Fractional CMO Recruitment

Fractional CMO Executive Search

A fractional Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) provides board-level marketing leadership on a part-time or flexible basis — giving your business the strategic marketing capability it needs without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire. Exec Capital places experienced fractional CMOs with PE-backed businesses, scale-ups, owner-managed SMEs and growth-focused organisations across the UK. Every search is run by our specialist team, with Adrian Lawrence FCA overseeing each mandate.

A fractional CMO typically works one to three days per week, operating as a genuine member of your leadership team — attending executive meetings, owning marketing strategy and its execution, and accountable for measurable commercial outcomes. Whether you need to build a marketing function from scratch, overhaul a go-to-market strategy, take control of agency spend that is not paying back, prepare for fundraising, or drive growth ahead of exit, Exec Capital identifies and places the right CMO for the stage your business is at. Fractional CMO appointments sit within our wider fractional C-suite practice, so the same search discipline we apply to finance, operations and technology leaders applies to marketing.

How Hiring a Fractional CMO Through Exec Capital Works

The process is the same whether you are a founder hiring your first senior marketer or a private equity operating partner putting marketing leadership into a portfolio company. We agree the timetable with you at briefing, because the right pace depends on how urgent the requirement is and how many days a week the role needs.

1. Brief. A call with our team to understand the business, the commercial objective, what marketing is doing today, the budget it controls and what success looks like after six and twelve months.
2. Search. We search our network of fractional and portfolio CMOs and approach senior marketers who match the sector, business model and stage — B2B or B2C, founder-led or investor-backed.
3. Shortlist. You receive a short, assessed shortlist with our written view on each candidate’s fit, availability, day pattern and day-rate expectations.
4. Interviews. We arrange interviews, help you structure them around your real marketing problem, and take references.
5. Offer. We help agree day rate, days per week or month, notice period, scope and the contracting route, including the off-payroll working position.
6. Onboarding. We help shape the CMO’s first 30–90 days and stay in contact through the engagement.

The detailed version of each stage is set out in the search process section further down this page.

What Is a Fractional CMO?

A fractional CMO is a senior marketing executive who works with your business on a defined part-time basis — typically one to three days per week — providing board-level marketing leadership without the cost or commitment of a permanent appointment. The role carries the same responsibilities as a full-time CMO: marketing strategy, brand and positioning, go-to-market planning, demand generation, team leadership, and commercial accountability. The difference is the time commitment and cost structure.

Fractional CMOs are distinct from marketing consultants or agencies. A consultant delivers advice; a fractional CMO takes ownership. They sit in your leadership team, lead your marketing function, manage your marketing team and agencies, and are accountable to your CEO and board for results. The fractional model simply allows businesses to access that leadership on a cost structure that matches their current stage.

Fractional CMOs typically work across a small portfolio of clients simultaneously, bringing cross-sector marketing experience from multiple business environments. This breadth — across B2B and B2C, different growth stages, and different business models — is frequently more valuable than a marketer who has spent their career in a single industry or company type.

In practice, most fractional CMOs have previously held a full-time CMO, Marketing Director or VP Marketing role in at least one business of real scale, and have since chosen to work across two to four clients at once. That is the important distinction from a less experienced marketer working part-time: a fractional CMO has already built and run a function at the level you need, and is applying that experience to your business for a set share of their week. Titles vary — some will call themselves a portfolio CMO, an outsourced CMO or a part-time marketing director — but what matters is whether they will take executive ownership of the numbers.

Fractional CMO, Interim CMO, and Part-Time CMO — What’s the Difference?

These terms are often used interchangeably but describe distinct engagement models. Understanding the difference helps you choose the right structure for your business.

Exec Capital recruits across all four models. If you are unsure which structure best fits your current situation, our team can advise on your initial call.

Other ways to hire a CMO

If a fractional arrangement is not the right fit, we run each of the other formats as a separate search. For a CMO on a fixed, regular two-to-three-day week with one business, see part-time CMO recruitment. For full-time cover over a defined period — a departure, a relaunch or a sale process — see interim CMO recruitment. For a permanent board appointment, see CMO recruitment, and if the role sits one level below the board, marketing director recruitment. Our guide to fractional vs interim vs part-time CMOs goes through the trade-offs in more depth.

