A trusted partner for CEOs and founders
A fractional Chief Operating Officer (COO) is a senior executive who works closely with a CEO or founder to deliver their vision for the business. A fractional leader may hold part-time leadership roles across more than one company.
They give part of their professional attention, effort and expertise to a business, but it’s not only about time. A fractional COO’s contribution is measured primarily on value, impact, or results.
A fractional Chief Operating Officer brings real-world experience and expertise, working as both a subject matter expert and an executor of the COO role within the business.
The fractional Chief Operating Officer is like glue for the organisation, holding everything together, providing organisational cadence, relentlessly executing a business plan and holding leadership teams to account.
What does a fractional COO actually do?
The day-to-day work of a fractional Chief Operating Officer depends on the business, but there are common patterns that I see. A fractional COO typically:
- Translates vision into an operating plan. The founder sets the vision/direction. The fractional COO turns that into a plan with clear goals, owners and timelines and then holds people to it.
- Builds and improves operational systems. From hiring processes to delivery workflows to reporting cadences, a fractional COO designs the systems that allow your business to scale without the founder being involved in every decision.
- Leads the leadership team. A fractional COO often runs or supports the operating rhythm of the business – things like leadership meetings, quarterly planning, cross-functional alignment – so that the senior team works as a unit rather than a collection of departmental silos or solo players.
- Troubleshoots what’s broken. Scaling businesses hit new problems constantly and a good fractional COO has usually seen these problems before in previous roles with previous businesses. This pattern recognition means they can diagnose and fix them faster than someone encountering them for the first time.
- Manages key projects and initiatives. Whether it’s a technology migration, a new market launch or an organisational restructure, a fractional COO can take ownership of the initiatives that matter most delivering transformation and change at pace.
- Coaches and develops the team. A strong fractional COO builds capability as they go, mentoring mid-level leaders and raising the operational maturity of the whole organisation.
In some businesses, the fractional COO role also extends into specific functional areas such as overseeing customer operations, delivery, or even product depending on the team’s composition and where the gaps are.
Fractional COO responsibilities
The responsibilities of fractional Chief Operating Officers vary widely depending on the needs of the business.
Some fractional COOs can run entire businesses or significant parts of them, taking full accountability for P&L. This common in later stage scale-ups / more mature businesses.
Other fractional COOs roles operate with less direct line responsibility. Instead they focus on troubleshooting and problem solving as an extension of the CEO’s role remit. This type of fractional COO role is seen more in start-ups and early stage scale-ups.
Fractional COO as a generalist
The dynamic and pivotal role that the fractional Chief Operating Officer plays in leading a business demands a wide set of skills.
Fractional COOs are often strong generalists who have worked in leadership roles spanning core disciplines such as growth, delivery, customer, product and engineering.
A good fractional COO is able to build relationships with leaders from across the business, articulating the CEO’s vision and making it relevant and accessible for every part of the organisation.
Partner to founders and CEOs
The partnership between the founder or CEO and the fractional COO sets the tone for the wider leadership group and is at the heart of growth.
A strong, supportive and trusting relationship enables the business to grow at pace.
The fractional COO operationalises the founder or CEO’s vision for the business and becomes a trusted confidante.
Scaling businesses pay close attention to the design of the founder or CEO and fractional COO roles to ensure there’s a clear and distinct set of accountabilities for each.
Fractional or consultant?
Consultants usually tell you what to do. A fractional COO joins you in getting stuff done – it’s hands-on and delivery-focussed.
A fractional COO generates significant value and leverage for the time invested. They’re not afraid to integrate with a team and get their hands dirty. The fractional Chief Operating Officer role is ideal for businesses that have product/market fit and have funding to scale.
It’s often a stepping stone to making the first full-time COO hire, without the risk, timescale and cost of bringing a full timer in early.
