Do you work fractional, interim or on a project?

All three. Fractional is a few days a month on an ongoing basis, interim is full-time for a fixed term, and a project is a fixed-scope build or raise. We pick whatever fits the problem.

Fractional work is a fixed monthly fee for an agreed number of days, so you can budget it. Interim is a market day rate for a fixed term. Builds and raises are a fixed quote once I've scoped the problem. Every engagement starts with a scoped proposal, so you see the number and exactly what it covers before you commit to anything. No open-ended retainers.

I'm already in Riyadh, so there's no relocation or visa wait. I can usually start a new engagement within about 30 days.

Do you work remotely or on-site?

Both. I'm in the Kingdom for on-site work across the GCC, and happy to deliver remotely. Whatever the engagement needs.

Who owns the systems you build?

You do. I scope, architect and govern, engineers build, and the IP and the running system are yours, documented and handed over.

Do you handle Zakat, VAT and withholding tax?

Yes. Tax sits inside the core work, not beside it: registrations and filings, provisions in the accounts, ZATCA e-invoicing readiness, and planning ahead of deadlines rather than reacting to them. My background covers tax compliance ownership for multi-site groups and tax planning across large project portfolios.

Do you work with family groups and private equity portfolio companies?

Yes. Family groups and family offices are a large part of my work, and private-equity-backed companies bring me in as a part-time CFO between raises or through transitions. Board packs, lender reporting and diligence-ready numbers are the usual asks.

Which sectors do you know?

Media and entertainment, real estate, manufacturing, FMCG and logistics. I also work with family groups preparing for institutional capital.

Fractional vs interim vs full-time CFO: which to hire

The three ways to buy senior finance leadership in Saudi Arabia, what each one costs you in practice, and the questions that tell you which one fits.

Most founders I meet in Riyadh do not have a CFO problem. They have a "which kind of CFO" problem, and nobody has laid out the options in plain terms.

Here is the plain version.

The three models, in one table

	Fractional	Interim	Full-time
Time	A few days a month, ongoing	Full-time, fixed term	Permanent
Typical length	6 to 24 months	3 to 9 months	Indefinite
Best for	Steady senior oversight without the salary	A gap, a crisis, or a transaction	A finance organisation that needs daily leadership
Cost shape	Fixed monthly fee	Day rate	Salary, benefits, GOSI, end of service
Ramp-up	Days	Days	3 to 6 months to hire, then months to land

Everything else is detail. But the detail is where companies get it wrong.

When fractional is the right answer

Fractional works when the decisions are senior but the volume is not. You need someone who can sit in a board meeting, tell your bank the right story, price a deal properly and keep the controls honest. You do not need that person reviewing supplier invoices every morning.

The pattern I see most in Saudi family groups and early-stage companies:

The accountant or finance manager is competent, but nobody above them can challenge the numbers.
The board or an investor has started asking questions the current pack cannot answer.
Cash is technically fine, but nobody can tell you what it looks like in six months under two different scenarios.
There is a raise, a refinancing, or an audit coming and no one has run one before.

If two or more of those are true, a few days a month buys most of what a full-time CFO would give you.

When interim is the right answer

Interim is not "fractional but more days". It is a different job. You bring in an interim when something has to be taken over, not advised on.

The honest triggers:

Your CFO or finance manager has left, and the close is slipping.
You are in the middle of a transaction and need full-time senior capacity for a few months.
Something went wrong, and the numbers need to be rebuilt before anyone can trust them again.
You are hiring permanently but the seat cannot sit empty for six months.

Interim costs more per day and less in total, because it ends.

When you should just hire

I will talk companies out of fractional when the honest answer is a full-time hire. The signals:

Finance has more than about ten people and needs daily leadership, not oversight.
The business is complex enough that context-switching costs more than it saves.
You are pre-IPO or under a regulator who expects a named, resident, full-time officer.
The role is 60 percent management and 40 percent finance. That is a leadership job, and a part-time person cannot do it.

A fractional CFO who tells you that you always need a fractional CFO is selling, not advising.

The Saudi specifics nobody mentions

Three things change the maths in the Kingdom.

Full-time is more expensive than the salary line. Add GOSI, end of service, housing and transport allowances, and the visa and sponsorship cost if the person is not already here. The all-in number is well above the offer letter, and it starts the month they join, not the month they become useful.

Speed matters more than it used to. Between the raise cycle, ZATCA deadlines and lenders who now expect proper reporting, three months of an empty finance seat is expensive. Someone already in the Kingdom with a transferable position can start in weeks, not quarters.

Governance expectations have moved. Family groups that never needed an audit-ready control environment now need one, because their banks, their partners or their diligence process asks for it. That work has a beginning and an end, which makes it a project, not a permanent hire.

The questions that settle it

Ask yourself these four, honestly:

Does this problem end? If yes, buy a project or an interim. If no, buy fractional or permanent.
How many hours a week does the senior part actually take? Not the finance work. The judgment.
Who is doing the daily work today, and are they good? Fractional leadership on top of a competent finance manager works well. On top of nobody, it does not.
If the answer arrives in nine months, is it still useful? That is roughly how long a permanent hire takes to hire and land.

What I do

I work all three ways: fractional for ongoing oversight, interim for a fixed-term gap, and fixed-scope projects for a raise, a system build, or a clean-up. The first call is free and I will tell you which one fits, including when the answer is "none of them, hire someone".

If any of the signals above sound like your company, tell me the situation and I will give you a straight read.

Fractional, interim, or full-time CFO: which one do you actually need?