Fractional CMO vs Marketing Agency vs Consultant

Many businesses searching for a “fractional CMO agency” are really asking a simpler question: should we buy marketing leadership, marketing advice or marketing delivery? The three are different products, and confusing them is the most common reason marketing spend fails to pay back. A fractional CMO is a leader. A marketing agency is a delivery resource. A marketing consultant is an adviser. Most growing businesses eventually need more than one of them — but they need to be clear about who owns the result.

What “fractional CMO agency” usually means

The phrase is used for two quite different businesses. Some marketing agencies now sell a “fractional CMO” service: a senior person from the agency sets strategy, and the agency’s own teams deliver it. That can work well for a small business that wants one supplier, but the person setting your marketing strategy is also selling you the execution, and it is hard for them to tell you that the best use of your next pound is with a different supplier or an in-house hire. The other meaning is a firm, like Exec Capital, that finds independent fractional CMOs and places them directly with your business. The CMO works for you, not for an agency, and can hold every supplier — including existing agencies — to account on your behalf.

Exec Capital is an executive search firm, not a marketing agency. We do not deliver campaigns, and we have no interest in which agencies, platforms or tools your CMO decides to use. Our job is to find the right independent marketing leader for your business and help you agree an engagement that works.

When an agency or consultant is the better answer

A fractional CMO is not always the right purchase. If your marketing strategy is clear, your team is capable and you simply need more output in one channel, an agency is often the right call. If you have a single question — whether to enter a market, how to price a new product, why conversion has dropped — a consultant on a fixed project may be cheaper and quicker. A fractional CMO earns their fee when the problem is leadership: nobody senior owns marketing, spend is not connected to revenue, agencies are directing the strategy instead of delivering it, or the board does not trust the marketing numbers.

When Does a Business Need a Fractional CMO?

No CMO in post — business has outgrown its marketing management

Many businesses reach a point — typically £2m to £15m revenue — where marketing is being managed at Head of Marketing or Marketing Manager level but the function needs board-level strategic ownership. Without a CMO, marketing becomes reactive, disconnected from commercial strategy, and unable to drive the growth the business needs. A fractional CMO provides senior ownership quickly, without the long lead time of a permanent search, notice period and onboarding process.

Marketing is underperforming against commercial objectives

An experienced fractional CMO can audit a marketing function quickly — assessing strategy, channels, team capability, agency relationships, and budget allocation — and identify what is not working without the internal politics of a full restructure. For businesses where marketing investment is not delivering proportionate commercial return, a fractional CMO provides the objective senior perspective needed to diagnose the problem and drive change from the top down.

Preparing for fundraising or investment

Investors scrutinise marketing capability as part of commercial due diligence. A credible CMO strengthens your investor narrative — demonstrating that the business has a coherent go-to-market strategy, a scalable customer acquisition model, and the marketing leadership to execute against it. Many businesses appoint a fractional CMO three to twelve months before a funding round specifically to professionalise the marketing function before investor scrutiny begins.

Entering a new market or launching a new product

Go-to-market strategy for a new market entry or product launch requires senior marketing judgment that most businesses do not carry internally. A fractional CMO with relevant sector or product experience shapes the positioning, channel strategy, and launch plan — reducing the risk and cost of getting it wrong. Once the launch is complete, the engagement can be scaled back or transitioned to a permanent hire.

Marketing transformation or rebranding

Businesses undertaking significant brand repositioning, digital transformation of their marketing function, or a major channel shift need executive-level marketing leadership to own the process. A fractional CMO defines the transformation strategy, manages the agency and technology relationships, and ensures the programme delivers its commercial objectives — without the cost of a full-time hire for what may be a 12 to 18-month programme.

Preparing for exit

In the twelve to twenty-four months before a sale or exit event, the marketing function needs to demonstrate a clear, defensible commercial growth trajectory. A fractional CMO builds the pipeline, strengthens brand positioning, improves customer retention metrics, and ensures the marketing story told to acquirers and advisers is credible and well-evidenced.

