Hire a Fractional CMO · Fractional CMO Jobs UK
Fractional CMO Jobs · Hire fractional CMO, or hire CMO · fractional CMO for hire
Hire a fractional CMO — strategic marketing leadership, 1–3 days a week, for scale-ups and growth-stage businesses. Positioning, demand generation and brand without the full-time cost — or browse live fractional CMO jobs across the UK.
- £750–£1,400 a day · Connectd 2026
- 1–3 days a week
- 3–5 candidates per shortlist
- GTM & brand remit
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
In the press
Marketing Week Demand for fractional CMOs ‘driven by expertise over cost’ · 27 May 2026
Marketing Week reports UK research finding that companies bring in a fractional CMO mainly for senior expertise at a growth moment, not to save money. That is the brief we recruit for.
Financial Times The executives going ‘fractional’, not freelance (paywall)
The FT on senior people who choose to lead inside several companies at once rather than freelance, which is how most fractional CMOs now work.
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire a fractional CMO
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with fractional 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
Pick a day that suits · live availability
Fractional CMO jobs · last 3 months
Live Fractional CMO jobs
No live Fractional CMO roles in the last three months. Showing live fractional executive roles instead.
- FractionalSyndicated
Fractional CISO (Contract / Project Based)
Cambridge Spark · United Kingdom
est £1,500/day2 d/wk - FractionalSyndicated
Head of Medical Compliance, Governance & Diligence (Fractional)
CNX Therapeutics Ltd · Greater London
est £1,000/dayGreater London - FractionalSyndicated
Head of Applied Legal – AI Product (Fractional)
Stealth Startup · London
est £1,600/day2 d/wk - FractionalSyndicated
Fractional Product Practice Leader - 9 Month Contract
Tails.com · London
est £1,000/day2 d/wk - FractionalSyndicated
Fractional CPO
Log my Care · City of London
est £3,250/day3 d/wk - FractionalSyndicated
Fractional Finance Directors
PWF Associates Limited · Manchester
est £750/dayManchester - FractionalSyndicated
Fractional legal counsel
Nifina · London
est £750/dayLondon - FractionalExclusive
Fractional COO
Confidential client (Fractional Quest mandate) · London
Rate n/aLondon - FractionalSyndicated
Fractional Financial Controller
MarcoPolo Learning · City of Westminster
est £750/day2 d/wk
01/ the model
What is a fractional CMO?
A fractional CMO — a fractional chief marketing officer — is a part-time Chief Marketing Officer who owns your marketing 1–3 days a week. Not an agency, not a consultant: the CMO. Fractional CMO jobs are how experienced marketing leaders work across more than one company at once. Often searched as “parttime CMO” or “fractiional CMO”, it is the same role.
01 · cadence
A marketing chief, 1–3 days a week.
Senior CMO capability across a defined slice of the week. The marketing leadership you need without a full-time salary or a five-day commitment.
02 · role
Owns marketing — not a campaign.
Unlike an agency or a consultant, a fractional CMO is in the leadership team: owns positioning, the demand engine, the brand and the marketing team.
03 · structure
Engaged on a written scope.
Usually engaged through their own company rather than employed, on a scope that names the outcome, the days and the notice. IR35 status depends on how the engagement runs in practice, and a medium or large client makes the determination.
04 · horizon
A mandate, not a tenure.
Scoped to an outcome — a repositioning, a demand-engine build, a pre-exit story — often ending in a clean handover to a permanent CMO.
02/ scope
Fractional CMO Jobs Scope & Responsibilities
What fractional CMOs own versus what they delegate.
- Positioning & messaging strategy
- Demand generation engine
- Brand architecture & voice
- Pipeline velocity & conversion
- Marketing team shape & recruitment
- Agency selection & direction
- Marketing tech stack
- Board reporting & forecasting
- Campaign execution minutiae
- Daily social media management
- Content production writing
- Design & creative production
- Marketing ops administration
- Event logistics coordination
- Email campaign deployment
- Ad campaign optimisation
03/ alternatives
Fractional CMO Jobs vs Alternative Options
How a fractional CMO compares to other marketing solutions.
→ A fractional CMO owns the whole marketing engine. A Head of Growth runs acquisition.
→ A CMO sets the strategy and directs agencies. An agency executes against a brief.
→ Fractional CMOs run marketing. Consultants advise on it — part-time CMO consulting is a diagnosis or a plan, handed back to you to run.
→ Fractional buys senior marketing judgement for the days you need it; full-time buys it every day.
