Interim Head of Marketing Salary 2026

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Book 15 minutes to hire an interim head of marketing

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

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On the board · last 3 months

Interim head of marketing jobs on the board

0 Interim head of marketing · 4 interim executive

No Interim head of marketing roles on the board in the last three months. Showing interim executive roles instead.

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Interim marketing roles on the board

How fractional recruitment agencies compare is set out in one place, including how we work: a Interim Head of Marketing brief and a shortlist of three to five.

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01/ the role

How an interim head of marketing is paid, and why the unit is the day

An interim holds the marketing seat full-time for a defined period: a departure, a launch, a rebrand, a campaign season or the gap before a permanent hire.

The business pays for the days worked, either to the interim’s own company or, on a PAYE contract, through payroll.

That makes the day rate the real unit of pay.

There is no salary, no employer pension and no paid holiday, and the interim carries the gaps between assignments.

Across all functions, the Institute of Interim Management’s 2026 survey puts the average assignment at 10.0 months, the average gap between assignments at 3.2 months and the average days billed in a year at 148.

An interim who works through their own company pays themselves through salary and dividends from what the company earns, after its costs and Corporation Tax.

The day rate is the company’s income, not the interim’s take-home pay.

Robert Walters’ figures are PAYE rates, paid through payroll, so they are not like for like with a limited-company rate.

02/ scope

How to hire an interim head of marketing

1. Define the mandate and its end

Say what the interim must deliver and by when: a launch out of the door, an agency roster rebuilt, a team steadied, a handover to a permanent hire.

A defined mandate is easier to price and easier to hand back.

The seat answers for the rules from day one.

Ads must meet the CAP Code, and email and phone campaigns the ICO’s direct marketing guidance; the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 lets the Competition and Markets Authority enforce consumer law directly.

An agency review can lean on the IPA, the trade body for advertising agencies, for good practice.

2. Decide IR35 status at the start

If your business is medium or large, you make the status determination for the engagement and give the interim your reasons.

Settle it before you go to market, because it changes the rate candidates quote.

3. Match the record to the mandate

Ask for outcomes from comparable assignments: the pipeline on arrival and on exit, the launch that shipped, the team left behind.

The CIM’s Chartered Marketer status is one signal of professional standing alongside references.

If the brief is closer to a director’s, see interim marketing director jobs.

What we do on an interim brief

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

We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, and every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.

If the seat needs a permanent owner after the interim, hire a head of marketing on that basis.

03/ the board

What the board holds.

A read of the roles on the board on this page, counted as they stand: how each is engaged, whether the posting gives the days and the rate, and where the work happens.

On this board, last 90 days · 4 roles · interim executive

Engagement

Interim4

Seat

Finance director2
CEO1
COO1

Days a week

Stated in the posting3
Not stated1

Day rate

Verified rate1
Estimated (est)1
Rate not stated2

Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)

Remote1
Hybrid1
On-site1
Not classified1

Newest posting on the board: 18 Sept 2026.

Postings per week on this board, last 90 days

4 postings on this board in the last 90 days, counted by the week each was published.

04/ the route

Fractional, interim or permanent?

Four taps. The answer names the route for the seat and the page that covers it.

How much of the week does the work fill?

Is there a fixed end or a programme?

Does the seat sit on the board for years?

Is the need now, or can it wait for a search?

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 fractional head of marketing route Talk it through

05/ rates by stage

Interim head of marketing salary day rates by source

Day rates as each publisher states them, all 2026. Robert Walters’ rates are PAYE contract rates from advertised London roles. Exec Capital’s band is its own reading of the market. Morgan McKinley’s rates are for a combined Head of Marketing & Business Development title in London financial services. Robert Walters, Exec Capital and Morgan McKinley are recruiters. The IIM figures cover every interim function, not marketing alone.

SeatDay rateBasisSource

Head of Marketing, London, contract£520–£830, average £673PAYE contract rate, advertised rolesRobert Walters, 2026

Interim Head of Marketing, growth stage£400–£800Market rate as the firm publishes itExec Capital, 2026

Head of Marketing & Business Development, London financial services, up to 3 years£500–£600Contract daily rateMorgan McKinley, 2026

Head of Marketing & Business Development, London financial services, 3–5 years£600–£650Contract daily rateMorgan McKinley, 2026

Head of Marketing & Business Development, London financial services, 5+ years£650–£800Contract daily rateMorgan McKinley, 2026

All interim managers, average£907All functions; private sector £1,004IIM survey, 2026

All interim managers, by IR35 status£949 outside · £830 insideAll functions, averageIIM survey, 2026

06/ economics

Interim pay and IR35: who decides, and what it changes

Tax status turns on how the engagement runs, not on the title or the contract alone.

