A CEO should be able to ask who is responsible for the organization’s security and receive an answer that explains how the work gets done. That answer should identify who evaluates concerns, who recommends priorities, who can authorize changes, and who follows an issue until it has been addressed. When the answer depends on which department receives the question, it is time to examine how security is being led.
This does not mean the people currently handling security are failing. A facilities leader may be managing a demanding operation. Human resources may be handling sensitive personnel matters. Technology staff may be responsible for systems that cannot afford disruption. The question is whether these responsibilities have been organized into a workable security function, with enough time and authority assigned to lead it.
You may need a security director when the continuing work of coordinating those decisions has exceeded your current arrangement. Fractional leadership is worth considering when that need is substantial but can be met through a defined, part-time engagement. The first step is to understand what remains unresolved and why.
Begin with the decisions that keep coming back
Look at the security issues that have reached your desk more than once. Perhaps a recommendation was accepted but never assigned. Perhaps departments disagree about who should pay for an improvement. Perhaps an exception approved for a temporary reason has become routine, and no one has reviewed whether it still makes sense.
An occasional unresolved question does not establish the need for another position. A recurring pattern deserves attention. If every important security decision has to be reconstructed from separate conversations, the organization may be relying too heavily on individual memory and availability. That arrangement becomes difficult to sustain when people change roles, facilities expand, or competing demands increase.
A useful review begins with one real issue. Ask who identified it, what was recommended, who had to decide, and what happened afterward. If the work stopped, identify the point where it stopped. The result may show a narrow resource problem, an unclear approval process, or a continuing need for someone to coordinate the entire effort. Those are different problems and should not automatically receive the same solution.
Understand what fractional leadership would add
A Fractional Security Director provides security leadership through an agreed engagement rather than a conventional full-time position. In this article, the focus is physical and organizational security: the protection of people, facilities, and operations, along with the coordination needed across departments. The exact responsibilities and availability must be defined.
The value should be visible in the decisions the organization can make and the work it can complete. A director might help leadership establish priorities, coordinate responsible departments, oversee agreed improvements, and explain what remains unresolved. Whether the engagement is primarily advisory or includes more direct management depends on the arrangement.
Hiring a director also requires clarity about business authority. ASIS International’s explanation of roles in enterprise security risk management distinguishes the security professional’s advisory role from the asset owner’s responsibility for risk decisions. That distinction matters when defining what an outside director can decide and what must return to your leadership team.
Examine whether your departments can resolve shared problems
Consider an illustrative organization with several facilities. Each location has a local manager, the same access-control vendor, and different procedures for contractors working after hours. A contractor’s assignment ends, but the notification process does not clearly identify who removes access or verifies that removal occurred. Facilities, the local manager, and the vendor each performed the task they believed belonged to them.
The executive problem is to establish a complete process: who initiates the change, who authorizes it, who carries it out, and what confirms completion. The organization may already employ everyone needed to perform those steps. It still needs someone to bring the responsibilities together and resolve disagreements about how the process will work.
Before hiring, ask whether an existing leader has the expertise, time, and authority to take that responsibility. If the answer is yes, defining and supporting the assignment may be sufficient. If the answer is no, adding the responsibility to an already overloaded position will not make the workload disappear. That is a reasonable point to consider outside consulting or fractional leadership.
Look closely when the organization changes
Growth changes the work that security must support. Opening another location, adding a shift, welcoming more visitors, or acquiring an organization can introduce decisions that the original arrangement was never designed to handle. A procedure that worked at one facility may depend on personal relationships or informal communication that cannot be reproduced elsewhere.
Ask how security is included in those changes. Is someone reviewing the implications before the opening date or after an operational problem appears? Can that person influence the plan while there is still time to make changes? Does the organization know who will maintain the resulting procedures after the project team moves on?
This applies to hospitals, universities, banks, data centers, and other organizations where disruption can have serious consequences. Their needs differ, and a sector label alone cannot establish the right staffing model. The actual operating hours, locations, internal capabilities, and required presence are what the engagement must accommodate.
Decide whether you need consulting or continuing leadership
Consulting may be the appropriate starting point when you need experienced judgment about a defined question. You might want help examining your current leadership arrangement, reviewing a specific program, establishing priorities, or deciding how a future security role should be structured. A bounded engagement can give leadership a clearer basis for its next decision.
Fractional leadership is worth examining when the organization also needs someone to remain involved: coordinating meetings, helping resolve issues between departments, reviewing progress, and keeping agreed work moving. The distinction is the continuing responsibility you need fulfilled. Providers may use these titles differently, so the actual scope matters more than the label.
In some situations, consulting should come first because leadership has not yet defined the problem clearly enough to commit to a continuing arrangement. In others, the ongoing need is already apparent. There is little value in repeatedly commissioning advice when the organization has no one assigned to lead the work that follows.
Recognize when the job calls for a full-time director
A fractional arrangement has to be sufficient for the work. If your organization requires a director’s presence throughout most of the working week, substantial daily personnel management, or extensive involvement across multiple locations, examine whether a full-time role is more appropriate. Limited availability should not be treated as interchangeable with a dedicated position.
Emergency responsibilities need their own discussion. Establish who handles urgent concerns, what the fractional director’s role would be, and what happens outside the agreed availability. Do not infer continuous response coverage from a monthly retainer or a senior-sounding title.
A capable consultant should be willing to identify when the organization needs more than the proposed engagement can provide. That judgment is part of the work you are hiring for. The objective is to establish a structure that can support the organization, including a transition to full-time leadership if the need becomes clear.
Prepare for a useful hiring conversation
You do not need to arrive with a finished job description. Start by identifying where decisions stall, who currently handles the work, and what you want to be different. Explain whether your concern involves one location or several, whether daily operations require substantial on-site support, and whether the immediate need is advice or continuing leadership.
A prospective director should be able to discuss those conditions without immediately prescribing a standard package. Ask how the initial scope would be defined, which responsibilities would remain internal, and how you would evaluate the relationship. The answers should give you a practical picture of how the person would work with your organization.
Also identify your own contribution. The engagement will need an executive sponsor, access to appropriate information, cooperation from responsible departments, and a route for obtaining decisions. A director can help create structure, but leadership must support the work it has asked that person to perform.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need a security director if we already have guards and security systems?
Those resources perform specific functions. Examine who decides how they should be used, reviews their performance, coordinates related responsibilities, and leads improvements. Existing resources may be well managed; the presence of equipment or personnel alone does not answer the leadership question.
Can a COO or facilities director lead security?
An existing executive may be able to lead the function if the assignment matches that person’s expertise, available time, and authority. Review the workload and support the responsibility explicitly. Do not assume that a capable executive has unlimited capacity to absorb another continuing function.
Can I begin with consulting before deciding on a Fractional Security Director engagement?
Yes. A defined consulting engagement can help clarify your needs and the appropriate structure. Whether to continue into fractional leadership should follow the work identified and the level of ongoing support required.
Discuss the leadership your organization needs
If the concerns in this article describe your organization, I am available to discuss working with you as a security consultant or Fractional Security Director. We can begin with the responsibilities currently being handled, the decisions that need attention, and the level of involvement your organization requires. From there, we can determine what a useful engagement would need to accomplish.
Contact Commissioner William Epps to discuss security consulting or a Fractional Security Director engagement.
About the author
Commissioner William Epps spent seven years in federal law enforcement, including service as a supervisor at one of the most recognizable, high-profile, heavily protected, and secure government buildings in the world. His experience includes access control, physical security, insider threat, VIP and executive protection, support for presidential protective operations, and incident command. He writes and consults on security leadership and organizational preparedness.
Commissioner William Epps 