Part-Time Marketing Director Jobs

Q: What's the difference between a part-time, fractional and interim marketing director?

A part-time marketing director works a consistent weekly pattern with one company, employed or contracted. A fractional marketing director is usually a contracted portfolio leader working across several clients — see fractional marketing director jobs. An interim marketing director works full-time for a fixed term to cover a vacancy or lead a change. The choice depends on how many days of director-level work you have each week, and for how long.

15 minutes · video or phone

Book 15 minutes to hire a part-time marketing director

Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Part-time 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

Prefer email? Use the booking page →

Pick a day that suits · live availability

Open the booking calendar →

On the board · last 3 months

Part-time marketing director jobs on the board

0 Part-time marketing director · 9 fractional executive

No Part-time marketing director roles on the board in the last three months. Showing fractional executive roles instead.

Browse every role on the board →

Current opportunities

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

Register for alerts Book a discovery call

01/ the role

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.

02/ scope

What the Role Owns

Strategy and planning: the marketing plan and budget, positioning and messaging, target segments and channel mix, and the measures the board sees each month.

Team and suppliers: leading the in-house marketers, briefing and managing agencies and freelancers, hiring where the plan needs it, and setting a rhythm that keeps work moving on the days the director is not in.

Delivery: a part-time marketing director is hands-on — campaign reviews, content sign-off, work in the CRM and marketing automation, and the handover between marketing and sales.

On fewer days, a large part of the job is deciding what the team does without them.

How to hire one

Write the brief before the search: the outcome (pipeline, a launch, a rebuilt function), the days per week and the pattern you want, the budget, and whether the role is employed or contracted.

Brief us and we come back with a shortlist of 3–5 candidates, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.

03/ the week

How a week divides.

Part of a week is the point of the model: the days you buy are yours, the rest of the week goes to other clients. Move the days a week and the week redraws.

Days a week for your company2 days

Your companyAnother clientA third client

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Illustration only: one way a part-time marketing director’s week can divide at 2 days a week for you. Each block is half a day.

04/ 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 · 9 roles · fractional executive

Engagement

Fractional9

Seat

SDR1
Executive assistant1
Finance director1
CFO1
General counsel1
Financial controller1
Other seats3

Days a week

Stated in the posting2
Not stated7

Day rate

Verified rate0
Estimated (est)5
Rate not stated4

Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)

Remote0
Hybrid5
On-site2
Not classified2

Newest posting on the board: 15 Oct 2026.

Postings per week on this board, last 90 days

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

05/ 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 marketing director.

The work fills part of the week, so buy the days it needs.

A fractional marketing director holds the seat on agreed days for as long as the seat is needed, and works for other clients on the rest.

The fractional marketing director route Talk it through

06/ rates by stage

Hire a Part-time Marketing Director — what the published benchmarks say

No source we can verify publishes a UK part-time Marketing Director day rate, so we don't quote one. These are the nearest published Marketing Director benchmarks — interim, contract and permanent — each from the source named in the row.

BenchmarkPublished figureSource

Interim Marketing Director, SME / scale-up (to £30m revenue)£500–£900/dayExec Capital

Contract Marketing Director, London, commerce & industry£400–£650/dayMorgan McKinley 2026

Permanent Marketing Director salary, median£79,500Robert Half 2026

07/ comparison

Part-time Marketing Director vs CMO which seat you are filling

The same part-time pattern, two different mandates.

Part-time Marketing DirectorPart-time CMO

FocusMarketing strategy plus hands-on deliveryBoard-level marketing strategy and positioning

Reports toCEO or MDSits on the leadership team or board

OwnsPlan, budget, team, agencies, campaignsBrand, market position, marketing investment case

Best forBusinesses that need marketing led and deliveredBusinesses that need marketing represented at board level

08/ timing

When to hire a part-time marketing director

The situations where a set number of director-level days a week is the right answer — and the one where it isn't.

Scenario 01

Founder-led marketing

Hand over the plan

The founder is still making marketing decisions by default.

A part-time director takes the plan, the budget and the agency relationships off their desk.

Scenario 02

In-house manager without a lead

Senior direction

A capable marketing manager is delivering, but nobody senior sets the priorities or defends the budget.

Scenario 03

Agency-led to in-house

Own the brief

Spend sits with agencies and nobody client-side owns the strategy.

The director writes the briefs and holds suppliers to them.

Scenario 04

Director left, budget reset

Keep the function running

A full-time marketing director has gone and the business wants senior leadership on fewer days rather than a like-for-like replacement.

Scenario 05

Honest caveat

When the week is full

If the marketing work fills every day — a large team, a heavy budget, daily decisions — hire full-time, or an interim for a fixed term.

09/ vetting

How we vet every candidate

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

01
Qualification screen
Verify Part-time 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

10/ the three models

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.

11/ the combined role

Part-time marketing and sales director — when one leader owns both

In smaller businesses the two functions often sit under one person.

A part-time marketing and sales director owns the path from first contact to signed contract: positioning and demand generation on one side; the pipeline, the sales process and the people selling on the other.

The case for combining them is that nothing falls into the gap between marketing and sales.

The risk is that one half gets the attention the leader is most comfortable giving.

Brief it honestly.

Ask which half the candidate has actually run — a marketer who has carried a number, or a sales leader who has built demand — and write the split of days into the mandate.

