against a programme cost of £50,000 achieves a 20x return in year one alone.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Revenue Engine programme?
Revenue Engine is a packaged six- to twelve-month engagement for UK businesses where commercial growth has stalled and the marketing and sales engine needs to be rebuilt. It combines a fractional CMO, a fractional Sales or Commercial Director, and supporting analytical and operational input to professionalise demand generation, sales process, pricing, and retention — tied to specific revenue, margin, and pipeline outcomes.

Who is Revenue Engine designed for?
It is designed for ambitious SMEs and scale-ups between £5 million and £100 million revenue where growth has flatlined, sales cycles are lengthening, win rates are falling, or marketing investment is producing diminishing returns. It is also commonly used by PE-backed businesses where the value-creation plan depends on a step-change in commercial performance and the in-house leadership team does not have the bandwidth to drive it.

What does Revenue Engine cover?
Revenue Engine covers ideal customer profile, market positioning, pricing strategy, channel mix, demand generation, sales process and pipeline discipline, conversion economics, customer retention, key account management, agency and channel partner management, and the commercial KPIs the board sees. The programme is heavily outcome-oriented — each work-stream is tied to a specific commercial metric the business wants to move.

How is Revenue Engine delivered?
A Transformation Lead with strong commercial background chairs the programme, supported by a fractional CMO and a fractional Sales or Commercial Director. The fractional team acts as the senior commercial leadership during the engagement, attends board and revenue meetings, and holds the in-house marketing and sales functions accountable for the agreed milestones.

How much does the Revenue Engine programme cost?
Revenue Engine is typically £15,000 to £25,000 per month depending on the size of the business, the maturity of the existing commercial function, and the scope of the engagement. The fee covers the Transformation Lead and the participating fractional directors. Most clients view the cost as a fraction of the commercial uplift the engagement delivers in the year following completion.

What is the difference between Revenue Engine and a fractional CMO?
A fractional CMO is the right choice when marketing strategy and execution is the primary issue. Revenue Engine is the right choice when both marketing and sales need to be rebuilt in tandem, with one accountable leadership team driving them together. Revenue Engine also includes the Transformation Lead, formal milestone reporting, and explicit cross-functional accountability — a heavier engagement model than a single fractional director.

Ready to begin?

Book a discovery call to discuss whether Revenue Engine is right for your business.

Get Started

### People First Programme | HR & Culture Lift
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/programme-people-first/

← All programmes
People First
Build the culture, management capability, and people infrastructure that retains your best people and supports commercial performance.
Get Started

For
High-growth businesses and businesses in transition — typically between 50 and 500 employees — where culture, attrition, or management capability are limiting commercial performance.

Team
Fractional HR Director + Fractional COO

Duration
4–9 months

Investment
£4,000–£7,500/month

The Problem This Solves

People challenges are among the most commercially consequential and most consistently undermanaged in growing businesses.
High attrition taxes every commercial relationship — customers notice staff turnover, delivery quality deteriorates, and the cost of replacement recruitment consumes the margin that commercial performance generates.
Poor management capability creates the attrition: talented people do not leave companies, they leave managers.
And culture challenges — whether that is misalignment of values after a merger, the toxic residue of poor leadership, or the absence of any deliberate culture management — compound over time until they become the most significant brake on growth the business has.
The People First programme addresses these challenges from two directions simultaneously: the HR Director builds the people strategy, culture interventions, and talent infrastructure the business needs, while the COO ensures the operational structures, team designs, and management processes are fit for the next stage of growth.
Together, they deliver the organisational health that commercial performance requires.

What Happens

MONTH 1-2
People and culture audit: the HR Director conducts a structured assessment of attrition drivers, engagement indicators, management capability, HR infrastructure, and employment risk. The COO assesses the organisational structures, role design, and management cadences that are contributing to people challenges. Joint programme plan agreed with the board — prioritising the interventions with the greatest commercial impact.
MONTH 3-6
Priority interventions live: retention programme designed and implemented for the roles with the highest commercial impact, management development programme underway, organisational design improvements implemented, and HR infrastructure upgraded. People KPI framework established and reporting to the board monthly.
MONTH 7–9
Culture and capability embedded: management capability measurably improved, attrition trending down, the organisational design supporting rather than constraining commercial performance. Culture development programme underway with clear, measurable indicators. Exit from programme with a 12-month people plan agreed and handed to the board.

Outcomes Delivered

Measurable reduction in staff attrition — typically 30–50% improvement within twelve months of programme start
Improved management capability across the senior leadership team and line managers — evidenced by structured assessment before and after
An organisational structure designed for the business’s next growth stage — not its last one
A people strategy and 12-month HR plan that the board has confidence in and can execute
Employment risk reduction — contracts, policies, and HR processes that are legally sound and operationally appropriate
A culture that is actively managed, visibly improving, and aligned with commercial objectives

Investment

People First is priced from £4,000 to £7,500 per month for the two-director programme over four to nine months. The return on investment is typically straightforward to calculate: at a mid-market salary of £45,000, a 10-person reduction in annual attrition saves approximately £180,000 in direct replacement costs — representing a full programme cost recovery in year one, and ongoing savings thereafter.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the People First programme?
People First is a packaged six- to twelve-month engagement for businesses where culture, capability, or organisational design has become the binding constraint on growth. It combines a fractional HR Director with operations and commercial leadership to redesign the organisation, professionalise the people function, address performance and culture issues directly, and build the leadership bench needed for the next stage of the business.

Who is People First designed for?
It is designed for businesses that have outgrown their original people setup — typically when headcount has crossed fifty, a hundred, or two hundred and fifty employees, when the founders or original leadership team can no longer hold culture and capability together personally, or when a recent change in ownership or strategy requires a meaningful refresh of the organisation. It is also valuable after a period of high attrition or in the wake of underperformance.

What does People First cover?
People First covers organisational design and structure, leadership team composition, performance management, executive and key-hire recruitment, succession planning, culture and engagement, employer brand and EVP, learning and development, reward and recognition, and HR systems and processes. The programme also tackles the difficult specific conversations — underperformance, restructuring, redundancy, and change communication — that businesses commonly avoid.

How is People First delivered?
A Transformation Lead with strong operational HR background leads the programme, supported by a fractional HR Director and additional functional leads as required. The fractional team acts as the senior people function during the engagement, attending leadership and board meetings, leading specific change initiatives directly, and coaching the in-house team toward owning the new operating model.

How much does the People First programme cost?
People First is typically £12,000 to £25,000 per month depending on the scale of organisational change required, the size of the business, and the duration of the engagement. The fee covers the Transformation Lead, the fractional HR Director, and any specialist input — executive search support, employment law, change communications — needed to deliver the agreed scope.

Can People First handle redundancies and restructuring?
Yes. Where the engagement involves restructuring or redundancy, the fractional team leads the process directly — designing the new organisation, planning the consultation, briefing line managers, drafting communications, supporting individual conversations, and managing the legal and regulatory framework. The team has run multiple restructures across sectors and is comfortable with the difficult conversations that founders and existing leaders typically prefer to avoid.

Ready to begin?

Book a discovery call to discuss whether People First is right for your business.

Get Started

### Exit Accelerator | Sale & Refinance Readiness
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/programme-exit-accelerator/

← All programmes
Exit Accelerator
Maximise the value of the business you have built — and arrive at the sale table investor-ready, not reactive.
Get Started

For
Owner-managers, boards, and PE sponsors of UK businesses with turnover of £3m–£75m planning a trade sale, MBO, or PE investment within the next 12–24 months.

Team
Fractional CFO + Fractional Commercial Director + Fractional COO

Duration
6–18 months

Investment
£6,000–£10,500/month

The Problem This Solves

Most business owners underestimate the amount of preparation required to achieve maximum value from a sale or investment transaction.
They engage an adviser, begin the process, and discover in due diligence the things they should have addressed twelve months earlier: financial controls that do not meet investor standards, a commercial dependency on one or two key customers, operational processes that cannot demonstrate scalability, or an EBITDA figure that looks different to an acquirer than it does to the management team.
These discoveries do not kill deals — but they damage valuation, create retrades at the eleventh hour, and hand negotiating leverage to the buyer at exactly the moment the seller can least afford to lose it.
The Exit Accelerator is a structured, multi-function programme designed to get the business into the best possible commercial, financial, and operational shape before the sale process begins — so that due diligence confirms the valuation rather than challenging it.

What Happens

MONTH 1-2
Exit readiness assessment: the fractional CFO, Commercial Director, and COO conduct a joint assessment of the business’s current exit readiness across all three functional domains — identifying the gaps a buyer’s due diligence team will find, the EBITDA adjustments that require preparation, and the commercial and operational improvements that will most directly improve valuation. A prioritised programme plan is agreed with the board.
MONTH 3–9
Value creation and remediation: financial controls upgraded to investor-grade standard, EBITDA quality analysis completed and evidenced, customer concentration reduced through active commercial development, operational scalability demonstrated through documented processes and systems. Management accounts and financial model rebuilt to support the vendor due diligence pack.
MONTH 10–18
Final preparation and process readiness: vendor due diligence pack completed, information room prepared, financial narrative refined, key personnel retention arrangements confirmed. The business enters the sale process with all three directors positioned to support the transaction — with the CFO as primary financial interface for buyers and advisers.