Under the off-payroll working rules (IR35), a medium or large client makes the status determination; for a small client outside the public sector, the interim’s own company decides.

The rules apply contract by contract, so one interim can have engagements on both sides.

It shows in the rates.

The IIM’s 2026 survey puts the average interim day rate at £949 outside IR35 and £830 inside, across all functions.

HMRC’s CEST tool gives its view on a specific engagement.

Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.

07/ vetting

How we vet interim head of marketings

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

01
Qualification screen
Verify Interim 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

08/ interim head of marketing day rate

Interim head of marketing day rate by source and sector

The interim head of marketing day rate depends on the stage of the business and where the work is.

Exec Capital puts a growth-stage interim at £400–£800 a day.

Robert Walters puts a London contract head of marketing at £520–£830 a day through PAYE, with an average of £673.

Sector and experience move it.

Morgan McKinley puts a Head of Marketing & Business Development in London financial services at £500–£600 a day with up to three years’ experience, £600–£650 with three to five, and £650–£800 with five or more.

Where the brief is closer to a director’s, with the strategy and budget to own, the rates are higher.

See interim marketing director salary for those figures.

09/ interim head of marketing salary, annualised

Interim head of marketing salary, annualised

An interim head of marketing salary is a figure people search for, but no interim is paid one.

To compare, multiply the day rate by the days worked.

At Robert Walters’ £673 London average, 220 days would bill £148,060.

At the IIM’s all-function average of 148 days billed in a year, the same rate bills £99,604.

Both are our arithmetic, a comparison and not a salary.

A full month of interim cover, at about 22 working days, comes to £14,806 at £673 a day, and £8,800–£17,600 across Exec Capital’s £400–£800 band (our arithmetic).

That is the client’s cost.

The interim pays their own pension, holidays, insurance and the gaps between assignments out of it.

For scale, the same Robert Walters survey puts a permanent London head of marketing at an average of £99,700 in a medium enterprise and £115,400 in a large one, in basic salary.

Nationally, Robert Half’s 2026 median is £66,250.

See head of marketing salary for the permanent benchmarks in full.

10/ the other routes

Interim, permanent or part-time: which pay basis fits

Interim cover buys a full-time marketing lead for a fixed period.

A permanent hire is paid a salary and package; see head of marketing salary.

If the work fits into part of the week, see part-time head of marketing.

We have found no verified published day rate for a fractional head of marketing, so we do not print one; see fractional head of marketing salary for the permanent salary spread across part-week days (our arithmetic).

11/ questions

Interim head of marketing salary FAQ

The questions people ask before bringing in an interim head of marketing.

Robert Walters’ 2026 survey puts the average contract day rate for a London head of marketing at £673, within a range of £520–£830, paid through PAYE. Exec Capital puts a growth-stage interim at £400–£800 a day. Across all interim functions, the IIM’s 2026 survey puts the average at £907.

An interim head of marketing is paid a day rate rather than a salary. At Robert Walters’ £673 London average, 220 days would bill £148,060 and the IIM’s average of 148 days billed would bill £99,604 (our arithmetic). That is gross income to the interim, before their own costs, pension and tax.

Morgan McKinley’s 2026 guide puts a Head of Marketing & Business Development in London financial services at £500–£800 a day, from £500–£600 with up to three years’ experience to £650–£800 with five or more.

Define the mandate and its end date, decide IR35 status before you go to market, and check the candidate’s record on comparable assignments. For a director-level brief, see interim marketing director jobs.

The day rate times the days. At £673 a day, a month of about 22 working days is £14,806; across Exec Capital’s £400–£800 band it is £8,800–£17,600 (our arithmetic). On a PAYE contract the rate is paid through payroll, so ask whether employer’s National Insurance sits on top. We set out the day rate for every candidate on the shortlist.

No source we can cite publishes a figure for marketing alone. Across all interim functions, the IIM’s 2026 survey puts the average assignment at 10.0 months and the average gap between assignments at 3.2 months.

It depends on how the engagement runs. A medium or large client makes the status determination; a small private-sector client leaves it to the interim’s own company (HMRC). The IIM’s 2026 survey puts average day rates at £949 outside IR35 and £830 inside, across all functions.

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

12/ related

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