If the sales side needs its own leader, pair a part-time marketing director with a fractional head of sales instead.

For independent reference points on each side of the craft, the Institute of Sales Professionals is the membership body for sales, and the Chartered Institute of Marketing sets the Chartered Marketer standard.

The combined role also owns the rules both functions work under.

Email and calls to business contacts are covered by the ICO's business-to-business marketing guidance, and advertising claims by the UK Advertising Codes.

Write both into the remit alongside the pipeline targets.

12/ full-time or not

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.

13/ marketing automation

Fractional director of marketing automation — when the tools need a senior owner

Read this sectionClose this section

A fractional director of marketing automation owns the systems a marketing team runs on rather than the whole function: the automation platform and its link to the CRM, lead scoring and routing, nurture and lifecycle programmes, data quality and consent, and the reporting that ties campaigns to pipeline.

Businesses bring one in when a platform has been bought but is barely used, when marketing and sales disagree about which leads count, or before a move from one platform to another.

It is a specialist seat, not a substitute for a part-time marketing director.

If nobody owns the plan and the budget, hire the director first; the automation lead then builds what the plan needs.

Consent belongs in the brief: the ICO's business-to-business marketing guidance covers email and calls to company contacts, and the same person should be able to explain how the platform records it.

For other marketing roles on a part-time or fractional basis, see fractional marketing jobs.

14/ questions

Part-time marketing director FAQ

The questions people ask before bringing in a part-time marketing director.

Define the outcome you are hiring for (pipeline, a launch, a rebuilt function), the days per week and the pattern, the budget, and whether the role will be employed or contracted. Then brief us: we come back with a shortlist of 3–5 part-time marketing directors, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, taken through the stages on our vetting page.

No source we can verify publishes a UK part-time marketing director day rate, so we don't quote one. The nearest published benchmarks: Exec Capital puts the interim marketing director day rate at £500–£900 for SMEs and scale-ups; Morgan McKinley's 2026 guide shows London contract marketing directors in commerce and industry at £400–£650 a day; and Robert Half puts the median permanent Marketing Director salary at £79,500 (2026). Every candidate on our shortlist comes with their own day rate set out.

Look for someone who has built a marketing function at your stage, not only run one at scale — the work at a startup is choosing the first channels, writing the positioning and doing much of the delivery. Ask for references from founders they have worked for, agree the days and the first outcome up front, and decide whether the role is employed or contracted. If you would rather not run the search yourself, brief us for a shortlist of 3–5.

A part-time marketing director works a consistent weekly pattern with one company, employed or contracted. A fractional marketing director is usually a contracted portfolio leader working across several clients — see fractional marketing director jobs. An interim marketing director works full-time for a fixed term to cover a vacancy or lead a change. The choice depends on how many days of director-level work you have each week, and for how long.

Yes, and in smaller businesses it is common — a part-time marketing and sales director owns everything from positioning to the signed contract. Ask which half the candidate has actually led, and write the split of days into the brief. If sales needs dedicated leadership, pair a part-time marketing director with a fractional head of sales.

Either. Employed part-time, they are on your payroll and protected from less favourable treatment than a comparable full-time employee (GOV.UK). Contracted through their own company, the off-payroll working (IR35) rules apply: status depends on how the engagement runs in practice, a medium or large client makes the status determination, and HMRC's CEST tool gives HMRC's view on a specific engagement. See our IR35 guide.

When the marketing work fills the week: a large team, a heavy budget and decisions that cannot wait for the director's next day in. Then hire full-time, on a salary — we take permanent briefs as well. If the work fills part of the week, a part-time or fractional marketing director gives you the same seniority on fewer days, and if the need has an end date, an interim covers the seat for a fixed term.

It is another name for a part-time or fractional marketing director who works mostly remotely: the same ownership of the plan, the budget, the team and the agencies, run over video, with on-site days agreed for planning and team sessions. Searching for a virtual marketing director near me? Engagements are often hybrid or remote, so sector experience and the days you need matter more than distance. We shortlist across the UK for hybrid or remote engagements; ask each candidate how they have led a team they were not in the room with.

Hire a part-time marketing director when you need marketing led and delivered — the plan, the team, the agencies and the campaigns. Hire a part-time CMO when you need marketing represented at board level, setting positioning and the investment case. For a portfolio leader at board level, see fractional CMO.

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

15/ related

Keep exploring

Adjacent roles and reading.

/fractional-marketing-director-jobs-hireHire a Fractional Marketing Director

Portfolio marketing directors on contract, across several clients.

/part-time-cmo-jobs-hire-chief-marketing-officerHire a Part-time CMO

Board-level marketing leadership on a part-time pattern.

/fractional-cmo-jobs-for-hireHire a Fractional CMO /interim-marketing-director-jobs-hireHire an Interim Marketing Director

Full-time cover for a fixed term.

/fractional-head-of-marketing-jobs-hireHire a Fractional Head of Marketing /fractional-head-of-sales-jobs-hireHire a Fractional Head of Sales /fractional-marketing-jobs-hire-marketing-directorFractional Marketing Jobs UK /ir35-guideIR35 guide /fractional-marketing-director-salaryFractional marketing director salary

The permanent salary spread across part-week days, our arithmetic.

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