Outcomes Delivered

Institutional-grade financial infrastructure that survives due diligence scrutiny without retrades or valuation challenges
Reduced customer concentration — with commercial evidence of revenue diversification that supports a stronger valuation multiple
Documented operational processes and scalable infrastructure that demonstrate the business can grow under new ownership
A completed vendor due diligence pack that eliminates surprises and accelerates the buyer’s own due diligence timeline
A financial model and EBITDA narrative that the management team and advisers can defend confidently throughout the transaction process
A senior leadership team presence in the transaction process — with fractional directors who can present, answer questions, and hold their own alongside any buyer’s advisory team

Investment

Exit Accelerator is priced from £6,000 to £10,500 per month for the full three-director programme — delivered over 6 to 18 months depending on the business’s starting position and the timeline to sale. The investment is typically recovered many times over in improved valuation multiple: a business that achieves even 0.5x additional EBITDA multiple on a £3m EBITDA base recovers £1.5m — far exceeding the total programme cost.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Exit Accelerator programme?
Exit Accelerator is a packaged twelve- to eighteen-month engagement designed for owner-managed and PE-backed UK businesses preparing for sale, refinancing, or major investment in the next eighteen to twenty-four months. It combines fractional CFO, commercial, and operational leadership to maximise valuation, professionalise the business for institutional buyers, and lead the management team through the transaction process.

When should I commission Exit Accelerator?
Ideally twelve to eighteen months before the targeted transaction date. That window gives enough time to address the operational, commercial, and financial weaknesses that erode valuation, present at least one full year of cleaned, professionalised numbers to the market, and rehearse the management team for buyer interactions and due diligence. Engagements that start with less than nine months of runway can still add value but with less ability to lift the headline price.

What does the Exit Accelerator programme cover?
Exit Accelerator covers normalised EBITDA presentation, quality of revenue, customer concentration risk, management depth, financial controls, board pack and management information, data-room preparation, vendor due diligence support, working capital normalisation, and management presentation rehearsal. Where appropriate it also covers organisational decisions that materially affect valuation — leadership succession, contract renegotiation, and bolt-on integration.

Does Exit Accelerator replace my corporate finance adviser?
No — Exit Accelerator is the sell-side operational preparation layer that sits underneath your corporate finance adviser, M&A lawyer, and accountants. The fractional team makes sure the business is genuinely ready for the transaction the advisers are running, removing the operational frictions that typically delay or derail deals. We routinely work alongside the top mid-market corporate finance houses and the major UK law firms.

How much does the Exit Accelerator programme cost?
Exit Accelerator is typically £25,000 to £40,000 per month depending on the size of the business, the scope of the work, and the proximity of the transaction. The fee is fixed monthly, includes the Transformation Lead and all participating fractional directors, and is structured to be fully expensed pre-deal rather than a contingent success fee. Most clients view the cost as a fraction of the valuation uplift the engagement delivers.

What happens to the Exit Accelerator team after the transaction completes?
Most engagements wind down in the months immediately after completion, with one or two fractional directors typically retained for transition support and earn-out delivery. Where a buyer asks the existing management team to stay on under an earn-out, fractional directors can also remain in place to manage the integration with the buyer's wider business and protect the value the existing team needs to deliver to earn their full proceeds.

Ready to begin?

Book a discovery call to discuss whether Exit Accelerator is right for your business.

Get Started

### Digital Lift | Technology Transformation Programme
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/programme-digital-lift/

← All programmes
Digital Lift
Modernise your technology, protect your business from cyber risk, and build the digital capability your operations demand — led by directors who have done it before.
Get Started

For
Manufacturing businesses, traditional professional services firms, and established SMEs that need to lift digital capability and govern cyber risk — but lack in-house senior technology leadership.

Team
Fractional CTO + Fractional CIO

Duration
4–9 months

Investment
£4,500–£8,000/month

The Problem This Solves

Most traditional businesses know they need to transform digitally.
The challenge is not the ambition — it is the leadership.
Technology vendors offer solutions in their own interest, not the business’s.
Internal IT teams are skilled at maintaining what exists, not designing what should replace it.
And the board lacks the technical fluency to govern the investment decisions that digital transformation requires.
The result is a pattern that repeats across sectors: large technology investments that underdeliver, ERP implementations that overrun, cyber risk that accumulates without board-level governance, and digital transformation programmes that are perpetually planned but never quite launched.
Every year of delay is a year of competitive disadvantage building against businesses that have already made the journey.
Digital Lift is a senior-led, vendor-neutral technology transformation programme that provides the CTO and CIO leadership required to make it real — designing the right architecture, selecting the right systems, governing cyber risk at board level, and ensuring the technology investment delivers the operational and commercial outcomes it was purchased to produce.

What Happens

MONTH 1-2
Technology landscape audit and programme design: the fractional CTO and CIO jointly assess the current technology infrastructure, systems landscape, digital maturity, and cyber risk position. Programme plan developed and agreed: which systems need replacing, in which sequence, and which cyber risks require immediate attention. Vendor relationships reviewed — underperforming suppliers placed on notice, and the technology procurement framework established.
MONTH 3-6
Priority transformation underway: the highest-impact technology change programme active and governed, key system implementations in progress with the fractional directors personally accountable for delivery. Cyber governance framework operational at board level. Staff digital capability development programme underway.
MONTH 7–9
Transformation embedded: priority systems live and operational, cyber controls in place and tested, digital capability embedded in the operating model. Technology governance handed to the board with a clear ongoing framework. Final technology roadmap — covering the next 18–24 months — delivered and agreed by the board.

Outcomes Delivered

A modernised technology infrastructure that supports the business’s commercial and operational objectives rather than constraining them
Quantified, governed cyber risk — with specific controls in place and the board confident in the security posture of the organisation
At least one major system implementation completed on time and on budget — with the operational benefits it was purchased to deliver
Vendor rationalisation and contract improvements — typically generating 15–25% reduction in the annual IT budget
A board that is making informed, confident technology investment decisions — not deferring or over-relying on vendor recommendations
An 18–24 month technology roadmap that the business owns and can execute independently of continued fractional support

Investment

Digital Lift is priced from £4,500 to £8,000 per month for the two-director programme — typically less than the annual cost of a single full-time IT Manager, and a fraction of the cost of the failed technology projects it is designed to prevent. The programme duration is four to nine months, depending on the complexity of the transformation agenda and the starting position of the technology landscape.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Digital Lift programme?
Digital Lift is a packaged twelve- to eighteen-month engagement for mid-market businesses where technology, data, and digital capability are constraining commercial outcomes. It combines a fractional CIO or CTO with operations and finance leadership, plus specialist digital, data, and security expertise as required, to lead an integrated digital transformation tied to specific commercial outcomes — not technology for its own sake.

Who is Digital Lift designed for?
It is designed for established mid-market UK businesses that have outgrown their technology estate — manufacturers running on ageing ERP, services businesses dependent on spreadsheets and email, retailers with fragmented digital channels, and any business where technology debt is creating risk or slowing commercial decisions. Typical clients are between £20 million and £200 million revenue, with technology change that has been promised internally for years but never delivered.

What does Digital Lift cover?
Digital Lift covers technology strategy, target architecture, application and data landscape, cyber and resilience, programme governance and vendor management, change management and adoption, and the commercial business case that ties technology investment to revenue, margin, and risk outcomes. Where applicable the programme also leads major system implementations or migrations, ERP replacements, and cloud transitions.

How is Digital Lift different from a systems integrator engagement?
Systems integrators implement what you tell them to implement. Digital Lift sits at the client side of the table — defining what should be implemented, holding integrators and software vendors accountable to that definition, and protecting the business from the typical failure modes of large technology programmes. The fractional team owns the outcomes; the integrators and vendors deliver the components.

How much does the Digital Lift programme cost?
Digital Lift is typically £20,000 to £35,000 per month depending on the size and complexity of the engagement. The fee covers the Transformation Lead, the fractional CIO or CTO, supporting functional directors, and specialist input. Where major capital expenditure on software and services is involved, Digital Lift typically pays for itself many times over through better vendor selection, tighter scope, and reduced over-run.

Does Digital Lift include AI and data strategy?
Yes. Digital Lift increasingly includes a fractional Data & AI Director or equivalent specialist input to define the data foundations needed to make AI useful, identify the use cases that will generate measurable commercial value, and avoid the common trap of investing in AI tooling before the underlying data is fit for purpose. The programme is deliberately pragmatic — AI investment is justified by commercial outcomes, not novelty.

Ready to begin?

Book a discovery call to discuss whether Digital Lift is right for your business.

