The experience of a full-time CXO. The economics of a smarter model.
A Cerebratum fractional CXO is a senior principal — someone who has run the function, owned the P&L, and delivered at scale — embedded in your organisation for a fixed number of days per month. They carry real KRAs. They sit in your leadership meetings. They are accountable for outcomes, not hours. The only difference from a full-time hire is the cost structure and the absence of a permanent headcount commitment.
fractional cxo
7
CXO roles available — from COO to Chief Sustainability Officer
3
Continents across which Cerebratum fractional principals have led engagements
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Placement fees, recruitment markups, or agency margins. You pay for the principal’s time and nothing else.
How the retainer model works.
brief →
We start with a structured briefing — your business situation, the function’s current state, the outcomes you need, and the timeline you’re working to. This takes one conversation, not a proposal process.
match →
We confirm which principal is the right fit for your brief — by function, by sector experience, and by the specific problem you’re solving. You meet them before any commitment is made.
retainer →
We agree a monthly retainer covering a fixed number of days / hours. Additional days/hours beyond the agreed scope are available at a pro-rata day rate — no renegotiation, no surprises. The engagement runs on a rolling basis with 60 days’ notice on either side.
delivery
The principal is in. They attend leadership meetings, own their function’s KRAs, manage vendors and teams where relevant, and report directly to you. They are, for all practical purposes, your CXO — without the permanent hire.
This is not a placement. It is a principal engagement.
Most “fractional CXO” services are recruitment firms with a different fee structure. They find you a candidate, place them, and move on. The quality of the match depends on who’s available in their database.
Cerebratum works differently. The principals you engage are Cerebratum partners — people we have worked alongside, whose capabilities we know in detail, and for whose work we are jointly accountable. When a Cerebratum fractional CXO is in your organisation, we are in your organisation. The accountability doesn’t stop at the individual.
Placement model
Cerebratum model
You meet a candidate from a database
You meet a Cerebratum principal
The agency’s accountability ends at placement
Cerebratum is jointly accountable for outcomes
Quality depends on who’s available
Match is based on specific brief and sector fit
Recruitment fee on top of salary
Single monthly retainer, nothing else
You manage the individual
You manage the outcome; we manage the principal
the roles
Seven functions. One standard of seniority.
Every role below is available on a fractional basis — embedded, retainer-based, and led by a principal with direct operating experience in that function.
in practice
What fractional CXO looks like in practice.
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION
Fractional CMO
A globally recognised international school with two campuses needed senior marketing leadership without the cost or commitment of a full-time CMO appointment. Cerebratum embedded a fractional CMO who repositioned the institution’s communication from philosophy-led to outcome-led, overhauled the digital presence, and built the admissions marketing engine that now runs continuously. The engagement has compounded — each year building on the systems the previous year established.
Saas platform
Fractional Product Head
A globally recognised SaaS platform engaged Cerebratum across three functions over nearly two decades — the longest and deepest principal-led engagement in the firm’s history. The product function was formalised and led through multiple platform generations. The people function was built from the ground up as the organisation scaled internationally. Operations were restructured through a period of significant financial complexity. Three principals. One accountability framework. One client relationship that has compounded continuously.
green products
Fractional COO
A green products – chemical replacement product company needed marketing and sales leadership that could operate at the intersection of brand strategy and commercial performance — not an agency executing a brief or distributor doing sales, but a senior principal owning the function. The fractional COO brought positioning discipline, overhauled the campaign architecture, and built the measurement framework that connected marketing spend to sell-through for the first time. Also set up the sales and distribution infrastructure through a sales process that is still talked about.
This model is right for you if…
- You need CXO-grade capability but not a full-time appointment
- You’re scaling faster than your ability to hire and onboard permanent leaders
- You’ve had a senior departure and need experienced cover without a rushed hire
- You want to test the function’s potential before committing to headcount
- Your current leader needs a senior partner to think alongside and pressure-test with
- You’re going through a transformation and need experienced leadership across it
And not right for you if…
- You need someone in the office five days a week with no flexibility on presence
- You’re looking for a consultant to validate a decision that’s already been made
- The brief changes every month and there’s no stable outcome to be accountable to
- You want a low-cost option — fractional is economical relative to a full-time hire, but it is not cheap
Questions we’re always asked.
These are the four questions that come up in almost every first conversation. If yours isn’t here, it will get answered in the call.
Yes. Some engagements start as a defined project — a strategy review, a function audit, a 90-day diagnostic — and convert to a retainer once both sides have seen the working relationship in practice. If that’s the right structure for your situation, we’ll say so.
Either party can exit the engagement with 60 days’ notice. We build this into every retainer because we believe the right exit condition creates the right entry behaviour — both sides are committed because both sides have a clean way out if the fit isn’t right.
A consultant advises. A fractional CXO leads. They own KRAs, manage people and vendors, sit in leadership meetings, and are accountable for outcomes — not recommendations. The engagement looks and feels like a senior hire, not a consulting project.
It depends on the brief, the function, and the stage of the engagement. Most retainers run between 8 and 12 days per month — roughly two to three days per week. We agree the number before we start, it’s fixed in the retainer, and additional days are available at a pro-rata day rate with no renegotiation required.