The fractional executive market index
Long-run demand and posted compensation across 1,049 qualified fractional listings, plus a separate snapshot of the roles open now.
All-time market coverage
Deduplicated historical records that pass the current qualification gate. Weekly snapshots are not added together.
Historical listings and posted hourly pay by role
Role counts use all qualified listings. Compensation statistics use only valid employer-posted hourly ranges; annual and monthly pay stay in their original units.
| Role | All-time listings | Median posted hourly | Middle 80% | Hourly sample |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fractional CFO | 311 | $92/hr | $53-$134/hr | n=64 |
| Fractional CMO | 36 | $88/hr | $44-$100/hr | n=6 |
| Fractional CTO | 31 | $105/hr | $69-$124/hr | n=5 |
| Fractional COO | 31 | $175/hr | $57-$175/hr | n=12 |
| Fractional CRO | 16 | N/A | N/A | n=0 |
| Fractional CHRO | 2 | $90/hr | $90-$90/hr | n=1 |
| Fractional CISO | 8 | $112/hr | $112-$112/hr | n=1 |
| Fractional CIO | 33 | $132/hr | $68-$196/hr | n=2 |
| VP Level | 54 | $135/hr | $78-$180/hr | n=6 |
| Director Level | 144 | $56/hr | $30-$124/hr | n=32 |
| Head of Department | 38 | $74/hr | $42-$156/hr | n=12 |
| Other senior fractional roles | 345 | $78/hr | $38-$172/hr | n=105 |
Live market snapshot
What is open now, kept separate from the historical sample.
Active listings by role
Current fractional CFO, CMO, CTO, COO, and other senior roles. Live posted-pay samples will naturally be smaller than the historical evidence above.
| Role | Active | Median rate | Rate range | Sample | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fractional CFO | 119 | $86/hr | $38-$238/hr | n=13 | View → |
| Fractional CMO | 11 | N/A | N/A | n=0 | View → |
| Fractional CTO | 14 | $182/hr | $138-$225/hr | n=2 | View → |
| Fractional COO | 7 | $306/hr | $306-$306/hr | n=1 | View → |
| Fractional CRO | 5 | N/A | N/A | n=0 | View → |
| Fractional CHRO | 3 | $102/hr | $102-$102/hr | n=1 | View → |
| VP Level | 22 | N/A | N/A | n=0 | View → |
| Director Level | 65 | $71/hr | $35-$850/hr | n=15 | View → |
| Head of Department | 82 | $125/hr | $80-$179/hr | n=5 | View → |
Engagement type breakdown
How active fractional listings describe themselves. The same listing can carry multiple labels (fractional + part-time, for example).
Top metros
Where active fractional executive listings are based.
Top hiring companies
Companies with multiple active fractional executive listings.
Hiring velocity
Active fractional executive listings tracked over recent scraper runs.
Active fractional executive listings tracked over time. Each bar is one snapshot from the scraper.
Methodology
How we compute these numbers
Fractional Pulse aggregates fractional and interim leadership listings from public sources. Every historical record is rerun through the current qualification gate, then deduplicated by canonical source URL. This prevents the same opening from being counted once per weekly snapshot.
Historical compensation statistics use only employer-posted ranges and retain the original hourly, monthly, or annual unit. The public hourly benchmark excludes obvious parser/source errors below $15 or above $1,000 per hour. The table shows the median and middle 80% of listing midpoints, with sample sizes beside every figure.
The live snapshot is calculated only from currently open roles. It is shown separately so a large historical sample never masquerades as the number of jobs available today.
Hiring velocity reflects total active fractional executive listing counts across scraper runs. Outlier values from early data-collection days are excluded.
All data here is publicly available; this page presents it as a single dashboard. See individual /insights/ pieces for role-specific guides, marketplace comparisons, and cost benchmarks.