[SINGAPORE] In October 2022, marketing executive David Lim was laid off by his employer HappyFresh, a Jakarta-headquartered online grocery platform that was an early casualty of South-east Asia’s funding winter.
Lim, who was a senior vice-president of marketing and managing director based in Indonesia, returned to Singapore to figure out his next career move.
Despite offers of a full-time position as chief marketing officer (CMO), he turned them down in favour of a more unconventional route.
“I was looking for better work-life integration and to have more control of my time. I was tired of climbing the corporate ladder, but I also knew the value I could bring to businesses,” he says.
Today, Lim is a “fractional” CMO. He joins a growing pool of mid to late-career professionals who identify as “fractional leaders”: highly experienced executives who provide strategic leadership to organisations on a part-time basis.
In other words, the gig economy – traditionally associated with blue-collar jobs – has now infiltrated the C-suite.
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Recruitment firms here report growing interest in fractional hiring, from startups to global corporations. And fractional leaders have built agencies to offer their specialised expertise, adding headcount to support them.
Yet, observers note that employer demand has not kept pace with the booming supply of fractional talent in Singapore. Amid shifting workforce expectations, are companies ready to fully embrace this new and flexible hiring model?
Filling a gap
Fractional leaders typically fill roles across key functions such as CMO, chief financial officer (CFO), or chief human resources officer (CHRO), working anywhere from one to three days a week for a company.
They are not simply contract workers, nor are they consultants. They are distinctly hired for senior leadership positions, where they are deeply embedded within the organisation and occupy a seat at the table.
Such professionals are directly responsible for results, overseeing both strategy and execution, and are expected to lead internal teams.
As opposed to being hired for short-term projects, they also tend to work with companies on an ongoing basis, with engagements spanning from six months to multiple years.
It appears to be a win-win strategy. The executives get more leeway with regard to time. And, for resource-strapped firms, it is an increasingly viable, long-term solution to bring in top-tier talent – but at a fraction of the cost.
For working one to two days a week, a fractional leader could roughly command 30 to 50 per cent of a full-time equivalent’s salary, estimates Eric Okumu, head of global organisational consulting firm Korn Ferry’s interim executive practice across Asia.
Elena Chow, founder of talent solutions consultancy ConnectOne, says: “What’s interesting is how creative and innovative people can be nowadays when it comes to building teams – you’re not limited to just one way anymore.”
Gaining traction
While fractional leaders have existed in North America for decades, the concept only began gaining traction in Asia, including Singapore, in recent years.
More experienced professionals are choosing flexibility and variety over linear corporate progression these days, says Okumu. The employer-employee relationship has also evolved, with workers no longer feeling obligated to be loyal to one company forever.
Such shifts have, in turn, led to the rise of portfolio careers, which refers to the practice of having several jobs simultaneously. Fractional leaders fall into this space, as they often work with multiple clients at a time.
An ecosystem is taking shape in Singapore. Ground-up initiatives and new business models offering fractional leadership “as a service” have sprouted.
In September 2024, The Fractional Directory Singapore was launched as a free public online resource to connect fractional leaders based in the Republic with companies looking to hire them.
In less than a year, the pool of Singapore-based fractional leaders listed in the directory has more than doubled to 500. The website allows employers to search for specific talent using filters and connects them to suitable candidates.
Mark Mullinix, the directory’s general manager, says: “We wanted to make it easier for employers to find and source fractional leaders. A lot of placements have always been based on personal referrals and the strength of one’s network.”
Then there is Portfolio Careers in Asia, a talent community that gathers and supports seasoned professionals pursuing high-end portfolio careers – including fractional roles – across the region.
Its LinkedIn group has grown to nearly 1,500 members across Asia, up from just 30 in 2023. It has a WhatsApp chat group and holds regular virtual and in-person networking events for members, all of whom have at least 10 years’ working experience.
Two-thirds of the members are from Singapore, with more than half identifying as fractional leaders, says founder Moritz Kaffsack. He also runs Flexer.ai, an agency providing top independent talent, including fractional leaders, as a service.
Meanwhile, Lim founded fractional marketing firm Avante Strategies with a business partner. The duo serve as fractional CMOs and have 10 employees.
Strategic leadership on a budget
On the demand side, more companies in Singapore are seeking critical talent to scale their operations while on tighter budgets.
This is quite different from some years ago. Chow, who first began advocating for the hiring of fractional leadership in 2018, recalls how the idea was hardly well-received by boardrooms here at the time.
“There was still a stigma about part-time independent talent back then, that they are less committed. One major concern firms had was, ‘Can this person really deliver the outcome I want in, say, three days?’” she says.
But, following massive tech layoffs between 2022 and 2024, an unprecedented surfeit of available talent has flooded the market, note observers.
“Layoffs were happening, but these startups still needed to grow,” says Chow. “So they needed to be very smart on sourcing headcount, which is when they became more receptive to fractionals.”
The number of job positions listed by ConnectOne that are open to fractional hires has trebled this year from 2024. These postings have come from mostly startups, including those affected by the funding winter, on top of a few small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Korn Ferry has seen six times more requests from Singapore-based firms seeking fractional leaders in 2025, compared with last year. Demand has been predominantly from mid-sized multinational corporations (MNCs), which are part of the agency’s core customer base.
Cost-effectiveness aside, a big appeal of fractional leaders lies in their ability to be deployed “within days or weeks” and deliver results with little to no ramp-up period, says Okumu.
Dr Susan Chen, who identifies as a fractional CHRO, concurs.
