Fractional CMO
Marketing leadership at the table, without a full-time hire.
Typically 1–2 days per week for 6–12+ months.
What it is
I join your leadership team as the marketing leader, with the mandate, the accountability and the seat that implies, for one or two days a week. You get judgment at CMO level applied to your business, without the fixed cost and search time of a permanent hire.
Who it's for
- A business between "the founder does marketing" and "we need a full-time CMO."
- A leadership team where marketing has no senior voice and decisions get made around it.
- A company whose growth has outpaced the seniority of its marketing function.
- A board that wants marketing held to a commercial standard, not a campaign standard.
The mandate
I lead. This is the distinction from advisory: I set direction, own the marketing agenda, make calls within an agreed remit, and am accountable for progress against agreed measures.
That includes the harder parts, deciding what stops, holding the rhythm when a quarter goes badly, and representing marketing to the board with the same numbers Sales uses.
How it runs
The first weeks are diagnosis and direction: understanding the commercial picture, meeting the team and their internal customers, and putting a marketing agenda in front of the leadership team. After that, a fixed weekly presence, a standing place in the leadership rhythm, and reachability between visits. Consistency matters more than volume; an unpredictable fractional leader is worse than none.
What stays behind
A marketing function with direction, a rhythm that runs without me, and a team that has grown into more of the work. Where the role becomes permanent, I help define and hire it, including handing over to the person who replaces me.
What it is not
Not a consultant with a nicer title. Not a way to get a full-time CMO's output at 40% of the cost; one or two days a week means fewer priorities, chosen deliberately. Not indefinite: the intention from the start is that the business grows out of the arrangement.
Where it usually leads
Most often to a permanent hire that the business is now able to specify properly, having seen the function run well. Sometimes to interim leadership when the mandate turns out to need more days than the model allows. Occasionally down to advisory, once the function no longer needs leading.
What I need from you
A real seat at the leadership table, not a report into it. A defined remit with decision rights; a fractional leader without decision rights is a consultant with a longer commute. And agreement on two or three priorities rather than a list of twelve.
Engagement model
A monthly retainer, set against the leadership mandate, the agreed cadence, and the decisions you want owned.
Days per week, the scope of the mandate, and whether the role includes team leadership and budget ownership. What you are buying is recurring senior leadership and accountability, not a block of consulting hours.
Fees are exclusive of VAT and travel. Terms, notice period and invoicing rhythm are agreed in writing before the work starts.