Fractional marketing leader · Fractional marketing leadership · Pick the seat

Fractional marketing leader · which seat you need, and where to hire it

A fractional marketing leader is a senior marketer who leads your marketing on agreed days a week rather than full-time.

The label covers several seats, from the board-level CMO to the hands-on head of marketing, so the first decision is which one you need.

This page sets those seats side by side and sends you to the page for each.

When you are ready to hire a fractional marketing leader, 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 businesses bring in fractional marketing leaders for senior expertise at growth moments rather than to cut cost. That is the right test for choosing a seat: which expertise, at what level.

3–5

Shortlist · with day rate, availability and IR35 set out

Vetting · stages before a candidate reaches you

£750–£1,400

Fractional CMO, published band · per day

Connectd, 2026

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 leader jobs on the board

0 Fractional marketing leader · 9 fractional executive

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

Browse every role on the board →

Current fractional 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 is a fractional marketing leader?

A fractional marketing leader holds a senior marketing seat for part of the week.

They set direction, own a budget, lead the team and agencies, and answer for what marketing adds to revenue.

“Fractional” describes the time, not the seniority.

A fractional leader is senior talent in a key leadership role for part of the week, which suits small and mid-sized firms that cannot justify the seat full-time.

A description, not a job title

Few contracts say “marketing leader”.

The seat you fill will carry a title (chief marketing officer, marketing director, head of marketing or head of growth), and each title sets a different scope.

Ask the CEO and the marketing leader separately what marketing is for, and the answers often differ.

Agree the remit first; the right title follows from it.

02/ scope

Fractional marketing leadership: what it covers

Strategy and budget

Fractional marketing leadership starts with a plan tied to the revenue plan: where demand comes from, what each channel costs and what the team will ship.

The leader owns the budget that pays for it.

Measurement

A senior marketer should be able to show what the spend returns.

The IPA’s effectiveness programme gathers research, case studies and qualifications on accountable marketing, and is a good source of questions to ask a candidate.

The rules

The leadership seat owns compliance too.

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.

Professional standing

CIM’s Chartered Marketer status (graded membership, continuing development and an online assessment) marks a marketer who keeps current.

The Marketing Society is a membership body for senior marketers; neither replaces references from the CEOs a candidate has worked with.

What it does not replace

A fractional marketing leader leads and decides; they are not the whole team.

If you need people to execute as well, look at a fractional marketing team.

03/ economics

What a fractional marketing leader costs

A fractional marketing leader costs a day rate times the days worked.

We set out each candidate’s day rate on the shortlist; the published bands below are the nearest we can cite, each named.

Connectd’s 2026 guide to fractional day rates puts a fractional CMO at £750 to £1,400 a day, with a mid-market figure of £800 to £1,000.

It is a marketplace’s guidance to practitioners, so read it as a published band of asking prices.

No source we trust publishes a fractional band for the marketing director or head of marketing seat.

Morgan McKinley’s 2026 guide puts contract marketing directors in London financial services at £500 to £550, £550 to £750 and £750 to £1,000 a day across its three experience bands.

Exec Capital puts an interim head of marketing at a growth-stage business at £400 to £800 a day; interim means full-time weeks for a fixed term.

Our rate calculator turns a day rate and days a week into a monthly figure.

04/ comparison

Which marketing seat: CMO, director or head of marketing · with head of growth and part-time CMO

Five seats a fractional marketing leader can hold, side by side. Days a week appear only where the seat’s own page states them, and day rates only where a published source exists.