An in-house HR leader for nearly 20 years, she established boutique HR strategy and fractional consultancy Co:grow in 2024, hiring four full-time staff.
Co:grow currently has seven clients that are using its fractional services. The firm signs non-disclosure agreements and does not take on direct competitors to avoid conflict of interest.
Before engaging her, most clients had given “the alternative” a shot: hiring a full-time and more affordable junior employee, but one who ultimately lacked the experience to provide strategic leadership.
According to her, the role requires a specific skillset. Context-switching is key to succeed as a fractional leader in the long term, notes Dr Chen, as they must regularly juggle clients across diverse industries.
One must also be comfortable setting strategies at a fast pace, on top of leading and mentoring a team that can execute their directives when they are not around, says Mullinix. He is a fractional chief of staff and offers his services under vehicle Growth Vectors.
He adds: “If you’re only there eight hours a week, those eight hours better be spent at a full-speed run, not standing by the water cooler and talking shop.”
Structural barriers and challenges
Though the strategy is gaining momentum, structural barriers to hiring fractional leaders still persist in Singapore.
These range from a lack of onboarding processes and internal policies to properly integrate fractional leaders into the workforce, to unfamiliarity with the concept and the value such talent can offer, say observers.
Okumu notes that most traditional HR frameworks are designed around permanent or temporary contracts, with newer flexible hiring models sitting “in between”.
Companies may also expect “full-time” outcomes from fractional leaders, but not grant them access to the necessary data and systems to work effectively, he adds.
“When such arrangements don’t work, it’s often because the fractional leader hasn’t been empowered or supported by stakeholders. Companies need to make sure this person is set up for success.”
To avoid pitfalls, companies and fractional leaders should ensure that the job scope and expected job outcomes are aligned, advises Chow. They should also be flexible to rescope and review job outcomes when necessary.
Salary negotiation is a thorny issue too. Despite providing strategic leadership, fractional leaders are often short-changed by being paid less since they work fewer hours, notes Dr Chen.
“We shouldn’t be seen as cheap labour,” she says. Her agency Co:grow charges between S$3,500 and S$9,000 a month for fractional CHRO services, depending on the scope and number of working hours.
Chow points out that while firms can refer to existing compensation structures for full-time roles, pricing for fractional leaders can appear “arbitrary”.
As she sees it, such experienced talent command a premium in the market as they can deliver impact fast. “You are not paying them for time, but for quick outcomes.”
Another reason, she adds, is that they typically do not receive benefits accorded to traditional employees, such as medical insurance, annual leave, severance pay and employer’s Central Provident Fund contributions.
Large MNCs remain the biggest laggards in fractional hiring globally due to more entrenched structures, notes Okumu. On the other hand, smaller businesses such as startups and SMEs are more willing to experiment with new ways of working, as they need to “react and survive”.
Business owner Kannan Chettiar is a firm adopter of the fractional leadership model.
He is the founder and chief executive officer of Avvanz, a Singapore-based SME providing employment background checks and screening services.
As Avvanz began to scale overseas, Chettiar realised that his team of marketing managers could not keep up with the growing demands of the business. A full-time CMO was out of his budget, but a part-time one made perfect sense to him.
“Let’s face it: How many C-suite executives in a company are working throughout a nine-to-five workday?” he quips. “They could be having a long lunch, golfing, networking. I want only the best of them, not all of them.”
Chettiar hired a fractional CMO in late-2023, who remains with Avvanz today. A second fractional leader – a chief technology officer – joined in May.
He is now looking to add a fractional CFO and a fractional CHRO to the firm.
While he is conscious that fractional leaders divide their time among other clients, he asserts that trust is crucial for such arrangements to work.
“I will not watch the clock, and neither should they. It’s a trade-off: you give them respect and time to breathe, and they’ll be committed to do the best for your company.”
Growing the fractional ecosystem
Still, ingrained mindsets equating longer hours with productivity are difficult to shake off.
Lee Tuck Wai, who chairs the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises’ (Asme) human capital group, observes that many traditional family businesses are still accustomed to time-based hiring models and are sceptical of a fractional leader’s ability to commit to the firm.
“With fractionals, you have to think in terms of key objectives,” says Lee. “The value comes from outcomes achieved – and not how long you stay in the office.”
Some headway has been made on the education front.
In March, Asme organised a focus group discussion with 15 SME owners to introduce them to the fractional employment model and gauge their receptivity towards hiring such talent.
Lee says the association is now working with Workforce Singapore to explore the development of a pilot programme that will match SMEs to fractional leaders based on their business needs.
On May 28, The Fractional Directory Singapore held its first in-person seminar for businesses keen on learning how to hire a fractional leader. The event, which had a capacity of 30, ended up being oversubscribed.
The directory is currently collaborating with partners to develop a series of toolkits on fractional hiring for firms, says Mullinix. These will cover areas such as the screening and selection of fractional leaders, as well as designing the onboarding processes and job scope.
As for nurturing talent, Portfolio Careers in Asia has run multiple webinar series for its members at different stages of their fractional careers.
This April, it launched a new six-part “fractional masterclass” series to help seasoned fractional leaders hone their craft. Planned topics include enhancing one’s personal brand, advanced pricing and negotiation strategies, as well as mastering client dynamics.
Mullinix believes that the fractional leadership model is poised “to break through” in Singapore soon – and that the Republic has no time to waste in building the necessary structures for success.
“This is something bigger than a niche way of working. It’s a reimagining of the employer-employee relationship, where some of the best and brightest talent no longer wish to take on a traditional full-time role,” he says.
“Employers in Singapore that do not find a way to tap that talent will fall behind.”