CMO departure — bridge while permanent search runs

When a CMO leaves unexpectedly or gives notice, the marketing function loses its strategic anchor. Campaigns stall, agencies lose direction, and team members operate without clear priorities. A fractional CMO maintains continuity — providing strategic leadership to the team, managing agency relationships, and protecting ongoing programmes — while the permanent search runs in parallel. The handoff to a permanent CMO is managed cleanly from day one. Where the gap needs someone in the business every day, an interim CMO is usually the better fit.

When a fractional CMO is not the right answer

We would rather tell you at the briefing stage than place the wrong format. A fractional CMO is usually the wrong choice when the business needs a large marketing team managed day to day across several sites; when marketing is the core of the product, as in many consumer brands, and decisions are needed hourly; or when the real need is hands-on channel execution rather than leadership. In those cases a full-time CMO, an interim, or a strong Head of Digital or Head of Growth will often deliver more for the same budget, and we will say so.

What a Fractional CMO Delivers

Marketing strategy and go-to-market planning

• Develop and own the marketing strategy aligned with commercial objectives
• Define positioning, messaging, and brand narrative for target audiences
• Build go-to-market plans for new markets, products, and channels
• Ensure marketing strategy supports fundraising, growth, and exit objectives

Demand generation and customer acquisition

• Build and optimise customer acquisition across digital and traditional channels
• Improve lead generation quality and volume for sales teams
• Develop content strategy and thought leadership programmes
• Strengthen SEO, paid media, email, and event marketing performance

Brand and communications

• Define or refresh brand positioning and visual identity
• Build media and PR strategy and manage agency relationships
• Develop investor and stakeholder communications aligned to marketing
• Ensure brand consistency across all customer-facing touchpoints

Marketing team leadership and capability

• Lead, develop, and manage the internal marketing team
• Manage external agencies, consultants, and marketing technology vendors
• Recruit and develop marketing talent aligned to the function’s needs
• Build a marketing function capable of supporting the next stage of growth

Marketing technology and data

• Evaluate and improve the marketing technology stack
• Strengthen marketing analytics and attribution reporting
• Implement CRM and marketing automation aligned to sales processes
• Ensure the business has reliable data to measure marketing ROI

Commercial and investor alignment

• Align marketing planning with commercial and financial objectives
• Build investor-facing marketing narrative for fundraising processes
• Develop board-level marketing reporting and KPI frameworks
• Support M&A due diligence with credible marketing performance evidence

A good fractional CMO also works closely with whoever owns revenue. In businesses with a separate sales leader, the CMO and the fractional sales director or Chief Revenue Officer need a shared definition of a qualified lead, a shared pipeline report and a shared target. Where that alignment is missing, it is often the first thing a fractional CMO fixes.

What a Fractional CMO Does in Month 1, Month 3 and Month 6

Clients often ask what they should expect to see, and when. Every engagement is different, but the shape of a well-run fractional CMO engagement is consistent enough to plan around. The pattern below assumes a CMO working around two days a week; with fewer days, the same steps take longer. Use it to set expectations at the start, and to judge whether the engagement is working.

Month 1: diagnose, listen and fix the obvious

The first month is about understanding the business before changing it. A good fractional CMO spends much of it asking questions and reading data rather than presenting a strategy.

• Commercial context. Sessions with the CEO, finance lead, sales lead and, where relevant, investors to understand targets, margins, customer economics and what the board expects marketing to contribute.
• Marketing audit. A review of current spend by channel, agency contracts and retainers, the technology stack, website and conversion performance, CRM data quality, brand and messaging, and the team’s skills and workload.
• Customer view. Conversations with customers, lost prospects and the sales team about why people buy, why they don’t, and who the business really sells to.
• Measurement baseline. Agreement on a small set of numbers the board will track — for example pipeline sourced by marketing, cost per qualified lead, customer acquisition cost and payback — and an honest view of how reliable today’s data is.
• Quick wins. Stopping spend that is plainly not working, fixing broken tracking, and clarifying who does what across the team and agencies.

