Fractional marketing director · Part-time marketing leadership · Part of the week

Fractional marketing director · what one does, what one costs, when you need one

A fractional marketing director is a senior marketer who leads your marketing on agreed days a week rather than full-time: the strategy, the budget, the team and agencies, and marketing’s contribution to pipeline and revenue.

Below: what one does week to week, what one costs, how the role differs from an interim marketing director, and when to hire a fractional marketing director. We recruit fractional, interim, part-time and permanent marketing leaders; every brief gets a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.

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

In the press

Marketing Week Demand for fractional CMOs ‘driven by expertise over cost’ · 27 May 2026
UK research found companies bring in fractional CMOs mainly for senior expertise at growth moments, not to save money. The same case holds a level down: a fractional marketing director buys judgement you cannot yet justify full-time.

3–5

Shortlist · with day rate, availability and IR35 set out

Vetting · stages before a candidate reaches you

£79,500

Full-time marketing director, median · salary

Robert Half, 2026

£500–£900

Interim marketing director, SME · per day

Exec Capital

15 minutes · video or phone

Book 15 minutes to hire a fractional marketing director

Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with marketing director 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

Fractional marketing director jobs on the board

0 Fractional marketing director · 9 fractional executive

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

Browse every role on the board →

Current fractional marketing director and marketing leadership roles

Fractional Quest is a fractional recruitment agency: send a marketing director brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.

01/ the role

What is a fractional marketing director?

A fractional marketing director holds the marketing director seat for agreed days a week. They set the marketing strategy and budget, lead the team and the agencies, and answer for what marketing contributes to pipeline and revenue. O*NET’s profile of marketing managers, which lists marketing director among its job titles, describes the core: planning and directing marketing policy and programmes, identifying customers, and setting pricing strategy with the firm’s profit and market share in view.

Fractional marketing director meaning

“Fractional” describes the time, not the seniority. A fractional marketing director is not an agency account lead or a consultant who writes a plan and leaves: they sit in the leadership team, own the marketing budget and manage the people who spend it. Many lead marketing for more than one company, which is why the days are agreed in writing.

Marketing director or CMO?

A chief marketing officer sits in the C-suite and often owns brand, product marketing and customer strategy across a larger business. A marketing director usually leads the marketing function in a small or mid-sized business, reporting to the CEO, a commercial lead or a CMO. If the seat is a board-level strategy role, you may do better to hire a fractional CMO; if it is hands-on leadership of a small team, a fractional head of marketing.

02/ scope

Fractional marketing director: what one does, week to week

First, the audit

Most engagements open with a read of what marketing does today: where leads and pipeline come from by channel, what each channel costs, how sales treats marketing’s leads, the brand and messaging, the team’s skills, and the agencies and tools on contract. The output is a marketing plan tied to the revenue plan, with a budget and named owners.

A typical week

On their days, a fractional marketing director runs the marketing meeting, reviews pipeline contribution with the sales lead, signs off campaigns and spend, briefs and manages agencies, and coaches the team. Off their days, the team ships to the plan and calendar they agreed.

What the seat owns

The marketing strategy and budget; positioning and messaging; demand generation; the team and agencies; marketing reporting to the board. It also owns compliance: ads must meet the CAP Code the Advertising Standards Authority enforces, and email, phone and text marketing must follow the ICO’s direct marketing and PECR guidance. In B2B, the ICO’s business-to-business marketing guidance explains that UK GDPR still applies to personal data held about business contacts.

What it does not replace

A fractional marketing director leads and decides; they are not the whole team. If there is no one to execute, budget for a marketing manager, an agency or a fractional marketing manager alongside them.

03/ economics

What a fractional marketing director costs

A fractional marketing director costs their day rate times the days they work. We set out each candidate’s day rate on the shortlist. No source we trust publishes a fractional marketing director band, so we quote the nearest published contract and interim figures instead, each named.

Morgan McKinley’s 2026 guide puts contract marketing directors in London financial services at £500 to £550 a day with up to three years’ experience, £550 to £750 at three to five, and £750 to £1,000 beyond. Exec Capital puts interim marketing directors, who work full-time weeks, at £500 to £900 a day in SMEs and scale-ups up to £30m revenue, £800 to £1,400 in mid-market and PE-backed businesses, and £1,200 to £1,800 in large or brand-led companies.

For a full-time marketing director, Robert Half’s 2026 guide gives a median salary of £79,500, with £70,000 at the lower quartile and £90,000 at the upper. Our rate calculator turns a day rate and days a week into a monthly figure, and the marketing director salary guide has the full picture.

04/ comparison

Fractional marketing director vs interim marketing director vs part-time vs full-time

A fractional marketing director works agreed days a week for as long as marketing needs senior judgement but not five days of it. An interim marketing director works full-time for a fixed term, through a departure, a launch or a relaunch. A part-time marketing director is an employee on fewer days; a full-time one is the permanent lead.

