Fractional Jobs – Job Board for Fractional Work(fractionaljobs.io)
fractionaljobs.io
Fractional Jobs – Job Board for Fractional Work
https://www.fractionaljobs.io/
63 comments
I'm a Fractional CTO in NL. We're quite a bit more expensive than regular employees or even freelancers (per hour), so I think they mention the lack of payroll taxes, bonuses etc to persuade companies that it's less expensive than it appears.
We're still paying taxes, the only difference is that the client isn't paying for it, and maybe there is a bit of a discount for starters.
As a fractional/freelancer, I enjoy the freedom and mutual expectation that I'm in this for the money and for the short term. (In my case it gives me the resources to bootstrap my own product company).
In NL the regulations for false self-employment (enforcement kicks in January 1st) is primarily aimed at low-wage jobs like meal delivery etc. High paid professionals with multiple clients per week (like most fractionals are) are not the target.
We're still paying taxes, the only difference is that the client isn't paying for it, and maybe there is a bit of a discount for starters.
As a fractional/freelancer, I enjoy the freedom and mutual expectation that I'm in this for the money and for the short term. (In my case it gives me the resources to bootstrap my own product company).
In NL the regulations for false self-employment (enforcement kicks in January 1st) is primarily aimed at low-wage jobs like meal delivery etc. High paid professionals with multiple clients per week (like most fractionals are) are not the target.
> High paid professionals with multiple clients per week (like most fractionals are) are not the target.
Yes, that's also what used to be the common knowledge in Germany. However (according to my tax advisor), the tax office here has gotten increasingly agressive and are now also targeting high paying jobs like physicians and software engineers more and more.
> We're still paying taxes, the only difference is that the client isn't paying for it
Yes, that's also how you in Germany would optimally protect yourself against fallout from false self-employment (= backpay of evaded social security payment), but even in that case your customers can be fined for engaging in false self-employment, which will likely kill that customer relationship. One practice against that I've seen is to have a clause in the contract where you as the freelancer guarantee that you also spend X time with other clients, which should give the customer a shield of plausible deniability, but I haven't heard any experience reports whether that holds up in an audit. The most bullet-proof method seems to be to have at least one employee that you pay minimum social security for (e.g. working student or family member), but that's not trivially cheap.
Yes, that's also what used to be the common knowledge in Germany. However (according to my tax advisor), the tax office here has gotten increasingly agressive and are now also targeting high paying jobs like physicians and software engineers more and more.
> We're still paying taxes, the only difference is that the client isn't paying for it
Yes, that's also how you in Germany would optimally protect yourself against fallout from false self-employment (= backpay of evaded social security payment), but even in that case your customers can be fined for engaging in false self-employment, which will likely kill that customer relationship. One practice against that I've seen is to have a clause in the contract where you as the freelancer guarantee that you also spend X time with other clients, which should give the customer a shield of plausible deniability, but I haven't heard any experience reports whether that holds up in an audit. The most bullet-proof method seems to be to have at least one employee that you pay minimum social security for (e.g. working student or family member), but that's not trivially cheap.
In NL, UK and probably Germany there is a plague of "freelance" developers and indeed also physicians that work full-time for the same companies for multiple years. In my opinion, it's fine to raise taxes on those kinds of freelancer/employer relations to the same level as salaried employees.
I see my own services as very different. You call me when you need short-term & part-time help to solve a problem or bootstrap something within your own company. Doing that in a long-term salaried position would not make sense.
Curious to see what will happen over the next years!
I see my own services as very different. You call me when you need short-term & part-time help to solve a problem or bootstrap something within your own company. Doing that in a long-term salaried position would not make sense.
Curious to see what will happen over the next years!
> In my opinion, it's fine to raise taxes on those kinds of freelancer/employer relations to the same level as salaried employees
omg, brilliant idea! Since we are not paying enough already.
omg, brilliant idea! Since we are not paying enough already.
> In NL the regulations for false self-employment (enforcement kicks in January 1st) is primarily aimed at low-wage jobs like meal delivery etc. High paid professionals with multiple clients per week (like most fractionals are) are not the target.
I spoke to an accountant about this and he was very clear about it that having one employer is a problem. He said the new rules were there to make it less easy for employers to work around pension, taxes, and social security. According to him it was not about low versus high wages. So he would disagree with your first sentence and the first half of your second sentence. The last part is correct. Individuals with multiple clients (3-5 different clients per year at minimum) will not get into trouble.
