Interim in Norway is sold from the top down. If you need a stand-in CEO, CFO or HR director, you have plenty of firms to call. If you need a category manager, a sourcing lead or a planner for nine months, you will struggle to find anyone who offers one. That is often exactly where the gap is.
The gap is rarely at the top
When a procurement director leaves, the whole leadership team notices and someone steps in the next morning. When a category manager leaves halfway through a tender, nobody notices until the contract fails to get signed. When a planner goes on leave, you find out when stock builds up or shelves run empty.
These roles have concrete, measurable output. That makes them a good fit for interim work, because you can say what should be finished on the day the assignment ends.
Three situations where it pays off
A category programme with a deadline. The board wants lower indirect spend by year end. There is a plan, but nobody on the team has the time to run it. An interim category manager takes three or four categories through analysis, tender and contract while your own people keep day-to-day purchasing running.
A system implementation. A new ERP or source-to-contract tool needs someone from procurement or planning on the project from start to finish. Pull that person out of the line and the line stalls. An interim specialist can either join the project or cover the line while your own expert does.
A gap before a permanent hire arrives. You have hired a new category manager, but they are serving six months’ notice. Meanwhile agreements expire and suppliers wait for answers. An interim specialist keeps the portfolio moving and hands it over in good order.
What defined scope and defined result mean
An interim specialist is not a body in a chair. A well-run assignment has three things in writing before day one:
- What will be delivered, and by when. For example: “New agreements for cleaning, catering and office supplies signed by 30 June.”
- Which decisions the specialist makes alone, and which come to you.
- What the handover will look like.
Once the result is written down, both sides know what success looks like. You stop judging effort and start checking whether the deliverable is in place. It also becomes easier to end the assignment on time, or to extend it with a new and equally clear goal.
There is a legal angle too. Norway tightened its rules on hiring in labour in 2023, and an open-ended assignment with no clear end point is harder to defend. A clear scope is good management, and it is also a precondition for using interim properly.
What to put in the assignment brief
Answer these questions before you ask for candidates:
- What is the concrete result, and what is the date?
- Which categories, suppliers or processes are in scope?
- Who does the specialist report to, and who must they work with?
- Which systems and data will they have access to from day one?
- What must they already know, and what can they pick up on the job?
- What should be handed over when the assignment ends?
A brief like this brings better candidates, because it attracts people who have solved this exact problem before. It also makes for a better assignment. The specialist can start delivering in week one instead of spending it working out what is expected.
At By Name we provide interim for hire at every level of procurement and supply chain, including the specialist roles the rest of the market leaves uncovered.
Questions and answers
How long does an interim category manager assignment usually last?
Typically three to twelve months. The length should follow the result you need, not the other way round.
How is an interim specialist different from a consulting project?
An interim specialist works inside your organisation and delivers an agreed result there. A consulting project is delivered by an outside team using its own method.
Can an interim category manager be hired permanently afterwards?
Yes, it happens. Agree the terms for a move to permanent employment before the assignment starts, not as it draws to a close.
- Review of Norwegian interim providers' published services and rate cards, August 2026
Thor has worked in procurement and supply chain for almost 15 years, as a leader, an adviser and the person who built the teams. He has assessed procurement functions in more than 40 companies, in the Nordics and internationally, and seen how procurement, planning and logistics have to work together for the supply chain to deliver. He knows what a CPO or a supply chain director needs from their people. That is the judgement you get when you call.