Fractional C-Suite Services in Ireland

A fractional executive in Ireland is a senior C-level leader (CFO, CMO, COO, CTO or another C-suite role) who works with a company on a part-time basis, typically 1-3 days per week, rather than as a full-time hire. Irish engagements typically run €900 to €2,000 per day, are contracted through a personal limited company and concentrate in Dublin, Cork and Galway. Employment status is decided by the Karshan five-step test rather than by an IR35-style regime.

No. Ireland operates its own employment-status regime. Since Revenue Commissioners v Karshan (Midlands) Ltd (Supreme Court, October 2023), status is decided by a five-step test covering the work and wage bargain, substitution, control, a holistic review of the terms and the legislative context, as set out in Revenue's Guidelines for Determining Employment Status for Taxation Purposes (Part 05-01-30, May 2024). If an engagement is reclassified as employment, the engaging client carries the unremitted PAYE, USC and PRSI.

Employer PRSI at Class A is 11.25% on top of gross salary from 1 October 2025, rising to 11.40% from October 2026 under the statutory PRSI roadmap (Saffery, NKC and PwC, 2025-2026). It is the only mandatory employer social charge at C-suite earnings levels, which makes Ireland one of the lightest employer-charge markets in Western Europe.

Dublin dominates through the Silicon Docks fintech and SaaS cluster. Cork anchors the pharma and life-sciences cluster. Galway concentrates medtech, hosting a large share of the leading global medical-device firms. Remote-first engagements are common across all three.

Define the outcome, the days per week and the duration, then source through Irish specialist networks and recruiters such as Agile Executives, Morgan McKinley, Robert Half and Marks Sattin. Shortlist 3 to 5 candidates with Irish sector and stage experience, run case work and reference calls, then validate the contracting structure against the Karshan five-step test before onboarding with a 30-day plan.

A fractional executive works part time, typically 1 to 3 days per week, on an ongoing basis across multiple clients. An interim executive works full time for a fixed term, usually to cover a vacancy or steer a transaction. No Irish body publishes a standalone interim day-rate guide, so European comparators are the closest verified proxies: the Robert Walters European Interim Management Study (2025) cites interim CFO rates of at least €1,500 per day, and the DDIM and INIMA European Insights (2025) put the all-function interim average at €994 per day.