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Fractional CMO · hiring brief

Fractional CMO for Hire

Fractional CMO for Hire: agree the marketing decisions a fractional CMO will own on their days, who runs the work between those days, and the measures you will judge them on.

Brief us on this role →See CMO roles

Reviewed by Fractional Quest · updated 28 October 2026 · 5 sources linked below

  • 3–5on every shortlist
  • 5stages of vetting
  • IR35set out on every brief
Fractional CMO for Hire: a marketing leader walking her team through campaign concepts (illustration)

On the board · last 90 days

Which CMO roles are on the board?

Fractional CMO roles first, then the seat in any engagement and the wider function when the board runs short.

Roles

See every role on the board →

Every fractional role in the UK is on the fractional jobs board.

In the press

The brief

Fractional CMO for Hire: what must the role own?

Name what must change: positioning, pipeline, a launch or a team that lacks direction.

  • 01Marketing problemName what must change: positioning, pipeline, a launch or a team that lacks direction.
  • 02BudgetSet the spend the CMO controls and what returns to the CEO.
  • 03Team and agenciesList who executes and who the CMO manages.
  • 04MeasuresAgree the commercial measures reviewed each month.

Role reference: Chartered Institute of Marketing framework. The CIM framework describes marketing leadership, strategy and financial decision-making, the capabilities to test in a fractional CMO for hire.

For hire

Fractional CMO for hire: what you are buying

You are buying senior judgement and ownership on set days, not a block of marketing hours.

A fractional CMO for hire should own the plan, the budget and the measures. If you only need campaigns delivered, a marketing manager or an agency is the better hire.

Ask every candidate how they would work between days: who decides when something urgent comes up, and what waits for them.

The working pattern

What changes when the CMO is fractional?

A fractional CMO for hire owns marketing strategy and budget for part of each week, ongoing. They lead; the team or agencies execute.

The illustrative brief: a B2B business with a marketing manager and two agencies. Marketing spend is spread across two agencies with no one setting the plan. The marketing manager executes well but has no strategy owner.

The appointment owns: The fractional CMO sets positioning and the quarterly plan, and holds the agencies to it, two days a week.

Another owner retains: The marketing manager runs campaigns day to day; the CEO keeps the annual budget.

The case is illustrative; it does not describe a Fractional Quest placement.

From brief to start

How do you hire a fractional CMO for hire, step by step?

The first three steps are ours; the last four are what has to be true before the first day. We don’t promise a shortlist by a date.

  1. Day 0
    01
    The 15-minute call
    What the CMO must own, the working pattern, the start date and the budget.
    You and us
  2. Week 1
    02
    Scope agreed in writing
    The outcome the seat exists for, the days, and how the engagement will run for IR35.
    Us
  3. Weeks 1–3
    03
    Search, references, shortlist
    We approach people who aren’t looking, verify tenure, take references ourselves and return three to five.
    Us
  4. Week 4
    04
    Mandate
    Write the decisions, days, budget authority and review date.
    You
  5. Before day one · 2
    05
    Data
    Provide pipeline, spend, agency contracts and past campaigns.
    You
  6. Before day one · 3
    06
    Team
    Introduce the marketing manager, agencies and sales lead.
    You
  7. Before day one · 4
    07
    First plan
    Ask for a 90-day plan by the end of the first month.
    You

Your figures

What does part of a CMO’s week cost?

Rate × days × weeks, against a loaded full-time package. Move the sliders; the numbers redraw.

  • CMO band £750–£1,400 (Connectd 2026)
Year-one cost, fractional
£101,200
2 days a week · 46 weeks · day fees, before tax · our arithmetic
Fractional executive£101,200
Full-time CMO, loaded£168,300£765 a day over 220 days · our arithmetic
Fractional costs less in year one by£67,100

Our arithmetic. £147,000 Robert Half 2026 median salary + employer NI at 15% above £5,000 (HMRC) = £168,300. Excludes pension, bonus and any search fee.

Assessment

How should you assess CMO candidates?

Put the same work and evidence in front of each candidate before comparing answers.

  1. Comparable decision
    Ask for a marketing plan they owned at a similar stage and what it changed commercially.
  2. Authority
    Test a budget decision just outside the agreed limit.
  3. Team
    Ask how they developed the in-house marketer rather than replacing them.
  4. Handover
    Ask what a successor or the team ran without them afterwards.

Acas recommends a consistent, fair selection process: choosing who to interview.

Vetting

What happens before anyone reaches your shortlist?

Five stages before a candidate reaches a shortlist of three to five.

  1. Pedigree screen
    Tenure
    We verify prior tenure in the seat, at the scale and stage you need. No consultant presenting as an executive.
  2. Mandate fit
    Fit
    Fit to your stage, sector and the problem the seat exists to solve, not a CV keyword.
  3. Reference deep-dive
    Verify
    We take references ourselves, from recent clients and boards: what they delivered, not what they titled it.
  4. Shortlist
    Shortlist
    Three to five candidates, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
  5. Kick-off
    Start
    Scope, first-month outcomes and the contract agreed before day one.

The full process is on how we vet.

The right pattern

Does this hiring pattern fit the work?

Test the amount of the week, the expected end and the continuity needed before writing the contract.

Questions

Fractional CMO for Hire: questions, answered

Whatever the work needs, agreed in writing; one to three days a week is common. Review the pattern when the workload changes.

Read next

Related hiring and role pages

Sources

Where does every reference on this page come from?

  • cim.co.uk
  • HMRC
  • legislation.gov.uk
  1. 1
    Chartered Institute of Marketing framework cim.co.uk
  2. 2
    Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 HMRC
    Employer National Insurance at 15% above £5,000 a year.
  3. 3
    Understanding off-payroll working (IR35) HMRC
    Status depends on how the engagement runs; medium and large clients make the determination.
  4. 4
    Check employment status for tax (CEST) HMRC
    HMRC’s own status check for each engagement.
  5. 5
    Employment Agencies Act 1973 legislation.gov.uk
    The law a recruitment agency works under; no fee to a work-seeker.

For hiring managers

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  1. A shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position
  2. Fractional, interim, part-time, temporary or permanent — and non-executive directors
  3. Every candidate through our five-stage vetting
  4. Your briefs and their candidates, in one room