I spoke to an accountant about this and he was very clear about it that having one employer is a problem. He said the new rules were there to make it less easy for employers to work around pension, taxes, and social security. According to him it was not about low versus high wages. So he would disagree with your first sentence and the first half of your second sentence. The last part is correct. Individuals with multiple clients (3-5 different clients per year at minimum) will not get into trouble.
> We're still paying taxes, the only difference is that the client isn't paying for it, and maybe there is a bit of a discount for starters.
How can the client not be paying for it somehow?
How can the client not be paying for it somehow?
They pay a higher hourly wage. As an entrepreneur you typically you see "monthly salary of employee is X" and translate that to "actual cost is X*1.4". With fractionals you don't have to do that. The hourly wage is simply what you pay.
Bundling things together still means they are paying for it with one degree of separation…?
Yes they are, but I think the blog post is meant to educate the companies that they don't have to mentally multiply the price again. What you see is what you pay.
This is exactly correct. We're not saying somehow somebody is cheating the system (e.g. by not paying taxes), we're showing how it's a lot more transparent.
Isn’t this just a 1099 contractor.
Europe isn’t known for being progressive.
Not if you define progressive as allowing exploitation of people. But if you follow the normal definitions of the word it is.
And don't forget to put 25% progressive tip to everything!
I've recently heard some people are paying tips to the collectors company who while paying minimum monthly payment to the debt. How progressive!
I've recently heard some people are paying tips to the collectors company who while paying minimum monthly payment to the debt. How progressive!
I skimmed their "12 minute read" about how it works, and didn't see this information:
* How does Fractional Jobs (the company) get paid? (For example, do they only get paid to list an ad?)
* Is Fractional Jobs involved at all, after initial contact between contractor and client is made? (For example, do FJ charge either parties a finder's fee or contract fee, or take an ongoing cut, or place restrictions on the relationship?)
* How does Fractional Jobs (the company) get paid? (For example, do they only get paid to list an ad?)
* Is Fractional Jobs involved at all, after initial contact between contractor and client is made? (For example, do FJ charge either parties a finder's fee or contract fee, or take an ongoing cut, or place restrictions on the relationship?)
Like any job site, it costs to list postings. And once they amass a newsletter audience that’s something they can sell ads into.
You are correct, though we actually don't charge for a job posting. Companies pay us a referral fee if they hire a candidate we send to them.
A search turned up this:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qmx3RKPfDgqF9ivBJF6C3vwX...
> The Referral Fee Experiment
> For this job, we charge a 10% referral fee if you are hired by the company.
> * 10% of revenue earned per month
> * Paid every month, capped at 6 months
> ** Note: this referral fee only applies to jobs where the referral fee is mentioned at the top of the job description. If the referral fee is not mentioned, it means there is no referral fee for that job.
> How It Works
> * We’ll calculate the expected monthly revenue from your contract
> * 10% of that revenue is the referral fee
> * We’ll charge you that referral fee for the first 6 months of the contract
> * You’ll pay the referral fee AFTER you’re paid by the client
Is this typical, or a direction you want to go?
My concerns:
1. The means of enforcing that could get messy. (What do people have to sign? What if the company decides to outright hire the person? What are the reporting requirements? What's the headache if breaking off the engagement?)
2. As a consultant, I'd not be thrilled to pay anyone 10% off the top of gross revenue. Unless it's a matchmaker that really added value that made all the difference. (Not just happened to be a middleperson in making the connection through their site, rather than any number of other places it could've happened. Traditionally, a deep-pocketed employer who can't be bothered to find people itself would pay the random sourcers/recruiters.)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qmx3RKPfDgqF9ivBJF6C3vwX...
> The Referral Fee Experiment
> For this job, we charge a 10% referral fee if you are hired by the company.
> * 10% of revenue earned per month
> * Paid every month, capped at 6 months
> ** Note: this referral fee only applies to jobs where the referral fee is mentioned at the top of the job description. If the referral fee is not mentioned, it means there is no referral fee for that job.
> How It Works
> * We’ll calculate the expected monthly revenue from your contract
> * 10% of that revenue is the referral fee
> * We’ll charge you that referral fee for the first 6 months of the contract
> * You’ll pay the referral fee AFTER you’re paid by the client
Is this typical, or a direction you want to go?
My concerns:
1. The means of enforcing that could get messy. (What do people have to sign? What if the company decides to outright hire the person? What are the reporting requirements? What's the headache if breaking off the engagement?)
