Fractional Leadership
Experienced leadership for marketing, strategy and go-to-market, for one or two days a week, but without the commitment of a permanent hire.
Entering a new market, repositioning your business or building something new takes senior leadership. That doesn't always mean a full-time executive. With fractional leadership, you get an experienced leader who takes real responsibility for an agreed area, part-time and for as long as you need. The model is well established in markets such as the UK, the US and the Netherlands and is slowly becoming more common in Germany too.
Typical set-ups
What fractional leadership is and isn't
Fractional leadership is
- Ongoing responsibility for an agreed area
- Leading people, partners and decisions
- Part of your team on fixed days
- Flexible: more or fewer days as needs change
- A way to build capability that stays in your business
Fractional leadership is not
- A one-off project that ends with a report
- Advice from the sidelines
- A full-time executive on a part-time salary
- A permanent position you can't adjust
- A dependency on an outside person
How fractional leadership compares
Four ways to bring senior leadership into your business
| Permanent hire | Interim management | Consulting project | Fractional leadership | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time | Full-time | Full-time | Project days | 1–2 days a week |
| Duration | Open-ended | 3–12 months | Weeks | From 3 months, open-ended |
| Responsibility | Full line role | Full line role, temporary | Advice and concept | Leads an agreed area |
| Start | 6–9 months to recruit | 2–4 weeks | 2–4 weeks | 2–4 weeks |
| Cost basis | Salary, social contributions, benefits, recruitment, holiday and sick pay | Day rate, full-time | Fixed fee or day rate | Day rate, only on the days you use |
| Flexibility | Low (notice periods) | Medium | High, ends with the project | High: scale up, down or hand over |
| Best for | A large, stable role | A vacancy or a situation that needs daily presence | One clear question | Senior leadership a role needs, but not full-time |
Swipe to compare all four models →
Fractional leadership
- Time
- 1–2 days a week
- Duration
- From 3 months, open-ended
- Responsibility
- Leads an agreed area
- Start
- 2–4 weeks
- Cost basis
- Day rate, only on the days you use
- Flexibility
- High: scale up, down or hand over
- Best for
- Senior leadership a role needs, but not full-time
Permanent hire
- Time
- Full-time
- Duration
- Open-ended
- Responsibility
- Full line role
- Start
- 6–9 months to recruit
- Cost basis
- Salary, social contributions, benefits, recruitment, holiday and sick pay
- Flexibility
- Low (notice periods)
- Best for
- A large, stable role
Interim management
- Time
- Full-time
- Duration
- 3–12 months
- Responsibility
- Full line role, temporary
- Start
- 2–4 weeks
- Cost basis
- Day rate, full-time
- Flexibility
- Medium
- Best for
- A vacancy or a situation that needs daily presence
Consulting project
- Time
- Project days
- Duration
- Weeks
- Responsibility
- Advice and concept
- Start
- 2–4 weeks
- Cost basis
- Fixed fee or day rate
- Flexibility
- High, ends with the project
- Best for
- One clear question
The models can be combined: many mandates start with a short project, continue as fractional leadership and are handed over to a permanent hire.
Why it works
What you gain with me as your fractional leader
Swipe for all six →
Senior leadership, without a permanent hire
20+ years of experience and judgment on the days you need it. No long search, no notice periods, no fixed salary.
Inside, yet outside
Inside, as part of your team, I see how things really work. From outside, I still notice what has become normal or gone unnoticed, and say it.
Experience from many settings
I have seen what works and what fails in corporate groups, agencies, consultancies and my own business, and share it with your team along the way.
Up to speed within days
Little onboarding needed. Useful input in the first weeks, while the diagnosis is still developing, not months later.
Flexible as your needs change
More days during a launch, fewer once things run, and a documented handover when the time is right. Either way, the capability stays with you.
You pay for the time you use
More per day than an employee, far less per year: you buy only the senior time the role really needs, and the flexibility is priceless.
