CHRO vs Head of People vs Fractional
A practical decision framework for founders and boards weighing their first senior People hire.
Every quarter I get the same question from founders, board members, and existing People leaders trying to scope their next hire: do we need a CHRO, a Head of People, or a Fractional? The titles get used interchangeably, the salary expectations diverge by 4×, and the consequence of getting it wrong is 18 months of organizational drag.
Here's how I've come to answer it — across stage, headcount, complexity, and what the business actually needs the seat to do.
- Board-facing People strategy
- Owns total reward, succession, exec hiring
- Reports to CEO, sits on ELT
- $280K–$500K+ base, equity
- Right at 250+ headcount or pre-IPO
- Builder of the People function
- Owns recruiting, ops, performance, L&D
- Reports to CEO or COO
- $160K–$240K base, meaningful equity
- Right at 40–250 headcount
A Fractional CHRO is the right answer in three specific situations: you're under 40 people and don't need senior People time every day; you're between full-time leaders and need continuity; or you're going through a transition (M&A, restructure, exec change) where outside judgment is more valuable than inside availability.
It's the wrong answer when the work is execution-heavy. Running 30 reqs, building an HRIS, managing employee relations — that's a full-time job. Fractional adds judgment, not hours.
- Strategic clarity+90%Fractional excels
- Org design & decisions+85%
- Exec hiring (1–3 roles)+75%
- Day-to-day execution+30%Hire full-time
- Employee relations+25%Hire full-time
- Hiring a CHRO at 40 people. The seniority isn't matched to the work; they leave in 14 months bored.
- Hiring a Head of People at 200 people without total-reward depth. Comp inflation goes unmanaged.
- Treating Fractional as 'cheap full-time.' Scope creeps, judgment thins, both sides resent it.
- Promoting an internal People Ops Lead into Head of People without scope clarity. Same person, three different jobs, no one wins.
Bring three people to a one-hour conversation: CEO, CFO, and one operator who has scaled a People function before (often a Fractional CHRO). Answer four questions, in order:.
- What are the top 3 People decisions we'll make in the next 6 months?
- Which of those need senior judgment, and which need senior execution?
- What's the realistic budget — base, bonus, equity, all-in?
- Who is going to actually use the seat? Will the CEO involve them in real decisions?
If the answers point to judgment > execution and budget < $200K all-in, start with Fractional. If execution > judgment and headcount > 40, hire a Head of People. If you're 250+ and the board is asking about succession and total reward, you need a CHRO.
"Stage decides the seat. Scope decides the salary. The CEO's willingness to share decisions decides whether the hire actually works."