Engagement model
Fractional Executive Recruitment
Fractional executive recruitment for businesses that need real senior leadership — direction, authority and accountability — without committing to a full-time executive appointment.
Fractional executive recruitment is sourcing an experienced senior leader to work with a business on an ongoing part-time basis, carrying genuine leadership accountability.
Fractional is a leadership model. The executive sets direction, attends the meetings where decisions are made, and is accountable for outcomes within an agreed rhythm.
It is not cheap consulting, a part-time junior role, or casual mentoring. A fractional executive with no authority and no operating rhythm becomes an adviser, and advisers do not carry outcomes.
When a fractional executive is the right model
Growing, but not ready for a board hire
The business needs functional leadership now and will need it permanently later, but cannot yet justify the salary.
Founder-led and stretched
The founder is still running a function personally and needs senior capability to take it on properly.
A specialist requirement
The task needs unusual seniority or expertise rather than volume of hours.
Preparing for the next stage
Investment, expansion or succession is coming, and the structure should be built before it arrives.
A gap that does not justify five days
The leadership requirement is genuine but the workload is one or two days a week, honestly assessed.
International oversight
An overseas territory, partner or subsidiary needs experienced oversight on a regular rhythm.
Transition before permanent recruitment
The business wants the function working properly before it defines and recruits the permanent role.
What makes a fractional arrangement work
Real authority
Decisions the executive can take without convening the board, agreed at the start.
A fixed rhythm
Regular days, regular meetings and a reporting cadence, rather than availability on demand.
A defined remit
What the executive owns and, just as importantly, what remains with the founder or management team.
An honest review point
A scheduled conversation about whether the days are right, and whether the requirement has grown into a permanent role.
Fractional Executive Recruitment or Evans Fractional Commercial Leadership?
Two genuinely different propositions, and the distinction matters before you choose.
Evans leads the function directly
Fractional Commercial Leadership: Evans Sales Consultancy takes on commercial leadership of your business — strategy, pipeline, team and conversion — as the provider.
Evans sources a fractional executive for you
Fractional Executive Recruitment: we identify and help appoint an external fractional executive, including in functions Evans does not lead, such as finance, operations or technical leadership.
Fractional Executive Recruitment by role
Every role below has a page written specifically for this engagement model.
General Management
Leadership of the business itself: direction, accountability and the management team.
- Chief Executive OfficerCarries overall accountability to the board for strategy, organisational performance and enterprise direction.
- Managing DirectorLeads the operational and commercial running of a company or division: P&L, the management team and growth delivery.
Commercial & Revenue
Leadership of revenue, commercial strategy, pricing, partnerships and sales performance.
- Chief Revenue OfficerOwns revenue architecture across sales, marketing and customer revenue, and the systems that make growth predictable.
- Sales DirectorLeads the sales function: target market, pipeline, team, forecasting and conversion.
- Commercial DirectorOwns pricing, contracts, partnerships and commercial strategy — the terms a business trades on, not the sales team leading the trading.
- Head of SalesLeads the sales team's execution of an agreed plan: pipeline, process, activity and performance.
Finance
Financial leadership: capital, governance, control, reporting and planning.
- Chief Financial OfficerLeads the finance function: capital structure, financial governance, strategic finance and board-level financial decision-making.
- Finance DirectorLeads the finance function: control, reporting, planning, cash and commercial finance.
Operations & Technical
Delivery, capacity, quality, technical standards and operational scale.
- Chief Operating OfficerLeads enterprise operations: delivery, process, scale and cross-functional execution.
- Operations DirectorLeads operational delivery: capacity, quality, efficiency and the performance of the teams and processes that produce it.
- Technical DirectorLeads technical and engineering capability: standards, technical strategy, product or process integrity and technical team leadership.
Not sure which engagement model fits?
The role is the same question. The engagement model answers a different one: how long the leadership is needed, how quickly, and how much of it.
| Permanent | Interim | Fractional | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The requirement | Ongoing and structural | Time-limited and situational | Ongoing but not full-time |
| Typical trigger | Succession, growth, a leadership gap that must be owned internally | Sudden departure, transformation, integration, turnaround | Founder-led business, small team, earlier stage than the ambition |
| What you are buying | Long-term leadership and continuity | Immediate experience in a defined situation | Senior capability matched to the size of the requirement |
| Tenure | Indefinite | Defined period | Ongoing, reviewed |
| Authority | Full functional authority | Clear authority for the assignment | Genuine leadership authority within agreed days |
| Commercial basis | Success-fee recruitment | Agreed per assignment | Agreed per assignment |
Commercial terms are agreed before anything begins. We do not publish standard executive day rates.
Commercial model
Fractional commercial terms depend on the assignment: the role, the seniority required and the days involved. They are agreed with you in writing before anything begins.
We do not publish monthly or daily executive pricing, and Phase 1 makes no claim to an established fractional executive bench or network. Where a requirement cannot be served credibly, we will say so.
Executive recruitment enquiry
Discuss a fractional executive requirement.
Tell us what the function looks like today and how much leadership it genuinely needs. We will come back on the model, the days and whether sourcing an executive or Evans leading directly is the better answer.
Common questions
An experienced senior leader who works with a business on an ongoing part-time basis and carries genuine leadership accountability, rather than advising from the side.
It is agreed per arrangement, commonly one or two days a week. What matters more than the number is that the days are regular and carry real authority.
Fractional is ongoing senior leadership at reduced time. Interim is near full-time leadership for a defined period in a specific situation, such as a sudden departure or a restructure.
Where the leadership requirement is real but the workload, stage or budget does not yet justify a full-time executive. It also lets a business establish what leadership changes before committing to a permanent structure.
It happens and can be a sensible route into a permanent appointment. It should be discussed openly at the start rather than assumed.
Commercial, finance, operations and technical leadership are the most common. Fractional CEO and Managing Director arrangements exist but are less common and depend heavily on the size and situation of the business.
In Fractional Commercial Leadership, Evans Sales Consultancy leads your commercial function directly. In Fractional Executive Recruitment, we source an external fractional executive to lead a function for you — including functions Evans does not lead itself.
No. A consultant recommends; a fractional executive decides, leads people and is accountable for outcomes within the agreed remit.