Get Started

### Fractional Directors for UK Scale-Ups
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/sector-scale-ups/

Fractional Leadership for UK Scale-Ups
Build the leadership bench your scale-up needs — without the permanent hire cost that strains the runway.
Get Started Call 0330 236 8932

Challenges We See in This Sector

✖ Founder-led leadership teams that have reached the limits of their functional range — exceptional at building the product or winning the first customers, but without the CFO, CMO, or COO expertise to scale the business
✖ Financial infrastructure built for seed stage still running at Series B — management accounts designed for a ten-person business attempting to serve 200 customers across three markets
✖ Marketing spend increasing rapidly without the senior commercial accountability to ensure it is generating qualified pipeline rather than brand awareness that does not convert
✖ Operational fragility — processes, systems, and team structures that worked at £2m ARR creating visible strain at £10m, and potential catastrophe at £25m
✖ Investor relations demands growing ahead of the financial and communication capability to meet them — LP updates, board reporting, and fundraising prep all requiring expertise the founding team does not yet have
✖ Technology debt accumulating as engineering resource is consumed by product development, leaving infrastructure, security, and operational technology governance unaddressed

How We Help

Scale-ups face a distinctive leadership challenge: they need board-level functional expertise across CFO, CMO, CTO, and COO simultaneously — but the business cannot afford four full-time C-suite salaries, and the equity cost of hiring them permanently is too high. Fractional leadership is the structural solution to this problem. Leadership Services provides scale-ups with access to a senior fractional director bench across all major functions — deploying CFOs who have taken comparable businesses through Series A, B, and C rounds, CMOs who have built demand engines in venture-backed businesses, CTOs who understand both product-led and infrastructure-led technology challenges, and COOs who have designed the operational architecture for hyper-growth environments. Our Scale Ready programme is specifically designed for scale-ups: a coordinated deployment of a fractional CFO, CMO, and COO operating as a single, aligned programme — building the financial, commercial, and operational foundations the business needs to scale with confidence. Engagements start within one week, require no equity, and have no long-term contracts.

What the Data Says

The UK has a large and growing scale-up base. The ScaleUp Institute counts 44,595 UK scale-ups in its 2025 Annual Review, 39,225 of them scaling by turnover, and it consistently finds that leadership capability is one of the main constraints on further growth.
The hiring market isn't making it easier: the British Chambers of Commerce reported in July 2026 that only 23% of UK firms expect to grow headcount in the coming months. A permanent C-suite search can take six months or more; a director from our bench can usually start within a week.
For most scale-ups the answer is not four permanent C-suite hires. It is a leadership bench that flexes with the business: a fractional CFO ahead of a raise, a CMO to build pipeline, a COO to put operating rhythm in place, each for as long as they are needed.

Most Relevant Services for This Sector

→ Fractional CFO — investor relations, fundraising, financial infrastructure for scale
→ Fractional CMO — demand generation, pipeline building, marketing-led growth
→ Fractional CTO — technology strategy, engineering governance, technical due diligence
→ Fractional COO — operational architecture for scale, team design, systems implementation
→ Scale Ready Programme — coordinated CFO, CMO, and COO deployment for pre-Series growth

Real Work, Real Outcomes

Challenge:
A B2B SaaS scale-up at £4.5m ARR was preparing for a Series A raise. The founding team had built an outstanding product but the financial model was founder-built, the management accounts were prepared by a bookkeeper, and the investor narrative had no coherent financial story to anchor it.
Approach:
A fractional CFO with direct Series A experience in SaaS was deployed four weeks before the target investor outreach date. They rebuilt the financial model, restructured the management accounts into investor-grade format, and created the financial narrative that formed the centrepiece of the investor deck.
Outcome:
The business closed a £6m Series A round six months later. The lead investor specifically cited the quality of the financial model and management accounts as a significant factor in their confidence to commit. The fractional CFO continued as the business’s ongoing financial leadership through the first year of Series A deployment.
Challenge:
A VC-backed direct-to-consumer brand at £8m revenue was spending £1.2m annually on digital marketing without a senior marketing leader to govern the spend or hold agencies accountable. The CAC was rising, LTV was unknown, and the board had no confidence in the marketing budget.
Approach:
A fractional CMO was engaged to conduct a full marketing audit in the first month. They restructured the agency briefs, implemented a marketing attribution model, paused the two lowest-performing paid channels, and personally led the creative strategy for the brand’s autumn campaign.
Outcome:
CAC fell 28% over six months. LTV measurement was established for the first time, revealing that one customer segment was generating 3x the LTV of all others — and that segment had been receiving proportionally less marketing investment. Reallocation to that segment grew revenue by 19% in the following quarter.
Challenge:
A high-growth professional services scale-up at 140 employees was experiencing operational strain across every function simultaneously — finance, HR, operations, and technology all showing signs of infrastructure deficit at the same time.
Approach:
Leadership Services deployed a Scale Ready programme: a fractional CFO, COO, and HR Director operating as a coordinated team. Each director worked two days per month, with a monthly joint session to align priorities and ensure the three functions were building towards a coherent operating architecture rather than in isolation.
Outcome:
Within twelve months, the business had upgraded its financial infrastructure, designed and implemented a scalable organisational structure, reduced staff attrition from 28% to 16%, and established the operational governance required to support the next phase of growth from 140 to 250 employees.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do scale-ups use fractional directors instead of full-time hires?
Scale-ups need board-level expertise in several functions at once but rarely have the budget or equity to hire four permanent executives. Fractional directors give you that experience for one to three days a week each, with no long-term tie-in.

What is the difference between a scale-up and a start-up for fractional leadership?
A start-up is still finding product-market fit; a scale-up has found it and needs to grow revenue and headcount fast. Scale-ups need operators who have run larger businesses before, which is why our bench is built from experienced UK directors rather than generalist advisers.

Can a fractional CFO help with a Series A or B raise?
Yes. A fractional CFO builds the investor-grade financial model, cleans up management accounts, prepares the data room and supports you through due diligence. Many directors on our bench have raised institutional funding themselves.

How much does fractional leadership cost for a scale-up?
Leadership Services engagements start from £1,795 per month. Most scale-ups begin with one role and add others as the business grows.

Ready to talk about your business?

Your scale-up deserves the same quality of C-suite leadership that well-funded businesses take for granted — without the full-time cost, the equity dilution, or the six-month recruitment lag. Talk to us today. We will have the right director started within the week.

Ready to bring experienced leadership to your business?
Tell us what you're working on and we'll match you with the right director — usually the same working day.
Get Started

### Fractional Directors for UK Manufacturers
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/sector-manufacturing/

Fractional Leadership for UK Manufacturers
Senior director expertise for UK manufacturing businesses — without the full-time cost or the recruitment delay.
Get Started Call 0330 236 8932

Challenges We See in This Sector

✖ Margin erosion driven by input cost inflation and customer price pressure — without the financial leadership to model and manage it in real time
✖ Operational inefficiency and waste that has normalised over years of underinvestment in process improvement and lean methodology
✖ Digital transformation programmes that have been deferred, stalled, or failed — leaving manufacturers with legacy IT infrastructure that limits productivity and visibility
✖ Supply chain fragility exposed by recent global disruption — and the absence of a senior leader capable of redesigning it for resilience
✖ Skills shortages at every level of the workforce, combined with the management capability gaps that make retention and development impossible
✖ Export market access and commercial strategy complexity — particularly for manufacturers navigating post-Brexit trading conditions without senior commercial expertise

How We Help

Leadership Services has placed fractional directors in UK manufacturing businesses across automotive components, food and beverage, engineered products, packaging, textiles, and precision manufacturing. We understand that manufacturing businesses face a specific combination of commercial, operational, and financial challenges — and that the solutions require directors who have worked inside manufacturing organisations, not just advised them from the outside. Our fractional CFOs help manufacturers model input cost exposure, build investor-grade financial reporting, and present confidently to banks, PE houses, and trade buyers. Our fractional COOs lead operational transformation — implementing lean methodology, building the supply chain resilience the business needs, and ensuring that operational performance is improving margin, not eroding it. Our fractional CTOs and CIOs lead the digital transformation agenda that most manufacturers know is essential but have consistently deferred — bringing an independent, vendor-neutral technology perspective that avoids the expensive missteps common in first-time transformation programmes. All engagements start within five business days. No long-term contracts, no recruitment fees, and a 90-day impact guarantee across every engagement.

What the Data Says

UK manufacturing is growing, but only slowly. The Office for National Statistics reported that manufacturing output rose 0.5% in the three months to July 2026, while total production fell 0.5% over the same period.
Costs are the pressure point. In Make UK’s 2026 Executive Survey , nearly nine in ten manufacturers said they expect employment costs to rise this year. That makes accurate costing, pricing and cash planning a board-level priority rather than a finance-team task.
The hiring market isn't making it easier: the British Chambers of Commerce reported in July 2026 that only 23% of UK firms expect to grow headcount in the coming months. A permanent C-suite search can take six months or more; a director from our bench can usually start within a week.