04/ rates
Fractional CMO Jobs: Rates by Company Stage
Day rates vary with company maturity and complexity. The stage bands below are the published UK table from Mateerz (2026); the wider market band is £750–£1,400 with the mid-market around £1,000 (Connectd, April 2026).
- Fractional CMO£750–£1,400Connectd 2026
- Seed / pre-seed£750–£900Mateerz 2026
- Series A£850–£1,200Mateerz 2026
- Series B£1,200–£1,500Mateerz 2026
- Series C+ / PE£1,500–£2,500Mateerz 2026
These are published asking prices, not transacted rates; no source publishes a per-stage median, so none is shown.
05/ economics
Part-time CMO cost.
Model the cost against a full-time CMO, or what one fractional mandate earns.
£1,000 a day is within the published band for a UK fractional CMO (£750–£1,400, Connectd 2026).
Year-one cost
£92,000
2 d/wk · 46 weeks · day fees, before tax
Fractional costs less in year one£76,300
Book a 15-minute call →Our arithmetic, indicative. Full-time CMO = £168,300: the £147,000 Robert Half 2026 UK median salary plus employer NI at 15% above the £5,000 threshold. Excludes pension, bonus and a search fee, so the real gap is wider.
06/ timing
When to Hire a Fractional CMO
Four scenarios where fractional marketing leadership delivers highest impact.
Which sounds like you?
You’ve grown on product and founder-led sales. Now you need professional marketing to scale.
- → Product-market fit achieved · ready to build the demand engine
Your current channels are maxed. You need new growth levers and strategic repositioning.
- → CAC rising, conversion falling · same playbook not scaling
The market has shifted or you’re entering new segments. Message-market fit needs work.
- → New category or segment · product pivot underway
An exit is on the horizon. You need the equity story, category position and pipeline built.
- → PE interest or M&A horizon · pipeline proof required
07/ the first year
A fractional CMO’s first year.
How a typical twelve-month mandate is sequenced — our reading of the work, not a published benchmark.
QUARTER 1
Positioning & GTM
Message-market fit, ICP definition, competitive positioning. The strategic foundation that everything else builds on.
QUARTER 2
Demand & pipeline
Channel strategy, conversion architecture, pipeline velocity. Building the repeatable engine for growth.
QUARTER 3
Brand & content
Category narrative, content engine, thought leadership. Creating the pull that reduces CAC over time.
QUARTER 4
Team & scale
Build the permanent team, select agencies, write playbooks. Set up for scale beyond the fractional mandate.
08/ the buyer’s guide
How to hire a fractional CMO
Scope the mandate against one measurable gap — pipeline coverage, a launch, a repositioning — rather than an open-ended “do our marketing” brief. Easier to scope, measure and extend.
STEP 1
Define the scope before the person
Clarify what you need — positioning and category work, a demand generation engine, brand and comms, or a team build. £5,000–£10,000 a month at 4–8 days a month is the common market range (The Marketing Centre).
STEP 2
Source from the fractional market
Specialist fractional recruiters shortlist against your brief; to find fractional CMO candidates yourself, investor, advisor and founder networks are the other route. Weight sector-relevant wins and professional standing — Chartered Marketer status with the CIM is a useful marker.
STEP 3
Interview for pattern-recognition
Portfolio review: which companies at your stage have they grown? Scenario test: how would they attack your pipeline problem? References: two or three recent clients, asked about specific outcomes rather than satisfaction.
STEP 4
Structure a trial, then extend
Start small — a 1–3 month engagement with defined deliverables; a positioning sprint or demand-gen diagnostic scopes cleanly. Review monthly, extend on evidence, and contract via limited company with IR35 assessed properly.
09/ where
Fractional CMO UK: London, the regions and remote
The fractional CMO UK market is national rather than local: positioning, the plan and agency direction travel, so engagements are often hybrid — on site for planning and leadership meetings, remote for the rest. We shortlist across the UK for hybrid or remote engagements.
Need a fractional CMO? Birmingham, Manchester or Bristol, the search runs the same way. A fractional remote CMO can run the plan from anywhere; agree when they will be in the room with sales, or the plan drifts from the pipeline.
Searching for a fractional CMO Plymouth businesses can use, or a fractional CMO Wirral firms can call on? We shortlist UK-wide, for hybrid or remote engagements, so put the days you need someone on site in the brief.
Fractional CMO London: in the room when it counts
If you want a London fractional CMO who can join the weekly leadership meeting in person, put the on-site days in the brief. If you searched “find fractional CMO near me”, the answer is the same: fix the days that need someone present and let the rest be remote.
