Fractional hiring is an emerging staffing strategy that is growing in popularity among professional services firms. With the rise of remote work, there are now more executives than ever looking for fractional roles.
A fractional executive acts more like an in-house team member than an outside consultant, which makes their support extremely flexible. Their capabilities range from leading cross-departmental projects, to representing your organization with external stakeholders, to working independently on specific projects.
Hiring a fractional executive offers three key benefits for organizations who aren’t ready to add another full-time member to their executive team but need additional capacity:
- Cost-Effective & Low-Risk Staffing: Fractional executives provide the expertise of a full-time leader at a fraction of the cost. You can save on benefits and hiring expenses while benefiting from the flexibility to adjust or cancel contracts with minimal financial risk.
- Rapid Access to Talent: With fractional hiring, you can fill leadership gaps in a matter of weeks. Fractional executive staffing firms offer a streamlined hiring process, matching companies with highly vetted candidates who can start making an impact immediately, without the need to create a job description or set up an applicant tracking system.
- Enhanced Focus on Your Vision: Delegating tasks that fall outside your zone of genius to a fractional executive can give you the emotional, mental, and physical capacity to step back from the day-to-day and focus on the direction of your business as a whole — not the tasks that zap your energy.
A fractional executive provides part-time leadership tailored to your specific needs. In the last few years, the number of executives looking for remote, fractional roles has increased significantly, making it possible to fill more roles than ever before with a fractional executive. Here are four roles that we think every professional services firm should know about.
Fractional Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Have you ever hesitated to make a big financial decision because you weren’t sure what the best move was? A fractional CFO can help you make better decisions by giving you a more holistic understanding of your financial situation. During a fractional engagement, a CFO might help you restructure debt to reduce borrowing costs, negotiate better payment terms with clients, and establish financial processes that will help you understand and manage your financial position better.
Some of the signs that you need a fractional CFO are:
- You never know exactly how much cash you have available to invest
- You’re billing clients late, which is causing cash flow problems
- You can’t accurately calculate your profit margin
A fractional CFO can help you transition from basic accounting to more advanced financial management.
How a Digital Marketing Company Scaled Up Financial Operations with a Fractional CFO
Recently, a company that offers digital marketing solutions for credit unions leveraged a vChief fractional CFO to clean up their financials, support their Series A fundraising efforts, implement effective financial reporting metrics, and provide strategic guidance on accounting best practices. The fractional CFO also mentored the accounting team, improved commission calculations, assisted with HR and IRS filings, and led a forensic accounting project.
Fractional Chief of Staff (CoS)/Associate Chief of Staff (ACoS)
When you run into short-term capacity issues — from situations like a sudden employee departure, a spike in client demand, or a major growth period — a fractional chief of staff or associate chief of staff can help you expand your bandwidth and continue to meet client expectations.
A chief of staff is a skilled generalist who can provide strategic counsel and high-level execution of a wide variety of tasks. They’re a force multiplier who makes teams more effective by connecting siloed workstreams, taking the lead on strategic initiatives that don’t fall neatly into anyone’s job description, and facilitating more productive meetings. Fractional chief of staff candidates typically have at least 12 years of professional experience, and many have served in C-level positions.
Another flexible support role available to small business leaders is an associate chief of staff. An associate chief of staff is a senior level individual contributor who typically operates at a manager level, whether that be an operations manager, project manager, or systems and process manager. Like the chief of staff, they are generalists who can bridge gaps before a full-time hire, step in during unexpected absences, or manage special projects that have been lingering on your to-do list for months. An associate chief of staff candidate will typically have at least 8 years of professional experience, but may not have served in a C-level position, so their support is usually available at a lower price point than a fractional chief of staff.
How a Marketing Agency Covered an Executive Absence with a Fractional ACoS
A small outsourced marketing agency turned to vChief to provide fractional support while one of the two co-founders took parental leave. We matched them with an ACoS who helped with a variety of urgent client projects, including launching a website, taking the lead on a CRM migration, and working through the revision process for creative assets. The ACoS also led an internal organization project to implement ClickUp project management software and optimize it for the agency’s workflows — something that had been lingering on the co-founders’ to-do list for months.
Fractional Chief Operating Officer (COO)
A fractional COO is a senior operations leader who can develop streamlined systems to address bottlenecks caused by company growth.
Some of the challenges a fractional COO can help with include:
- Spending too much time on inefficient processes
- Struggling to evaluate the success of your efforts
- Losing profits because of escalating overhead costs
The fresh perspective a fractional COO brings can help them identify inefficiencies and gaps in your current processes and ask questions you might never think to ask. They can introduce new systems for organization, identify opportunities to reduce costs, and introduce KPIs to measure the health of each part of your business. They may identify areas where different skills and talent are needed — getting the right people in the right roles can be a major challenge as your business evolves.
How an IT Firm Streamlined Operations with a Fractional COO
An IT and professional services firm came to us when they needed help optimizing their organizational structure, streamlining operations, and setting a foundation for growth. We matched them with an experienced fractional COO who evaluated and restructured their organization for greater efficiency, implemented a tailored project management system, and trained their teams on how to use it. On the financial side, the fractional COO developed strategic financial plans, set up budgeting processes, and optimized contract management to ensure compliance and mitigate risks.
Fractional Integrator
Growing professional services firms often need stronger leadership-team alignment and execution as they scale. A fractional Integrator helps executive teams stay aligned by creating the structure, accountability, and clear ownership needed to resolve issues faster and keep priorities moving consistently across functions.
How a Cyber Security Firm Strengthened Execution with a Fractional Integrator
A mid-sized cyber security firm leveraged a vChief fractional Integrator to strengthen leadership alignment and execution. Their responsibilities included helping the team define and articulate long-term goals, creating a strategic roadmap, setting clear quarterly priorities and KPIs, and keeping owners accountable for follow-through.
Achieve Your Goals With Less Stress with a Fractional Executive
For professional services firms, fractional executives can be a great solution for filling the gaps in your expertise and alleviating capacity issues across your team.
Not sure where to start? Begin by identifying your biggest operational pain point, whether it’s operations, strategic planning, or capacity restrictions, and see if a fractional executive can provide the expertise and support you need without the long-term commitment and overhead. Answer six short questions to determine the right fractional executive for your organization or schedule a call with our team to discuss the right fit for you.