By the end of month one you should have a written diagnosis: what is working, what is not, and the three or four priorities that matter most. If your CMO arrives with a finished strategy on day one, before speaking to customers or looking at the numbers, treat that as a warning sign.

Month 3: a plan the board has signed off, and the first results

By around the end of the first 90 days, the diagnosis should have become a plan, and the plan should be in motion.

• Marketing strategy and plan agreed with the CEO and board, with positioning, target segments, channel priorities, budget and the measures that will be reported each month.
• Budget reallocated towards the channels and activities with the clearest link to revenue, and away from those without one.
• Agency and supplier roles reset — briefs rewritten, scopes tightened, poor performers given clear targets or replaced.
• Team structure decided, including any gaps to fill, and whether those gaps are best filled by a hire, an agency or freelance support.
• Reporting in place: a monthly marketing dashboard the board can trust, tied to the finance numbers.
• Early leading indicators — better lead quality, higher conversion on key pages, lower cost per acquisition in at least one channel — even if revenue impact takes longer to show.

Month 6: a working engine and a decision about what comes next

By six months a fractional CMO should have built something the business can run, not just a set of campaigns.

• A repeatable acquisition model, with known costs and conversion rates in the main channels, and a pipeline contribution from marketing that sales recognises.
• A capable team, with clear roles and a marketing lead who can run the day-to-day between the CMO’s working days.
• Brand and messaging that sales, marketing and leadership use consistently, including in investor materials where relevant.
• A board-level view of marketing’s contribution to revenue and enterprise value, reported in the same language as the finance function.
• A decision on the engagement: keep the fractional pattern, increase days for a growth push, reduce days as the team matures, or move to a full-time or part-time CMO. A good fractional CMO will raise this themselves.

Many fractional CMOs write the brief for their own successor when the time comes. Our guide to replacing fractional executives with full-time hires covers how to plan that handover.

Fractional CMO Day Rates and Cost in the UK

Fractional CMOs are paid a day rate for the days they work. The rate varies with the CMO’s sector background, the complexity of the brief, the stage of the business and how many days a week the role needs. B2B technology and PE-backed businesses tend to sit at the higher end of the market; consumer businesses and earlier-stage companies at the lower end. Because the market moves and every brief is different, we give you current day-rate guidance for your specific role at the briefing stage rather than publishing a generic range.

The useful comparison is with the total cost of a full-time CMO, not the salary alone. For context, the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Table 14) puts the provisional 2026 full-time median gross annual pay for marketing, sales and advertising directors (SOC 1132) at about £96,400 — a broad category that includes many roles below CMO level, so a board-level CMO in a scaling business will usually cost more. On top of base salary, a permanent hire brings employer National Insurance, pension, bonus, benefits, equity, recruitment cost and the risk of a mis-hire. A fractional CMO is paid only for the days worked. Two days a week is, by definition, around 40% of a full-time diary, and many businesses find that is enough senior time for the stage they are at. Our C-suite salary guide covers permanent packages in more detail, and Exec Capital can provide remuneration guidance as part of the initial briefing call.

How a Fractional CMO Engagement Is Structured

A fractional appointment is a commercial arrangement, and getting the structure right at the start avoids most of the problems that cause engagements to end early. These are the points we work through with clients.

Retained or contingent search

Most fractional CMO searches run on a retained or part-retained basis, where the search is exclusive and a portion of the fee is paid at the start, because the candidate pool is specialist and we approach people who are not actively looking. Contingent terms, where a fee is paid only on placement, can suit simpler briefs. We explain the difference and recommend what fits your role at the outset; our guide to retained vs contingent executive search sets out the trade-offs.

Day-rate basis

Fractional and interim engagements are priced on a day rate. You agree the number of days per week or month, how extra days are approved, how travel and expenses are handled, and the notice period on either side. A minimum term — often three months — gives the CMO time to diagnose and act before either side reviews the arrangement.

