Head of marketing · job description template

Head of marketing job description

The short answer · updated 3 October 2026

A head of marketing job description sets out the senior role that runs a company’s marketing and the team that does it. The core responsibilities are the marketing plan and budget, brand and positioning, demand generation and campaigns, leading the marketing team and agencies, and reporting results to the marketing director, CMO or chief executive.

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Job purpose

Start with why the role exists now. A head of marketing turns the company’s growth targets into a marketing plan and makes sure the team delivers it: the right customers hear the right message, and the pipeline, sales or sign-ups follow. For the role itself, see what does a head of marketing do.

Then name the marketing problem the next head of marketing has to solve: a brand nobody recognises, a pipeline that depends on one channel, a launch into a new market, or a team that has grown without a plan. Acas publishes an outline job description template whose headings (the main duties and who the post reports to) suit the role.

Key responsibilities

Order the duties by importance and start each with a verb. A typical head of marketing job description covers:

writing the marketing plan from the business plan, with targets for pipeline, revenue or customers;
owning the marketing budget and showing what each channel returns;
setting the brand, positioning and messaging, and keeping them consistent;
running demand generation: campaigns, content, digital, events and partnerships;
leading the marketing team, and hiring where there are gaps;
choosing and managing agencies and freelancers against agreed briefs;
working with sales on lead definitions, hand-offs and the shared pipeline;
researching customers, markets and competitors, and feeding what is learned into product and pricing;
keeping advertising and promotions within the CAP Code, the rule book the Advertising Standards Authority enforces;
keeping email, text and phone marketing and cookies within PECR and data protection law, as the ICO’s guidance sets out;
reporting marketing performance to the leadership team.

Reporting line and scope

A head of marketing usually reports to a marketing director or CMO or, in a smaller company where they are the most senior marketer, to the chief executive or managing director. Marketing managers, content, digital, product marketing and events specialists report in, and agencies are managed by the role. List what reports to the role and what stays elsewhere, such as sales or customer success.

Say whether the role sits on the leadership team. Where the brief covers the whole marketing function and a seat at the top table, it is closer to a marketing director’s: our marketing director job description and CMO job description cover the seats above.

Skills, experience and qualifications

No qualification is required by law to be a head of marketing. Ask for experience of the marketing problem the company has now, described specifically, rather than a count of years. The Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Global Professional Marketing Framework is written for hiring as well as development, and is a useful checklist of capabilities to test.

experience leading a marketing team at a comparable scale, in a comparable market (business-to-business or consumer);
a record against the specific problem: a launch, a rebrand, a new channel, a pipeline rebuilt;
budget ownership and reporting that links spend to results;
hands-on depth in the channels that matter most to the business;
agency and supplier management;
professional standing where it helps, such as CIM qualifications or Chartered Marketer status, which asks for graded CIM membership, continuing professional development and an online assessment;
sector knowledge where the buyers or the advertising rules are specialised.

Fractional head of marketing job description

A fractional head of marketing works a set number of days a week or month, so the job description narrows. Name the days, the outcomes expected over the first six to twelve months (a marketing plan agreed, positioning reset, a channel working, an agency replaced, a marketing manager hired), what the role owns and who runs marketing on the days they are not there.

Our page on how to hire a fractional head of marketing sets out how the engagement works and lists the open roles.

A fractional head of marketing working through their own company may fall within the off-payroll working rules (IR35). Status depends on how the engagement runs in practice, not on the wording of the job description, and a medium or large client makes the determination. Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.

Interim and permanent versions

Interim. An interim head of marketing works full-time for a fixed period, so the job description leads with the situation (a launch, a rebrand, a team without a leader, or cover while the permanent search runs) and the date or event that ends the assignment. See interim marketing director for the senior version of that brief.

Permanent. The permanent version looks further ahead: the brand, the team and the channels over several years. When the head of marketing is hired as an employee, the job title or a description of the work goes into the written statement of employment particulars they must have on the first day, so keep the two consistent. For the permanent search, see our marketing director recruitment page, and head of marketing jobs for the roles open now.

We recruit fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent executives, and non-executive directors. For a head of marketing brief we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after our five-stage vetting.

A template you can copy

Copy these headings and write one short block under each. Keep pay out of the job description and state it in the offer.

Job title: head of marketing, and whether the role is fractional, interim, part-time or permanent.
Reports to: the marketing director, CMO, managing director or chief executive; list the people and agencies who report to the role.
Purpose: two or three sentences on why the role exists now and the marketing result it must deliver.
Responsibilities: eight to twelve duties, each starting with a verb, in order of importance.
Requirements: essential and desirable experience, described specifically, and a qualification only where the job needs one.
Terms: full-time or days a week, location and travel, start date, fixed term or permanent, and the pay basis (salary or day rate).

Questions people ask

What should a head of marketing job description include?

The job title and type of engagement, who the role reports to and who reports in, the purpose, the key responsibilities, the experience and skills required, and the terms. Put the marketing problem the role must solve at the top.

How long should a head of marketing job description be?

Long enough to cover purpose, responsibilities, reporting line, requirements and terms, and short enough to read in a few minutes: one to two pages is usually enough. Targets, budgets and channel detail belong in the candidate pack and the interviews.

What is the difference between a head of marketing and a marketing director job description?

A head of marketing usually runs the marketing team and its channels and reports to a marketing director, CMO or chief executive; a marketing director usually owns marketing strategy across the business and sits on the leadership team. In a smaller company one person does both. See the marketing director job description.

How is a fractional head of marketing job description different?

It names the days a week or month, the outcomes expected over the first six to twelve months and who runs marketing in between. See how to hire a fractional head of marketing.

What does a head of marketing earn?

It depends on the scope of the seat, the sector, the location and whether the role is permanent, interim or fractional. Our head of marketing salary page sets out pay, each figure with its source.

How do I hire a head of marketing?

Define the marketing problem, choose between permanent, interim, part-time and fractional, write the job description around that problem, and test every candidate against it. We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out; to start, see head of marketing jobs.