An engagement on CXOwork is a working relationship between a client and a fractional executive, governed by a contract you both sign electronically. We deliberately keep the structure light so the work can move fast, while still giving both sides the protections they expect.
Fractional vs. advisory
On the brief wizard you pick one of two engagement types. The pick changes how the advisor shows up, not the platform mechanics:
- Fractional — hands-on delivery. The advisor owns outcomes and executes alongside your team. Typical commitment is 5–30 hours/week, often over several months. Use this when you need someone to run a function, not just talk about it.
- Advisory — strategic guidance. The advisor advises but doesn't execute. Typical commitment is 1–5 hours/week, often as a recurring rhythm of working sessions. Use this when you have an in-house team but need a steady senior voice in the room.
Contract types
When you send an offer, you pick one of three rate structures. The choice changes how billing works (see the payments article) and what controls you have once the contract is live:
- Hourly — bill by the hour, with a target hours/week the advisor commits to. Pause/resume is supported (see below).
- Monthly retainer — fixed monthly fee for an agreed scope. Runs end-to-end, no pauses; the typical pattern when you want predictable cost and the work can't easily be split into discrete hours.
- Project — fixed total fee for a defined deliverable (e.g. "SOC 2 Type 1 readiness audit"). Also runs end-to-end without pauses.
Scope
The offer's scope field is a free-text description of what the engagement covers — in your own words, not a legal template. It surfaces verbatim on the contract and on the advisor's side of the dashboard. Be specific about outcomes ("ship our v1 sales playbook" reads better than "help with sales") and be honest about what's out of scope.
Pause and resume — hourly only
Hourly engagements occasionally need to pause — a fundraise wraps up, a product launch slips, the founder takes leave. Pause is supported only on hourly contracts and only after the first 30 days, so the advisor isn't in a position where they ramped up work for a brief that vanishes the next week. While paused, no hours can be logged. Click Resume any time to bring it back to active status.
Monthly retainers and fixed-fee projects can't be paused — they run to completion. If you need to terminate one early, mark it complete and reach out to the platform team for the wind-down.
How an engagement ends
Both sides know up-front that engagements end. Three normal exits:
- Mark complete — the client clicks Mark complete on the contract row when the work is done. If it's the last live contract on that brief, the brief itself auto-flips to
completed. - Run to end date — fixed-fee projects with an end date close themselves on that date.
- Withdraw an offer — only available before the advisor accepts. Once accepted and the contract exists, completion is the right path, not withdrawal.
Multiple engagements at once
You can run several engagements in parallel — a fractional CTO and an advisory CFO at the same time, for example. Each is its own brief, its own offer, its own contract. They don't share scope and the advisors don't see each other's work.