Marketing director salary · 2026
What a marketing director earns, and what the seat costs you
A marketing director earns a median salary of £79,500 on Robert Half’s 2026 figures, with £70,000 at the 25th percentile and £90,000 at the 75th. A head of marketing sits lower, at a £66,250 median. Scope, sector and location move the number, and bonus comes on top.
If you need senior marketing for part of the week, or full-time for a fixed term, the fractional and interim routes are priced by the day. When you hire a marketing director 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 CMOs 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 marketing director salary before you fix the seat.
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire a marketing director
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Marketing Director 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 Marketing director jobs
No live Marketing director 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 Marketing Director brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.
01/ the role
What a marketing director does, and what sets the pay
A marketing director runs the marketing function: the strategy and budget, the team and the agencies, the brand, and the pipeline marketing hands to sales. Most report to the CEO. Where a company also has a Chief Marketing Officer, the CMO usually sets direction at board level and the marketing director runs the function day to day.
Three things set the salary. The size of the budget and team. Whether the role answers for revenue or only for activity. And the sector, because a regulated or brand-led business asks for different experience. Robert Half’s band runs from £70,000 to £90,000 across the 25th to 75th percentiles; a candidate with above-average experience and specialist qualifications sits at the top of it.
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 privacy and electronic communications 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 marketing director
1. Scope the seat
Write down the budget, the team, the channels, the revenue the function must support and who the role reports to. A marketing director for a young consumer brand and one for a regulated B2B platform are different hires with different pay.
2. Choose the route
A permanent marketing director suits a company that needs a senior owner of marketing every day. If the need is senior judgement for part of the week, hire a fractional marketing director. If the seat is empty mid-campaign and needs a full-time leader for a fixed term, hire an interim marketing director. If the brief is running the team rather than setting direction, hire a fractional head of marketing.
3. Assess against the work
The CIPD’s guidance on selection methods favours clear, objective and structured processes, with skill-based tasks alongside interviews. For a marketing director, that task might be a review of your last quarter’s pipeline and spend, 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 of the package 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 marketing director brief
We recruit permanent, fractional, interim and part-time 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
Marketing director salary by level and route
Robert Half’s 2026 percentiles for permanent marketing leadership, with published interim, fractional and contract day rates beside them. Every figure is a recruiter’s or marketplace’s published range, named in the table.
04/ economics
Fractional or interim: what a marketing director costs by the day
Not every company needs a full-time marketing director. Exec Capital publishes interim marketing director day rates of £500–£900 for SMEs and scale-ups up to £30m revenue, £800–£1,400 for mid-market and PE-backed businesses, and £1,200–£1,800 for large corporate or brand-led businesses. These are a provider’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 fractional route in full, see fractional marketing director jobs and fractional CMO jobs. For a full-time leader on a fixed term, see interim marketing director jobs.
05/ vetting
How we vet marketing directors
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify Marketing Director 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/ head of marketing salary
Head of marketing salary: how it compares with a director
On Robert Half’s 2026 figures, a head of marketing salary runs £55,250 at the 25th percentile, £66,250 at the median and £73,500 at the 75th. That sits below the marketing director band at every percentile, although the two overlap: an experienced head of marketing can earn more than a marketing director new to the level.
The titles are used loosely. In a smaller company the head of marketing is often the most senior marketer, doing the director’s job without the title. In a larger one the role usually runs a team or a channel and reports to a marketing director or CMO. Pay the scope, not the title.
For flexible cover, Exec Capital publishes an interim head of marketing rate of £400–£800 a day at growth stage. To bring in a head of marketing for part of the week, see fractional head of marketing jobs. For an official cross-check, the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings reports employee earnings by occupation, although its groups are broader than either title.
07/ london
Marketing director salary in London: what the sources show
The Robert Half figures above are national. Robert Half also publishes a separate London band for the marketing director salary London employers pay. Check it at source before you set a London package.
For contract work, Morgan McKinley’s 2026 guide gives daily rates for marketing directors in London financial services of £500–£550, £550–£750 and £750–£1,000 across its three experience bands. Sector matters as much as the postcode: a regulated London employer asks for experience a regional consumer brand may not.
Whether the role is in London or not, the shortlist we send sets out each candidate’s pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position, so you can compare a London hire with a hybrid or regional one on the same page.
08/ questions
Marketing director salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a marketing director.
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.