Signs you might benefit from a fractional COO
Founders often recognise they need operational help long before they act on it. Here are the five most common signals I’ve noticed in my work with founders since 2014:
- You’re the bottleneck. If every decision, escalation and approval still flows through you, you’ve outgrown the founder-led operating model that you started out with (but probably didn’t recognise at that stage). If your team can’t or won’t move without you and you can’t focus on the strategic work that only you can do, those are signs of a bottleneck in the business.
- Growth is creating more problems than it solves. You’re winning work and hiring people but things feel harder, not easier. I’m talking about things like communication breaking down, deadlines slipping or quality dropping. Zooming out, that’s because the systems that got you to this point aren’t built for the next stage.
- You’re firefighting constantly. When your days are consumed by urgent problems rather than important work, it usually means your operational foundations (things like processes, accountability, communication) aren’t robust enough.
- You’re hiring, but output isn’t scaling proportionally. Adding people without adding the right amount of operational structure means you’re scaling cost without scaling capability. A fractional COO builds the systems that make new hires productive faster.
- You know you need a COO, but can’t justify the cost (yet). A full-time COO at the right calibre is a bit bet. A fractional COO gives you access to that experience now at a fraction of the cost, while you build towards the full-time role. I often define the full-time COO role for my clients, help them select the right COO and then lead on-boarding.
A fractional COO vs a full-time COO?
The question founders ask me isn’t usually whether they need operational leadership, it’s more often about how much they need and when.
A full-time COO typically makes sense when the business has a team of 50+ people, has consistent revenue to support a senior salary (£150,000 to £250,000+ in the UK, or $250,000 to $450,000+ in the US when you include benefits, on-costs, equity etc) and has enough operational complexity to keep a full-time senior executive genuinely busy five days a week.
A fractional COO is the right fit when you need the experience and impact of a senior operator but you’re not yet at the scale or budget for a full-time hire. In my experience that often means businesses with 10 to 80 people and annual revenue between £1m to £15m.
In my experience the fractional model also works well as a bridge between no operational leader and a full-time COO. Many businesses bring in a fractional COO to build the operational foundations, define the role and eventually hire a full-time replacement – having already de-risked the process.
How much does a fractional COO cost?
Fractional COO costs vary depending on the level of experience, the scope of the engagement and how many days per week they work with you. To give you a general guide:
- In the UK, expect to invest between £3,000 and £10,000 per month for a fractional COO working the equivalent of one to three days per week. The equivalent full-time COO salary would typically be £150,000 to £250,000+ per year before benefits, pension and equity.
- In the US, fractional COO retainers typically range from $5,000 to $20,000 per month, depending on experience and scope. A comparable full-time COO package would cost $250,000 to $450,000+ annually.
The cost difference is significant but the real value is in the leverage that the right fractional COO can give you. A skilled fractional COO working two days a week can often create more operational impact than a less experienced full-time hire, because they’ve done this before in multiple businesses, across multiple sectors – and they know how to organise people, teams and systems to make a big difference fast. They’re not learning on the job.
A fractional COO vs an operations consultant
This is a distinction worth understanding because the two roles are often confused. I get asked this a lot (especially as I sometimes work as an operations consultant alongside my fractional work).
An operations consultant is typically engaged for a defined project. They analyse your business, diagnose problems and deliver a set of recommendations or changes. Then they leave and you’re responsible for implementation or making the change stick.
A fractional COO is embedded in your business. They don’t just tell you what to do, they do it with you. They attend your leadership meetings, build relationships with your team and take accountability for operational outcomes. They’re hands-on and delivery-focussed.
The consultant model works well when you need specialist expertise for a specific problem. The fractional COO model works better when you need ongoing operational leadership from someone who understands the full context of your business and can drive execution over months rather than weeks.
Frequently asked questions about fractional COOs
Most fractional COOs work between one and three days per week, though the exact arrangement depends on the needs of the business. Some engagements start at one day and scale up as the business grows. The key is that a fractional COO’s contribution is measured on impact, not hours. It’s not just a part-time version of a full-time role.
