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Every fractional Head of Operations and VP of Ops role posted in the last 30 days. Stop hunting. Apply and get back to work.

By Jared Perry · Practicing fractional COOUpdated June 12, 2026
A fractional Head of Operations is a part-time operations leader who designs processes, builds team structures, and creates the systems that let a company deliver consistently — often a company's first dedicated ops hire. Typically 10-15 hours per week across 2-3 clients.

A Head of Operations (sometimes titled VP of Operations) is an operations leader who designs processes, builds team structures, and creates the systems that let a company deliver consistently. The fractional version of the role typically runs 10-15 hours per week per client, often with 2-3 clients at once. Scope covers SOP design, vendor management, delivery cadence, tool selection, and establishing the operational rhythm that keeps things running. More execution-focused than a COO.

The fractional executive market grew 46% YoY into 2026, and Head of Operations is one of the most common first fractional engagements for scale-up operators transitioning from full-time roles. 72% of CEOs plan to increase fractional usage in the next 12 months. Most fractional Head of Ops engagements are fully remote, 3-9 months in duration, at companies with 10-50 employees experiencing growing pains: missed deadlines, inconsistent delivery quality, unclear ownership, and founders stuck doing operations themselves.

Fractional Head of Operations retainers typically run $3,000-$8,000 per month per client in 2026, which is lower than the full COO range because scope is typically tighter — execution of defined operational work versus ownership of broader organizational strategy. Senior operators with prior COO or Director-of-Operations experience at scale-ups charge the top of the range. Full-time Head of Operations salaries run $100,000-$180,000 in 2026 for comparison.

Remote Head of Ops roles

Most Head of Ops engagements are remote. Because the work runs 10-15 hours per week across 2-4 clients, the model is built for distributed, async-friendly collaboration — the listings above include both fully remote and hybrid roles, so filter for the arrangement that fits your practice.

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SALARY DATA · 5 LIVE ROLES

Head of Ops comp ranges

10 hrs/wk
$5k – $9k
15 hrs/wk
$8k – $13k
20 hrs/wk
$11k – $17k
Full-time
$16k – $24k
Open the salary calculator →
QUESTIONS

Frequently asked

Fractional Head of Ops retainers run $3,000-$8,000 per month per client in 2026. Senior operators with prior Director-of-Operations or COO experience command the top of the range. Full-time Head of Ops roles pay $100,000-$180,000 per year in 2026 for comparison.
Three to four clients is typical. Head of Ops work tends to be more process-execution-driven than fractional COO work, so context-switching is lower — more of the work is building the same kind of SOPs, delivery cadences, and vendor management across different companies.
Most first Head of Ops engagements come through prior colleagues or founders who saw you run operations at scale at your last full-time company. The fastest path: a specific story about a process you fixed or a team you scaled (e.g., 'I took delivery lead time from 12 days to 4 days at X company') becomes your opening pitch.
A fractional Head of Ops designs SOPs, manages vendors, owns delivery cadence and quality, handles tool selection and implementation, and establishes the operational rhythm across the team. More execution-focused than a COO — more hands-on than strategic.
A fractional COO owns broader organizational strategy: team structures, hiring, cross-functional coordination, and the operational roadmap. A Head of Ops is more execution-focused: running the processes the COO designs, managing the tooling and vendors, owning delivery quality. Head of Ops is often a stepping-stone role to COO.
When the company has 10-50 employees, delivery is inconsistent, ownership is unclear, and the founder is still doing operations themselves. Often this is the company's first dedicated operations hire — the moment when 'everyone does ops' stops working.
Take on broader scope gradually: move from process execution to organizational strategy, from managing tools to managing people, from owning delivery to owning the operating model. The transition often happens naturally when a Head of Ops client asks you to hire and manage a team, set OKRs, or own cross-functional coordination. Update your positioning and raise your rates once you have 1-2 COO-scope case studies.
Project management (Asana, Monday, Linear, ClickUp), documentation (Notion, Confluence), communication (Slack), and data/reporting (Looker, Google Sheets, Airtable). The specific tools matter less than the ability to evaluate, implement, and train a team on any of them quickly. Clients care about your process thinking, not your tool preferences.
Most are. The large majority of Head of Ops engagements are fully remote — fractional executives typically work 10-15 hours per week across 2-4 clients, so the model is built around distributed, async-friendly collaboration. Some clients prefer occasional on-site time for kickoffs, board meetings, or quarterly planning, but day-to-day Head of Ops work is remote-first.
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