Fractional leadership has firmly taken hold within certain tech senior management and executive roles. As we move through 2025, this transformative leadership model is redefining how companies across the UK, EU, and beyond engage senior expertise.
If you're new to the idea, fractional leadership involves experienced, highly skilled professionals offering their niche expertise to organisations on a part-time, interim, or project basis. Unlike contractors, often brought in for specific tasks or short-term delivery, fractional leaders and staff are embedded within a company's strategic framework, providing ongoing, high-level expertise and alignment with long-term business goals. Having spent over a decade supporting businesses with targeted UX, product, data and engineering recruitment, we've seen how this new way of working has arrived on the scene and grown and changed over the last few years. This flexible, cost-effective solution for leadership, especially in Product and Engineering, appears to have made an impact in the face of shifting economic conditions and evolving market needs. So, is this the new way forward?
Why Consider Fractional Leadership?
Expertise on Demand and Cost-Effectiveness
Fractional leaders across any industry provide targeted, senior-level insight without the overheads of a permanent executive hire. As highlighted in a recent LinkedIn post by Ryan Ollerenshaw, Consortia Director this model particularly appeals to SMEs and scale-ups where budget-conscious decision-making is essential. Fractional leaders allow companies to access top-tier expertise at a fraction of the cost, helping businesses balance ambition with financial sustainability.
Specialist Support When It Matters Most
Whether launching a digital product, entering new markets, navigating investment rounds, or scaling rapidly, using the fractional leadership model can offer invaluable strategic support. These senior team members bring proven experience in tackling similar challenges, helping your internal teams anticipate and overcome obstacles while staying focused on business goals.
A Fresh, Broader Perspective
A defining strength of fractional leaders is their simultaneous exposure to multiple companies and industries. This broader vision from working with various companies, sometimes at once, brings innovative thinking, new approaches to problem-solving, and real-life actionable strategies that drive growth. These external perspectives can be game-changing for companies operating in highly competitive or fast-changing sectors.
Flexibility, Scalability, and Sustainability
Consortia’s CEO Nathan Connolly, reinforces how embedding fractional leadership into a company can deliver flexibility and scalability for businesses navigating uncertain markets, a reality many across the UK and EU face. This model allows you to dial up or down leadership support in line with business needs, offering a sustainable solution for companies and experienced leaders seeking impactful, portfolio-style careers.
Bridging the Gap: Insights from Tom Hook
Tom Hook, product design lead at Maersk, draws an insightful comparison between fractional leaders and non-executive directors. Like non-execs, fractional leaders bring external expertise, fresh industry knowledge, and valuable network connections. By integrating similar principles, businesses can use these benefits within their operational teams, enhancing adaptability and strategic agility.
The Future of Fractional Product and UX Leadership
The growing demand for fractional leadership, particularly in engineering, development, and product, reflects a broader shift toward flexible, external expertise playing a key role in shaping business success. Inspired by the principles behind non-executive directorships, we believe more companies will continue to see the value of integrating fractional leaders into their strategies. Looking ahead to 2025 and 2026, we'll likely see this model expand further, with increasing adoption across UX and data functions.
Fractional leadership in product and design opens up exciting opportunities for businesses seeking specialist knowledge and agility in 2025 and beyond.
🤔 What's Your View?
Is your business considering fractional leadership this year? How do you see this model helping your team achieve its goals? Does the non-exec comparison resonate with your leadership strategy? Share your thoughts in the comments; we'd love to hear from you!
If you’re looking for fractional leaders in any of our four core fields, explore our Product Executive Search, UX Executive Search, Data Executive Search and Engineering Executive Search services to see how we can help you secure the expertise you need.
