Head of marketing salary · base, bonus and package, 2026
What a head of marketing earns, by company size, sector and region
A head of marketing salary in 2026 runs from £55,250 to £73,500, with a median of £66,250, on Robert Half’s national figures.
Ashdown Group’s 2026 guide puts the national median higher, at £87,615.
In London, Robert Walters puts the average at £99,700 in a medium-sized business and £115,400 in a large one.
Company size, sector and London move the number more than the title does.
Base is only part of the cost: bonus, pension and employer’s National Insurance sit on top.
When you hire a head of marketing through us, we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
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
Companies bring in part-time marketing leaders mainly for senior expertise at a growth moment, not to cut cost. Read it before you fix a full-time head of marketing salary for a seat that may not need five days a week.
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire a head of marketing
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Head of Marketing 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
On the board · last 3 months
Head of marketing jobs on the board
No Head of marketing roles on the board right now.
We only show real vacancies from the last three months, each marked whether we could confirm it is still open — we never pad the board. New Head of marketing roles appear here as our pipeline finds them.
Head of marketing roles on the board
Fractional recruitment works differently from a permanent search — shorter, scoped by days a week, and priced on the engagement. Send a Head of Marketing brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.
01/ the role
What a head of marketing does, and what sets the pay
A head of marketing leads the marketing team and the programme it runs: campaigns, channels, content, agencies and the leads handed to sales.
Ashdown Group describes the role as executing the marketing strategy and running the department day to day, while a marketing director or CMO sets the strategy.
In a smaller business the head of marketing is often the most senior marketer, reporting to the chief executive.
Company size sets the pay first.
Robert Walters puts a London head of marketing at £72k–£124k in a medium enterprise (50 to 250 staff), with an average of £99,700, and at £93k–£134k in a large one (250+ staff), with an average of £115,400.
Those are basic salaries, before bonus.
Sector comes next.
Morgan McKinley’s 2026 guide puts a Head of Marketing & Business Development in London financial services at £95,000–£105,000 with up to three years’ experience, rising to £125,000–£150,000 with five years or more.
That is a combined title in one sector, not a general band.
The seat carries legal exposure as well as a budget.
Non-broadcast advertising, sales promotion and direct marketing must follow the CAP Code, which the Advertising Standards Authority enforces.
Email, text and phone marketing fall under the rules the ICO’s direct marketing guidance explains.
The CIM’s Chartered Marketer status requires graded membership, continuing professional development and an assessment.
It is a useful signal, not a requirement.
02/ scope
How to set the pay when you hire a head of marketing
1. Scope the seat before the salary
Write down the team, the budget, the channels, the pipeline marketing must deliver and who the role reports to.
A head of marketing who runs a team under a marketing director and one who is the company’s only senior marketer are different hires with different pay.
2. Choose the route
A permanent appointment suits a business that needs a senior marketer every day: hire a head of marketing on that basis, or read how head of marketing recruitment runs.
If the work fits into part of the week, see part-time head of marketing.
If the seat is empty and needs full-time cover for a fixed term, see interim head of marketing salary for the day rates.
3. Price against the right benchmark
Match the benchmark to the business.
A London role in a large company sits near Robert Walters’ £115,400 average; a role outside London sits nearer Ashdown Group’s regional medians, from £82,645 in Wales to £92,593 in the South East.
4. Set base and bonus together
Decide which part of the pay rides on results before you make an offer.
HMRC treats a cash bonus as earnings, with PAYE tax and Class 1 National Insurance deducted through payroll, so budget employer’s National Insurance on the bonus as well as the base.
What we do on a head of marketing brief
We recruit permanent, fractional, interim, part-time and temporary marketing leaders, and non-executive directors.
We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, and every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.
03/ the route
Fractional, interim or permanent?
Four taps. The answer names the route for the seat and the page that covers it.
The route · Fractional
A fractional head of marketing.The work fills part of the week, so buy the days it needs.
A fractional head of marketing holds the seat on agreed days for as long as the seat is needed, and works for other clients on the rest.
The route · Interim
An interim head of marketing.The work fills the week, and it has an end: a programme, a cover, a transaction.
An interim head of marketing takes the seat full time for that stretch and hands it over when it is done.