When it fits best
Fractional leadership is often the best choice when…
- ✓The role is important, but not a full weekIt needs senior experience, can't go to a junior, or your team is already at its limits.
- ✓You are a growing SME or Mittelstand companywithout a head of marketing or strategy, or with a good team that lacks a senior lead.
- ✓You are entering Germanyand need a senior local representative before you build a team here.
- ✓Something new needs to get starteda product, service or market, while the leadership team runs the core business.
- ✓Your brand or offer needs crafting or repositioningand afterwards someone who champions its governance, not a full-time team.
- ✓You are between two hireswant to define the role properly first, or are unsure whether it still justifies a full-time hire.
- ✓A full-time executive isn't affordable yetbut the decisions are already too important to leave without senior leadership.
Usually not the right choice if you need daily leadership across a large ongoing role (interim or a permanent hire fits better), or if the direction is clear and you mainly need campaign or channel delivery (a specialist or agency fits better).
Senior experience, powered by AI
20+ years across corporate, consulting and my own venture: former Head of Brand, Strategic Marketing, Media, Launch & Car Connectivity, Market Research & Consumer Insights at Mazda Europe and Global HQ in Japan. Automotive News Europe Rising Star 2017. CEO & GM DACH at Nordic digital transfomration consulting firm Avaus. Founder and owner of Europe's first sustainable & fair sneaker retail concept, twice nominated for the German Sustainability Award (2025, 2026).
Two days a week go further today than they used to. Much of the research, analysis, concept work, drafting and evaluation that once took days now takes hours with today's AI tools. What remains is what AI can't do for you: judgment, priorities, decisions and leading people through them based on varied and deep experience.
I use leading AI models and specialised platforms daily. You get 20+ years of experience and judgment, working at a speed that lets a fractional role cover ground that once needed at least one full-time position.
Fractional roles I take on
Each role is shaped around your situation. Typical mandates:
Swipe for all six roles →
Fractional CMO
Marketing strategy, positioning and narratives, communications, budgets, brand and performance, alignment of marketing and sales and leadership of your team and agencies.
Go-to-Market & Market Entry Lead
From target customers andvalue proposition to launch plan, partners, new businss development and first sales, client servicing and spearheading entering Germany and the DACH region.
Head of Strategy
Many SMEs have no strategy function, and their leadership team is absorbed by daily business. I own the strategic agenda with you: where to play, how to win, what to stop and turning decisions into action.
Brand Strategy & Insights Lead
A strong brand compounds through consistency. Now and then it needs a refresh, a repositioning or a new brand, built on solid customer insight. That takes concentrated effort first, then governance. A fractional lead covers both.
Senior Representative for Germany
For UK, Nordic and other international companies building business in Germany: your senior local presence with clients, partners and at events, before you hire a local team or open an office.
Sustainability Lead
Reporting is increasingly automated. What remains is integrating sustainability into strategy, offer and daily business, which rarely needs a full-time hire.
Building a new business unit or leading a larger change programme usually needs more presence. For these, an interim mandate or a 6–12 month project fits better.
How we work together
Four stages. We can start at any of them and they overlap: useful action begins while the diagnosis develops. Scope subject to your brief.
Swipe through the four stages →
Clarity
Understand what is really going on
- Conversations with leadership, team and customers
- Numbers, market and competitors
- Agreed scope, decision rights and rhythm
- A 90-day agenda with clear priorities
Kickstart
Get the first things moving
- First decisions and quick wins
- Positioning, offer or launch plan
- First partners, hires or customers
- Test what works, early
Momentum
Build and keep it going
- Leading the agreed area with your team
- Regular reviews: what works, what doesn't
- Structures and processes that carry growth
- More or fewer days as needed
Embed
Make it last without me
- Knowledge transfer to your team
- Support in finding a permanent successor
- Clear ownership and a proper handover
- The capability stays in your business
Some mandates continue as ongoing fractional leadership. Embed happens when the timing is right for your business.
