A Fractional Chief of Staff gives a founder back their calendar and their follow-through, part time. Rates, scope, and how to start, in one place.
A Fractional Chief of Staff costs $6,000 to $14,000 per month, or about $177 per hour on average, with most falling between $150 and $200. A typical engagement is scoped near 12 hours a week, which prices around $8,500 a month. A full-time Chief of Staff runs $155,000 to $190,000 a year, with a median near $185,000, so founders usually start fractional and convert only when the role becomes daily.
The decisions made in leadership meetings actually land, with owners, dates and a chase that is not the founder.
Weekly leadership meetings, quarterly planning and a reporting rhythm that runs whether or not anyone remembers.
The initiatives that sit between departments and stall because nobody owns the middle.
Screening what reaches the founder, prepping the decisions that do, and closing the ones that never needed them.
One source of truth for the numbers leadership and the board actually look at.
Company updates, meeting notes and decision records, so context stops living in one person's head.
A Fractional Chief of Staff spends the first weeks watching how decisions actually get made, then installs the smallest structure that makes them stick.
Everything routes through one person, and the queue for their attention is now the company's speed limit.
The same topics resurface every leadership meeting because nothing was assigned, tracked or closed.
The team is busy, the strategy is fine, and yet the important work keeps slipping behind the urgent.
Most Chief of Staff engagements run around 12 hours a week on a fixed monthly retainer, usually anchored to the leadership meeting.
About one day a week. Meeting cadence, notes, follow-through and founder support on the highest-value items.
Roughly 12 hours a week. Owns the operating rhythm, cross-team projects and leadership reporting.
Three days a week or more. Full Chief of Staff scope through a raise, a merger or a leadership transition.
Ranges reflect published 2026 US benchmarks: an average fractional Chief of Staff rate near $177 per hour with a $150 to $200 middle range, typical engagements around 12 hours a week, and full-time Chief of Staff pay averaging $155,000 to $190,000. Market figures, not a Hey CMO rate card.
| Fractional Chief of Staff | Executive Assistant | |
|---|---|---|
| Focus | Decisions, priorities and follow-through | Calendar, inbox and logistics |
| Owns | Cross-team projects and the operating cadence | Scheduling, travel and administration |
| Authority | Can make and chase decisions on the founder’s behalf | Coordinates, does not decide |
| Typical cost | $6,000 to $14,000 per month | $50,000 to $80,000 a year, or a VA at a fraction of that |
| Hire when | Execution is slipping between people | The founder’s admin load is the problem |
The two are complementary rather than competing, and many founders end up with both. If the real problem is admin volume rather than execution, a virtual assistant solves it for a fraction of the cost.
Sell the operating system, not the hours: a leadership cadence, a decision log and a reporting pack, live within 30 days.
Anchor on a monthly retainer around 12 hours a week. The US market averages $177 per hour at this level.
Founders rarely search for this role, they describe the symptom. Fractional CEOs, COOs and VCs refer it constantly.
Got Fractional pulls Fractional, interim and advisory operating roles from company career pages, job boards and professional communities into one searchable feed. New Chief of Staff, COO and operations leadership listings are added regularly. Access is included for active Hey CMO Fractional Network members.
A Fractional Chief of Staff makes sure decisions turn into finished work. They run the leadership operating cadence, own the cross-team projects that fall between departments, keep the reporting honest, and protect the founder’s attention by handling or closing what does not need them. It is an execution and leverage role, not an administrative one.
Expect $6,000 to $12,000 per month for a standard engagement of roughly 12 hours a week, $4,000 to $6,000 for lighter support, and $12,000 to $14,000 or more when embedded three days a week. Hourly rates average about $177, with most between $150 and $200. A full-time Chief of Staff averages $155,000 to $190,000 a year.
An executive assistant owns the calendar, inbox and logistics. A Chief of Staff owns decisions and follow-through, including projects that cross teams, and can act on the founder’s behalf. If the problem is admin volume, an assistant or a virtual assistant is the cheaper and better answer. If decisions keep resurfacing unresolved, that is a Chief of Staff problem.
Usually when the leadership team is between five and twenty people and the founder has become the bottleneck: everything routes through them, meetings repeat the same topics, and cross-team work stalls. A funding round, a rapid hiring push or an acquisition are common triggers because they add coordination faster than the company adds structure.
A typical engagement is scoped around 12 hours a week, often split across a couple of fixed days so the leadership cadence has an anchor. Lighter arrangements run a day a week, and embedded cover during a raise or transition can reach three days. Consistency matters more than volume, because the value is in the rhythm holding.
Hey CMO connects business builders with vetted Fractional leaders, and gives Fractionals the systems to run the practice behind the role.
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