The strategy shipped. The operation did not.
A board-approved plan exists, the budget exists, the team exists, but the operating engine to run the plan was never built. You need an operator to install it, not a consultant to re-advise it.
A fractional COO for the gap between strategy and a running team.
Senior operating leadership without the full-time hire. We run your operations two to three days a week, virtual or in the room, until the function is built or the permanent COO is seated.
4 operations functions built from blank pages · $40M P&L across 8 countries · 5M+ daily transactions at peak
The short version
What a fractional COO actually does.
A fractional COO is a senior operating leader who runs your operations part time, on a monthly retainer, instead of as a full-time hire. The responsibility is the same as a full-time chief operating officer: the operating cadence, the metric tree, the hiring calls, the vendor decisions, the cross-functional tradeoffs. The commitment is two to three days a week, for the period you need senior operating leadership but are not ready to commit to a permanent seat.
Plenor runs the role in whatever shape the gap calls for. Fractional when the function needs an ongoing senior owner. Interim when a seat is empty and a full-time hire is months out. Virtual or remote when the operating geography does not need a body in the building. The label changes. The work, owning the operation until it runs without you, does not. Read the full breakdown of what a fractional COO does →
When to hire one
The three moments a fractional COO is the right call.
The seat is open and the search is slow.
You have a COO or head of operations role open, the search is in month four, and the function cannot wait another five months. An interim operator runs it now, with a written end date.
The founder is the bottleneck.
Every cross-functional decision still routes to the founder. A fractional COO takes the operating decisions off the founder's calendar and gives the week back.
Fractional, interim, or virtual
One operator. Whatever shape the gap needs.
The market has a lot of names for the same senior operator working short of full time. The right one depends on where your operating gap sits, not on the title.
- Fractional COO. Part time on an ongoing retainer, two to three days a week, while the function matures or the full-time hire is closed.
- Interim COO. Full attention for a fixed bridge period, covering an open seat until the permanent hire starts, with a written handoff.
- Virtual or remote COO. The same operating ownership, run remotely, for teams whose operating geography does not need a body in the building.
- Outsourced COO or COO as a service. Senior operating leadership bought as a scoped engagement rather than a permanent payroll line.
Plenor runs all of them, the same way: one accountable operator, a written scope, a named exit. See the fractional engagement format →
How the engagement runs
In the seat in week one. Out on a named date.
A Plenor fractional COO sits in the named role two to three days a week with the operating authority that goes with it. We run the operating cadence, make the hiring and vendor calls inside the function, coach the rising internal candidate or partner with the search firm on the full-time profile, and build the documentation the permanent hire inherits on day one. The engagement ends on a written date, with a 30-day overlap once the full-time hire starts.
The work follows the same four-phase structure as every Plenor engagement: Diagnose, Design, Stand up, Hand off. See the Bridge Method →
Proof in numbers
15+ years of operating receipts.
4×
Operations functions built from blank pages
8
Countries of live operating responsibility
$40M
P&L under direct operating ownership
5M+
Daily transactions at peak load
What it costs
A fraction of a full-time COO.
A full-time COO is a package of salary, equity, and a search that averages nine months. A fractional COO is a monthly retainer scaled to the days per week in the seat, with no equity grant and no search. You get senior operating leadership for the months you need it, and the cost ends when the engagement does.
Plenor scopes the retainer to the engagement before it starts, with no hourly meter. If you want to see how the operator works before committing to a retainer, the one-week fixed-fee Operating Teardown is the first step, and the fee is credited toward a fractional engagement if you continue.