Most Relevant Services for This Sector

→ Fractional CFO — financial controls, cost management, bank and investor relations
→ Fractional COO — operational efficiency, supply chain, lean transformation
→ Fractional CTO / CIO — digital transformation, ERP implementation, Industry 4.0
→ Fractional Commercial Director — export strategy, pricing, channel development
→ Fractional HR Director — workforce planning, skills development, TUPE compliance

Real Work, Real Outcomes

Challenge:
A precision engineering manufacturer with £18m turnover was losing margin on every contract because it had no financial modelling capability to price accurately. The MD was signing contracts without knowing the true contribution margin until management accounts arrived six weeks later.
Approach:
A fractional CFO was deployed within one week. In the first month, they rebuilt the costing model for all product lines, introduced a pre-contract financial sign-off process, and restructured the management accounts to provide margin visibility by product and customer.
Outcome:
Within six months, gross margin improved by 4.2 percentage points. The business declined three contracts it would previously have accepted at a loss, and two underpriced contracts were successfully renegotiated at the point of renewal.
Challenge:
A food manufacturing business with 200 employees was experiencing 34% annual attrition in its production workforce — creating training costs that were eliminating all improvement in operational efficiency.
Approach:
A fractional HR Director and COO were deployed together. The HR Director conducted a structured engagement audit and redesigned the induction programme, pay grading structure, and line manager development programme. The COO redesigned the shift structure and introduced team-based production accountability.
Outcome:
Attrition fell to 19% within twelve months. Training costs reduced by £120,000 per year. Production output per head increased by 11% as workforce stability improved.
Challenge:
A packaging manufacturer had spent £2.2 million on an ERP implementation over three years and still had not achieved go-live. The project had consumed two internal project managers and three system integrators without delivering a working system.
Approach:
A fractional CTO was engaged to conduct an independent programme review. Within two weeks, they identified the root causes: poorly scoped requirements, a mismatched system selection, and no internal ownership of the programme at board level. The CTO led a re-scoping exercise, renegotiated the integrator contract, and personally owned the delivery programme.
Outcome:
The ERP went live nine months after the fractional CTO was engaged. Total additional investment was £340,000 — significantly below the further £1.8 million the previous trajectory would have required.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a fractional director do for a UK manufacturer?
A fractional director is a senior executive who works with you part-time, usually one to three days a week. In manufacturing that typically means a CFO who fixes product costing and cash forecasting, a COO who drives lean and supply-chain improvements, or a CIO/CTO who leads ERP selection and factory digitalisation.

How much does a fractional director cost for a manufacturing business?
Engagements with Leadership Services start from £1,795 per month, depending on the role and the number of days each week. That is usually a fraction of the fully loaded cost of a permanent board hire. Our UK Fractional Director Rate Report 2026 sets out current day rates by role.

Can a fractional director lead an ERP implementation?
Yes. Several directors on our bench have led ERP selection and implementation in UK manufacturers, including planning, MRP and shop-floor data capture. They act as the client-side lead, holding the vendor and integrator to account.

How quickly can a fractional director start?
Usually within one week of the first conversation. We shortlist from our existing bench, so there is no recruitment campaign and no notice period to wait out.

Ready to talk about your business?

Talk to us about your manufacturing business. We will match you with a fractional director who has done it before — in your sector, at your scale, with the specific challenges you are facing — and have them started within the week.

Ready to bring experienced leadership to your business?
Tell us what you're working on and we'll match you with the right director — usually the same working day.
Get Started

### PE-Backed Fractional Directors UK
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/sector-pe-backed-businesses/

Fractional Leadership for PE-Backed UK Businesses
Rapid value creation and exit-ready leadership for portfolio companies — deployed within days, not months.
Get Started Call 0330 236 8932

Challenges We See in This Sector

✖ Leadership gaps exposed at the point of acquisition — identified in due diligence but not yet filled at completion
✖ Rapid value creation timelines that demand C-suite level commercial and operational expertise from day one of the investment period
✖ Management teams with strong operational depth but limited experience of PE governance, investor reporting, and the commercial rigour required by institutional investors
✖ Financial infrastructure not built for PE-grade reporting — management accounts, KPI frameworks, and financial models that need rapid upgrading to meet LP and board expectations
✖ Exit preparation in a compressed timeline — with CFO, Commercial Director, and COO capability all required simultaneously in the 12–18 months before a planned sale
✖ Post-acquisition integration complexity where acquiring businesses lack the internal bandwidth or functional expertise to absorb and align acquired entities at pace

How We Help

Leadership Services works with PE-backed businesses as a rapid-deployment, outcome-accountable fractional leadership partner. We understand the specific context of PE ownership: the pressure of investment timelines, the reporting requirements of institutional investors, the commercial cadence of a business being actively managed for value creation, and the concentrated leadership demands of the exit process. For portfolio companies with leadership gaps identified at acquisition, we deploy fractional directors within five business days — filling functional vacancies while permanent recruitment proceeds, or providing the specialist expertise required for specific programme phases. For value creation plans that require coordinated leadership across multiple functions simultaneously, we deploy the Transformation Directorate model: two to four fractional directors operating as a single managed programme under one engagement, ensuring that commercial, operational, financial, and technology workstreams are all advancing in parallel. We have supported PE-backed businesses through the full investment lifecycle — from the immediate post-close leadership stabilisation period through to exit-ready EBITDA maximisation and the due diligence preparation that determines deal terms.

What the Data Says

Private capital is a major force in UK business. According to UK Private Capital (formerly the BVCA) , 1,434 UK companies received private equity and venture capital investment in 2025, totalling £25.0bn, and PE- and VC-backed businesses employ around 2.5 million people in the UK.
Investors expect the value-creation plan to be delivered on time. When the management team has a gap, whether in finance, operations or technology, waiting six months for a permanent hire puts the plan and the exit timetable at risk.
The hiring market isn't making it easier: the British Chambers of Commerce reported in July 2026 that only 23% of UK firms expect to grow headcount in the coming months. A permanent C-suite search can take six months or more; a director from our bench can usually start within a week.

Most Relevant Services for This Sector

→ Fractional CFO — investor reporting, EBITDA improvement, exit readiness
→ Fractional COO — operational transformation, margin improvement, scalability demonstration
→ Fractional Sales / Commercial Director — revenue acceleration, customer concentration reduction
→ Fractional CTO — technology diligence remediation, digital value creation
→ Transformation Directorate — coordinated multi-function value creation programme

Real Work, Real Outcomes

Challenge:
A PE-backed professional services business had acquired a smaller competitor at deal close but had no internal CFO capability to lead the financial integration. The acquiring business’s management accounts were already running three weeks late and the LP reporting was at risk.
Approach:
A fractional CFO was deployed within four days of the request. They led the financial integration workstream — consolidating the chart of accounts, standardising management reporting across the combined entity, and rebuilding the LP reporting template to the standard required by the investor. The CFO also identified £340,000 of duplicate overhead that could be eliminated through the integration.
Outcome:
LP reporting was delivered on time for the first post-acquisition quarter. Financial integration was completed in eleven weeks — six weeks ahead of the original plan. The duplicate overhead was eliminated, contributing directly to EBITDA improvement in year one.
Challenge:
A PE-backed logistics business had a value creation plan that required simultaneous commercial, operational, and technology transformation over 18 months — but no C-suite bandwidth to run all three workstreams in parallel.
Approach:
Leadership Services deployed a Transformation Directorate: a fractional Commercial Director, COO, and CTO operating as a coordinated programme under a single engagement. The three directors met weekly to align priorities, share client intelligence, and ensure no workstream was creating obstacles for the others.
Outcome:
Revenue grew 31% over 18 months. Operational cost per unit fell 14%. The technology programme — a TMS implementation — went live on time and on budget. The business achieved exit at 7.2x EBITDA — above the 6.5x target set at acquisition.
Challenge:
A PE-backed healthcare services business had 22 months until its planned exit window. The CFO had left suddenly and the management accounts, financial model, and investor materials were all inadequate for the due diligence process the business would face.
Approach:
A senior fractional CFO with PE and healthcare exit experience was deployed within five days. They rebuilt the management accounts from scratch, constructed a detailed LTM financial model, and began building the vendor due diligence pack fourteen months before the anticipated process start.
Outcome:
The business entered its sale process with institutional-grade financials, a fully prepared VDD pack, and a fractional CFO who could present to buyers with authority and commercial fluency. The deal completed at the top of the initial valuation range, with no financial due diligence retrades.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a fractional director do in a PE-backed business?
A fractional director fills a leadership gap in the management team, often in finance, operations or technology, and delivers specific parts of the value-creation plan. Typical work includes 100-day plans, investor reporting, cost programmes, systems upgrades and exit preparation.

Can a fractional CFO work alongside the investor's operating partners?
Yes. Directors on our bench are used to working with investor boards and operating partners, producing the monthly reporting packs, covenant tracking and forecasts that private equity owners expect.

How quickly can a fractional director start in a portfolio company?
Usually within one week. That speed matters most after a deal completes, when a leadership gap appears, or when the exit timetable is fixed.

Do fractional directors help with exit readiness?
Yes. Exit preparation work includes vendor due diligence preparation, quality-of-earnings readiness, data room preparation and strengthening the equity story, typically 12 to 24 months before a planned sale.

Ready to talk about your business?

If you are managing a PE portfolio company with a leadership gap, a value creation plan that needs executing, or an exit process approaching, talk to us. We will deploy the right director — or the right team of directors — within the week.

