Fractional COOs in London Making Things Happen

London Part-Time Chief Operating Officers to Know

In today’s fast-moving business environment, more and more companies—especially startups and scale-ups—are recognizing the need for executive leadership that is flexible, scalable, and rooted in experience. That’s where fractional COOs come in. These operational leaders step in part-time but bring full-stack thinking, helping businesses gain clarity, increase performance, and build the kind of infrastructure that supports long-term growth.

At Digital Reference, we’re focused on creating transparency in the professional talent ecosystem. We surface not just who’s doing the work, but how they do it—and why it matters. In this blog, we’re spotlighting some of the top fractional COOs working in and around London who are making a meaningful difference inside the companies they serve.

Our Methodology - London Fractional COO Services

This list of fractional COOs is part of our ongoing commitment to identifying fractional talent across industries and regions. We apply a thoughtful and human-led approach to curation. While you notice each individual uses a different public facing title, each professional listed below provides fractional COO services.

Our selection process includes:

• Experience: We reviewed each leader’s operational background, looking at both corporate and consulting experience.
• Transparency: Each executive has a clear public presence and defined service offering.
• Reputation: We factored in endorsements, client testimonials, and industry recognition.
• Relevance: Each COO is based in or regularly works with companies in the London market.
• Specialization: We sought out individuals with unique strengths across industries such as SaaS, CPG, hospitality, healthtech, media, and more.

This is not a ranking—it’s a showcase of people we think you should know. Whether you're a founder looking to hire or a fellow operator looking to connect, these are the names to keep on your radar.

‍Milly Barker

– Founder, Pay As You Go COO

Bio: Milly Barker is the founder of Pay As You Go COO, a consultancy designed to give early-stage businesses access to no-fluff, practical operations support. Her approach is all about helping founders move from survival mode to strategic mode. With a background in scaling e-commerce and purpose-led brands, she’s especially attuned to the challenges that bootstrapped and founder-led companies face.

Why she’s featured: Milly stands out for her approachability, clarity, and startup empathy. She’s not just building systems—she’s empowering founders to trust them. Her practice offers rare transparency around pricing and process, making her a go-to resource for small businesses taking their first steps toward operational maturity.

Steve Squires

– Founder, The Ops Guys

Bio: Steve Squires leads The Ops Guys, a specialist ops consultancy focused on high-growth companies. With experience in tech, SaaS, and digital-first businesses, Steve is known for building repeatable systems that scale—and for bringing calm to chaos.

Why he’s featured: Steve is one of the most systems-oriented operators on our list. He brings a structured, measurable approach to growth and is particularly effective in environments where cross-functional alignment and technical operations are critical. His team model also allows for hands-on support across various verticals.

Nikki Michelsen

– Commercial Advisor & Fractional COO

Bio: A serial entrepreneur and former startup founder, Nikki Michelsen brings strong commercial instinct to her fractional work. She now advises CPG, wellness, and e-commerce brands on aligning operations with revenue-driving activities.

Why she’s featured: Nikki bridges commercial thinking with operational strategy, helping brands scale in a way that protects both profit and culture. Her lived experience as a founder adds tremendous credibility to her approach—and she’s become a trusted voice in purpose-led consumer businesses.

Mark Scrivener

– COO & Transformation Advisor

Bio: Mark is a seasoned transformation executive with experience leading enterprise change and technology adoption. He works with startups all the way up to enterprise orgs. He specializes in org design, governance, and stakeholder management.

Why Mark is featured: Mark brings gravitas and strategic insight into complex transformations. He’s the person you want when you’re solving for scale across multiple business units or legacy systems. He is especially known for intertwining CX  thinking into building processes & operations.

Pippa Peckham Cooper

– Founder, Fractional COO & fCEO

Bio: Pippa blends culture and ops in a way that makes people systems feel deeply strategic. She supports founders and businesses in designing inclusive, high-performance team structures.

Why she’s featured: Pippa understands that culture is operational infrastructure. She helps growing teams codify values, scale hiring, and build employee experiences that retain talent. Perfect for companies that care about how they grow.

Arpit Kaushik

– Fractional COO, Poet, Entrepreneur, Growth & Ops Consultant

Bio: Arpit Kaushik is known for helping microbrands build effective operational systems. He has over twenty years of scaling businesses and highlights that "success lies in the details—the small choices that create lasting impact".

He’s an expert in implementing the Microbrand Operating System, an operating system focused on designing business functions that work so entrepreneurs can focus on what makes their brand special. Arpit has experience designing performance systems, aligning leadership teams, and preparing companies for investment.