FractionalInterimPart-timeFull-time

TimeAgreed days a week, often alongside other clientsFull-time, for a fixed termFixed days a week, for you aloneEvery working day, open-ended

Usual reasonMarketing needs a senior lead, not five days of oneA departure, a launch or a brand relaunch to holdA long-term seat at reduced hoursA large team and budget need a daily owner

Usually engagedThrough their own company; IR35 turns on how it runsThrough their own company, by the dayEmployment contractEmployment contract

Published payNo fractional band we can cite; day rate on the shortlist£500–£900 a day, SME and scale-up (Exec Capital); all-discipline average assignment 10.0 months (IIM 2026)Salary pro rata£79,500 median salary (Robert Half)

05/ timing

When to hire a fractional marketing director

Three situations where a part-week marketing lead fits, and one where it does not.

Scenario 01

Marketing has people but no plan

A strategy and a budget that add up

A marketing manager and an agency are busy, but nobody owns the plan or can show what the spend returns. A fractional marketing director sets both and reports them to the board.

Scenario 02

Sales says the leads are poor

Marketing tied to pipeline

Marketing reports volume, sales reports quality, and the two do not agree. A fractional marketing director agrees the definitions with sales and rebuilds the funnel around them.

Scenario 03

A launch, a rebrand or a new market

Senior judgement for a defined push

A new product, a repositioning or a new segment needs a senior marketer for the decisions, not necessarily five days a week to run them.

Scenario 04

The marketing lead has just left

Hire interim instead

A sudden gap in a large team, mid-campaign, needs full-time cover. Look at an interim marketing director.

06/ vetting

How we vet fractional marketing directors

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

01
Qualification screen
Verify marketing director 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

07/ hiring, in short

How to hire a fractional marketing director the short version

Write the scope first: what marketing must deliver to the revenue plan, the budget, who reports to the seat, and how many days a week that takes. The full process, and the current roles on our board, are on our page to hire a fractional marketing director; candidates can browse fractional marketing director jobs there, and every senior marketing role on our fractional marketing jobs page.

Test the work, not the portfolio. Give candidates your channel numbers and ask for the plan they would run in their first quarter, and take references from the CEOs and sales leads they worked with. CIM’s Chartered Marketer status (CIM membership at a professional grade, continuing professional development and an online assessment) is one marker of a professional who keeps current; results at your stage are a better one.

Settle IR35 before the start date. A fractional marketing director working through their own company may fall under the off-payroll working rules. Status turns on how the engagement runs in practice: a medium or large client makes the determination, while for a small private-sector client the worker’s own company decides (HMRC’s guidance for clients sets the size tests). Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.

On every brief we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting. If the seat should be employed on fewer days, see part-time marketing director jobs.

08/ questions

Fractional marketing director FAQ

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

A senior marketer who holds the marketing director seat for agreed days a week rather than full-time. They set the strategy and budget, lead the team and agencies, and answer for marketing’s contribution to pipeline and revenue.

They audit what marketing does today, set a plan tied to the revenue plan, then on their days run the marketing meeting, review pipeline with sales, sign off campaigns and spend, manage agencies and coach the team. The team delivers to that plan on the other days.

A fractional marketing director works agreed days a week on an ongoing basis. An interim marketing director works full-time for a fixed term, usually through a departure, a launch or a relaunch. Exec Capital puts interim marketing directors at £500 to £900 a day in SMEs and scale-ups. See interim marketing director jobs.

When marketing has people but no plan or budget anyone owns, when sales and marketing disagree on what a good lead is, or when a launch, rebrand or new market needs senior judgement more than full-time hours. Not when a large team is suddenly leaderless mid-campaign: hire an interim then.

The day rate times the days worked; we set out each candidate’s day rate on the shortlist. No source we trust publishes a fractional band. For comparison, Morgan McKinley puts contract marketing directors in London financial services at £500 to £1,000 a day by experience, and Robert Half’s 2026 median full-time salary is £79,500.

Write the scope (what marketing must deliver, the budget, the team, the days), test candidates on your real channel numbers, take references from the CEOs and sales leads they worked with, and settle IR35 before the start. Our page to hire a fractional marketing director sets out the full process; we send a shortlist of 3–5.

Not quite. A CMO is a C-suite role, often across brand, product marketing and customer strategy in a larger business. A marketing director usually leads the marketing function in a small or mid-sized business. See fractional CMO jobs for the board-level seat.

It depends on how the engagement runs in practice, not on its label. In most cases a medium or large client decides the status; for a small client outside the public sector, the worker’s own company decides (HMRC). We set out each candidate’s IR35 position on the shortlist and do not promise an outcome.

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