Roles we recruit
Seven practices, 27 functions. Start at the practice when you cannot yet name the title; go straight to the function when you can.
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A chief marketing officer owns how the market sees your company and the pipeline marketing commits to, with the budget behind both. Presentations and brand awards are easy to show, so we screen for pipeline they were accountable for, a budget they cut or moved, and how they explain marketing to a CFO.
A new CMO is judged on whether marketing becomes something the CEO and CFO can plan around. Each stage below has a signal that predicts it, and we test for that signal before you meet anyone.
The ramp, and the test behind each milestone
Weeks 1 to 3
Pipeline by source, cost by channel, win and loss reasons, brand and search position, and conversations with the CEO, sales leaders, product and a sample of customers.
On track looks like a written view of what marketing contributes and costs, shared with the CEO and finance.
How we test for it before you meet them
A case exercise in our screen: anonymized spend and pipeline data from a company at your stage. We score what they notice first and what they would stop.
Weeks 4 to 6
Agreed definitions of a marketing-sourced and a marketing-influenced opportunity with sales, one view of cost per opportunity and a reporting rhythm finance accepts.
On track looks like a monthly view of pipeline and cost that sales, marketing and finance all accept.
How we test for it before you meet them
We ask how they agreed pipeline definitions with sales at their last company, and check it with a former CRO or CFO.
Weeks 7 to 10
A clear view of which leaders and agencies deliver, which seats are missing, and where budget moves from lower-return work to higher-return work.
On track looks like decisions made on open seats and agencies, and budget moved with the numbers shown.
How we test for it before you meet them
We ask what budget they cut or moved in their first year and what happened. References from the leaders affected tell us more than the CMO's account.
Weeks 11 to 13
Pipeline and brand goals by quarter, the investments they need, and the point at which the plan would be changed, with named owners.
On track looks like a plan the CEO and board have seen, with commitments marketing can be held to.
How we test for it before you meet them
A reference call with a CEO or board member about a plan this executive presented and how it held up.
After day 90
Strong CMOs keep the plan alive: monthly reviews, spend moved when channels stall, and early warnings to the CEO when a quarter is at risk.
On track looks like a team that runs the plan without the CMO in every meeting, and no surprises at quarter end.
How we test for it before you meet them
We ask how they explained a pipeline miss to a CEO. A plain account that names the cause and the fix predicts an executive the board will trust.
Five responsibilities. If the seat covers only demand, it is a VP of Demand Generation; if it also owns sales and customer success, it is a chief revenue or growth officer.
How the market sees the company, what it stands for and who it is for, set with the CEO.
A pipeline number marketing is accountable for, agreed with sales and reported to the board.
Where money goes across brand, demand and product marketing, and what each dollar returns.
Hiring leaders, directing agencies and keeping the function aligned with sales.
Bringing market and customer evidence to decisions on product, pricing and segments.
Three neighboring seats absorb work people assume belongs here. Drawing the line wrong is how a CMO search ends with a campaign manager in a bigger title.
That seat ownsRunning the marketing function day to day, usually reporting to a CMO or the CEO.
Hire it instead whenthe strategy exists and the problem is guiding the team through it.
That seat ownsEvery revenue function, usually sales, customer success and revenue operations.
Hire it instead whenthe gap is across the whole revenue line, not just marketing.
That seat ownsThe programs that create pipeline: campaigns, paid media, events and lifecycle.
Hire it instead whenthe need is more pipeline now, with brand and strategy already settled.
The title stays the same; the company does not. Pick the one that matches your stage.
Takes over marketing that a founder or a VP has run, and builds the function around a plan.
Accountable for pipeline first, with brand built to support it, common in B2B software.
Builds a brand and a category position, often for a company entering a crowded market.
The questions we ask in our own screen. Use them in yours; the warning signs are as useful as the answers.