What is included

• A defined scope covering strategy, team, agencies, budget and reporting
• Attendance at leadership meetings and board meetings where agreed
• Availability between working days for urgent decisions, on terms agreed up front
• Monthly reporting to the CEO or board against agreed measures
• Clear authority over marketing budget and supplier decisions, within limits the board sets

Contracting and off-payroll working

Most fractional CMOs contract through their own limited company. Where your business is a medium or large client, the off-payroll working rules mean you are responsible for deciding whether the engagement falls inside or outside the rules; for small clients, the CMO’s company makes that decision. HMRC sets this out in its guidance on understanding off-payroll working (IR35), and our own article on IR35 rules for senior executive engagements covers how this applies at board level. Professional indemnity and directors’ and officers’ cover also matter if the CMO will sit on the board or sign off public materials.

Fractional CMO Support for PE-Backed and Growth Businesses

Private equity investors and growth investors increasingly require portfolio companies to have board-level marketing leadership in place — either as a condition of investment or as a priority in the first 100 days post-close. A fractional CMO provides this without the delay and cost of a permanent search, and we agree the timetable with the deal team at briefing so the appointment lines up with the value creation plan.

For PE portfolio companies, a fractional CMO typically focuses on three priorities during the value creation period: building a scalable customer acquisition model, improving marketing’s contribution to revenue pipeline, and developing the brand and commercial narrative that will strengthen the business’s position ahead of exit. Each of these is measurable and directly linked to enterprise value.

For VC-backed scale-ups, the fractional CMO priority is typically faster: establishing the go-to-market discipline that allows the business to scale customer acquisition without losing unit economics. Growth at the wrong margin is worse than slower growth — experienced fractional CMOs from the scale-up environment understand this and build accordingly.

Investors also value the flexibility. A fractional CMO can be placed in one portfolio company to fix a specific problem and then reduced to a lighter advisory pattern, or used across a buy-and-build where several acquired businesses need their brands and marketing functions brought together. For the wider picture of how operating partners use flexible leaders, see our page on portfolio company executive recruitment.

Fractional CMOs for Fintech and Regulated Businesses

Marketing in a regulated business carries risks that a generalist marketer may not see. Most financial services advertising in the UK is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and the FCA’s guidance on financial promotions and adverts is clear that promotions must be fair, clear and not misleading, whatever the medium — including social media and paid search. Where a promotion falls short, the FCA can require it to be changed or withdrawn and can take further action against the firm.

For a fintech, lender, payments business, wealth manager or insurance intermediary, that means the CMO has to build growth plans that sit comfortably with the firm’s compliance function, its sign-off process for promotions and its Consumer Duty obligations. In our experience the best fractional CMOs for regulated firms treat compliance as a design constraint from the start, rather than an approval step at the end, and have a working relationship with compliance officers rather than a running battle. When we search for a fractional CMO for a regulated business, we look specifically for candidates who have run marketing under these rules, and we can help with the wider leadership team through our fintech recruitment practice.

Fractional CMO for SEO, Paid Search and Digital Growth

A common brief we see from smaller businesses is for someone senior to take control of digital marketing: Google Ads that are costing more each quarter without more sales, an SEO agency whose reports are hard to connect to revenue, a website that does not convert, and nobody internally with the experience to challenge any of it. A fractional CMO can be the right answer here, provided the brief is clear about what is needed.

If the problem is that nobody owns the overall marketing strategy and budget — deciding how much to spend on search versus other channels, what the website is for, and how marketing should hand leads to sales — a fractional CMO with a strong digital background is a good fit. They will set the strategy, hold the agencies to account and put proper measurement in place. If the strategy is already clear and the need is a specialist to run paid search and SEO day to day, a senior channel lead may be better value; see our page on director of search marketing roles. We will talk through which you need on the briefing call, and we often find the answer is a fractional CMO for strategy plus a hands-on specialist or agency for delivery.

When assessing digital-focused fractional CMOs, we look for evidence that they have managed paid media budgets of a similar size, improved organic search performance in a comparable market, and — most importantly — connected those channels to revenue through the CRM rather than reporting clicks and rankings in isolation.