What it costs, compared with a permanent hire
An illustrative example for a senior leadership role in Germany
Permanent head, first year
| Base salary | €160,000 |
| Bonus | €25,000 |
| Employer social contributions (approx., 2026 ceilings) | €19,500 |
| Car, pension scheme, equipment, office | €15,000 |
| Recruitment fee (25–33% of salary, one-off) | €45,000 |
| Total first year | ≈ €265,000 |
| Per productive day (≈ 220 days) | ≈ €1,200 |
Fractional leadership, per year
| 2 days a week, 46 weeks | 92 days |
| Day rate (example) | €1,600 |
| No recruitment fee, no notice periods | €0 |
| Total per year | ≈ €147,000 |
| One day a week instead | ≈ €74,000 |
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Questions you may have
Anything else? Ask me directly.
What is a fractional CMO?
A senior leader who works in your company part-time, with real responsibility for an agreed area such as strategy, marketing, positioning, launch and usually manages a team. You get experienced leadership without the commitment of a full-time executive position.
How is this different from consulting or interim management?
A consulting project answers a specific question. In a fractional role, I take ongoing responsibility for an agreed area and lead implementation with your team. Interim management covers a temporary leadership need full-time. The models overlap, so we choose the arrangement around the work.
How quickly can we start?
Usually within two to four weeks of our first conversation, starting with a short kick-off to agree scope and priorities. Tell me about your situation.
What are the terms?
From three months, then open-ended, with four weeks' notice on both sides. That gives enough time to see results, without locking you in. We agree fixed days together, and I am available for short questions in between.
What does it cost?
Day rates depend on scope, duration, complexity, company size and requirements. After our first conversation, you receive a clear proposal. Rates exclude VAT and travel.
Can we engage you through a provider?
Yes. You can engage me directly or through a fractional or interim provider.
Do the days have to be fixed?
We agree fixed days together, so your team can plan around them. If a launch or a deadline needs it, we can move or add days.
What happens between your working days?
We agree who carries each activity forward and which decisions the team can make on its own. I am available for short questions and urgent decisions in between.
Who makes the decisions?
I decide within the authority we agree for my role. Decisions reserved for you or the wider leadership team stay with you. We set those boundaries at the start.
Will you work with our existing team and agencies?
Yes. I help your team and partners work towards clear priorities, with defined responsibilities and useful measures of progress. Where capabilities are missing, I help identify the support needed.
Do you work on site or remotely?
Both. Usually a mix of days on site and remote work, agreed to suit the role. I am based in Düsseldorf and work across Germany and internationally.
How long would we work together?
That depends on the task. Some mandates end with a handover to a permanent hire after six to twelve months, others continue as ongoing fractional leadership. We review regularly.
Is fractional leadership legally safe in Germany?
Yes, if it is set up as a genuine service contract and lived that way. Fractional leadership is a service contract on a day-rate basis, not employment, and I address the question of Scheinselbstständigkeit (false self-employment) openly before we start. What matters is how the work happens in practice: a clearly described scope, independence in how the work is done, my own business, equipment and insurance, and working for more than one client. For extra certainty, either of us can apply to the Deutsche Rentenversicherung for a status determination (Statusfeststellungsverfahren), and I provide the documentation for it. For your specific case, please check with your legal or tax adviser.
Do you work for other clients at the same time?
Yes, which is part of what makes the model work. I take on only a small number of mandates at a time, never for direct competitors in parallel, and treat all information confidentially.
When would another arrangement be more suitable?
If you need daily leadership across a large ongoing role, an interim mandate or a permanent hire fits better. If the direction is clear and you mainly need campaign or channel delivery, specialist support fits better. And if the goal is to keep things as they are, you probably don't need me. Not sure which fits? Let's talk it through.
Which model fits your situation?
In a 30-minute conversation, we look at what you need: one day a week, two days, a project to start with or something else. No obligation.
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