CMO recruiters · CMO recruitment firm · chief marketing officer recruitment

CMO Recruitment · recruiters, firms and how it works

CMO recruitment is the work of finding, testing and appointing a chief marketing officer, whether permanent, interim or fractional.

A good recruiter starts from the growth problem the seat must solve, searches beyond the people already applying, tests candidates on a real brief from your business, and checks every claim before you meet anyone.

We are a recruitment agency for fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent executives, and non-executive directors.

On every brief we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.

Brief us on a CMO search →See the roles

How a brief runswhat we undertake

01Brief30-MINUTE SCOPING CALLDay 0
02Shortlist of 3–5VETTED · RATE BENCHMARK · IR35After the brief
03InterviewsYOU MEET THE SHORTLISTYour diary
04Scoped startFIRST-MONTH OUTCOMES AGREEDYou set the date
05Fractional, interim and permanentIR35 POSITION SET OUTOn every brief

Shortlist3–5

3–5

Shortlist · with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 set out

Vetting · stages before a candidate reaches you

£147,000

CMO median salary · Chief Marketing Officer, 2026

Robert Half, 2026

£200,000

CMO median salary, London · Chief Marketing Officer, 2026

Robert Half, 2026

15 minutes · video or phone

Book 15 minutes to hire a CMO

Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with CMO candidates, their day rates and availability.

0115 minutes, video or phone
02We scope the role and the days a week
03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs

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Pick a day that suits · live availability

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On the board · last 3 months

CMO roles jobs on the board

0 CMO roles · 9 fractional executive

No CMO roles roles on the board in the last three months. Showing fractional executive roles instead.

Browse every role on the board →

Current CMO and marketing leadership roles on our board

Fractional recruitment works differently from a permanent search — shorter, scoped by days a week, and priced on the engagement. Send a CMO brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.

01/ the cross

Where a permanent hire becomes cheaper.

Move the day rate and the days a week: the rising line is a month of part-week cost, the flat line a permanent hire’s month. Where they cross, the seat should go full-time.

Day rate£1,100Published band for a fractional CMO: £750–£1,400 a day (Connectd 2026)Days a week2 days

Fractional CMO, a monthPermanent CMO, a month

At 3.8 days a week a permanent hire costs less.

At 2 days a week: fractional CMO £9,526 a month · permanent £17,763 a month

Our arithmetic. Permanent a month = the salary ÷ 12 plus 15% employer NI, plus the 30% search fee spread over 12 months — the calculator’s inputs. Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for each step.

Permanent = the £147,000 Robert Half 2026 median salary. The full calculator below adds the months, the totals and the currency tabs.

02/ the role

CMO recruitment: how the process works

A CMO sets marketing strategy and answers to the board for growth: positioning, demand, brand and the team.

Recruiting one follows three routes, and the route sets the process: who the candidates are, how they are found, and how the engagement is contracted.

Permanent

Most strong permanent candidates are in post and not reading adverts, so someone has to approach them, assess them and manage a notice period.

CMO executive search is the approach-led end of that work; a CMO headhunter explains how a search for a permanent seat runs.

Interim and fractional

An interim CMO works full-time for a fixed term, to cover a vacancy, a launch or a turnaround; interim CMO recruitment sets out that route.

A fractional CMO works agreed days a week, often alongside other clients.

Both pools are smaller and move faster than the permanent one, and availability matters as much as the CV.

A CMO who works through their own company may fall under the off-payroll working rules (IR35).

Status turns on how the engagement runs in practice, and a medium or large client makes the determination.

Who does what

You own the brief and the decision to hire.

The recruiter owns the search, the assessment and the checks, and should tell you plainly when the brief and the budget do not match the market.

03/ scope

CMO recruiters: what a good one does

Good CMO recruiters do five things, and you can ask any CMO recruiter to show you each one before you sign.

Searches for CMO recruiters UK and CMO executive recruiters land on the same test.

