Head of marketing salary · 2026
What a head of marketing earns, against the marketing director above
A head of marketing earns a median salary of £66,250 on Robert Half’s 2026 figures, with £55,250 at the 25th percentile and £73,500 at the 75th. Intelligent People, a marketing recruiter, puts the average at £105,000 from its own placements. A marketing director sits higher on both sources. Scope, sector and company stage move the number.
If you need senior marketing for part of the week, or full-time for a fixed term, the interim and fractional routes are priced by the day. When you hire a head of marketing through us, permanent or flexible, 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 fractional marketing leaders mainly for senior expertise at a growth moment, not to cut cost. If that is your situation, weigh the day rates on this page against a full-time head of marketing salary before you fix the seat.
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
Live roles · last 3 months
Live Head of marketing jobs
No live Head of marketing roles in the last three months. Showing live fractional executive roles instead.
- FractionalSyndicated
Fractional CISO (Contract / Project Based)
Cambridge Spark · United Kingdom
est £1,500/day2 d/wk - FractionalSyndicated
Head of Medical Compliance, Governance & Diligence (Fractional)
CNX Therapeutics Ltd · Greater London
est £1,000/dayGreater London - FractionalSyndicated
Head of Applied Legal – AI Product (Fractional)
Stealth Startup · London
est £1,600/day2 d/wk - FractionalSyndicated
Fractional Product Practice Leader - 9 Month Contract
Tails.com · London
est £1,000/day2 d/wk - FractionalSyndicated
Fractional CPO
Log my Care · City of London
est £3,250/day3 d/wk - FractionalSyndicated
Fractional Finance Directors
PWF Associates Limited · Manchester
est £750/dayManchester - FractionalSyndicated
Fractional legal counsel
Nifina · London
est £750/dayLondon - FractionalExclusive
Fractional COO
Confidential client (Fractional Quest mandate) · London
Rate n/aLondon - FractionalSyndicated
Fractional Financial Controller
MarcoPolo Learning · City of Westminster
est £750/day2 d/wk
Live marketing leadership roles
Fractional Quest is a fractional recruitment agency: 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. In a larger business the role usually reports to a marketing director or CMO. In a smaller one it is often the most senior marketer, reporting to the chief executive and doing much of a director’s job.
Three things set the salary. The size of the team and budget. Whether the role answers for pipeline and revenue or for activity. And the sector and stage: Intelligent People notes that fintech, technology and SaaS businesses tend to offer some of the highest bands, while start-ups that cannot compete on base salary may offer share options instead. On Robert Half’s scale, a candidate with above-average experience and specialised qualifications sits at the 75th percentile, £73,500.
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. On professional standing, 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 hire a head of marketing
1. Scope the seat
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 head of marketing suits a business that needs a senior marketer every day. If the need is senior leadership for part of the week, hire a fractional head of marketing. If the seat is empty mid-campaign and needs full-time cover for a fixed term, hire an interim marketing leader. If the brief is setting strategy and budget rather than running the team, hire a fractional marketing director.
3. Assess against the work
The CIPD’s guidance on selection methods favours clear, objective, structured and transparent processes, with skill-based tasks alongside interviews. For a head of marketing, that task might be a review of last quarter’s campaigns and pipeline, or a plan for your next launch.
4. Set the whole package
Salary is the start. An employer also pays employer’s National Insurance and must enrol eligible staff in a workplace pension and contribute. The CIPD’s introduction to reward separates fixed base pay from variable pay such as bonuses, which is not guaranteed. Decide which part rides on results before you make an offer.
5. Check before the offer
For an employee, you must check their right to work before they start. Take references yourself, from people the candidate reported to.
What we do on a head of marketing brief
We recruit permanent, fractional, interim, part-time and temporary marketing leaders. 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/ rates by stage
Head of marketing salary by level and route
Robert Half’s 2026 percentiles and Intelligent People’s averages for permanent marketing leadership, with Exec Capital’s published interim day rates beside them. Every figure is a recruiter’s published range or average, named in the table.
04/ economics
Interim or fractional: what the seat costs by the day
Not every business needs a full-time head of marketing. Exec Capital publishes an interim head of marketing rate of £400–£800 a day at growth stage, and interim marketing director rates from £500–£900 a day for SMEs and scale-ups up to £30m revenue. These are a search firm’s published rates, not survey results.
A day rate does not compare one for one with a salary. An employee also costs employer’s National Insurance and pension contributions; a contractor funds their own, along with holidays and unsold days. Tax status is set by how the engagement runs in practice, not by its label. Under the off-payroll working rules (IR35), a medium or large client makes the status determination; a small client outside the public sector leaves it to the worker’s own company. Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
For live roles and the part-week route in full, see fractional head of marketing jobs and fractional marketing jobs. For full-time cover on a fixed term, see interim marketing director jobs.
05/ 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
06/ marketing director salary
Marketing director salary: how a head of marketing compares
On Robert Half’s 2026 figures, the marketing director salary runs £70,000 at the 25th percentile, £79,500 at the median and £90,000 at the 75th. That sits above the head of marketing band at every point, although the two overlap: an experienced head of marketing at £73,500 earns more than a marketing director new to the level at £70,000.
Intelligent People’s placement averages show a wider gap: £105,000 for a head of marketing against £150,000 for a marketing director or VP Marketing. The two sources measure different things. Robert Half publishes percentiles across its national matching data; Intelligent People reports averages from its own placements. Name the source when you quote either.
The titles are used loosely. Exec Capital describes a head of marketing as more executional, delivering against a brief set by more senior leaders, and a marketing director as owning the strategy and budget with accountability for return. For the director’s pay in full, with London and interim figures, see the marketing director salary page.
07/ head of marketing day rate
Head of marketing day rate: interim and fractional cover
Exec Capital publishes a head of marketing day rate of £400–£800 for interim work at growth stage. It is the only head of marketing day rate we can source to a published page today. No verified source publishes a separate fractional head of marketing day rate, so we do not print one.
Where the brief is closer to a director’s, Exec Capital’s interim marketing director rates start at £500–£900 a day for SMEs and scale-ups and rise to £800–£1,400 for mid-market and PE-backed businesses. Price the scope, not the title.
For an official cross-check on permanent pay, the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings reports employee earnings by occupation, although its groups are broader than either title. For the board-level seat, see the fractional CMO salary page; for a permanent CMO, see our CMO headhunter page.
08/ 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.