The route · Interim, then permanent
Interim now, a permanent head of marketing after.The seat is full time and long term, and the need is now.
An interim head of marketing holds it while the permanent search runs, so the seat is not left empty.
The route · Permanent
A permanent head of marketing.A full-time seat that sits at the table for years is a permanent hire.
There is time to run a search, so run one.
04/ rates by stage
Head of marketing salary by source, place and company size
Permanent head of marketing pay as each publisher states it, all 2026 except the ONS (2025, provisional). Robert Half publishes starting salary projections (base); Ashdown Group publishes a range from lower to upper quartile with a median; Robert Walters publishes ranges and averages from advertised London roles; IT Jobs Watch reads advertised salaries in IT-sector job ads. Robert Half, Ashdown Group, Robert Walters and Morgan McKinley are recruiters.
05/ economics
What the salary costs the business, beyond the base
A salary is not the whole cost of an employee.
For 2026 to 2027, employer’s National Insurance is 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year (HMRC rates and thresholds).
On Robert Half’s £66,250 median, that is £9,187.50 a year (our arithmetic).
Under automatic enrolment, the employer must also pay at least 3% of qualifying earnings into a workplace pension.
The bonus is pay too, and attracts employer’s National Insurance in the same way.
Robert Walters’ figures are basic salaries, exclusive of bonuses, so add the bonus you intend to pay on top of any benchmark you use from its survey.
06/ vetting
How we vet head of marketings
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify Head of Marketing 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/ head of marketing salary uk
Head of marketing salary UK: the national benchmarks side by side
The national figures measure different things.
Robert Half’s head of marketing salary UK range, £55,250–£73,500 with a median of £66,250, is a starting-salary projection built from candidates it has matched with employers and checked against 350,000 vacancies.
Ashdown Group’s range, £74,473–£105,138 with a median of £87,615, runs from the lower to the upper quartile of its own guide.
Advertised pay gives a third view.
IT Jobs Watch puts the median at £70,000 across 31 head of marketing salaries in IT-sector job ads over the six months to 5 October 2026, with the middle half between £60,000 and £80,000.
It is a small sample and moves every day.
For an official view, the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings puts the median for marketing, sales and advertising directors (SOC 2020 code 1132) at £94,135 in 2025, with the middle half between £65,527 and £134,962.
That group is broader than the title, so read it as a cross-check, not as a head of marketing salary.
08/ head of marketing salary london
Head of marketing salary London, and the regions
The head of marketing salary London employers pay sits at the top of every source.
Robert Half puts it at £75,250–£100,000, with a median of £90,000.
Ashdown Group puts it at £85,000–£120,000, with a median of £100,000.
Robert Walters, which covers London only for this role, puts the average at £99,700 in a medium enterprise and £115,400 in a large one.
Outside London, Ashdown Group publishes a median for each region.
The South East is highest at £92,593, followed by the East at £89,286 and Scotland at £87,719.
The Midlands sit at £86,957, the South West at £86,207, Yorkshire and the North West at £84,034, the North East at £83,333 and Wales at £82,645.
No source we can cite publishes a figure for each city.
Use the region’s median as the starting point and adjust for the size of the business and the team.
09/ average head of marketing salary
Average head of marketing salary: what each figure measures
The average head of marketing salary in Robert Walters’ 2026 survey is £99,700 in a medium London business and £115,400 in a large one: the mean of advertised roles, basic pay only.
Robert Half and Ashdown Group publish medians, the middle point of their range, not averages.
A mean is pulled up by a few large salaries; a median is not.
Before you compare two figures, check three things: mean or median, base or total package, and national or London.
Then benchmark against a business of your size and sector.
10/ the other routes
Salary, day rate or retainer: the other ways to pay for the seat
Read this sectionClose this section
A permanent salary buys a head of marketing every day, with notice on both sides.
An interim is paid by the day for full-time cover over a fixed period; see interim head of marketing salary for the day rates.
We have found no verified published day rate for a fractional head of marketing, so we do not print one; fractional head of marketing salary spreads this salary across part-week days instead (our arithmetic, not a market rate).
For the part-week route, see fractional head of marketing jobs.
For the levels either side, see marketing director salary for the director’s pay in full and CMO salary for the board-level seat.
11/ questions
Head of marketing salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a head of marketing.
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.