Ready to bring experienced leadership to your business?
Tell us what you're working on and we'll match you with the right director — usually the same working day.
Get Started

### Professional Services Fractional Directors UK
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/sector-professional-services/

Fractional Leadership for UK Professional Services Firms
Senior director expertise for UK consultancies, accountancy practices, law firms, recruitment businesses, and creative or digital agencies.
Get Started Call 0330 236 8932

Challenges We See in This Sector

✖ Utilisation, realisation, and write-off pressure that compounds over time — without the financial leadership to model the impact on partner profitability
✖ Partner-owned client books that create commercial concentration risk and make succession or sale impossible to execute cleanly
✖ Marketing investment that defaults to brand-building rather than commercial demand generation — leaving the pipeline dependent on partner referrals
✖ Operating model design that has not kept pace with hybrid working — eroding margin, culture, and the quality of associate-level training
✖ Practice management and CRM systems that are 10+ years out of date, blocking efficiency improvements and analyst-grade reporting
✖ Partnership-to-corporate transitions, MBOs, EOTs, and trade sales where the existing leadership team has not done the deal type before

How We Help

Leadership Services has placed fractional directors in UK professional services firms across management consultancies, accountancy practices (Top 50 and independents), regional law firms, executive search and recruitment businesses, and creative, digital, and marketing agencies. Professional services firms have a specific set of commercial dynamics — billable utilisation, realisation rates, partner profit shares, lockup, and work-in-progress — that require finance leadership with sector-specific experience. Our fractional CFOs build the partner profitability and utilisation reporting that managing partners need to make commercial decisions; build cashflow forecasts that account for the long lockup typical of mid-sized practices; and partner with leadership through MBO, EOT, partnership-to-corporate, and trade sale transitions. Our fractional CMOs reframe marketing from brand-building to demand generation, building the digital and content engine that produces inbound enquiries independent of partner networks. Our fractional COOs lead operating model redesign — utilisation policy, hybrid working framework, associate training programmes, and the practice management technology that supports them. All engagements start within five business days. No long-term contracts, no recruitment fees, and a 90-day impact guarantee across every engagement.

What the Data Says

Services drive most of UK economic output. The Office for National Statistics reported that services output grew 0.5% in the second quarter of 2026, with 10 of 14 service sectors growing.
For partnerships and owner-managed firms, growth tends to expose the same gaps: finance built for a smaller practice, weak utilisation and pricing data, and no dedicated marketing or operations leadership.
The hiring market isn't making it easier: the British Chambers of Commerce reported in July 2026 that only 23% of UK firms expect to grow headcount in the coming months. A permanent C-suite search can take six months or more; a director from our bench can usually start within a week.

Most Relevant Services for This Sector

→ Fractional CFO — partner profitability, lockup management, MBO/EOT/trade sale preparation
→ Fractional CMO — demand generation, content marketing, partner brand and pipeline support
→ Fractional COO — operating model, utilisation, hybrid working, practice management systems
→ Fractional CIO / CTO — practice management systems, CRM, AI workflow integration
→ Fractional HR Director — partner succession, associate development, partner-track programmes

Typical Professional Services Engagement Patterns

A 20-60 partner UK professional services firm typically engages a fractional CFO for two days a week at £5,000–£7,000 per month, focused on partner reporting, lockup, and decision support for the managing partner and operating board. Alongside that, a fractional CMO at one to two days per week builds the demand-generation engine the firm has historically lacked. Pre-MBO, pre-EOT, or pre-trade-sale, engagements scale to intensive mandates focused on financial DD readiness, profit normalisation work, and the management presentation discipline buyers expect. Owner-managed practices with five to ten partners often start with advisory retainers at £1,795–£3,500 per month, scaling up as the practice grows. The Rate Report on this site has the full pricing detail and decision framework.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a fractional director do for a professional services firm?
A fractional director brings senior leadership to a firm that doesn't need, or can't yet justify, a full-time executive. Typical priorities are utilisation and pricing analysis, cash and lock-up management, practice-management systems and a structured business development plan.

Is a fractional CFO suitable for a partnership or LLP?
Yes. Directors on our bench understand partner drawings, profit allocation, work-in-progress and lock-up, and can professionalise management reporting for the partner group.

How much does a fractional director cost for a professional services firm?
Leadership Services engagements start from £1,795 per month, typically for one to three days a week. There are no recruitment fees and no long-term tie-ins.

How quickly can a fractional director start?
Usually within one week of the first conversation, because we match from our existing bench of vetted senior directors.

Ready to bring experienced leadership to your business?
Tell us what you're working on and we'll match you with the right director — usually the same working day.
Get Started

### Fractional Directors for UK SaaS & Tech
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/sector-saas/

Fractional Leadership for UK SaaS & B2B Tech
Senior director expertise for UK software, SaaS, and B2B technology businesses — from seed-funded to PE-backed scale-ups.
Get Started Call 0330 236 8932

Challenges We See in This Sector

✖ Pre-revenue or low-ARR businesses spending engineering budget faster than the unit economics justify — without finance leadership to enforce financial discipline
✖ Founder-led product organisations hitting the ceiling of what one engineering leader can hold, with no fractional CTO bench to support architecture and hiring decisions
✖ Marketing and demand generation that has plateaued at £50k–£200k MRR — typically a CMO-shaped gap rather than a budget problem
✖ Series A and Series B fundraises stalling on missing board-grade financial reporting, weak forecasting models, and incomplete data rooms
✖ Post-product-market-fit scale-ups where the founder is still the de facto Head of Product, blocking the team's autonomy and velocity
✖ Pre-IPO and pre-exit preparation requiring CFO-level governance, audit readiness, and ECM-experienced operators that the existing team does not have

How We Help

Leadership Services has placed fractional directors in UK SaaS and B2B technology businesses across vertical SaaS, horizontal B2B platforms, FinTech, PropTech, HealthTech, and developer tools. The 2026 market reality is that early-stage SaaS founders rarely need a permanent C-suite; they need senior part-time operators who have already built the function once and know which decisions to take in which order. Our fractional CFOs run finance for SaaS businesses from £500k ARR through to £20m ARR, owning the bookings-to-cash workflow, building the SaaS metric pack (NRR, GRR, CAC payback, magic number, Rule of 40), and partnering with the founder team through fundraises and exits. Our fractional CTOs sit alongside founder-CTOs and full-time VPEs to support architecture decisions, technical hiring, vendor selection, and AI integration strategy. Our fractional CMOs build the demand engine — positioning, ICP definition, PLG motions, paid acquisition models, and sales-marketing alignment — for SaaS businesses where the founder no longer wants to own marketing personally. All engagements start within five business days. No long-term contracts, no recruitment fees, and a 90-day impact guarantee across every engagement.

What the Data Says

Technology is one of the UK's growth engines. The Office for National Statistics named information and communication as one of the main contributors to services growth in the second quarter of 2026, when services output rose 0.5%.
The scale-up pipeline is deep. The ScaleUp Institute counts 44,595 UK scale-ups, and SaaS businesses make up a large share of them. Most hit the same wall: founder-built finance, marketing that doesn't scale, and engineering leadership stretched too thin.
The hiring market isn't making it easier: the British Chambers of Commerce reported in July 2026 that only 23% of UK firms expect to grow headcount in the coming months. A permanent C-suite search can take six months or more; a director from our bench can usually start within a week.

Most Relevant Services for This Sector

→ Fractional CFO — SaaS metrics, board-grade reporting, fundraise readiness, exit preparation
→ Fractional CTO — architecture, technical hiring, vendor strategy, AI integration
→ Fractional CMO — demand generation, ICP/positioning, PLG, sales-marketing alignment
→ Fractional CPO (Product) — product strategy, roadmap discipline, PM hiring and coaching
→ Fractional Commercial Director — channel partnerships, enterprise sales, pricing strategy

Typical SaaS Engagement Patterns

A pre-Series-A SaaS business often starts with a one-day-a-week fractional CFO and a two-day-a-week fractional CMO — together costing £8,000–£12,000 per month versus the £250,000+ year-one cost of a permanent CFO and CMO combined. Post-Series-A, the fractional CFO typically scales to two days per week and a fractional CTO joins to support hiring and architecture decisions as the engineering team grows past 8–10 people. Pre-IPO and pre-acquisition, engagements convert to intensive 3-day-per-week or full-time interim mandates focused on data-room preparation, audit readiness, and the operational discipline that buyers expect to find. The Rate Report on this site has the full pricing detail and decision framework.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a fractional CTO or CFO do for a SaaS business?
A fractional CTO sets architecture, engineering process and hiring plans, and prepares the business for technical due diligence. A fractional CFO builds the SaaS metrics model (ARR, churn, CAC payback, net revenue retention) and gets the business investor-ready.

When should a SaaS company bring in fractional leadership?
Common triggers are preparing for a funding round, growth stalling after early product-market fit, an engineering team outgrowing its founder-CTO, or a board asking for better metrics and forecasting.

How much does a fractional director cost for a SaaS company?
Leadership Services engagements start from £1,795 per month. Most SaaS clients start with one role, often a CFO or CTO, for one to two days a week.

Can a fractional director help with technical due diligence?
Yes. Directors on our bench have prepared SaaS businesses for investor and acquirer technical due diligence, covering architecture, security, code quality, scalability and IP ownership.

Ready to bring experienced leadership to your business?
Tell us what you're working on and we'll match you with the right director — usually the same working day.
Get Started

### Fractional Director Pricing UK
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/pricing/

Simple, Transparent Pricing
Four tiers of engagement — from a fixed-fee diagnostic to a full transformation programme. Every option is faster, more flexible, and more cost-effective than a full-time hire.
Get Started Start With an Audit

Leadership Services operates on a simple, four-tier model. Each tier is designed as a natural entry point — and a natural stepping stone to the next. You can start with one and stay there, or progress through the tiers as your business needs evolve.