In my experience businesses with 10 to 80 people tend to get the most value from a fractional COO. At this stage, the operational complexity demands experienced leadership, but the scale doesn’t yet justify a full-time COO salary. Scale-ups that have found product-market fit and are funded to grow are the ideal profile.
Typical engagements run from six months to two years. Some businesses use a fractional COO as a permanent part of their leadership model while others bring one in to build operational foundations before hiring a full-time COO. Both approaches can work well.
It depends. Many fractional COOs work remotely or in a hybrid model, particularly with distributed or remote-first teams. What matters is that they’re fully embedded in your communication channels such as Slack, email and regular calls and are present for key meetings and workshops. If your business works fully face-to-face, being an effective remote fractional COO is going to be harder.
In practice, the roles are very similar. “Fractional operations director” has historicallly been more common in UK businesses, while “fractional COO” is the preferred term in the US and in venture-backed companies. The scope, seniority and day-to-day responsibilities can be broadly equivalent. In some businesses there may be a distinction between strategic and tactical operational responsibilities, but this is less so in smaller businesses where fractional work is more common.
No, not really. An interim COO is usually a full-time temporary replacement who is covering a gap while a permanent hire is found. A fractional COO is a part-time engagement by design, often running alongside the founder or CEO rather than replacing someone. The fractional model is built for businesses that need experienced operational leadership but not necessarily full-time coverage.
Working with me as your fractional COO.
How I work as a fractional COO.
I work part-time in your leadership team as Chief Operating Officer. As a fractional COO I lead teams, represent your business and am fully embedded within your company.
I only work with one business as fractional COO at once. That means you, your leadership team and investors get:
Hands-on, high leverage experienced senior leadership
Equivalent of one, two or three days per week working hands-on within your team as your COO
Unlimited 1:1 access to me via Slack, email & phone
Access to my personal network of specialists
Best fit for my fractional COO service.
My fractional COO service is optimised to deliver most value to businesses have achieved enough product-market fit and are funded to scale. In my experience good-fit companies will typically:
Have a team of at least 10 people
Be aiming for substantial annual revenue growth
Have an open, results-oriented mindset
Value progressive and agile principles
Have a remote or hybrid workstyle
Be ready to hire a full-time COO within 12 months
I work remotely, primarily with UK and USA-based businesses.
Not a good fit? I can help you find the right fractional COO.
“I’d known Simon at a distance for over a decade, but only started working directly with him in 2023 – and wished I’d brought him in before! He came into the senior team at my ecommerce SaaS platform with a consummate skill at collaborative improvement. He has made a big difference in team re-directing and re-energizing – and really got things done. He combines both a high emotional EQ and systemising skills, which is not so common. 100% recommended.”
Deri Jones, founder & CEO at ThinkTribe
“Simon is a serious company builder. He knows how to take a founder’s vision for their business and make it real step by step. He’s got a collaborative and thoughtful approach to leading teams and getting things done. If you want a trusted partner in scaling your business, work with Simon.”
Tim Deeson, serial exited founder & advisor to early stage start-ups
“As a fractional executive in our leadership team, Simon designed and implemented several new processes that have significantly improved our operational efficiency. Notably, he introduced our new 1:1s to enhance team engagement and helped create a new ‘lead to sale’ process for our agency. Simon is a collaborative and supportive executive in whom we had trust and confidence from the start. He listens and advises, leveraging his extensive agency and consultancy experience to build trust with the team and deliver results quickly.“
Peter O’Brien, Co-founder & Creative Director, Hidden Creative
“Simon has an outstanding skill set and extensive experience in technology, business operations and management. He is easy to work with and can effectively draw on his skills and experience to help solve problems with calm authority and creativity. I highly recommend Simon to anyone looking for efficient, energetic and effective support.”
Neil Benson, serial biotech founder at Xenologiq, Quantlmed & Sevenless Therapeutics
Work with a fractional COO from my trusted network.
As an experienced fractional Chief Operating Officer, I have an extensive network of fractional COOs with a broad range of experience and skillsets.
If my fractional COO service isn’t right for you, I might be able to help you find a fractional COO.
