Insights
Should I hire a CMO or bring in a fractional leader who can also handle AI?
Sixty-five percent of CMOs say AI will dramatically change their role within two years, yet only 32% say the CMO's profile and skills need to change significantly, according to a Gartner survey of 402 senior marketing leaders (Gartner, 2026). If you are about to hire a CMO, the job you are writing a spec for is moving while you write it.
Should I hire a CMO or bring in a fractional leader who can also handle AI?
Bring in a fractional leader who can also handle AI if your go-to-market seat is empty or not landing and you cannot yet say what the permanent CMO's job should be, and hire a full-time CMO when marketing needs a leader every day and you can write the brief from evidence.
I have been a fractional CxO since 2019, so read this with that in mind. Start with what you know about the role today. If the honest answer is "not enough", a senior lead in the seat for a few months will show you, and the permanent hire then gets a brief built on what actually happened.
Why is the CMO role hard to hire for right now?
The CMO role is hard to hire for because AI is changing it faster than most CMOs expect: 65% of CMOs say AI will dramatically change the role within two years, yet 32% think the profile and skills need to change significantly.
Gartner also predicts that by 2027 a lack of AI literacy will rank among the top three reasons CMOs are replaced at large enterprises. Its analyst Lizzy Foo Kune puts it plainly: "CMOs can't treat AI as something the team 'uses' while leadership stays on the sidelines" (Gartner, 2026). For a founder, that turns a hiring decision into two: who leads go-to-market, and who leads the AI work inside it.
When is a full-time CMO the right call?
A full-time CMO is the right call when marketing needs a leader every day, there is a team to manage and develop, and the company already knows what the role must deliver.
That usually means a marketing team big enough to need daily management, several markets or products to coordinate, and a go-to-market motion that works and now needs scaling. It is also the right call if you want someone senior in the building two or three days a week or more. A fractional leader working about a day a week cannot be that person.
What should a fractional leader do in the first months?
A fractional leader should own go-to-market and the AI work from the first week, decide where AI can act first on the company's own data, put an internal owner on each workflow, and write the permanent hire's brief from what the first months showed.
This is how I work: the seat has an owner from week one, agencies and the team report in, and the AI work runs as part of go-to-market. When you want a permanent leader, you hire against a brief written from evidence, with help on the search if you want it.
How do you avoid becoming dependent on a fractional leader?
Avoid becoming dependent on a fractional leader by naming, at the start, the person in your team who will take over each workflow, and by agreeing the date the hand-over is planned for.
The scale-ups that have published their AI rebuilds, including Intercom, Zapier, Ramp, Vanta and Vercel, built them with internal owners (The Signal), and in my own review of the published cases I found none led by a consultancy. Vanta's CEO created an internal role to build AI workflows across sales, marketing and customer success (The Signal). An outside leader earns their fee by getting that internal owner in place and leaving the workflow running.
How do you test whether a marketing leader can really handle AI?
Test whether a marketing leader can really handle AI by asking them to show a workflow they built, the number it moved, what it cost and who maintains it now, and what they chose not to automate.
In the Content Marketing Institute's 2026 research, 95% of B2B marketers use AI and about 39% say it improves performance (MarketScale on CMI). In Wynter's survey of 100 B2B SaaS marketing directors, the average self-rated AI skill was 4.2 out of 7 and a third had built no agents (Wynter). Any candidate, full-time or fractional, should be able to open a laptop and show you something running.
Should AI sit under marketing at all?
AI can sit under marketing when go-to-market is where the company's biggest workload or growth constraint is, and the person leading it should then also plan the hand-over to whoever runs AI across the business.
Many of the published scale-up cases start in go-to-market, with agents doing account research, preparation and follow-ups at Vanta, Vercel and Zapier (The Signal). Engineering and finance may need their own owners later, each with one workflow and one number the board already reviews.
As CMO, I took Pharmacy2U through a private-equity exit, and I now run my own business on more than 20 agents. At Forward Operating Partners, a senior lead takes the go-to-market seat and the AI work from week one, and hands both to your team.
What would you put in your CMO brief today, and how sure are you of it?
FAQ
How much does a fractional CMO cost per month in the UK?
One UK provider prices a fractional CMO from £3,000 a month, or £36,000 a year, against £95,000 to £135,000 a year all-in for a full-time marketing director (McCracken Marketing). These are figures from a firm that sells fractional services.
Why do companies hire fractional marketing leaders?
Companies hire fractional marketing leaders mainly for senior expertise at a critical growth moment: in a survey of 113 fractional marketing leaders, 33.9% cited that need and 18.6% cited cost efficiency (Marketing Week).
What does a fractional head of marketing do?
A fractional head of marketing leads marketing part time, for a set number of days a week, owning the strategy, the team or agencies, and the results, without being a permanent employee.
When should you move from a fractional to a full-time CMO?
Move from a fractional to a full-time CMO when marketing needs a leader every day and the first months have shown what the permanent role must deliver.
Can a fractional CMO lead AI transformation?
A fractional CMO can lead AI transformation in go-to-market if they have built AI workflows themselves and plan the hand-over to an internal owner from the start.
How do you avoid depending on a fractional leader?
To avoid depending on a fractional leader, name the internal owner for each workflow and agree the hand-over date before the engagement starts.
What questions should you ask a marketing leader about AI?
Ask a marketing leader to show an AI workflow they built, the number it moved, what it cost, who maintains it now and what they chose not to automate.
Will a lack of AI literacy cost CMOs their jobs?
Gartner predicts that by 2027 a lack of AI literacy will rank among the top three reasons CMOs are replaced at large enterprises.