How to Get Senior Marketing Leadership Roles

(Head of Marketing, Marketing Director, VP, CMO)

This guide is written for experienced marketers targeting senior leadership roles — Head of Marketing, Marketing Director, VP Marketing, or CMO — particularly if traditional applications, recruiters, or job boards no longer seem to work.

At senior level, hiring operates very differently from junior or mid-level recruitment. Roles are rarely advertised in the same way, decisions are often made informally, and visibility matters more than volume. Many highly capable leaders struggle not because they lack experience, but because they are using channels designed for a completely different hiring problem.

This page explains how senior marketing roles are actually filled, why common job-search tactics break down at leadership level, and what approaches consistently work when you want access to the real decision-makers.

How Senior Marketing Leadership Roles Are Actually Filled

Most senior marketing leadership roles are filled long before they ever appear on a job board — if they appear at all.

At leadership level, hiring is rarely a simple vacancy-replacement exercise. It is usually triggered by one of the following:

• A strategic shift (new growth phase, turnaround, expansion, acquisition)
• A leadership gap that has become visible internally
• Pressure from the board or investors
• A failed internal promotion
• A quiet exit or restructuring

In these situations, organisations prioritise certainty over speed. Rather than broadcasting a role publicly, they first explore trusted options:

• Internal succession or interim-to-permanent appointments
• Referrals from board members, founders, investors, or trusted operators
• Direct approaches to known leaders with relevant experience
• Recruiter shortlists created privately before any public listing exists

By the time a senior role is advertised publicly, the organisation often already has:

• a preferred profile in mind
• one or two informal front-runners
• a strong sense of what “good” looks like

Public advertising becomes a compliance step, not a discovery process.

This is why many senior candidates experience the same frustration: they only ever see roles when the real decisions have already been made.

Why Job Boards Stop Working at Senior Level

Job boards are designed for scale, not judgment.

They work well when requirements are clearly defined, skills are easily comparable, volume is useful, and risk is low. Senior leadership hiring is the opposite.

• Most CVs look strong on paper
• Achievements are contextual, not comparable
• Impact is qualitative, not keyword-based
• The real differentiator is judgment, trust, and fit

Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) reduce complex careers into flattened signals: titles, employers, years, keywords.

The issue isn’t that your background isn’t strong. It’s that the channel cannot recognise why it’s strong.

Where Recruiters Help — and Where They Don’t

Recruiters can be valuable when a role is clearly defined, funded, and urgent.

However, recruiters are paid by employers — not candidates. Their focus is necessarily narrow, reactive, and constrained by active briefs.

If you rely solely on recruiters, you are limited to the roles they happen to be instructed on at that moment in time.

Differences by Seniority

Head of Marketing

Hiring focuses on execution, credibility, and the ability to scale teams and channels quickly.

Marketing Director

Decisions emphasise leadership style, stakeholder management, and commercial impact.

VP Marketing / CMO

These hires are about trust, narrative, and confidence at board level. Many roles are shaped around individuals rather than advertised openly.

What Actually Works at Senior Level

Successful senior job searches are rarely about applying more. They are about positioning and access.

• Clear leadership positioning and narrative
• Targeted market mapping
• Proactive, credible outreach
• Direct exposure to decision-makers
• Consistency over time

This is the context in which a representative or managed approach — often referred to as reverse recruitment — sits.

What Actually Works at Senior Level

Successful senior job searches are rarely about applying more. They are about positioning, timing, and access.

At leadership level, decisions are not made by comparing CVs in bulk. They are made by people assessing risk, trust, and fit in uncertain situations. The mechanisms that work earlier in a career simply do not translate upwards.

Clear leadership positioning and narrative

Senior roles are narrative-led, not CV-led.

Decision-makers are not asking “Can this person do the job?” — they are asking:

• What problem does this person solve for us right now?
• Have they dealt with situations like ours before?
• Can we trust their judgment under pressure?

A strong senior narrative connects experience to context. It explains why your background is relevant to a specific type of organisation, growth phase, or challenge. Without this narrative, even excellent CVs blur together — especially when viewed quickly or out of context.

This narrative must be consistent across CVs, LinkedIn, and conversations. Inconsistency creates doubt; clarity builds confidence.

Targeted market mapping

Senior roles usually emerge from inflection points, not job ads.

Leadership hiring is triggered when something changes:

• growth stalls or accelerates
• a new strategy is introduced
• investors apply pressure
• a leadership gap becomes visible

Effective senior searches therefore start by identifying:

• organisations likely to face these moments
• businesses entering new phases
• leadership teams that may need complementary experience

This shifts job search from reacting to vacancies to anticipating demand. Instead of waiting for a role to be defined, you position yourself where one is likely to appear.

Proactive, credible outreach

At senior level, timing and credibility matter more than volume.