2. As a consultant, I'd not be thrilled to pay anyone 10% off the top of gross revenue. Unless it's a matchmaker that really added value that made all the difference. (Not just happened to be a middleperson in making the connection through their site, rather than any number of other places it could've happened. Traditionally, a deep-pocketed employer who can't be bothered to find people itself would pay the random sourcers/recruiters.)
It's exactly what it was labeled, an experiment. We tried it once months ago, and I didn't like it. So we killed it.
[I'm the founder of https://fractionaljobs.io] We get paid in two ways, 1) companies pay us a flat "referral fee" if they hire a candidate we send them, 2) through sponsorships of our newsletter.
We are not involved at all after the contract is signed. We believe in independent fractional hiring vs. a middleman. Therefore, we don't take any % from the fractional or the company, aside from the referral fee mentioned above. No restrictions on relationship, do as y'all please.
I used to do fractional work myself, and I designed this structure with myself in mind, if that makes sense.
We are not involved at all after the contract is signed. We believe in independent fractional hiring vs. a middleman. Therefore, we don't take any % from the fractional or the company, aside from the referral fee mentioned above. No restrictions on relationship, do as y'all please.
I used to do fractional work myself, and I designed this structure with myself in mind, if that makes sense.
I have extensive experience hiring fractional talent at our company over the past 2 years (CMO, CFO, CTO). I’m currently spending $250k/yr on fractionals.
To avoid disappointment 2-3 months into the engagement, my #1 recommendation is to have a very specific and well written statement of work that you mutually agree on so that it’s perfectly clear what your expectations of them are.
When our fractionals didn’t work out, it was always because we had expectations that the fractional wasn’t able to live up to. And in hindsight, simply spelling out the work in a SOW would have avoided the misalignment.
In general, there are a lot of fractionals who don’t like to roll their sleeves up to do real work. IME most fractionals could simply be described as “paid advisors”. For our company, when we’ve had fractionals not work out it was always because the fractional simply didn’t want to do anything other than join meetings and advise.
Again, all solvable by simply having a clear SOW and making sure mutual expectations are clearly communicated.
It’s extremely tempting to just engage a fractional because it’s easy and quick, especially when you’re desperate to get someone in the door. Don’t make that mistake and take your time.
To avoid disappointment 2-3 months into the engagement, my #1 recommendation is to have a very specific and well written statement of work that you mutually agree on so that it’s perfectly clear what your expectations of them are.
When our fractionals didn’t work out, it was always because we had expectations that the fractional wasn’t able to live up to. And in hindsight, simply spelling out the work in a SOW would have avoided the misalignment.
In general, there are a lot of fractionals who don’t like to roll their sleeves up to do real work. IME most fractionals could simply be described as “paid advisors”. For our company, when we’ve had fractionals not work out it was always because the fractional simply didn’t want to do anything other than join meetings and advise.
Again, all solvable by simply having a clear SOW and making sure mutual expectations are clearly communicated.
It’s extremely tempting to just engage a fractional because it’s easy and quick, especially when you’re desperate to get someone in the door. Don’t make that mistake and take your time.
Informative. I almost tend to think there should be a division between advisors and hands-on work fractionals.
I actually do this with my own Fraction CTO pricing. I use tiers.
The Advisor tier is essentially exactly what you describe. I join meetings and advise for up to 10 hours / month and then have an hourly rate after that. It's most appealing for companies who essentially want to make sure they aren't steering down a path that's going to lead to a lot of pain later on. CEO's who are looking to bounce ideas off of somebody to help refine them, etc. This is also month to month.
The next tier is up to 30 hours / month with a slightly discounted hourly rate for more, minimum 2 months. The final is up to 70 hours / month with a greatly discounted hourly rate for more, minimum 3 months.
I started doing this to set clear expectations with clients as well after having a client frustrated with me at the 10 hours / month rate when he wanted me to run his entire dev and operations team without going over the baseline hours. That wasn't clear until after I started and the engagement didn't last long.
Clear expectations work much better and I really like the work that I do. I get to work with execs, product, devs, operations, support, QA. I get to put together a clear picture of what is working and what isn't. Map out potential solutions. Coach people at different levels on implementations without being disruptive. Mob with dev teams around performance or architectural needs. Teach technical people how to put things in terms that the non-technical folks they work with will understand.
It's very rewarding work and the flexibility has been good for my family during our current phase of life.