1. Take a full brief

The Conduct Regulations 2003 say an agency must not introduce a candidate until it has enough information from the hirer to select someone suitable: the role, the work, the start date, the location and the qualifications needed.

A good recruiter goes further and asks what marketing must change in the first year, and how the board will measure it.

2. Search beyond the applicants

An advert reaches people already on the move.

A good recruiter maps who has grown a business like yours, in your market and at your stage, approaches them directly, and tells you who said no and why.

3. Assess on the work

The CIPD’s selection factsheet favours clear, structured and objective assessment, including skill-based tasks.

For a CMO, that means the same brief for every candidate: your funnel, your positioning, your last quarter’s numbers, and what they would change first.

4. Check what the candidate claims

Marketing results are easy to overstate, so ask for evidence of pipeline or revenue that the finance team would recognise, and take references from a CEO and a sales leader.

If a candidate cites a professional title, check it: Chartered Marketer is a protected title, awarded by the Chartered Institute of Marketing after graded membership, two years of CPD and an assessment.

5. Set out the terms on each candidate

Pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position belong on the shortlist, so you compare like with like before the first interview.

How we run a brief

We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.

Every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.

04/ the maths

What the seat costs, by the days a week

Move the day rate, the days a week and the months: the totals and the permanent comparison for the period. The curve above shows where a permanent hire becomes the cheaper seat.

Day rate£1,100Days a week needed2 daysMonths engaged12 months

The slider runs across the published band for a fractional CMO: £750–£1,400 a day (Connectd 2026).

Cost over 12 months

£114,400

104 working days · 2 d/wk · 12 mo · before tax

Fractional CMO£114,400

Permanent CMO, same period£213,150

Fractional costs less over 12 months£98,750

Fractional CMO, 12 months£114,400

Fractional CMO, a month at 2 d/wk£9,526

Permanent CMO, same period£213,150

Book a 15-minute call →

Our arithmetic, indicative. Permanent = the £147,000 Robert Half 2026 median salary pro rata for the same months, plus 15% employer NI, plus a 30% search fee on the annual base (UK retained search runs 25–35%, Headhunters.co.uk). Excludes pension, bonus and equity.

05/ the week

How a week divides.

The days you buy are yours; the rest of the week goes to other clients. Move the days a week in the calculator above and the week redraws.

Your companyAnother clientA third client

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Illustration only: one way a fractional CMO’s week can divide at 2 days a week for you. Each block is half a day.

06/ the board

What the board holds.

A read of the roles on the board on this page, counted as they stand: how each is engaged, whether the posting gives the days and the rate, and where the work happens.

On this board, last 90 days · 9 roles · fractional executive

Engagement

Fractional9

Seat

CFO3
Finance director1
General counsel1
HRD1
COO1
CISO1
Other seats1

Days a week

Stated in the posting4
Not stated5

Day rate

Verified rate1
Estimated (est)5
Rate not stated3

Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)

Remote2
Hybrid4
On-site3

Newest posting on the board: 5 Oct 2026.

07/ comparison

Recruitment agency, search firm or interim provider?

Three kinds of recruiter work on marketing leadership seats. Choose by the route, not the brand.

Recruitment agencyExecutive search firmInterim or fractional provider

Finds candidates byIts own database, adverts and direct approachMapping the market and approaching people in postPeople already working on interim or part-week terms

SuitsPermanent, interim and part-week seats where speed mattersA permanent board seat in a competitive marketA vacancy, a launch or a part-week need

Ask themWho assesses the candidates, and how?Who runs the search day to day?Who is free now, and on what terms?

IR35On payroll, or decided by how the engagement runsUsually on payrollDecided by how the engagement runs

08/ vetting

How we vet CMOs

What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.