Every candidate we put forward is scored on these five, and the scores travel with the shortlist, gaps included. Four out of five with a named weakness beats a clean sweep you cannot verify.
| What we score | Weak evidence | Strong evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Pipeline accountability | Reports leads, reach and awards. | A pipeline number agreed with sales, with quarterly results, misses included. |
| Budget decisions | Has only added spend. | Cut or moved spend with evidence, and can show the result. |
| Working with sales and finance | Marketing and sales report different numbers. | Shared definitions, confirmed by a former CRO or CFO. |
| Building the team | Inherited a team and kept it unchanged. | Leaders hired and agencies changed, with results, confirmed by those leaders. |
| Fit with your company | Experience at a different stage or with a different buyer. | Has led marketing at a company like yours: your stage, your buyer, your sales motion. |
Public US benchmarks, read October 2026. Sources disagree sharply: Salary.com’s employer-reported base band starts at $335,832, while Built In’s self-reported median base is $220,000 and its average total pay $293,575. The chart shows both. Company stage, marketing budget and equity move the number most.
Each bar runs from the 25th to the 75th percentile, the middle half of reported pay.
Base salaryMedian base salaryAverage total pay, base plus variable
Chief Marketing Officer
Salary.com base benchmark
$335,832 to $418,085 base
Chief Marketing Officer, self-reported
Built In, self-reported
$220,000 median base$293,575 average total
VP of Marketing
Salary.com base, Built In total, the next seat down
$230,302 to $265,731 base$251,059 average total
Chief Marketing Officer and VP of Marketing bars: Salary.com base salary, 25th to 75th percentile, United States, as of October 1, 2026. Chief Marketing Officer dot and ring, and VP of Marketing ring: Built In median base salary and average total compensation (base plus additional cash, self-reported), reviewed October 1 and 13, 2026. Public aggregates, not ZaphyrRecruit placement data.
A chief marketing officer leads marketing at company level: brand and positioning, the pipeline marketing commits to, product marketing and the budget behind them. They build the team, direct agencies, work with the CEO on strategy and the CRO on pipeline, and report results to the board in terms a CFO accepts.
The CMO salary band on Salary.com runs from $335,832 to $418,085 base, with a median of $374,298 (October 2026). Built In’s self-reported figures are lower: a $220,000 median base and $293,575 average total pay. Company stage, budget and equity explain most of the gap, so price the seat on what it owns.
When marketing needs an executive owner who can set strategy with the CEO and answer for pipeline to the board, and the current leader has outgrown the function or is the CEO. Before that, a strong VP of Marketing or head of demand generation is often the better first hire. We will say so on the first call.
A VP of Marketing runs the function: the team, the programs and the weekly numbers. A CMO sets the company’s marketing strategy with the CEO, owns brand and the pipeline commitment, and is accountable at board level. At smaller companies one person does both. If strategy is settled, hire the VP; if it is not, the CMO.
Look for someone who has led marketing at a company of similar stage and buyer, been accountable for pipeline and cut or moved budget with evidence. Product marketing and demand backgrounds both work. Pure brand backgrounds can stall in B2B if pipeline was never theirs. We ask for numbers and check them with former colleagues.
We start with a brief on stage, buyer, team and what must change. We approach people doing this work now, test each for pipeline accountability, budget decisions and leadership, and check references with former CEOs and CROs. You get a shortlist of three to five in ten working days, with scores.
Ten working days from a signed brief to a shortlist of three to five calibrated candidates. The rest of the clock is yours: interviews with the CEO, board and sales leaders, references and notice periods. Notice periods at this level are often long, and we flag anything beyond a quarter on the shortlist.
Tell us the stage, the buyer and what marketing has to change. We come back within one business day with how we would run the search and what the seat pays.
We build shortlists from people doing this work now, often before a seat is advertised. Set up a job alert for executive roles, or send your CV and we will come to you, in confidence, when a seat opens.
The chief marketing officer is one of fourteen seats in this function. If the gap sits elsewhere, start there.