What does a Fractional Head of Delivery actually do?

A fractional Head of Delivery owns your shipping rhythm. That means designing sprint cadences, running planning sessions, implementing estimation practices, managing cross-team dependencies, and building the reporting that makes progress visible to stakeholders.

They're the person who makes sure work flows smoothly from idea to production without bottlenecks, surprises, or scope creep.

A fractional Head of Delivery isn't a scrum master or a project manager. They don't just facilitate ceremonies and update Jira.

They design the delivery operating system — the end-to-end framework for how your team plans, executes, and ships. If you need someone to run standups, you need a scrum master. If you need someone to fix why your standups aren't working, you need a Head of Delivery.

We typically start by observing your current delivery practices — how work is planned, tracked, and shipped. Within the first week, we identify the biggest friction points and quick wins.

Then we design and implement a delivery framework that fits your team's size, culture, and maturity. The goal is always to build something your team can run without us.

Companies where the CTO or founder is spending too much time on project management. Teams that have tried various methodologies and none of them stuck.

Startups where stakeholders have lost trust in delivery timelines. Basically, any company that knows it has a shipping problem but doesn't know how to fix it.

Like all fractional engagements, it's a fraction of a full-time hire. You're paying for 2–3 days per week of senior delivery leadership instead of a £100k+ full-time salary.

Most engagements are monthly retainers, and many companies find that delivery leadership needs reduce over time as the systems bed in and the team becomes self-sufficient.