Chief marketing officer · job description template
CMO job description
The short answer · updated
A CMO job description sets out the most senior marketing role in a company: the person accountable for how marketing drives growth. The core duties are marketing strategy and budget, brand and positioning, demand generation and pipeline, customer insight and data, and leading the marketing team, reporting results to the CEO and board.
Job purpose
The chief marketing officer (CMO) decides where the company competes, what it says and to whom, and turns that into revenue the board can see. The CMO owns the marketing plan and budget, and answers for what they return.
Write the purpose as one or two sentences about the growth the business needs: a new market, a repositioned brand, a pipeline sales can close, a launch. The rest of the job description should follow from that sentence. Where the role sits one tier below the C-suite, see what a marketing director does.
Key responsibilities
Pick the duties that match the company’s stage and cut the rest. A typical list:
- set the marketing strategy and plan that serves the business plan, and agree it with the CEO and board;
- own the marketing budget and allocate it across channels by return;
- define positioning, messaging and the brand, and keep them consistent;
- build demand and pipeline with sales, sharing targets and definitions;
- own customer and market insight: research, segmentation and pricing input;
- lead product marketing, launches and go-to-market for new products or markets;
- run digital, content, performance, events and PR through the team and agencies;
- own marketing data, attribution and reporting to the board;
- make sure marketing complies with advertising rules and direct marketing and data protection law;
- hire, lead and develop the marketing team, and choose and manage agencies;
- work with the CEO, sales, product and finance on growth plans and forecasts.
Reporting line and scope
A CMO usually reports to the chief executive; in some companies to a chief commercial or chief revenue officer. Heads of brand, demand generation, product marketing, content, digital and communications typically report to the CMO, alongside agencies on retainer or project terms.
State the board exposure plainly. Most CMOs present the marketing plan, budget and results to the board, and some sit on it as executive directors. If the CMO will own a revenue target jointly with sales, say so, and say how it will be measured.
Skills, experience and qualifications
Describe experience by what the candidate has done, not by years served. Acas warns that phrases such as “highly experienced” can discriminate on age, and that each requirement needs a good reason. No law requires a CMO to hold a particular qualification.
- a record of growth delivered through marketing at a comparable scale, sector or stage (B2B or B2C, sales-led or product-led);
- budget ownership and the judgement to move money between channels on evidence;
- brand and positioning work that changed how a company was seen;
- fluency with marketing data, attribution and the tools behind them;
- working knowledge of the CAP Code, which every advertiser must follow and the ASA enforces, and of the ICO’s rules on direct marketing and electronic communications (PECR and data protection);
- experience building and leading a team and managing agencies;
- optional: a professional standard such as CIM Chartered Marketer status, which requires graded CIM membership, continuing professional development and an assessment, or a CIM qualification.
Fractional CMO job description
A fractional CMO works a set number of days a week or month. The job description changes in three ways. It names the days and how they fall. It narrows the scope to the few problems that matter most: a positioning reset, a go-to-market plan, a pipeline that sales can rely on, hiring the first head of marketing. And it sets outcomes for the first six to twelve months rather than an open-ended list of duties.
A fractional CMO often works through their own company, so the engagement may fall within the off-payroll working rules (IR35). Status depends on how the engagement runs in practice, and a medium or large client makes the determination. Our IR35 guide sets out the tests. To see how it works, read how to hire a fractional CMO.
Interim and permanent versions
An interim CMO works full-time for a fixed period: a rebrand, a launch, a turnaround, or cover while the permanent search runs. The job description adds the start date, the length of the assignment and the handover expected at the end. See interim CMO roles.
A permanent CMO job description carries the full scope, the long-term strategy and the terms of employment. For an employee, the job title or a description of the work goes into the written statement of employment particulars from the first day, so the job description and the statement should agree. For a permanent search, see our CMO headhunter page; for the tier below, marketing director recruitment.
A template you can copy
Acas publishes a free outline job description with the main headings, the role’s main duties and the reporting line. For a CMO, use these headings:
- Job title: Chief Marketing Officer, and whether the role is permanent, interim, part-time or fractional.
- Reports to: the CEO (or named executive), the teams and agencies that report to the CMO, and any board attendance.
- Purpose: one or two sentences on the growth the business needs from marketing.
- Responsibilities: six to ten duties from the list above, the most important first.
- Requirements: the experience and skills the role needs, each with a reason; qualifications as optional unless the role truly needs them.
- Terms: location and hybrid pattern, days a week, start date, length of engagement for interim or fractional roles, and how pay will be set out.
Questions people ask
What should a CMO job description include?
The job title and engagement type, the reporting line, a short purpose statement, the key responsibilities, the skills and experience the role needs, and the terms: location, days, start date and length. Keep responsibilities to what the company needs now.
How long should a CMO job description be?
Long enough to show the scope and short enough to read in a few minutes. A fractional or interim brief can be shorter, because it names a few outcomes rather than the whole remit.
How is a fractional CMO job description different?
It names the days a week or month, narrows the scope to the problems that matter most, and sets outcomes for the first six to twelve months. It also notes that IR35 status depends on how the engagement runs. See how to hire a fractional CMO.
What does a CMO earn?
It depends on the company’s size, stage and sector, and on whether the role is permanent, interim or fractional. Our CMO salary page sets out permanent pay and fractional day rates, each figure with its source.
What is the difference between a CMO and a marketing director?
A CMO sits in the C-suite and answers to the CEO for marketing’s part in growth. A marketing director often runs the marketing function one tier below, or is the most senior marketer in a smaller company. See what a marketing director does.
How do I hire a CMO?
Define the growth problem, choose between permanent, interim, part-time and fractional, write the job description around it, and test every candidate against the same problem. We recruit fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent executives, and non-executive directors, and send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after our five-stage vetting. See how to hire a fractional CMO or our CMO headhunter page.
