Working format
Fractional Chief People Officer
Senior People leadership for part of the week, with a real mandate, and the brief to leave behind structures that work without me.
There is a point at which People topics stop being something handled on the side. The organisation grows faster than its structures, managers take on responsibility nobody prepared them for, processes appear in passing, and at the leadership table nobody owns the subject with the same weight as finance or product. A full-time C-level role would be the clean answer, but it does not pay for itself yet. That is the gap I fill.
What a Fractional Chief People Officer does
I work as your Chief People Officer on reduced hours and a full mandate. I sit in the leadership team, own People, organisation and leadership, take decisions with you and answer for them. One to three days a week over several months is typical.
The model goes by several names, interim CPO being the most common. What matters is not the label but whether someone genuinely takes responsibility.
When this is the right answer
The most common occasions: the company is growing and the People function does not exist yet, or consists of one overloaded person. The head of HR is leaving and a permanent replacement will take time. You are expanding into another country. You have acquired a company and the integration is ahead of you. A reorganisation or restructuring is coming and you would rather not do it without experienced support. Or you are the CEO and have no one to think through leadership questions with, openly.
What these situations share: they are too important for a side role and too time-limited for a permanent hire.
What I take on
I develop the People strategy and translate it into priorities that fit the business: what gets built this quarter and what deliberately waits. I build your People function or develop it further, from the first hire to a team that runs. I am a sparring partner for the CEO and the leadership team, including on the questions that cannot be delegated.
That includes the uncomfortable topics: organisational design, reorganisation, restructuring, integration after an acquisition, change communication. Employment law questions I handle together with specialised firms. I know when legal precision is required and when a pragmatic solution will do.
How we work together
I start with an assessment over roughly thirty days: conversations with leadership and the team, a look at processes, metrics and the places where things get stuck. Out of that comes a short list of priorities with goals you can check.
After that I am present in the leadership meetings, lead the People team professionally, and am available to managers when things get serious. I work in German and English.
One point matters enough to say in advance: I build so that things keep running without me. What I measure a mandate by is the state of the organisation half a year after it ends.
What changes
After a few months there is a People strategy the leadership team genuinely stands behind. Recruiting, onboarding and performance run as processes rather than individual cases. Roles and decision paths are settled, including the awkward ones. The CEO has a counterpart for decisions that would otherwise be taken alone. And in the team the difference shows up in daily work: clear responsibilities, honest leadership, appreciation that actually lands.
What can be measured, we measure. The results show what that can look like in numbers.
When a smaller mandate fits better
A fractional CPO mandate is not the right size for every situation. If you have a clearly bounded question, say the organisational design no longer fits, a leadership team is not coming together or an integration is ahead, a project is usually faster and less expensive than an ongoing mandate.
That is what the three fields of work are for: organisation, leadership and transformation. And if you first want to know where your organisation stands, the Organisation Readiness Check is the least demanding way in: 24 questions, eight dimensions, evaluated in your browser.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Fractional Chief People Officer?
An experienced People executive who works for a company part of the week and holds the Chief People Officer role there, with a seat in the leadership team, an area of responsibility and the authority to decide. One to three days a week over an agreed period of several months is typical. Fractional CPO, Interim CPO and part-time Chief People Officer describe the same model in practice, with different emphasis on duration and occasion.
At what size is this worth it?
In practice from around 50 employees, or earlier if the company is growing fast. The trigger is rarely the headcount. It is the moment People decisions turn strategic: leadership structure, organisational design, international expansion, an acquisition. From then on, one wrong decision costs more than the support does.
How is this different from HR consulting?
A consultancy delivers a recommendation and hands it over. I carry the execution with you: I lead the People team, sit in the leadership meetings, take decisions with you and answer for the results. What I leave behind has to work in daily practice, not in a presentation.
How is this different from an interim HR manager?
Interim mandates usually fill a vacancy and keep operations running, often full-time and at an operational level. A fractional CPO mandate sits one level up and is built for shaping: strategy, organisational design, leadership structure. The two can overlap. If bridging a vacancy is mainly what you need, we talk about that in the first conversation. Sometimes an interim mandate is the better route, and I will say so openly.
What does a Fractional CPO cost?
Billing is by day rate or monthly retainer, depending on the agreed scope. You pay for the capacity you actually need and adjust it when the situation changes. I discuss the range in the first conversation, once it is clear what the work involves. A figure I can stand behind needs me to know the scope and the situation.
How quickly can a mandate start?
Usually within two to four weeks. I use the first thirty days for a structured assessment: conversations with leadership and the team, a look at existing processes and metrics, then a short list of priorities. From that point you know what we are working on and why.
Let’s talk about your organisation.
30 minutes, no strings attached. You describe your situation, and I tell you honestly whether and how I can help.