Hiring a Fractional CHRO / Head of People

Taylor Crane

February 25, 2026

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Quick Answer:

Hire a Fractional CHRO / Head of People when you need senior people leadership to build the systems that help you hire, retain, and manage consistently, but you do not need a full-time exec yet. The primary difference is the work is done fractionally (fewer hours per week), not that the expectations are “lighter.”

Most Common Situations Or Problems That Warrant a Fractional CHRO / Head of People

Hiring problems: You are growing headcount quickly, but recruiting, onboarding, and role clarity feel improvised.
Operational problems: Onboarding, offboarding, paid leave, and more. Oftentimes these small processes can have large risks for compliance and accurate training.
Compliance concerns: With local regulations, for hourly employees vs tipped employees, etc. This can be especially important if you’re working in an industry that is more regulated.
Comp inconsistency: Pay bands, leveling, and offers feel ad-hoc, which creates internal confusion and retention risk.
Culture concerns: The team is scaling, but culture and expectations are not keeping up.

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How a Fractional CHRO / Head of People helps solve those problems

Hiring system: They set up a repeatable recruiting and onboarding process so hiring is faster, more consistent, and less founder-dependent.
Performance: They introduce a lightweight performance approach (expectations, feedback cadence, review process) so issues surface earlier and growth paths are clearer.
Comp + leveling: They define roles, levels, and compensation ranges so offers are consistent and internal equity improves over time.
Manager enablement: They coach managers on 1:1s, feedback, and difficult conversations so the quality of management stops varying by team.
Core people ops: They tighten the basics (policies, compliance hygiene, HR workflows, documentation) so people operations can scale without constant exceptions.

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Fractional HR Lead or a More Senior Fractional CHRO / Head of People?

Look at whether the company needs “a project” or “a people operating system.” If you have a defined list (write a handbook, run recruiting, implement an HRIS, schedule reviews), a Fractional HR Lead can usually execute it well. If the work requires judgment calls, stakeholder alignment, and designing how the company hires, pays, manages, and retains across teams, you want a more senior Fractional CHRO / Head of People to own the approach end-to-end.

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Fractional Head of People / HR Case Study

In advance of Wynd Labs (AI SaaS) finalizing their Series B, they wanted to bring on a Fractional Head of Talent Acquisition so they could hit the ground running as soon as the round closed. They came to Fractional Jobs to find the right leader with experience recruiting very niche technical roles.

Wynd Labs said: "Candidates were of a high-level, the process was smooth and you were great to work with. Will be sure to refer you in the future should anyone we know be in need."

Fractional Jobs also helped:

Terzo Group (F&B) hire a Fractional Head of People Operations for 10 hours per week.
Fisch Group (professional services) hire a Fractional Head of HR for 5 hours per week.
O’Donnell Metal Deck (metal supplier) hire a Fractional HR Lead for 20 hours per week.

All with similar results.

To get help hiring a Fractional People/HR Leader for your startup or SMB, learn more here.

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Who Wrote This Guide?

I’m Taylor Crane, founder of Fractional Jobs (the site you’re reading this on!).

I’ve helped 100+ companies hire fractional execs and other fractional talent. I also spent a year as a Fractional Head of Product.

I intimately understand how fractional work works from both sides of the table. And this guide is meant to help everyone get up to speed on the fractional world, quickly.