Fractional CMOFractional marketing directorFractional head of marketingFractional head of growthPart-time CMO

ScopeMarketing strategy at board level: brand, positioning, customer and the growth planThe marketing function: plan, budget, team, agencies and pipeline contributionRuns the team, agencies and campaigns against a strategy agreed with the CEOAcquisition, lifecycle and retention, run as experiments across the funnelThe CMO seat, held by an employee on fewer days

SeniorityC-suiteDirectorHead of functionHead of functionC-suite

Usually reports toThe CEO and the boardThe CEO, a commercial lead or a CMOThe CEO, or a marketing director where there is oneThe CEO or the senior marketing or growth executiveThe CEO and the board

TimeAgreed days a weekAgreed days a weekAgreed days a weekAgreed days a week1–3 days a week

Published day rate£750–£1,400, fractional CMO (Connectd)No fractional band; contract, London financial services, £500–£1,000 across three experience bands (Morgan McKinley)No fractional band; interim, growth stage, £400–£800 (Exec Capital)No published band we can cite; day rate on the shortlist£750–£1,400, fractional CMO (Connectd)

05/ timing

Which seat fits your situation

Six situations, the seat each one points to, and the page to read next.

Scenario 01

Marketing needs a voice at board level

A fractional CMO

Brand, positioning and the growth plan need a C-suite owner.

Read what a fractional CMO does, or find a fractional CMO on our board.

Scenario 02

There are people but no plan anyone owns

A fractional marketing director

A fractional marketing director sets the plan and budget, leads the team and agencies, and ties marketing to pipeline.

Scenario 03

A small team needs a hands-on lead

A fractional head of marketing

Someone to run the team, the agencies and the campaigns against a strategy you have agreed: hire a fractional head of marketing.

Scenario 04

Growth is the number, not the brand

A fractional head of growth

Acquisition, lifecycle and retention run as experiments suit a fractional head of growth.

If one executive should own growth across marketing, sales and product, look at a fractional chief growth officer.

Scenario 05

You want the seat employed, on fewer days

A part-time CMO

A part-time CMO is on your payroll for reduced days, rather than engaged through their own company.

Scenario 06

The marketing lead has just left

Full-time cover instead

A sudden gap mid-campaign needs full-time cover for a fixed term.

Look at an interim CMO.

06/ 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

07/ hiring, in short

Hire a fractional marketing leader · remit first, then the seat

Write the remit before the title: what marketing must deliver to the revenue plan, the budget, who reports to the seat and how many days that takes.

The remit tells you which seat you are hiring for.

If the remit is board-level, hire a fractional CMO; if it is a pipeline problem in a business that sells to businesses, the B2B fractional CMO page sets out what changes.

Current roles and candidates sit on our fractional CMO for hire page.

Test the work, not the portfolio.

Give candidates your channel numbers, ask for the plan they would run in their first quarter, and take references from the CEOs they worked with.

Settle IR35 before the start date.

Status turns on how the engagement runs in practice, and a medium or large client makes the determination (HMRC’s off-payroll guidance); our IR35 guide sets out the tests.

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

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

08/ questions

Fractional marketing leader FAQ

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

A senior marketer who holds a marketing leadership seat for agreed days a week rather than full-time. The seat itself carries a title: CMO, marketing director, head of marketing or head of growth.

The marketing plan and budget, tied to the revenue plan; the team and agencies; measurement of what the spend returns; and compliance with the CAP Code and the ICO’s direct marketing rules. It does not replace the people who execute.

Write the remit first (what marketing must deliver, the budget, the team, the days), pick the seat that matches it, test candidates on your real channel numbers, take references from CEOs they worked with, and settle IR35 before the start. We send a shortlist of 3–5 on every brief.

A CMO if marketing needs a board-level owner of brand, positioning and the growth plan. A marketing director if the function needs one person to own the plan, budget, team and agencies. A head of marketing if a small team needs a hands-on lead against a strategy already agreed. The table above sets them side by side.

The day rate times the days worked; we set out each candidate’s day rate on the shortlist. Connectd publishes a fractional CMO band of £750 to £1,400 a day. No source we trust publishes a fractional band for the marketing director or head of marketing seat.

Not always. A fractional CMO is one kind of fractional marketing leader, the C-suite kind. The term also covers a fractional marketing director, head of marketing or head of growth. See our page on the fractional CMO for that seat in full.

Fractional if marketing needs senior judgement on agreed days, on an ongoing basis. Interim if a lead has left and the seat needs full-time cover for a fixed term, usually through a launch or a handover.

It depends on how the engagement runs in practice, not on its label. A medium or large client makes the determination; 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