The Fractional CMO Search Process

How We Assess Fractional CMO Candidates

The gap between a fractional CMO who has driven revenue and a senior marketer who has managed campaigns is large, and it is not always obvious from a CV or a LinkedIn profile. Our assessment focuses on the things that predict success in a part-time leadership role.

• Commercial literacy. Can they talk about customer acquisition cost, payback, lifetime value, margin and pipeline in the same language as your finance director? Do they understand how marketing affects enterprise value?
• Evidence of results. We ask for specific examples of what changed in businesses like yours, how it was measured, and what they would do differently. We test those claims at reference stage.
• Fit with your stage and model. B2B and B2C, subscription and transactional, founder-led and investor-backed businesses need different CMOs. Someone excellent at scaling a consumer brand may struggle with a long-cycle B2B sale.
• Hands-on versus strategic. Some fractional CMOs will build campaigns themselves; others lead only through a team and agencies. Neither is wrong, but the match to your resources matters.
• Portfolio load. How many other clients do they have, how many days does each take, and can they give you the availability you need at board meetings and peak periods?
• Independence. We check for undeclared links to agencies or software vendors, so you know the CMO’s recommendations are made in your interest.
• Working style. A fractional leader has to make an impact on limited days. We look for people who communicate clearly, write things down and leave the team able to act between visits.

Our guide on how to hire a CMO includes interview questions you can use alongside our assessment.

Who Hires a Fractional CMO

Our fractional CMO clients are usually businesses where marketing has become important enough to need senior ownership, but where a full-time CMO is not yet justified. Typical clients include:

• Founder-led and owner-managed SMEs where the founder has run marketing personally and now needs to hand it to someone senior.
• Private equity portfolio companies with a value creation plan that depends on growth, and investors who want marketing reported with the same rigour as finance.
• VC-backed scale-ups between seed and Series B, building a go-to-market engine before a full-time CMO is affordable; see our scale-up executive recruitment service.
• Family-owned and established mid-market businesses modernising their marketing, often moving from trade shows and relationships to digital demand generation.
• Regulated financial services firms and fintechs that need growth within the FCA’s promotion rules.
• Professional services firms building a brand that wins work beyond the partners’ personal networks.

Fractional CMOs in London and across the UK

We place fractional CMOs with businesses in London and throughout the UK, including Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Edinburgh and the regions. London has the largest pool of fractional marketing leaders, particularly in technology, financial services and consumer brands, but many engagements combine time on site with remote working, which widens the choice for businesses outside the capital. We will discuss with you how much time on site the role needs before we start the search.

Sectors We Place Fractional CMOs In

• Technology, SaaS and software businesses — B2B and B2C digital businesses requiring product marketing, demand generation, and category creation
• Financial services and fintech — regulated businesses building brand and customer acquisition within FCA compliance constraints
• PE and VC-backed portfolio companies — businesses at value creation stage requiring commercial marketing leadership
• Professional services — law firms, consultancies, and advisory businesses building brand authority and client acquisition
• E-commerce and retail — direct-to-consumer brands managing acquisition costs, retention, and omnichannel marketing
• Healthcare and life sciences — businesses communicating complex propositions to multiple stakeholder audiences
• Media, creative services and digital agencies — founder-led businesses scaling into enterprise clients
• Manufacturing and industrial — businesses entering new markets or digitalising their go-to-market approach

Across all of these sectors, we look for CMOs whose professional standards match the trust your brand depends on. Many senior UK marketers are members of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and work to its Code of Professional Conduct; membership is not a requirement for every brief, but it is a useful signal alongside track record.

The Benefits of a Fractional CMO

• Board-level marketing leadership at significantly lower cost than a permanent hire
• Faster time to capability than a permanent search, with contribution from the first weeks
• Flexible engagement that scales with your marketing programme and budget
• Cross-sector experience from multiple business environments and growth stages
• Objective external perspective on your marketing strategy, team, and agencies
• Investor-ready marketing narrative and commercial metrics for fundraising
• Bridge leadership while a permanent CMO search is conducted
• Independence from agencies and suppliers, so spend decisions are made in your interest

Fractional CMO Jobs: Information for Candidates

If you are a marketing leader looking for fractional CMO roles, you are welcome to register with us. We are retained by businesses to find fractional, interim and permanent marketing leaders, and we keep a network of senior marketers across sectors. Please use our candidate registration page to send your details, and see current opportunities for live roles.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a fractional CMO?