01
Qualification screen
Verify CMO tenure, sector context and stage fit.
SOURCING
02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — stage, board dynamics, timing.
MATCHING
03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent past clients — real outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY
04
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5

09/ CMO recruitment firm

Choosing a CMO recruitment firm: what to ask

A CMO recruitment firm is judged less by its adverts than by who does the work.

CMO recruitment agencies, a CMO executive search firm and the larger CMO executive search firms all face the same question: will they find people you could not reach yourself, and will they tell you the truth about them?

The law is the same for all of them.

GOV.UK guidance on the Conduct Regulations says the Employment Agencies Act covers executive search consultants as well as agencies, that agencies may not charge candidates for finding them work, and that the Act does not regulate what a hirer pays.

The Fair Work Agency regulates employment agencies in England, Scotland and Wales.

Before you appoint a CMO recruitment agency, ask who will run the brief day to day, how candidates are assessed, which checks the firm runs itself, and what you will pay and when, in writing.

Ask how candidates’ data is handled.

The ICO’s recruitment and selection guidance applies to agencies, head-hunters and consultancies as well as employers, and covers people found through a talent search, not only applicants.

A search for "CMO executive search London" reflects a deeper market and higher pay: Robert Half’s 2026 salary guide gives a London CMO median of £200,000, against £147,000 across the UK.

10/ chief marketing officer recruitment

Chief marketing officer recruitment: set the brief before the search

Chief marketing officer recruitment goes wrong most often at the brief.

Write down the growth problem first: a new market, a stalled pipeline, a rebrand, or a board that cannot see what marketing returns.

Then decide how much of the week the seat needs.

A CMO answers for what the company says in public.

The CAP Code must be followed by all advertisers, agencies and media, is enforced by the Advertising Standards Authority, and requires evidence for claims, so ask candidates how they have handled substantiation and complaints.

However you search, Acas notes there is no recruitment process set by law, but employers must follow a fair one, with discrimination and data protection law applying throughout.

If a permanent seat is too much for now, hire a CMO on the route that fits, or hire a fractional CMO for agreed days a week; fractional CMO cost sets out published day rates.

For the seats below the CMO, see marketing director recruitment and head of marketing recruitment.

11/ questions

CMO recruitment FAQ

The questions people ask before bringing in a CMO.

It starts with a brief: what the CMO will own, what they inherit and what should change in the first year. The recruiter then searches (by approach, for most permanent seats), assesses candidates on a real brief, checks claims and references, and brings you a shortlist with pay, availability and IR35 position set out.

Write the brief first, choose the route (permanent, interim or fractional), then agree in writing what the recruiter will do and what you will pay. Insist on the same assessment task for every candidate. For the steps without a recruiter, see hire a CMO.

Robert Half’s 2026 salary guide puts a CMO at £110,250 to £183,750, with a median of £147,000, and gives a London median of £200,000. That is before employer National Insurance, pension and bonus. On every brief we set out each candidate’s pay or day rate on the shortlist.

They take the brief, search for candidates (including people not looking), assess them against the brief, check what each candidate claims, and set out pay, availability and terms. The Conduct Regulations require an agency to have enough information from you to select a suitable candidate before it introduces anyone.

Ask who runs the brief day to day, how candidates are assessed, which checks the firm runs itself, how it handles candidates’ data, and what you will pay and when. Get the answers in writing before the search starts.

Marketing results are easy to claim and hard to attribute, so the brief and the evidence matter more. Test every candidate on your own funnel, ask for pipeline or revenue the finance team would recognise, and take references from a CEO and a sales leader.

They overlap. A headhunter usually works by direct approach on a permanent search; a recruiter may also advertise, and often handles interim and fractional seats. The law treats both as employment agencies. For the permanent search route, see CMO headhunter.

It can, if the CMO works through their own company. Status depends on how the engagement runs in practice, and a medium or large client makes the determination (HMRC). Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.

Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5

Bring the brief. We architect the team.

A shortlist of 3–5 with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.

Book a call →Submit a brief