A fractional operations manager takes ownership of your processes, systems and delivery. Flexible operations leadership for UK service businesses.
The life of a founder is stressful. Delivery, finances, sales, marketing, legal, admin and a personal life all compete for the same hours.
Something has to give, but your business has to keep running. Does this sound familiar?
From a thinking partnership to someone running operations for you, the right support stops the business depending on you.
Designing processes and systems your team can run, with hands-on leadership when you need it.
A flexible approach that adapts as your business does.
What you pay depends on how much ownership you want to hand over.
Essential information on fractional operations management.
Fractional is a resourcing support model that provides you with access to an expert part-time, usually 1-2 days per week. This engagement can be scaled up and down as required.
A fractional operations manager can support you with day-to-day work such as handling customers, managing delivery or engaging with suppliers. They can also lead strategic initiatives that help you in the long-term, for example process improvement activities, system implementations or employee training. A key benefit of fractional support is the flexibility to tackle the most pressing challenges, so the areas of focus can vary from month to month.
Engagements are priced as a monthly retainer: advisory from £440, operations improvement from £2,700 and operations ownership from £6,750 a month. What you pay depends on how much ownership you want to hand over.
Agencies, consultancies and professional services of roughly 5 to 20 people. Solo founders and teams under five are best suited to advisory support. If the operations workload can fill a full-time role, it's generally better to hire permanently instead.
A consultant advises on what to do within a time-bound engagement. A fractional operations manager delivers on improvement initiatives and owns the outcome, often embedded within your team.
Engagements start with a one-month minimum. That gives us time to understand how your business works and deliver your first improvements.
Typically within a few weeks of the discovery call, once the services agreement is signed and system access is in place. Fractional onboarding is fast by design, though you will still need to hand over context in the first month.
Yes, and most clients do. Two to three days a week during a growth period, dropping back to one or two when things stabilise. Changes are agreed month to month.
We are based in London and most fractional engagements run remotely, although occasional on-site work is possible.
Eight articles explaining fractional working end-to-end, from working out whether you need one to what your first 90 days together look like.
Bring the problems you want solved and where you want the business to go. In 30 minutes you’ll know whether fractional operations support is right for you.
