Roles we hunt
Fractional CMO Recruitment
A fractional CMO runs your marketing at the senior level for part of the week, or for a set engagement. You get someone who has owned a brand, a budget and a team, part-time. We’re seeing AI become part of the reason businesses bring one in: much of marketing’s production work can now be done by software, and someone senior has to decide what the team looks like as a result.
How has AI changed the fractional CMO brief?
The brief used to be “set the strategy and manage the agencies.” Now it often adds a harder question: which work stays with people, which goes to AI tools, and what that does to agency spend and headcount. The risk is a lot more content and nobody checking whether it’s accurate or on-brand. Putting that check in place is now part of the job.
What does a fractional CMO work on?
- Positioning: who you sell to, what you tell them, and which channels get the money.
- The budget: where spend goes, what gets cut and how results are measured.
- The AI operating model for marketing: what gets automated, who reviews the output, and how customer data is handled in AI tools.
- Agencies and the in-house team, including the first marketing hires.
- Reporting to the founder or board in numbers they can check.
Who makes a good fractional CMO?
Usually someone who has held a CMO or Head of Marketing title full-time and now works with a few clients. Look for:
- Ownership of a whole marketing function and budget, beyond a single channel.
- Specifics on AI: what they automated for a past client, what they deliberately didn’t, and where a tool got it wrong.
- A written scope covering outcomes, days and limits. Without one, a two-day brief drifts towards full-time work for part-time pay.
When does a business need a fractional CMO?
Common triggers: a funding round, a rebrand, flat growth with nobody senior owning why, marketing split between a founder and two agencies, or wanting to rebuild marketing around AI before committing to a permanent hire. It also covers a gap during a permanent search. If the role is full-time and ongoing, hire a permanent CMO, and we’ll tell you if that’s your situation.
How do you hire a fractional CMO?
We pin down the outcomes, what AI is meant to change, the days per month and the length of the engagement. Then we approach senior marketers who fit, most of whom aren’t advertising that they’re free. We headhunt rather than recruit, with no candidate database and no keyword screening. How it works covers the process.
How does Headhuntly run a Fractional CMO search?
Like every Headhuntly executive search, it’s exclusive: one client, one role, complete focus. Before we approach anyone, we define three profiles, your company, the role and the person. If the brief isn’t settled yet, we help you set the KPIs and a 30, 60, 90 day framework first.
Then we go after people who aren’t looking. Based on the Gold Coast, hunting Australia-wide. Overseas too, when the right person is there. A typical search takes 3 to 6 weeks.
Our published fee (15% of the placed candidate's base salary plus super, plus an engagement fee) is for permanent roles. A fractional or interim engagement like this one is priced against the contracted arrangement, day rate or retainer, not a base salary. Tell us the scope and we’ll walk you through it. Detail on permanent searches is on how it works.
Hiring across marketing more broadly? Our marketing recruitment agency page covers every marketing and digital role we hunt.
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Questions, answered
What does a fractional CMO do differently from a full-time CMO?
The job is the same, owning the brand and the marketing function, on fewer days a week or for a fixed engagement. It suits a business that needs senior leadership, including a plan for AI, without a full-time workload.
How many days a week does a fractional CMO work?
Most engagements sit between one and three days a week, or a set number of days a month. A rebrand or launch often needs more time up front and less once the plan is running. We agree the cadence with you before the search starts.
What does Headhuntly charge for a fractional CMO search?
Our published fee of 15% of base salary plus super, plus an engagement fee, covers permanent hires. A fractional CMO has no single base salary, so we price the search against the contract itself, meaning the days, the length and the scope. Send us those and we'll walk you through it.
When should a business hire a fractional CMO instead of a full-time one?
When you need senior marketing judgement, someone who's set strategy and run a team before, but the workload doesn't justify a full-time salary. Common triggers are a funding round, a rebrand, a stalled growth number, rethinking marketing around AI, or covering a gap while you hire permanently.
How do you check a fractional CMO is genuinely AI-fluent?
Ask for one thing they automated for a client and one they chose to keep with people. Tool names without a decision attached usually mean they haven't done it.
Hiring a Fractional CMO?
Tell us about the role. We’ll tell you straight whether it needs a headhunt, and what the search would look like.