Fractional CMO for hire: what to put in the brief
A fractional CMO for hire fits only as well as the brief is specific: the gap, the days a week, the on-site days, your stage and what must be true at the end of the first mandate. Written up, that is your fractional CMO job description, with fractional CMO responsibilities set as outcomes, not tasks.
If you need to hire CMO-level leadership full-time instead, say so: we recruit fractional, interim, part-time and permanent executives, and every shortlist sets out day rate or pay, availability and IR35 position. For permanent chief marketing officer recruitment by retained search, see CMO headhunter.
10/ the contract
Find a fractional CMO: how the engagement is contracted
A fractional CMO engagement is written around a mandate — the outcome, the days a week and the notice. IR35 status depends on how the engagement runs in practice, and a medium or large client makes the determination. Reference: HMRC off-payroll working (IR35) guidance and the CEST tool.
TEST 1
Right of Substitution
HMRC looks at whether the CMO could send a suitably qualified substitute, and whether that right is genuine in practice.
✓ In the contractTEST 2
Control
HMRC looks at who decides how, when and where the work is done — whether the company sets the outcome or directs the working pattern.
✓ In the contractTEST 3
Mutuality
HMRC looks at whether there is an obligation to offer or accept work beyond the agreed mandate.
✓ In the contractOther factors that are weighed
A fixed mandate with clear deliverables, other clients, own equipment and workspace, employment benefits or paid leave, how invoicing is set up, and professional indemnity insurance are all weighed alongside the three tests. No single factor decides status.
Small company thresholds rise
From 6 April 2026 the company-size thresholds rise (turnover £10.2m → £15m, balance sheet £5.1m → £7.5m), so more end clients qualify as “small” — moving IR35 status determination back to the contractor’s own company for those engagements (BDO; HMRC guidance). The test looks at the client’s previous financial year.
11/ the title
The fractional chief marketing officer: title, seat and authority
A fractional chief marketing officer holds the whole CMO remit — positioning, the demand engine, brand, the marketing team and the budget that funds them — for part of the week. The fraction is the time, not the seniority, and the title only means something if the authority comes with it. Before day one, write down what the role decides alone (agency appointments, channel spend, marketing hires), what it recommends to the CEO, and what it reports to the board. If you hire a fractional chief marketing officer without that in writing, the title is decoration.
The officer title is not a legal appointment. Most fractional CMOs sit in the leadership team without joining the board. If yours is appointed a director — or acts as one without a formal appointment — the general duties of a company director apply to them, including the duty to avoid conflicts of interest (Companies House guidance). Agree the position in writing, because a portfolio operator works for more than one company.
When you set out to find fractional chief marketing officer candidates, remember the CMO title carries no accreditation of its own, so look for a standard you can check. Chartered Marketer status from the Chartered Institute of Marketing has to be kept up with continuing professional development and is listed in CIM’s Chartered Marketer Directory.
If the brief is a hands-on director-grade seat rather than a board-facing one, see fractional marketing director roles; if a permanent CMO has left and you need full-time cover, see interim CMO. Every shortlist we send sets out each candidate’s IR35 position — the IR35 guide explains how status is decided.
12/ providers
Fractional CMO companies: what you are actually buying
Search for fractional CMO companies and quite different purchases come back under one label. An independent fractional CMO contracts with you directly, usually through their own limited company. A network or firm introduces one of its associates and often keeps a management layer above them. A CMO marketing agency sells leadership bundled with its own delivery team — useful when you need hands, less neutral when its lead is choosing which channels to fund. A search firm introduces candidates and steps back; that is what we do, with a shortlist of 3–5.
The structure changes your tax position. If you buy a genuinely contracted-out service from a firm, HMRC’s off-payroll guidance for clients puts the rules on the supplier. If a firm simply sits in the chain between you and a CMO who works through their own company, you are still the client: a medium or large client makes the status determination, and the rules for agencies set out who then deducts tax.
Before signing with any of them, look the company and its directors up on the Companies House register, and ask who exactly will do the work, whether that person can be swapped without your agreement, and who keeps the plans and data when the engagement ends. To compare search firms, see fractional executive search firms; for how we screen candidates, see our five-stage vetting.
We know of no independent ranking of the best fractional CMO companies (UK or elsewhere), so compare fractional CMO firms on those questions rather than on a list. A fractional CMO company that sells fractional CMO consulting — a diagnosis and a plan, then an exit — is selling a project, not a seat. When a provider offers fractional CMO services (UK or international), ask which of the two you are buying. If you are comparing a Marketing Centre fractional CMO with one from The Part Time CMO or with an independent, ask each the same questions: who does the work, can that person be swapped, and who keeps the plans and data at the end.