Our Four Tiers

Tier 1
Diagnostic
Know the problem before you buy the solution.
£3,500–£7,500
fixed fee · 2–4 weeks
A fixed-price, time-limited audit delivered by a senior fractional director. Structured assessment across a specific functional domain — finance, technology, commercial, or leadership.
Includes
Leadership Readiness Audit — £3,500
Finance & Investor-Readiness Audit — £4,500
Growth & Revenue Audit — £4,500
Digital & Technology Audit — £5,000

Right for
Businesses that want to understand the problem precisely before committing to an ongoing engagement. Also ideal as a first step for businesses that suspect they may need fractional leadership but want evidence before committing.

Not for
Businesses that already have a clear diagnosis and need an experienced director to start executing immediately.

Explore audits Most Popular
Tier 2
Fractional Director
Board-level leadership, accountability, and outcomes — without the full-time salary.
£1,795–£6,000
per month · No minimum term — typically 6–24 months
An experienced fractional director deployed to your business on a flexible, part-time basis. Typically 1–4 days per month, scaled to your specific need. The core Leadership Services model — used by the majority of clients.
Right for
Businesses that need ongoing, embedded senior leadership in one specific function. The core model — used by the majority of Leadership Services clients.

Not for
Businesses that need senior leadership across multiple functions simultaneously and want a coordinated, programme-managed approach — see Tier 3.

View director roles Tier 3
Transformation Directorate
Multi-director team. Single managed programme. Coordinated transformation.
£4,500–£12,000
per month · 3, 6, or 12-month programme terms
Two to four fractional directors deployed as a single, coordinated programme — with joint planning, shared client intelligence, and programme-level accountability.
Right for
Businesses undertaking a transformation that requires aligned leadership across more than one function simultaneously. Typically businesses in active growth, restructure, or exit preparation.

Not for
Businesses that only need one function addressed, or businesses at too early a stage to benefit from multi-director coordination.

Explore the Directorate Tier 4
Sector Programme
A named transformation programme with a defined outcome — built for your business type.
£4,000–£10,500
per month · 4–18 months depending on programme
A packaged transformation programme — Scale Ready, Exit Accelerator, Digital Lift, People First, or Revenue Engine — delivered by a coordinated team with clear outcomes for each phase.
Right for
Businesses with a clearly defined transformation need that maps to one of the named programmes — or that want the structure and accountability of a named outcome.

Not for
Businesses that need highly customised multi-function transformation not covered by the named programmes — see Tier 3, Transformation Directorate.

View programmes

What would the equivalent full-time leadership cost?

Role Full-Time Annual Cost Fractional Equivalent Full-time CFO £130,000–£200,000 + NI + benefits £1,795–£6,000/month Full-time CTO £120,000–£180,000 + NI + benefits £2,500–£6,000/month Full-time CMO £110,000–£170,000 + NI + benefits £1,795–£5,500/month Full-time COO £120,000–£180,000 + NI + benefits £2,500–£6,000/month
All Leadership Services engagements include no recruitment fees, no long-term contracts beyond agreed programme terms, and no employer National Insurance, pension, or benefits costs. The figures shown are typical UK ranges.

Pricing questions

How much does a fractional director cost in the UK?
Fractional director fees at Leadership Services range from £1,795 to £6,000 per month depending on the role, seniority, and time commitment (typically 1–4 days a week). A diagnostic engagement is £3,500–£7,500 as a fixed fee. A full transformation directorate (multiple directors as one team) runs £4,500–£12,000 per month.
Is there a minimum term?
No. Our standard fractional director engagement has no minimum term, though most clients stay 6–24 months. Programme-based engagements (transformation directorate, sector programmes) have a defined term of 3–18 months because they deliver a specific named outcome.
Are there recruitment fees?
No. We are not a recruiter. We are a directorate that places experienced executives into your business as a service. Our fees are the monthly engagement fee — nothing else.
How does this compare to hiring a full-time CFO, CIO or CMO?
A full-time UK C-suite hire typically costs £130,000–£200,000 in salary plus benefits, recruitment fees, and on-costs (often £250k+ all-in). A fractional equivalent at Leadership Services starts from £1,795 per month with no recruitment fee and no long-term commitment.
What if I am not sure what I need yet?
Start with a Diagnostic. It is a 2–4 week fixed-fee engagement (£3,500–£7,500) that surfaces the actual problem, the priorities, and the right shape of leadership response. Many clients then continue into a fractional placement; some do not need to.
Do you work across all UK regions?
Yes. Our directors work with businesses across the UK — hybrid by default, with in-person time as the engagement requires. Most placements involve 1–2 on-site days per week and the rest remote.

Which tier is right for you?

If…
You know something is wrong but are not sure exactly what — or where to start.

Then →
Start with Tier 1: a Diagnostic Audit. Fixed fee, clear output, specific recommendation. Most clients know exactly what they need within four weeks.

If…
You have a clear, specific functional gap — finance, marketing, technology, operations, HR — and need a senior director to fill it on an ongoing basis.

Then →
Tier 2: Fractional Director. The core model. Start within five business days, no minimum term, scale up or down as needed.

If…
You are running a transformation that needs aligned leadership across more than one function at the same time.

Then →
Tier 3: Transformation Directorate. A coordinated multi-director team with a single point of accountability.

If…
Your business is preparing for a major commercial milestone — scale, exit, digital lift, people overhaul, revenue rebuild — and you want a programme with a named outcome.

Then →
Tier 4: Sector Programme. One of our six named transformation programmes.

Not sure where to start?
A 15-minute discovery call will tell you which tier is right for your business — at no cost and with no commitment.
Get Started

### UK Fractional Director Rate Report 2026 — Leadership Services
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/rate-report-2026/

Independent benchmark · UK · 2026
UK Fractional Director Rate Report 2026

Day rates, monthly retainers, and total cost of ownership benchmarks across the seven C-suite functions UK SMEs hire most. Free PDF download — no charge, no fluff, citation-ready.

Download the Report What's Inside

£900–£1,500
Typical UK day-rate band for fractional and interim directors in 2026

50–70%
Year-one cost saving vs a permanent C-suite hire when fractional matches the workload

£1,795
Entry-level monthly retainer for a vetted advisory engagement across all seven roles

What's inside the report

Twelve pages of UK-specific benchmarks drawn from five independent 2026 surveys covering more than 1,000 senior practitioners and our own placement data from the 500-director Leadership Services network.

At-a-glance rate table for fractional CFO, CMO, CIO, CTO, COO, CPO and Chief People Officer — day rates, monthly retainers, London premium, and permanent benchmark for each role.
Role-by-role deep dives with day-rate distribution charts and pricing tiers (advisory, standard fractional, intensive fractional, full-time interim, project fees).
Sector premia table — FCA-regulated FinTech, PE-backed scale-up, pre-IPO, manufacturing, turnaround, charity.
Total cost of ownership model showing the 140–170% loaded cost of a permanent hire.
Three-test decision framework : workload, budget, duration — with a clean decision matrix.
Full source list : Robert Walters, Robert Half, Payscale, Exec Capital, Independent Interim Manager Survey, ONS, and direct placement data.

Download the Rate Report

Get the full 12-page PDF instantly. We’ll also send you the 2027 edition the moment it’s ready.

Prefer not to share your email? Download the PDF directly .

500+
Vetted UK directors in network

5
Independent 2026 surveys cited

7
C-suite functions benchmarked

100%
Source-cited & free to share

A board-ready document, not a marketing brochure

Every page is built to hand straight to your CFO, board chair, or finance director. No vendor pitch, no thinly-veiled sales copy — just the numbers and the methodology.

01
At-a-glance rate table
One-page reference covering day rate, 2-day-per-week retainer, London premium, and permanent benchmark for every role.
02
Day-rate distribution charts
Where the median sits, where the long tail goes, and what drives the spread — built from the May 2026 survey of 200 senior practitioners.
03
Five pricing tiers
Advisory, standard fractional, intensive fractional, full-time interim, and project-fee engagements — with the monthly cost band for each.
04
Total cost of ownership model
The full 140–170% loading on a permanent C-suite hire, broken down by employer NI, pension, benefits, bonus, recruitment fee.
05
Sector premia table
The +25 to +50% you should expect to pay for FCA-regulated FinTech, PE-backed, pre-IPO, and turnaround mandates.
06
Three-test decision framework
A clean workload/budget/duration matrix that tells you which engagement model fits your situation — with worked examples.

Why we built it

Every conversation we have with an SME owner, board chair, or MD about fractional leadership starts with the same question: what does this actually cost?
The answer is fragmented across recruiter salary guides, LinkedIn surveys, and rate cards from individual fractional firms. Each one is partial; most are anchored to one role or one sector. There has been no consolidated, source-cited UK benchmark you can hand to a board for a budget conversation.
This report fixes that. Every figure is sourced. Every range is pre-VAT and clearly tagged as SME, mid-market, or London-premium. We’ve included the day-rate distributions, the loaded cost of a permanent hire, and a three-test decision matrix that tells you which engagement model fits your situation.
Use it however you like. Cite it, share it, hand it to your finance director. If you spot anything we’ve missed or a source that should be added to the 2027 edition, let us know.

For journalists and analysts

The Rate Report is published as a free reference for UK SME owners, boards, and the journalists who cover the executive market. We’re happy to provide additional commentary, run custom cuts of the data, or arrange interviews with our managing director.

