What does a fractional Head of Talent cost?

Most charge a monthly retainer or a day rate, not a salary. Ours is one monthly retainer covering up to three open roles at a time, with no placement fee, quoted after the free market map.

How is it different from a recruiting agency?

An agency fills a role and charges per hire. A fractional Head of Talent owns the function for a period: the plan, the process and the searches, with everything kept in your ATS.

When should we hire a full-time Head of Talent?

When hiring is steady enough to keep one busy all year. Until then, fractional costs less and starts faster.

Do you do HR as well?

No. We run recruiting: planning, process, searches and offers. For payroll, benefits and people policy, you’ll want an HR partner.

Can you work alongside our existing recruiter?

Yes. We can take the leadership and operating searches while your recruiter runs the rest, all in the same ATS.

Writing · Guide · Head of Talent · Updated September 30, 2026

Fractional Head of Talent for startups

A fractional Head of Talent owns hiring for the months you need it: the plan, the process and the searches. You get a senior recruiting function without putting a full-time leader on payroll before hiring is constant.

Map a JDFree, before you sign.

What it is

What a fractional Head of Talent does

A full-time Head of Talent sets the hiring plan, builds the process and runs the hardest searches. At an early-stage startup, most of that work arrives in a burst after a raise, then goes quiet. A fractional Head of Talent does the same job for the months it’s needed.

Turns the hiring plan into briefs: what each hire has to fix, who has done it before, and what would make you say no.
Sets up the ATS, the interview loops and the scorecards, so every role runs the same way.
Runs the searches: maps the field, reaches out, screens, schedules and closes.
Checks pay ranges against the market before you post a number.
Leaves the process and the pipeline in your ATS for your first in-house recruiter.

Versus a recruiter

Fractional Head of Talent vs. fractional recruiter

A fractional recruiter fills the roles you hand them. A fractional Head of Talent also decides how you hire: which roles come first, what the loop looks like, and what good looks like at each stage.

At seed and Series A, you usually need both jobs done, and done by the same team. That’s how we work: one retainer covers the plan, the process and the searches.

The market

Why leadership searches shouldn’t wait for a full-time hire

495Operating and finance leaders who started new roles at 20–500 person US companies since JuneCOO, CFO, VP Operations and Head of Operations or Finance starts in industrial, insurance and fintech, June 1 – September 28, 2026.

The operators and finance leaders early-stage companies want keep changing jobs, and the searches for them start the week a round closes. A fractional Head of Talent starts in days. A full-time one takes months to hire and ramp before running a single search.

Fit

When a fractional Head of Talent is the right call

Right call

You’ve just raised and have a hiring plan, but no one to run it.
Two to eight hires in the next six months, mostly leadership and operating roles.
You want a process that outlasts the engagement.

Wrong call

You need HR: payroll, benefits, performance reviews or people policy. We run recruiting only.
Hiring is constant, all year. That’s a full-time Head of Talent.
Most of your hiring is engineering. Our lane is operations, finance, go-to-market and chief of staff.

How it works

How a fractional Head of Talent engagement works

01Free market mapSend us the JD for your most important hire. We map who does the job today, where they sit and what they cost, before you sign anything.
02Plan and setupWe turn your hiring plan into briefs, set up the loop and scorecards in your ATS, and agree who owns each decision.
03SearchSourcing and outreach run on Orbit, the software we built for this. Interested candidates land in your ATS and your Slack, assessed and booked.
04Hand overWhen hiring slows, the retainer ends. The process, the pipeline and the notes stay with you, ready for your first in-house recruiter.

GuaranteeFive qualified intros on your calendar in the first 30 days, or the next month is on us.

FAQ

Questions founders ask

What does a fractional Head of Talent cost?: Most charge a monthly retainer or a day rate, not a salary. Ours is one monthly retainer covering up to three open roles at a time, with no placement fee, quoted after the free market map.
How is it different from a recruiting agency?: An agency fills a role and charges per hire. A fractional Head of Talent owns the function for a period: the plan, the process and the searches, with everything kept in your ATS.
When should we hire a full-time Head of Talent?: When hiring is steady enough to keep one busy all year. Until then, fractional costs less and starts faster.
Do you do HR as well?: No. We run recruiting: planning, process, searches and offers. For payroll, benefits and people policy, you’ll want an HR partner.
Can you work alongside our existing recruiter?: Yes. We can take the leadership and operating searches while your recruiter runs the rest, all in the same ATS.

GuideFractional recruiter for seed-stage startups GuideRecruiting without a recruiting team: fractional vs. agency vs. in-house GuideEmbedded recruiter for Ashby

First step is free

Send us a JD. We’ll map the market.

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