13/ team and tech
A fractional marketing team for tech: the CMO and the hands
A fractional marketing team for tech businesses puts fractional CMO marketing leadership over part-time specialists — content, performance, product marketing, marketing operations — so a software or tech-enabled company gets the plan and the delivery without hiring a full department. It suits the stage where a founder has outgrown running marketing alone but a full in-house team would be premature.
The order matters. Fractional CMO and marketing hires work best when the fractional CMO comes first and shapes the team: a fractional CMO team assembled before anyone owns positioning risks producing activity without a plan. Some providers sell fractional CMO packages — a set number of days a month with named deliverables; compare them with a named individual you contract with directly, and ask who does the work day to day.
Fractional CMO tech briefs have their own tests. Has the candidate marketed a product to a technical buyer, worked with product and engineering on launches, and made the marketing tech stack decisions — CRM, automation, attribution — the team will live with? For fractional marketing support below leadership level, such as a fractional marketing expert (UK-based or remote) in paid, content or operations, see fractional marketing team and fractional marketing jobs. We don’t run searches for a fractional creative director, or for a fractional head of SEO London or remote; those are specialist seats under the CMO, and the same two pages are the place to start.
14/ vetting
How We Vet Fractional CMO Jobs Candidates
What we undertake on every brief — four checks before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Marketing screen
Verify a real track record leading marketing at your stage — positioning, demand, brand, team. No Head of Growth presenting as a CMO.
SOURCING - 02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — first senior marketer, a growth ceiling, a repositioning or pre-exit.
MATCHING - 03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent clients, founders and boards: pipeline and brand outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY - 04
Shortlist
3–5 candidates, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5
15/ names
Freelance CMO, part-time CMO, Chief Marketing Officer — same seat?
The same role is advertised under several names — fractional, freelance or part-time CMO, fractional marketing officer, virtual marketing officer, virtual chief marketing officer — and the label changes what you get. Pick the one you were searching for; for remote-first roles, see virtual CMO jobs.
→ In practice the two overlap — freelance CMO is how the same operator is often advertised; see the freelance page for project-scoped mandates. The difference is whether they hold a seat: if you want to hire freelance CMO support for one project, a freelance chief marketing officer on a deliverable-scoped contract is the cleaner buy.
→ “Part-time CMO” usually describes the same work on an employment contract. Fractional is the contracted, multi-client version. To hire a part-time CMO on a pro-rata contract, or to find a part-time CMO for the same days each week, see part-time CMO jobs.
→ Interim is full-time cover for a gap. Fractional is part-time capability you keep. See interim CMO roles.
→ The seat is the same. A fractional Chief Marketing Officer buys the judgement without the full-time package.
B2B fractional CMO — why the brief is different
A B2B fractional CMO is hired against a pipeline number, not a brand one. The mandate is usually positioning, category definition and demand generation into a long, multi-stakeholder sales cycle — which is why B2B briefs favour operators who have carried a revenue target alongside sales rather than pure brand backgrounds.
The practical test when you hire a B2B fractional CMO — UK market or international — is whether the candidate has built a pipeline engine at your stage. A marketplace or DTC background does not transfer cleanly, and the rate band does not change: the published mid-market sits around £1,000/day (Connectd), as in the calculator above. The reverse holds for a fractional ecommerce CMO: UK retail and DTC briefs turn on contribution margin, repeat purchase and channel mix, where a B2B pipeline builder is rarely the right fit.
A fractional CMO agency is a different purchase again: a firm that places one of its bench into your business, or sells fractional CMO services with a team behind the lead. To find a fractional CMO who is one named person accountable for the plan, brief us or search the market directly — and if you need hands as well as a head, a fractional marketing team puts delivery under the CMO.
If the gap is acquisition rather than the whole engine, a fractional head of sales or a fractional CRO may be the better seat. If you want the market view before committing, see our fractional recruitment agency or compare firms in the fractional executive search firms guide.
16/ questions
Fractional CMO Jobs FAQ
Common questions from buyers and from working fractional CMOs.
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Ready to hire a fractional CMO?
Submit your brief. We come back with a shortlist of three to five.
For hiring companies
Book a call or submit your fractional CMO brief; we come back with a shortlist of 3–5 candidates.
For fractional CMOs
Browse live marketing leadership roles from our jobs feed, or get in touch about the searches we run.