Cite the report
Leadership Services. (2026). UK Fractional Director Rate Report 2026.
https://leadership-services.co.uk/rate-report-2026/
Media enquiries
David Bailey, Managing Director
hello@leadership-services.co.uk
0330 236 8932

What clients say about Leadership Services

“Within three months our financial controls were transformed. The part-time Finance Director paid for herself many times over.”
Founder, Manufacturing SME “We had tried consultants before and been disappointed. Having a director who was actually part of the team made all the difference.”
MD, Professional Services Firm “The speed of start was the unlock. Within a week we had someone in the chair making decisions we’d been stuck on for months.”
Board Chair, PE-backed Scale-up

Talk to us about a fractional director
If the numbers in the report match a problem you’re trying to solve, we can have a director with you within a week.
Get Started See Pricing

### Free Business Leader Playbooks UK
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/resources/

Free Resources for Business Leaders
Practical playbooks and guides designed to help CEOs, founders, and managing directors get the most out of senior leadership — written by directors who've sat in the chair.

Each Business Leaders Playbook is a 20-40 page guide built from the practical experience of our fractional directors. They cover the patterns we see again and again — what good looks like, what to watch for, and which decisions to make in what order.

FEATURED · NEW FOR 2026
UK Fractional Director Rate Report 2026
The first consolidated, citation-friendly benchmark for UK fractional and interim director day rates and monthly retainers. 12 pages, source-cited, free PDF — covers CFO, CMO, CIO, CTO, COO, CPO, and Chief People Officer.
Day-rate distributions and pricing tiers by role
Total cost of ownership model for permanent vs fractional
Sector premia (FinTech, PE-backed, pre-IPO, manufacturing, turnaround)
Three-test decision framework with worked examples
Read the report →
£900–£1,500
Typical 2026 day-rate band

50–70%
Year-one saving vs permanent

12 pages
Citation-friendly PDF

The Business Leaders Playbooks

Finance
For CEOs and CFOs
Cash flow, board reporting, investor readiness, controls, when to hire a finance leader.

Download free

IT
For CEOs and IT Directors
Strategy, governance, vendor management, security basics, when to bring IT in-house.

Download free

Marketing
For founders and CMOs
Brand, demand generation, marketing operations, channel mix, measuring ROI.

Download free

Sales
For sales leaders and MDs
Pipeline discipline, sales process, team performance, compensation, scaling commercial.

Download free

Operations
For COOs and MDs
Process design, operational metrics, supply chain, delivery, operating model.

Download free

HR
For HR Directors and founders
Culture, hiring, performance management, organisational design, succession.

Download free

Data
For Data and IT Directors
Data strategy, analytics, BI tooling, governance, AI readiness.

Download free

Commercial
For Commercial Directors and CFOs
Pricing, customer profitability, contract management, commercial discipline.

Download free

Engineering
For CTOs and Engineering leaders
Engineering practices, software delivery, technical debt, team performance.

Download free

Procurement
For Procurement and COOs
Supplier strategy, contract negotiation, savings programmes, governance.

Download free

Need expert leadership — without the full-time salary?
The playbooks tell you what to do. A fractional director gets it done. Get started and we'll match you with the right one.
Get Started

### About Leadership Services | UK Fractional Director Bench
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/about/

About Leadership Services
The UK's bench of vetted fractional directors — finance, marketing, technology, operations, sales, product, people and data. Founder-led, operator-built, with 70+ senior directors available now.
Talk to David Bailey, MD Meet our directors

70+
Vetted directors available today

500+
Senior placements made to date

8
Functional disciplines covered

1 week
Average time from brief to start

Why Leadership Services Exists

Leadership Services is a UK consultancy built on a single founding belief: every ambitious UK SME deserves access to senior fractional leadership without the cost and commitment of a permanent C-suite hire. Founded by Managing Director David Bailey, the firm exists to give growing businesses the executive horsepower that has historically been the exclusive preserve of large corporates.
Fractional directors are not consultants. A fractional CFO, fractional CMO, fractional CIO, or fractional COO sits inside your management team, owns their function, and is accountable for outcomes. The economic model is simple: senior board-level experience at one to three days a week, for a fraction of the full-time cost, with no recruitment fees, no employer National Insurance, and no long-term tie-ins.
We work with UK SMEs from £1m to £100m revenue across every C-suite function: fractional CFO and fractional FD for finance, fractional CMO and fractional Marketing Director for marketing, fractional CIO and fractional CTO for technology, fractional COO and fractional Operations Director for operations, plus fractional Sales Directors, fractional CPOs and fractional Data Directors. Our 70+ active directors carry an average of 20+ years of board-level experience, and our wider network of more than 500 senior UK directors means we can match the right executive leadership to almost any sector or situation.

How a Fractional Director Engagement Works

Most engagements run from brief to first day on-site in around one week. Here's what happens at each stage.

1
We Listen
On your initial call with David Bailey, our Managing Director, we map your business situation, the function you're hiring into, the outcomes you need in the first 90 days, and the practical constraints — budget, time, geography, sector experience.
2
We Propose
Within 48 hours you receive a short proposal: shortlist of two or three matched fractional directors, recommended engagement model (advisory, fractional retainer, interim, or project), expected time commitment, and a fixed monthly fee. No long contracts, no complicated terms.
3
We Match
You meet your shortlist. We pick the director with the most relevant sector experience and the right temperament for your team. Every director on our bench has a minimum of 10 years of board-level experience and a track record of measurable commercial outcomes.
4
We Transform
Your fractional director joins your management team and takes full responsibility for their function — setting strategy, driving execution, mentoring your team, and reporting at board level. Most clients see measurable improvements within the first 60 to 90 days.

Why UK Businesses Choose Leadership Services
We are not a recruiter, a consultancy, or an interim director agency. We are a fractional director network, operator-built, with one clear focus: putting senior executive leadership inside UK SMEs at a price point the market can absorb. Whether you need a fractional CFO, fractional CMO, fractional CIO, fractional CTO, fractional COO or an interim director for vacancy cover, our model is the same.

A network, not a lone consultant
Your fractional director is supported by 70+ peer directors across every C-suite discipline. When a CFO needs IT input on a system selection, or a CMO needs commercial input on a pricing model, that expertise is one Slack message away. No standalone consultant can match that collective intelligence.
Directors, not advisors
Our fractional directors don't write a strategy deck and walk away. They embed inside your business, sit on your management team, and own the outcome. The work is hands-on, accountable, and measured against the same KPIs the rest of your leadership team are measured against.
Same-week starts
Most clients have a fractional director in the chair within five working days. That's three to nine months faster than permanent executive search, and there are no recruitment fees, no employer NI contributions, no pension or benefits costs, and no equity dilution to consider.
Transparent pricing from £1,795
Advisory engagements start at £1,795 per month for around 4 to 8 hours of senior input. Standard fractional engagements (one to two days per week) run £4,000 to £8,000 per month. Intensive fractional and interim mandates scale up from there. Full pricing in our Rate Report.
No long-term tie-ins
We ask for a short initial commitment — typically one to three months — to let the engagement gain traction. Beyond that you can continue, scale up, scale down, or conclude with minimal notice. Our entire model assumes the client should remain in control.
British, sector-aware, board-grade
Every fractional director on our bench has operated at board level in UK businesses. We understand the UK regulatory, tax, accounting and commercial environment, and we don't dress junior operators up as senior ones. Average experience across our network: 22 years.

Meet Our Directors — 70+ Senior Operators Across Every C-Suite Discipline

Eight of our 70+ fractional directors below, with a discipline breakdown of the rest. Every director is a senior practitioner with a minimum of 10 years of board-level UK experience.

Alan
Finance Director
Chris
Marketing Director
Chris
Operations Director
Steve C.
HR Director
Dale
Sales Director
Sameer
Data Director
Adam
IT Director
Andrew
IT Director

Director network breakdown by discipline
8
Finance

9
Marketing

53
Technology

Browse all 70+ directors →

Founded and Led by David Bailey

Leadership Services is founded and led by Managing Director David Bailey, an IT director by background with more than two decades of senior leadership and transformation experience across UK businesses. David is the firm's first point of contact for every new client conversation and the editorial author of the UK Fractional Director Rate Report 2026 published on this site.
Before founding the consultancy, David spent more than 20 years in senior IT and business roles across professional services, healthcare and the public sector. That operating experience underpins how Leadership Services thinks about director placement — the firm is run by an operator who has sat in the chairs it now fills, not a recruiter or a consultancy executive who has not. Read more about David's background and editorial standards on his author page.

Our Values
Every fractional director engagement we run is shaped by five operating values.

Accountability
We take ownership of outcomes, not activity. Our directors are measured on the results they deliver, not the hours they log. If something isn't working, the director is the first to say so — and the first to fix it.
Integrity
We give honest advice, even when it isn't what a client wants to hear. Our reputation is built on directors who will tell a founder when their pricing is wrong, their board pack is broken, or their cost base needs cutting. That candour is the whole point of the model.
Collaboration
We work alongside your team, not above them. The best fractional director engagements blend our directors' senior expertise with your team's in-depth knowledge of your customers, your products, and your operating context.
Continuous Improvement
The UK business landscape changes constantly — AI, regulation, hiring, capital markets, cost of debt. We keep our directors close to current practice and challenge our clients to keep raising the bar.
Pragmatism
We focus on what works in practice, not what looks tidy in a strategy deck. Our advice is grounded in real commercial experience across hundreds of UK SME and mid-market engagements.

