Part-Time Marketing Director Jobs · Hire a part-time marketing director, or hire marketing director

What is a Part-time Marketing Director?

A part-time marketing director does the whole marketing director job — the plan, the budget, the team, the agencies and the numbers reported to the board — on fewer days than a full-time hire. The job is the same; the days are fewer. Companies hire a part-time marketing director when the marketing work needs a director's judgement every week, but not every day.

Part-time or fractional? The words overlap and many candidates use both. In practice a part-time marketing director usually works a consistent weekly pattern with one company, sometimes on the payroll, while a fractional marketing director more often runs a portfolio of clients on contract. If your leader will split their week across several businesses, the fractional route describes what you are buying more accurately.

Employed or contracted. Put a part-time marketing director on the payroll and the law protects them from less favourable treatment than a comparable full-time employee, with pay, holiday and pension pro rata — see GOV.UK on part-time workers' rights. Engage them through their own company and the off-payroll working (IR35) rules apply instead; our IR35 guide covers how status is decided.

Typical fits: SMEs where the founder still runs marketing by default, businesses with a capable marketing manager who needs a senior lead, companies moving from an agency-led model to in-house capability, and firms whose full-time marketing director has left and whose budget no longer supports a like-for-like replacement.

Part-time vs fractional vs interim marketing director — which one fits the brief

The three labels describe one job — senior ownership of the marketing function — bought in three shapes. What separates them is not seniority but time: how many days of director-level marketing work exist each week, and for how long.

Part-time: a consistent weekly pattern with one company, open-ended, and it can be employed on the payroll or contracted. Fractional: a portfolio leader on contract, working across several clients — see fractional marketing director jobs. Interim: full-time for a fixed term, to cover a vacancy or run a turnaround — see hire an interim marketing director.

Set against a full-time hire, the part-time vs fractional vs interim marketing director decision comes down to workload. If the plan, the team and the board reporting fill the week, a permanent director is the honest answer — Robert Half puts the median Marketing Director salary at £79,500 (2026). If they fill part of the week, a full-time salary pays for idle days. The contract shape matters as much as the days: employed part-time staff have the protections set out by Acas on part-time workers, while a leader contracted through their own company falls under HMRC's off-payroll working rules, where a medium or large client makes the status determination and status depends on how the engagement runs in practice.

Fractional marketing director v full time marketing director — what the week actually needs

The fractional marketing director v full time marketing director question is about workload, not seniority. A full-time marketing director is employed for the whole week on a salary — Robert Half's median is in the table above — with employer National Insurance, pension and holiday on top. A fractional marketing director does the same senior job on agreed days, usually on contract and often across several clients, and is paid a day rate for the days worked. A part-time marketing director sits between the two: fewer days, usually one company, employed or contracted.

So count the days before you choose. If you set out to hire marketing director capacity for the whole week and the plan, the team and the board reporting genuinely fill it, full-time is the honest answer. If they fill part of the week, a full-time salary pays for idle days. And if the need has an end date — a departure, a launch, a restructure — a temporary marketing director on an interim assignment covers the whole seat for a fixed term; see interim marketing director jobs. We take part-time, fractional, interim and permanent briefs, and each ends in a shortlist of 3–5 with day rate or pay, availability and IR35 position set out.