The Advisor tier is essentially exactly what you describe. I join meetings and advise for up to 10 hours / month and then have an hourly rate after that. It's most appealing for companies who essentially want to make sure they aren't steering down a path that's going to lead to a lot of pain later on. CEO's who are looking to bounce ideas off of somebody to help refine them, etc. This is also month to month.
The next tier is up to 30 hours / month with a slightly discounted hourly rate for more, minimum 2 months. The final is up to 70 hours / month with a greatly discounted hourly rate for more, minimum 3 months.
I started doing this to set clear expectations with clients as well after having a client frustrated with me at the 10 hours / month rate when he wanted me to run his entire dev and operations team without going over the baseline hours. That wasn't clear until after I started and the engagement didn't last long.
Clear expectations work much better and I really like the work that I do. I get to work with execs, product, devs, operations, support, QA. I get to put together a clear picture of what is working and what isn't. Map out potential solutions. Coach people at different levels on implementations without being disruptive. Mob with dev teams around performance or architectural needs. Teach technical people how to put things in terms that the non-technical folks they work with will understand.
It's very rewarding work and the flexibility has been good for my family during our current phase of life.
This is exactly what i have been looking for as setup. Short / shallow things at price X, longer / deeper things at X * 0.8 , and even longer and deeper things at X * 0.6.. (example coefficients). Whether as CTO on the technology/ strategy/ ideating front, or somewhat deeper as Auditing , or as Mentor of some team/s, or even deeper as Lets-Hack-this-or-that.. (with diff.price if it's for yesterday..)
Thanks for assuring me that such thing is possible :) - i mean, there are those who would pay for it.
have fun
Thanks for assuring me that such thing is possible :) - i mean, there are those who would pay for it.
have fun
So I'm curious- I can understand why you'd want a fractional CFO or CMO, but what does a fractional CTO even do? In my mind a CTO is either someone who manages multiple teams,or someone who manages a team that does 'de novo' deeply technical work. It's difficult for me to see how either of those would work part time, or really that that their skill set would be applicable to a company that can only afford part of their time. In a small team,why would you hire a fractional CTO as opposed to just making sure your most senior engineer is able to mentor the juniors?
[I'm the founder of https://fractionaljobs.io] You'd hire a Fractional CTO when you don't have the need for (or the budget for) a full-time CTO, but still want that level of technical expertise. It's really as simple as that.
If you have a senior engineer that can flex into that role and that's good enough for you, then great. We help a couple companies a month hire Fractional CTOs though for the reasons I stated above. When it works, it can work exceptionally well but its NOT right for every use case.
If you have a senior engineer that can flex into that role and that's good enough for you, then great. We help a couple companies a month hire Fractional CTOs though for the reasons I stated above. When it works, it can work exceptionally well but its NOT right for every use case.
[deleted]
Hey CJ, I'm the founder of https://fractionaljobs.io . Very cool to hear about your experiences on the hiring side. I'd love to ask you more questions about your ideal SOW, as I'm working on something to directly improve this for hirers (so would love your feedback).
LMK if you're interested and the best way to contact you (or you can reach me at tc at fractionaljobs dot io)
LMK if you're interested and the best way to contact you (or you can reach me at tc at fractionaljobs dot io)
Thanks for sharing. Any thoughts on hiring a fractional CTO? I’m a barely-technical founder, working w/ no code/low code tools like Airtable, Copilot for my product and services but want to outsource work and move towards more technical product but have been striking out trying to hire more technical people than I am directly and don’t want a cofounder. Where to find a fractional CTO, how to go about it, etc. thanks
I just learned about fractional jobs. I've bounced around my company for a while and also led some independent projects.
I'd like to break into this space. I'd be curious to know what was causing your CTOs to strike out to know what pitfalls I could avoid (Also open to discuss your role specifically if you're interested in someone trying to get their feet wet in fractional work, but am comfortable in the engineering space)
Hey Dave, I'm the founder of https://fractionaljobs.io , if it's helpful you can book a time with me through the website and I can talk you through the pros / cons of hiring a Fractional CTO (and then help you hire one if you want our help).
You can click the "Hire Fractional" button on the website to book a time with me.
FWIW you're describing a great use case for a fCTO.
You can click the "Hire Fractional" button on the website to book a time with me.
FWIW you're describing a great use case for a fCTO.
[deleted]
I’m curious why you’ve been striking out? What seems to be the issue with the people you’re trying to hire. I’m looking to get into being a fractional CTO and would love to talk with you if you’re interested. You can reach me at the email in my profile.
