Services / Fractional Head of Product
Fractional Head of Product
Senior product leadership one or two days a week, embedded with your team. Direction, a roadmap cut to what matters, and specs your engineers and AI tools can build from.
- Price
- From £5,000/month
- per month for one day a week, three-month minimum
- Time
- Ongoing, 1–2 days a week
- For
- Founders and investor-backed companies that need senior product judgement without a full-time hire
Founders call me when the product is drifting. The roadmap has too many things on it, nobody owns the product decisions so engineering makes them by default, and momentum stalls.
I set direction, cut the roadmap down to what matters, and work with the engineers on how it actually gets built. I can read the code, which is not the same as writing it for them. It means I can tell a founder when a build is more complicated than the business needs, and say the same to the engineers in terms they will accept.
Signs you need this
- You're the founder and you're still the product team.
- The roadmap has too many things on it and nobody can say which three matter.
- Nobody owns the product decisions, so engineering ends up making them by default, and when they push back you can't tell whether it's technical reality or preference.
- You've been told to hire a Head of Product but you're not ready for a £120k+ salary and a four-month search.
- Investors are asking for a product plan you can defend.
Not for you if
- You want someone to write tickets for a plan you've already decided.
- You need five days a week on site. That's an interim or a hire, and I'll say so.
- You're pre-idea. Come back when there's something to build.
What you get
- Product direction, owned by someone who has done it at VP and CPO level.
- A roadmap rebuilt around a small set of outcomes, reviewed every month with you.
- Specs good enough for engineers and coding agents to build from, through human review gates.
- Someone who reads the code, so you get a straight answer when a build is bigger than the business needs.
- Hiring help when you're ready for a full-time product lead, and a clean handover.
How it works
- A 30-minute call to see whether it's a fit, then a personal review of your roadmap if we want a small first step.
- A three-month first engagement at one or two days a week, with a written scope and the outcomes we're aiming at.
- A monthly review against those outcomes. Either of us can end it at any month boundary after the first three.
Questions people ask
- How is this different from a product consultant?
- A consultant hands you a document. I run product, with your team, and I'm accountable for what ships. I also read the code, so engineering trade-offs don't get lost in translation.
- Do you work on a day rate?
- No. It's a monthly retainer so both sides can plan. One day a week is from £5,000 a month; two days is roughly £9,500.
- Is there a minimum term?
- Three months. Less than that and nothing changes. After that it rolls monthly.
- Do you work outside London?
- Yes. I'm London-based and work UK-wide, mostly remotely with regular days on site where it helps.
- Can you help us hire a full-time Head of Product?
- Yes, and I'll tell you when it's time. Part of the job is making myself unnecessary.