Why he’s featured: Arpit is highly adaptable, with the ability to shift between product strategy and organizational design. Arpit works with founders at any stage but is best for Microbrands, or those in the Seed Funding and Series A stage.

Arpit is a sharp operational ally - a few other spotlights of what it is like working with Arpit:

• Arpit focuses on right-sized processes that provide structure without bureaucracy
• You can expect adaptive frameworks that evolve as your brand grows
• Arpit is especially know for Integrated design that preserves your brand's unique character

Anthony Siskos

– Founder, Siskos Consulting

Bio: Anthony brings a blend of finance and operations to his engagements, often supporting companies through change, scale, or restructuring. With experience in corporate services, M&A, and professional advisory, he’s often called in when stakes are high and clarity is critical.

Why he’s featured: Anthony operates at the intersection of finance and operations—a skillset that makes him invaluable during turbulent growth or transformation. His calm, pragmatic style makes him a strong fit for board-facing roles or organizations dealing with external pressures.

Peter Peart

– Founder, Scale-Upp

Bio: Peter helps pre-Series A and seed-stage companies build the bones of a scalable business. From financial modeling to process mapping, his work focuses on helping founders design the structure they’ll grow into.

Why he’s featured: Peter has a gift for making the abstract feel actionable. His background in early-stage growth means he speaks the language of founders while still holding space for systems thinking. He’s ideal for startups ready to level up but not sure how.

Neda Sahebelm

– Founder, Keshty

Bio: Neda is a digital-first operator with experience across product management, systems integration, and strategy. She works with purpose-driven startups, particularly in the tech, education, and nonprofit sectors.

Why she’s featured: Neda’s ability to blend product, purpose, and process makes her a rare find. She’s particularly valuable for teams looking to integrate social impact with scale. Her cross-sector experience brings fresh perspective to operational design.

Jonny Searle

– COO & Executive Coach

Bio: With a background in both leadership coaching and operations, Jonny helps founder-led teams get aligned and build functional operating systems. His dual lens makes him a strong facilitator and culture shaper.

Why he’s featured: Jonny is an alignment expert. He helps teams clarify roles, reset priorities, and create accountability structures that last. He’s especially effective in fast-moving or emotionally complex environments where leadership cohesion is key.

Dan Burman

– Fractional COO

Bio: Dan works with creative and service-based companies—agencies, studios, and consultancies—to refine operations and unlock growth. His work often includes resource planning, pricing models, and delivery optimization.

Why he’s featured: Dan brings hard-won expertise in creative ops, a space often underserved by traditional operators. He helps founders set healthy boundaries around scope, scale, and profitability—without compromising on creativity.

Adam Lancaster

– Strategy & Ops Consultant

Bio: Adam has a strong background in logistics, transformation, and systems implementation. He’s especially experienced in customer experience operations and complex service environments.

Why he’s featured: Adam excels in bringing legacy processes into the modern era. He’s a transformation specialist who can see both operational detail and big-picture change, making him a great fit for organizations undergoing modernization.

Chloe Foden

– Ops Consultant & Startup Strategist

Bio: Chloe advises founders and funds on operational infrastructure and investment readiness. She’s worked across accelerators, startups, and early-stage teams, often helping them prioritize with limited resources.

Why she’s featured: Chloe is a generalist with edge, able to step into ambiguous environments and quickly create traction. She’s a trusted advisor to both startups and investors, and her versatility is a major asset.

Huw Bevan

– Interim COO & Change Leader

Bio: Huw is an experienced executive who has led major transformations in media, digital, and entertainment companies. He’s often brought in for interim roles where leadership continuity and operational turnarounds are needed.

Why he’s featured: Huw has a board-ready presence and the chops to back it up. He’s calm under pressure and brings credibility into complex, high-visibility transitions.

‍

Final Thoughts

London is quickly becoming a hub for fractional executive leadership, and this group represents the very best in operational thinking. Whether you’re building a startup or navigating scale, the individuals on this list offer expertise that’s not just functional—but transformative.

At Digital Reference, we believe in making the work world more transparent, one operator at a time. If you’re looking for more insight into fractional talent, be sure to explore:

• How to Vet a Fractional Executive
• Outsourced COO Services in the UK

Have someone we should consider for a future list? Let us know—we’re always on the lookout for operators who are making things happen.

This piece was curated and written by the editorial team at Digital Reference. All profiles were independently selected. If we missed somebody, please reach out to hello@digitalreference.co to have them included.

‍