Why do you think you need a CTO? Contract a full-stack dev.
Only 17 jobs listed. How does this work? indeed.com filter for part-time and remote shows 20K+ jobs.
If you fractionate them, that’s 1700 jobs
If I may paraphrase “300” with some stylistic embellishments:
- [Fractional], only 17 jobs listed. We thought your commitment would at least match our own. Indeed has 20k+ jobs.
- Indeed opportunity 1, what is your status?
- Unresponsive company.
- And opportunity 2?
- Fake role.
- And you, opportunity 3?
- Underpaying role
- Fractional roles, what is your status?
- Aoo, Aoo, Aoo.
- See, Indeed. We did bring more actual roles to the table.
(Allegedly, but 17 real roles is better than 20k fake or unresponsive ones).
- [Fractional], only 17 jobs listed. We thought your commitment would at least match our own. Indeed has 20k+ jobs.
- Indeed opportunity 1, what is your status?
- Unresponsive company.
- And opportunity 2?
- Fake role.
- And you, opportunity 3?
- Underpaying role
- Fractional roles, what is your status?
- Aoo, Aoo, Aoo.
- See, Indeed. We did bring more actual roles to the table.
(Allegedly, but 17 real roles is better than 20k fake or unresponsive ones).
This is exactly correct :). I'm going to feature this comment in tomorrow's newsletter
[I'm the founder of https://fractionaljobs.io] Fractional is not quite the same as part-time, so we do not post all part-time roles. Generally speaking, we filter for the following criteria:
- Senior-level role, think 6+ years experience at least, but ideally 10+
- Compensation is likely $100 / hr or more
- Within a common function area (Marketing, Finance, Engineering, etc.)
Bottom line, these are the 17 we think are the best fits for our fractional community of 10,000+.
Does that make sense?
Bottom line, these are the 17 we think are the best fits for our fractional community of 10,000+.
Does that make sense?
Seems "part time" would be a better name?
Fractionals are typically senior++ that work part-time for a company. "Part time" can be any seniority level so it gives less information.
Is it really the case though? i.e. aren't there fractional interns or juniors?
I've never seen one marketing themselves as that or a part-time position advertised as fractional. In my 2 year experience as a fractional CTO it's only "Head of" and C-level. Happy to stand corrected.
[founder of https://fractionaljobs.io here] You're generally correct, though people will certainly use the word fractional in a much more... how do we say... "aspirational" way, if you catch my drift.
The word fractional implies a level of expertise / seniority. But yes, it's a fancy word for part-time.
fractional : pre-owned
First I've heard of fractional roles. Is there any loose guidelines of what level of experience is required to break into the space?
I've been doing software for about a decade now. But I'm still (relatively) young. I do feel I have good breadth though and could provide value to a fledgling company to move in the right direction.
I've been doing software for about a decade now. But I'm still (relatively) young. I do feel I have good breadth though and could provide value to a fledgling company to move in the right direction.
So cool! Founder of https://fractionaljobs.io here, bilsbie thanks for posting this.
If anyone has questions about Fractional Jobs, fractional work, etc. lmk and I'll do my best to answer all of them.
If anyone has questions about Fractional Jobs, fractional work, etc. lmk and I'll do my best to answer all of them.
I'm building something similar, but to find remote contact jobs instead of fractional work:
https://wonderful.dev
https://wonderful.dev
The issue with displaying statistics to potential employers is that they can easily be gamed or even falsified. If your site really takes off, you'll have to be careful that it is not inundated with 'developers' whose contributions include renaming str_name to name_str in a thousand repositories.
Cf. https://blog.domenic.me/hacktoberfest/ and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24643894
Cf. https://blog.domenic.me/hacktoberfest/ and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24643894
What's the difference between engineering and product?
[Founder of https://fractionaljobs.io here] Engineering = Software Engineers through CTOs, Product = Product Managers through CPOs.
And other nuances, like Engineering will also capture Security roles too.
And other nuances, like Engineering will also capture Security roles too.
This is a great start. I've been looking for part time work, so I signed up.
This is a great start, clearly world is moving towards this.
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> extract the most valuable 10 hours/week ...
> ... don’t pay payroll taxes, don’t pay bonuses, and don’t need to offer benefits
How they define a "fractional" is almost 1:1 the definition of false self-employment, which is illegal in many parts of Europe, as it fulfils all criteria of normal employment without any of the security for the employee and circumvention of paying for social safety.