Proactive outreach works when it is:

• targeted
• discreet
• relevant to the organisation’s situation

Spray-and-pray approaches damage credibility. Well-timed, well-positioned conversations do the opposite — they create familiarity before urgency exists.

The goal is not to ask for a job.
The goal is to be known, understood, and credible before a hiring decision crystallises.

Direct exposure to decision-makers

Senior roles are rarely decided by HR alone.

While HR may manage process, the real influence typically sits with:

• founders
• CEOs
• board members
• senior operators

Visibility with these stakeholders changes outcomes dramatically. It shortens cycles, improves signal quality, and increases the chance that a role is shaped around you rather than advertised generically.

Consistency over time

Senior moves take longer — and that’s normal.

Momentum compounds when:

• outreach is sustained
• positioning is consistent
• conversations build over time

Short bursts of activity followed by silence rarely work. Structured, ongoing effort does.

Why Senior Marketing Job Searches Stall (Even for Strong Candidates)

Many senior marketing searches stall not because candidates are weak, but because their approach is mismatched to how hiring actually works at this level.

Common causes include:

Over-reliance on inbound applications

Public roles represent only a fraction of senior opportunities. Competing solely in these channels limits access from the start.

Waiting for recruiters to “call when something comes up”

Recruiters operate reactively. If you are not aligned with an active brief at the right moment, nothing happens — even if you are highly suitable.

Being visible only at late stages

By the time a role is advertised, informal decisions and preferences often already exist. Late visibility reduces leverage.

Underestimating how informal senior hiring really is

Many leadership moves begin as conversations, not processes. Candidates who wait for formal structures miss these early entry points.

None of this reflects poorly on the candidate. It reflects the reality of senior hiring dynamics.

Realistic Timeframes for Senior Marketing Moves

One of the biggest sources of anxiety in senior searches is time.

A lack of immediate progress is often misinterpreted as failure — when in reality it is normal.

Typical timeframes:

• 3–6 months is common for Head of Marketing or Marketing Director moves
• 6–12 months is typical for VP or CMO roles
• Longer timelines are not unusual when moves involve board-level alignment or international scope

Early conversations do not usually translate into immediate offers. They build familiarity, surface future needs, and position you ahead of time.

Understanding this prevents unnecessary panic and helps candidates stay consistent rather than reactive.

What We’re Seeing in the Senior Marketing Leadership Market Right Now

At senior marketing level, the market has shifted in ways that are not always visible through job boards or recruiters.

Fewer advertised roles, more latent demand

We are seeing fewer openly advertised Head of Marketing, Marketing Director, VP, and CMO roles — but more unacknowledged demand inside organisations.

In many cases, leadership knows growth has stalled, positioning is unclear, or execution is not landing — but the role has not yet been formally defined. This is why many senior marketing opportunities never appear publicly.

Marketing leadership is being pulled closer to strategy

Titles matter less than where marketing sits.

What is commanding stronger compensation right now:

• Marketing leaders reporting directly into the CEO, GM, or board
• Roles tied to growth, commercial strategy, turnaround, or repositioning
• Leaders trusted to challenge direction — not just execute campaigns

What is stalling:

• Pure execution leadership without strategic mandate
• Roles buried under sales ops or performance-only remits
• Marketing positions treated as support rather than leverage

Salary compression alongside scope expansion

We are seeing modest base salary growth, but significantly broader remits.

Many senior marketers are being asked to own brand, demand, growth, commercial alignment, and leadership — without immediate pay correction. In practice, compensation often follows demonstrated influence, not initial scope.

Typical UK Compensation Ranges (Directional)

Indicative ranges. Actual compensation varies by scope, sector, reporting line, mandate, and business context.

At senior level, compensation is an outcome of trust, influence, and mandate — not just title. Reporting line, decision authority, and board exposure often matter more than a £10–20k difference in base.

How Senior Marketers Typically Work With Us

Senior marketers who work with us are not outsourcing responsibility for their careers — they are adding structure and leverage.

We do not replace networking, referrals, or recruiter relationships. Instead, we run a parallel, proactive track alongside them.

Typically, this involves:

• clarifying leadership positioning and narrative
• identifying the right organisations before roles exist
• mapping relevant decision-makers
• conducting discreet, credible outreach
• maintaining momentum while the candidate remains employed

This approach is about control and visibility, not shortcuts. It ensures that effort is applied consistently and strategically, rather than in reactive bursts driven by live vacancies.

This is the context in which a managed or representative approach — often referred to as reverse recruitment — sits.

If This Reflects Your Situation

This approach is not right for everyone.

It works best for experienced marketers who:

• have a clear track record
• know the types of roles or environments they are targeting
• want to be intentional rather than reactive

A short, confidential conversation can usually clarify whether this approach makes sense for your goals and timing.

→ Book a confidential consultation to discuss whether this fits your situation.