Fractional Marketing · CMO, director, consultant

Fractional Marketing · senior marketing leadership, part of the week

Fractional marketing is senior marketing leadership bought for part of the week, at the level a company actually needs: a fractional CMO setting strategy and owning the budget, a fractional marketing director running the function day to day, or a fractional marketing consultant for a defined project.

See fractional marketing team for building out the function beneath a single leader.

This page sets out what each level covers and when it fits.

We recruit fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent marketing leaders, and non-executive directors.

We come back with a shortlist of 3–5.

Brief us on a marketing hire →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 day rate or pay, availability and IR35 set out

£750–£1,400

Fractional CMO day rate · mid-market £800–£1,000

Connectd

£147,000

Full-time CMO salary, median · 2026

Robert Half

£79,500

Full-time marketing director, median · salary, 2026

Robert Half

15 minutes · video or phone

Book 15 minutes to hire a fractional marketing leader

Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Marketing leader 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

Prefer email? Use the booking page →

Pick a day that suits · live availability

Open the booking calendar →

On the board · last 3 months

Fractional Marketing jobs on the board

0 Fractional Marketing · 9 fractional executive

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

Browse every role on the board →

Current marketing leadership roles

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

01/ the role

What does fractional marketing cover? strategy, leadership and delivery

Fractional marketing means experienced marketing leadership held for an agreed number of days a week, rather than as a full-time hire.

The right level depends on whether the gap is strategy, day-to-day running of the function, or one defined piece of work.

The levels

A fractional CMO sits on the leadership team, sets marketing strategy and owns the budget and the agencies working on it.

A fractional marketing director runs the function day to day, usually reporting to a CMO, CEO or founder.

A fractional marketing consultant is brought in for a defined piece of work — a brand relaunch, a channel strategy, a go-to-market plan — rather than to hold the seat on an ongoing basis.

A company building out the whole function, not just hiring one leader, should also see fractional marketing team: a CMO or director paired with the specialists who do the channel work.

02/ scope

What the work covers

Strategy and positioning

Setting the marketing strategy, the brand and product positioning, and the plan for the channels that will actually move the business — not a generic playbook, but one built around the company’s stage and budget.

Team and agency leadership

Running the people and agencies already in place: hiring where there are gaps, managing performance, and deciding what stays in-house versus what an agency does better.

Budget and measurement

Owning the marketing budget and what it is measured against — pipeline, revenue, brand metrics — and reporting that back to the board in terms the rest of the leadership team can act on.

03/ the week

How a week divides.

Part of a week is the point of the model: the days you buy are yours, the rest of the week goes to other clients. Move the days a week and the week redraws.

Days a week for your company2 days

Your companyAnother clientA third client

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

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

04/ 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

Financial controller2
CTO1
Other1
SDR1
Executive assistant1
Finance director1
Other seats2

Days a week

Stated in the posting2
Not stated7

Day rate

Verified rate0
Estimated (est)7
Rate not stated2

Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)

Remote1
Hybrid3
On-site3
Not classified2

Newest posting on the board: 16 Oct 2026.

Postings per week on this board, last 90 days

9 postings on this board in the last 90 days, counted by the week each was published.

05/ the route

Fractional, interim or permanent?

Four taps. The answer names the route for the seat and the page that covers it.

How much of the week does the work fill?

Is there a fixed end or a programme?

Does the seat sit on the board for years?

Is the need now, or can it wait for a search?

The route · Fractional

A fractional marketing leader.

The work fills part of the week, so buy the days it needs.

A fractional marketing leader holds the seat on agreed days for as long as the seat is needed, and works for other clients on the rest.

The fractional marketing leader route Talk it through

06/ comparison

Fractional marketing, a consultant or an agency

Three ways to buy marketing leadership or delivery, plus the full-time option. They differ in who owns the outcome and for how long.

Fractional leaderMarketing consultantMarketing agencyFull-time hire

What you getA named leader who runs the functionAdvice or one defined projectChannel execution and productionAn employee who runs the function

Owns the outcomeYesNo, the client doesFor the channels runYes

LengthOngoing, agreed daysUntil the project endsRetainer termPermanent

Best forSenior judgement without a full-time weekOne strategy, review or relaunchChannel execution and productionMarketing work that fills the week

07/ vetting

How we vet fractional marketing leaders

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

01
Qualification screen
Verify Marketing leader 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

08/ choosing the level

Which level of fractional marketing do you actually need?

Start with the gap.

If no one on the leadership team owns marketing strategy, that is a fractional CMO gap.

If strategy already exists but the function needs day-to-day running, that is a marketing director.

If it is one defined piece of work — a rebrand, a new channel, a go-to-market plan — that is a fractional marketing consultant.

It is common to need two levels at once: a fractional CMO setting direction for a few days a month, with a marketing director or in-house team doing the week-to-week work underneath them.

09/ what it costs

What fractional marketing costs by level

Connectd publishes a UK fractional CMO day rate of £750–£1,400, with a mid-market figure of £800–£1,000 a day.

Robert Half’s 2026 guide puts a full-time CMO at a median of £147,000, a marketing director at £79,500 and a head of marketing at £66,250 — a fractional leader at two or three days a week is bought for a fraction of the full-time annual cost, though scope differs too.

No source we trust publishes a fractional day rate for a marketing director or marketing consultant specifically, so we do not quote one — every shortlist we send states each candidate’s day rate or pay.

For comparison only, Exec Capital’s interim marketing director rate runs £500–£900 a day for an SME-scale brief — a full-time interim rate, not a fractional one.

Our rate calculator turns a day rate and a number of days into a monthly and annual figure.

10/ questions

Fractional Marketing FAQ

The questions people ask before bringing in a fractional marketing leader.

Senior marketing leadership bought for part of the week, at the level a company needs: a fractional CMO setting strategy, a fractional marketing director running the function, or a fractional marketing consultant for one defined project.

A fractional CMO sits on the leadership team, sets strategy and owns the budget. A fractional marketing director runs the function day to day, usually reporting to a CMO, CEO or founder.

Connectd publishes a UK fractional CMO day rate of £750–£1,400, with a mid-market figure of £800–£1,000 a day. No fractional benchmark exists for marketing director or consultant day rates; we state each candidate’s day rate or pay on the shortlist.

Start with the gap. No one owning marketing strategy is a CMO gap; a function that needs day-to-day running is a director gap; one defined project is a consultant gap.

Send the brief: company stage, the gap, and reporting line. We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate or pay, availability and IR35 position set out, after our five-stage vetting.

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