What does a Fractional CMO do?

Fractional CMOs lead marketing part-time for several companies at once, setting strategy and building teams without a full-time executive salary.

Open roles now: 14
Remote: 29%
Most-requested tool: Generative AI

The job

A fractional CMO is an experienced marketing leader who works part-time for a company, usually one to three days a week or a set number of hours a month. Companies hire one when they need senior marketing leadership but can't justify, or aren't ready for, a full-time CMO.

The work depends on what the company needs: setting strategy and positioning, building a plan and budget, hiring and managing the team or agencies, fixing a stalled channel, or preparing the ground for a full-time leader. Fractional CMOs usually work with two to four clients at a time.

Running a fractional practice is also running a small business. You need a clear niche, a way of finding clients (usually your network and reputation), a pricing model, and the discipline to deliver value in limited hours.

A typical week

Lead a weekly marketing meeting with each client's team
Review results and adjust plans against agreed goals
Meet with each client's CEO on priorities
Interview candidates or agencies for a client
Spend time on your own pipeline of future clients

How they're measured

Progress on each client's agreed goals, usually pipeline or revenue
Team and agency performance
Client retention and referrals
Utilisation and effective hourly rate
A successful handoff to a full-time leader when the time comes

Skills that matter

Fast diagnosis: You need to find the real problem in weeks, not months.
Prioritisation: Limited hours mean only the most important work gets done.
Team leadership at a distance: Managing people you see once or twice a week.
Executive presence: Earning the CEO's trust quickly.
Business development: Finding and keeping clients is part of the job.
Breadth: Covering strategy, channels and hiring across very different companies.

Tools employers ask for

Share of 15 marketing leadership job posts on HeyMarketers in the last 12 months that name each tool.

Generative AI20%

Career path

1
Director or VP marketing
Most fractional CMOs held senior in-house roles first.
2
Fractional CMO
Leads marketing for several companies part-time.
3
Fractional practice or firm
Some build a team of fractional marketers.
4
Full-time CMO or advisor
Some return in-house or move into advisory and board roles.

Open marketing leadership roles by level right now: lead or director 36%, vp or c-level 64%.

How to stand out

Pick a niche (stage, market or problem) so clients know when to call you.
Show outcomes from past engagements, with client permission.
Package your work clearly: what you do in the first 30, 60 and 90 days.
Have references from CEOs who'd hire you again.

Preparing for interviews? See the questions fractional CMOs get asked, or read a typical job description.

Pricing a fractional practice and finding flexible roles: see our fractional marketing hub.

Let companies find you

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Open marketing leadership roles

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Hiring now: Later, MongoDB, Adyen, Duolingo, Glossier, Gusto, Inc..

See all 14 open marketing leadership jobs

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