A fractional CMO is a senior marketing executive who works with your business on a part-time or defined-day basis — typically one to three days per week — providing board-level marketing leadership without the cost or commitment of a full-time permanent appointment. Unlike a marketing consultant, a fractional CMO takes ownership of your marketing function and is accountable to your CEO and board for results.

How much does a fractional CMO cost in the UK?

Fractional CMOs charge a day rate, so the cost depends on the CMO’s background and sector experience, the complexity of the brief and how many days a week you need. You pay only for days worked, with no salary, bonus, pension or benefits, which makes the total cost a fraction of a permanent CMO. We give you current day-rate guidance for your specific role on the briefing call.

What is the difference between a fractional CMO and a marketing consultant?

A marketing consultant provides advice, recommendations, and deliverables — typically project-based and without ongoing accountability. A fractional CMO takes executive ownership of your marketing function. They lead your team, manage your agencies, sit in your leadership meetings, and are accountable for commercial marketing outcomes. The fractional CMO is part of your business on their working days; a consultant is external to it.

Is a fractional CMO agency the same as hiring a fractional CMO?

Not usually. A marketing agency offering a “fractional CMO” service typically provides a senior strategist whose plan is then delivered by the same agency. Hiring an independent fractional CMO, through a search firm such as Exec Capital, gives you a leader who works for your business and can manage any agency or supplier on your behalf, with no interest in where the budget goes.

How many days a week does a fractional CMO work?

Most fractional CMO engagements are one to three days a week, and some are set as a number of days a month. Many start at a higher level while the CMO diagnoses and rebuilds, then reduce once the team and agencies are running well. The pattern is agreed at the start and reviewed regularly.

How quickly can you place a fractional CMO?

We agree the timetable with you at briefing. Fractional searches can usually move faster than permanent ones because senior fractional marketers are not working through long notice periods. For businesses with urgent requirements — a CMO departure, an imminent investor presentation, or a product launch — tell us at the outset and we will plan the search around it.

Can a fractional CMO support a fundraising round?

Yes — many businesses appoint a fractional CMO specifically to prepare for a fundraising round. An experienced fractional CMO builds the investor-facing marketing narrative, demonstrates a credible go-to-market strategy, and improves the commercial metrics that investors use to assess marketing performance and growth potential. This is one of the highest-return uses of the fractional CMO model.

Can a fractional CMO become our permanent CMO?

Sometimes. Some fractional CMOs will move to a full-time role if the fit is right; many prefer to stay portfolio-based and will instead help you write the brief for, and recruit, a permanent successor. Agree at the start how a conversion would work, including any fee, so there are no surprises later.

What sectors do your fractional CMOs specialise in?

Exec Capital has placed fractional CMOs across technology, SaaS, fintech, financial services, professional services, e-commerce, healthcare, and PE-backed businesses. We match CMO sector experience closely to your brief — a B2B SaaS business requires a different CMO profile to a consumer brand or a professional services firm, and we assess candidates accordingly.

Do you also recruit interim and permanent CMOs?

Yes. Exec Capital recruits across all of these models. See the “Other ways to hire a CMO” section above for our interim CMO service, for short-notice full-time requirements, and our CMO recruitment service for permanent appointments.

Do you recruit fractional CMOs outside London?

Yes. Exec Capital recruits fractional CMOs across the UK — London, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Edinburgh, and all major business centres. Many fractional CMO engagements are partly or fully remote, which expands the available candidate pool significantly and allows businesses to access the most relevant CMO for their brief regardless of geography.

I’m a marketing leader — how do I find fractional CMO jobs?

Register with us through the candidate registration page and keep an eye on our opportunities page, both linked in the candidate section above. We contact registered candidates when a brief matches their sector and experience.