What would a full-time executive really cost you?
This calculator compares the annual cost of a fractional executive retainer with the fully loaded cost of hiring the same seat full-time, using 2026 benchmarks you can edit. It shows the annual figures side by side and the number of hours a week at which hiring becomes cheaper than fractional.
Full-time, ongoing years: $929,500
Break-even: hiring costs less than fractional once you need about 8 hours a week of this seat
The assumptions
Our retainer bands, per seat per month: advisory $2,500 to $4,000 (about 8 hours a month), working $5,000 to $8,000 (about 16), embedded $9,000 to $14,000 (about 30). Three seats together are 15 to 20 percent less than the sum. The calculator uses the midpoint of each band and a 17.5 percent team discount.
Full-time salary benchmarks the calculator starts from, which you can change: general counsel $250,000; chief information officer $225,000; chief information security or security officer $240,000. These are conservative base-salary figures for the Washington DC market drawn from 2026 compensation guides (Linford, Eightx, Built In); total compensation at larger companies runs well above them.
Benefits, payroll taxes and overhead typically add 25 to 35 percent to base salary; the calculator starts at 30 percent. Executive recruiting fees typically run 20 to 30 percent of first-year salary; the calculator starts at 25 percent.
What the calculator does not count
The cost of the wrong hire (a mis-hired executive typically costs a year and a severance). The cost of the empty seat while you recruit (three to six months for a senior role). Equity, which a full-time executive often expects and a fractional one does not. The value of three seats that already work together, which is the thing we sell and which no calculator prices.