How to hire a Fractional Head of Delivery

A Head of Delivery isn't a senior project manager. They design the systems and practices that make delivery predictable across your whole engineering organisation.

If you just need someone to manage a project, hire a project manager. If you need someone to fix why projects keep failing, you need delivery leadership.

Avoid anyone who leads with methodology. "I'll implement SAFe" or "We need to do Scrum properly" are red flags. Good delivery leaders are pragmatic — they understand multiple frameworks and build the lightest possible system that works for your team's size, culture, and stage.

Ask candidates what they'd do in their first two weeks. The right answer involves listening and observing, not implementing a framework.

The best fractional delivery leaders build capability in your team, not dependency on themselves.

Ask how they ensure the delivery improvements stick after they leave. Look for answers about coaching, documentation, and gradually handing ownership to your team leads.

Delivery challenges at a 5-person startup are completely different from delivery challenges at a 50-person scale-up.

Make sure your fractional delivery leader has relevant experience at your team size and stage. Someone who's only worked with large enterprise teams may over-engineer solutions for a small startup.

Before engaging a fractional Head of Delivery, agree on what improvement means for your company. Is it more predictable timelines? Faster cycle times? Better stakeholder communication? Fewer production incidents?

Having clear metrics helps both sides stay aligned and know when the engagement is succeeding.