Engagement model
Interim Executive Recruitment
Interim executive recruitment for time-limited senior leadership requirements, where experience has to be useful immediately and waiting is the expensive option.
Interim executive recruitment is the appointment of an experienced senior leader for a defined period to hold or change performance in a specific situation.
Interim is not simply a temporary permanent hire. The assignment exists because of a situation, and it is defined by what must be true when it ends.
That distinction changes everything about the appointment: the onboarding time available, the authority granted on day one, and the fact that you are buying experience already held rather than potential to grow into a role.
When an interim executive is the right model
A sudden executive departure
A function is exposed, and the business needs credible leadership in place while the permanent decision is made properly.
A leadership gap
A role has been vacant or under-covered for long enough that performance and confidence are drifting.
Transformation
A structural change to the commercial or operating model needs to be led by somebody who is not part of its history.
Turnaround
Performance has deteriorated and the business needs experienced judgement quickly, not a learning curve.
Acquisition and integration
Two businesses, teams or systems must be brought together within a defined period.
Restructuring
A function is being rebuilt, and leading that is a different task from running the result.
Rapid growth
The business has scaled faster than its structure, and needs senior capability while the permanent shape is decided.
Project or programme leadership
A specific, bounded piece of work requires executive-level ownership.
Cover before a permanent hire
The permanent mandate is not yet clear, and an interim both holds the position and helps define what should follow.
What a strong interim brief establishes
The situation
What has happened, and what is at risk if nothing changes for three months.
The end condition
What must be true when the assignment finishes, stated in terms somebody could verify.
Authority
What the interim can decide, over whom, and what still requires board approval.
Duration and review
The intended period and when it will be reviewed honestly rather than extended by default.
Handover
Who inherits the position, and in what state it is expected to be handed over.
Interim 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
Interim commercial terms depend on the assignment: the seniority required, the time commitment and the expected duration. They are agreed with you in writing before an assignment begins.
We do not publish standard executive day rates, and Phase 1 of this division makes no claim to hold a standing bench of interim executives. Where we cannot credibly serve an interim requirement, we say so rather than run a search on hope.
Executive recruitment enquiry
Discuss an interim executive requirement.
Tell us what has happened and when cover is needed. We will come back on whether interim leadership is the right response and what the assignment should be asked to achieve.
Common questions
An experienced senior leader appointed for a defined period to lead through a specific situation — a departure, a transformation, an integration or a turnaround — rather than to occupy an ongoing role.
When leadership is needed faster than a permanent appointment can realistically be made, when the requirement has a foreseeable end, or when the permanent mandate should not be decided under pressure.
Interim is typically full-time or near full-time for a defined period in a specific situation. Fractional is an ongoing arrangement at reduced days, where the requirement is continuous but smaller than a full-time role.
Faster than a permanent appointment, because availability is part of the requirement. We do not publish guaranteed start windows; the honest answer depends on the role and the market at the time.
Sometimes, and it can work well when both sides want it. It should not be assumed at the outset: recruiting for an immediate situation and recruiting for a long-term mandate are different decisions.
All eleven roles in this architecture, although the pattern differs. Interim finance and operations leadership is common during transition; interim CEO and Managing Director appointments are usually tied to a specific board situation.
Often it is the better model. An interim executive can lead a difficult structural change without carrying its history, and without having to live with every relationship formed during it.
Per assignment, against seniority, time commitment and duration, agreed in writing before the assignment begins. We do not publish standard day rates.