Your First 90 Days With a Fractional Director
Most fractional director engagements follow the same shape in the first quarter. Here's what to expect.

Days 1 to 30: Discovery
Your director maps the function from the inside — interviews with your management team and key reports, review of historical data and existing strategies, identification of the highest-impact priorities. By day 30 you have a one-page prioritised plan endorsed by both the director and the founder or MD.
Days 31 to 60: Strategy and Early Wins
Your fractional director begins execution. Quick wins land first — the visible improvements that build confidence and momentum. Longer-term initiatives kick off in parallel: new reporting cadences, system selections, role redesigns, pricing reviews, board pack rebuilds.
Days 61 to 90: Momentum
By the end of the quarter you have clear KPIs in place, early commercial results to point to, and a team that is better aligned around the director's plan. Your director runs a formal 90-day review with the founder or board, then sets the next quarterly objectives.

Flexible Engagement Models
Different businesses need different engagement intensities. Most UK SMEs we work with sit in the fractional retainer band, but we run all five models below.

Advisory Retainer
From £1,795 per month for 4 to 8 hours of senior input. Ideal for founders who need a sounding board, a board observer, or a monthly numbers review — without the cost of a fractional engagement.
Fractional Retainer
From £4,000 to £8,000/month for one to two days a week of embedded leadership. Our most common engagement model — used by UK SMEs of £1m to £25m revenue across every discipline.
Intensive Fractional
From £7,000 to £14,000/month for two to three days a week. Used during fundraises, post-acquisition integrations, major system implementations, or turnaround year one.
Interim Director
Full-time cover for a defined period — vacancy bridge, transformation programme, or PE-backed value-creation mandate. Typically £22,000 to £30,000 per month at SME and mid-market scale.
Project Fees
Fixed-fee engagements for specific deliverables: fundraise preparation, ERP implementation oversight, financial due diligence, board pack rebuild, marketing audit. Typically £4,000 to £25,000 depending on scope.

FREE DOWNLOAD · 12 PAGES
UK Fractional Director Rate Report 2026
The independent benchmark on day rates, retainers and total cost of ownership for fractional CFOs, CMOs, CIOs, CTOs, COOs, CPOs and Chief People Officers in the UK.
Get the Rate Report →
£900–£1,500
Typical UK day-rate band

What UK Clients Say
Three of our clients on the difference a fractional director made to their business.

Rated 4.9 out of 5 from 33 verified client reviews on Reviews.io
“Within three months our financial controls were transformed. The part-time Finance Director paid for herself many times over.”
Founder, Manufacturing SME “We had tried consultants before and been disappointed. Having a director who was actually part of the team made all the difference.”
Managing Director, Professional Services Firm “The speed of start was the unlock. Within a week we had someone in the chair making decisions we'd been stuck on for months.”
Board Chair, PE-backed Scale-up

Frequently Asked Questions About Fractional Directors

What types of fractional director can Leadership Services provide?
We provide fractional and part-time directors across Finance (CFO, FD), Marketing (CMO, Marketing Director), Technology (CIO, CTO, IT Director), Operations (COO, Operations Director), Sales and Commercial (CSO, CCO, Sales Director), Product (CPO, Director of Product), HR and People (CHRO, HR Director), and Data and AI (CDO, Data Director). We can also provide Managing Directors and Non-Executive Directors where required.

How is a fractional director different from a consultant?
A consultant typically delivers advice, analysis and recommendations, then hands over to your team to implement. A fractional director takes an active leadership role — they embed within your business, manage people and budgets, attend board meetings, and are accountable for results. The key distinction is ownership and accountability for outcomes, not just for the document on the desk.

How much does it cost to engage a part-time director with Leadership Services?
Our fractional directors are available from £1,795 per month for advisory engagements. Standard fractional retainers at one to two days a week run £4,000 to £8,000 per month. Intensive fractional engagements at two to three days a week run £7,000 to £14,000 per month. Full-time interim mandates are typically £22,000 to £30,000 per month. There are no recruitment fees, employer NI, pension or benefits costs, and no equity dilution. Full pricing detail is in our UK Fractional Director Rate Report 2026.

How quickly can a fractional director start?
In most cases we have a director in place within one week of your initial consultation. Once you approve the proposal and we confirm the match, your director can begin attending meetings and reviewing materials within a few working days. That is three to nine months faster than a typical permanent executive search.

Is there a minimum contract length?
There is no long-term contract. We ask for a short initial commitment — typically one to three months — to let the engagement gain traction. Beyond that, you are free to continue, scale, or conclude the arrangement with minimal notice.

What happens if the fractional director is not the right fit?
It rarely happens because of the matching process up-front, but if it does we act fast. Leadership Services will arrange a replacement at no additional cost. Our bench of 70+ directors gives us the depth to re-match quickly. Our goal is a long-term working relationship, and that only works when the fit is right from the start.

What UK sectors do you work across?
We have placed fractional CFOs across UK manufacturing and professional services, fractional CMOs in SaaS and B2B technology, fractional CIOs and fractional CTOs across regulated FinTech and product organisations, and fractional COOs across multi-site operations and post-acquisition integrations. Our director network spans 25+ defined UK sectors including healthcare, education, retail and ecommerce, hospitality, construction, public sector and not-for-profit.

Can a fractional director convert to a permanent appointment?
Yes, and roughly one in five of our engagements eventually do. The fractional model is often used as a structured route to identify whether a permanent C-suite hire is the right call. If the business outgrows the fractional model and both sides want to convert, we facilitate that without a recruitment fee.

Who owns the work product the fractional director produces?
You do. Every strategy document, financial model, board pack, system specification, marketing plan, and operating procedure produced by your fractional director is the property of your business. We work under standard UK commercial terms with explicit IP assignment.

Do you operate outside the United Kingdom?
Our primary market is the UK and the Republic of Ireland. We have selectively supported UK-headquartered clients with operations in mainland Europe, the United States, and Asia where one of our directors has relevant cross-border experience. We do not place directors into businesses headquartered outside the UK and Ireland.

Ready to Talk to a Fractional Director?

Book a free 30-minute discovery call with David Bailey, our Managing Director. We'll talk through your situation, the function you're hiring into, and whether a fractional, interim, or advisory engagement makes the most sense for where the business is now.

Talk to David Bailey about a fractional director
30-minute discovery call. No obligation. Same-week response guaranteed.
Book a call Get the Rate Report

### Why Leadership Services? | Expert Part-Time Directors UK
URL: https://leadership-services.co.uk/why-leadership-services/

Why Leadership Services?
The UK’s leading provider of part-time and fractional Directors. Board-level talent for growing businesses — without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire.
Get Started Call 0330 236 8932

500+
Vetted Directors
25+
UK Sectors
5
Days to Placement
4.9/5
Client Rating

What Makes Us Different

Unlike traditional recruitment agencies, Leadership Services does not simply introduce candidates. Our Directors embed directly into your senior team, working alongside your leadership to deliver results from day one. Engagements are fully flexible — with no fixed-term contracts, no long notice periods, and no recruitment fees.
Founded to give growing companies access to board-level talent without the cost or commitment of a full-time executive hire, Leadership Services places experienced Directors directly into client organisations on a flexible, part-time basis.

Our Bench of 500+ Directors
A deep bench covering every key business function with experienced, board-level talent.

Finance Directors
Fractional CFO / FD — financial strategy, investor relations, cash flow management, board reporting
Marketing Directors
Fractional CMO — brand positioning, demand generation, digital strategy, team leadership
Operations Directors
Fractional COO — process improvement, operational efficiency, supply chain, scaling
Sales Directors
Fractional CSO — revenue growth, sales team building, pipeline development, go-to-market
IT Directors & CIOs
Fractional CIO / IT Director — technology strategy, digital transformation, infrastructure
HR Directors
Fractional CHRO — people strategy, talent acquisition, culture, employment law compliance
Data Directors
Fractional CDO — data strategy, analytics, AI readiness, governance
AI Leadership
Artificial intelligence strategy, implementation oversight, ethics and governance
Commercial Directors
Business development, partnerships, commercial strategy

Experience & Track Record

Every Director in the Leadership Services network has a minimum of 10 years of board-level experience and a verified track record of success in their discipline. All placements are made within 5 business days of engagement, and Directors are available from as little as 1 day per week.
Leadership Services operates across more than 25 sectors including technology, professional services, financial services, retail, manufacturing, healthcare, education, and hospitality.

Investment

Leadership Services
per month — no recruitment fees, no long-term contracts
Full-Time Hire
per year — plus benefits, on-costs, and recruitment fees

Frequently Asked Questions

Ready to Get Started?

Book a free, no-obligation discovery call — or phone us directly on 0330 236 8932.

Ready to bring experienced leadership to your business?
Tell us what you're working on and we'll match you with the right director — usually the same working day.
Get Started


## Contact

- [Contact us](https://leadership-services.co.uk/contact/): Book a call or send a message
- Email: hello@leadership-services.co.uk
- Phone: 0330 236 8932