Career guide
Head of Marketing: What the Job Is at a Startup and How to Get It
A head of marketing is the senior person in charge of all marketing at a company that doesn't have a CMO, most often a startup's first or most senior marketing hire. They set the marketing plan, do much of the work themselves at first, and build the team as the company grows.
Key takeaways
- At a startup, the head of marketing is usually the first senior marketing hire and owns everything from positioning to the first paid campaigns.
- The head of marketing role mixes strategy and hands-on work, and the balance shifts toward strategy and hiring as the company grows.
- Head of marketing is a title, not a fixed level, so it can mean anything from a manager-level generalist to an executive reporting to the CEO.
- The best preparation for a head of marketing role is broad experience across channels plus a clear record of growth you helped create, at a company of similar size and stage.
- BLS has no separate pay figure for heads of marketing, so the nearest guides are the marketing director and VP of marketing pages.
“Head of marketing” is one of the most flexible titles in marketing. At an early startup it means the person who does marketing. At a growing company it means the person who leads it. Either way, you’re the one the CEO turns to when they ask why growth is slower than they hoped.
What does a head of marketing do?
A head of marketing owns the company’s marketing: what the company says, to whom, through which channels, and what results that produces. At a startup, the first head of marketing usually does a lot of the work personally before they can hire anyone.
A typical week for a first marketing hire:
- Work on positioning: who the product is for, what problem it solves and why it beats the alternatives.
- Talk to customers and sit in on sales calls to hear how buyers describe the problem.
- Run the channels that work today: maybe content and SEO, maybe paid social, maybe events, maybe founder-led LinkedIn.
- Test new channels with small budgets and clear stopping rules.
- Build the basics: website, analytics, CRM, email, brand guidelines.
- Work with sales or product on launches, pricing pages and sales materials.
- Report to the CEO on what’s working, what isn’t and what you need.
- Hire and manage freelancers or agencies, then the first full-time team members.
As the company grows, the week shifts toward planning, hiring, managing managers and reporting to the leadership team and board.
Head of marketing vs CMO vs marketing director
The difference is mostly scope and seniority, and it varies by company. The table shows the typical pattern.
| Head of marketing | Marketing director | CMO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Usual setting | Startups and smaller companies, or a business unit | Mid-size and larger companies | Larger companies and later-stage startups |
| Reports to | CEO or founder, sometimes a COO or CRO | VP of marketing or CMO | CEO |
| Team | Often none at first, growing to a small team | A team or several channel teams | Several directors and departments |
| Hands-on work | A lot, especially early | Some | Little |
| Main job | Find what works and build marketing from scratch | Run a plan and a team within a set strategy | Set marketing strategy and sit on the leadership team |
Our CMO job description and marketing director job description cover those roles in detail. Some startups that aren’t ready for a full-time leader hire a fractional CMO instead, sometimes before or alongside a head of marketing.
Head of marketing job description
Copy this and replace the [brackets]. Be honest about stage, team and how hands-on the role is, because that’s what candidates most need to know.
Job title: Head of Marketing About [Company] [Two sentences: what you sell, who buys it, stage and funding, team size.] About the role We're hiring our [first / most senior] marketing leader. You'll own marketing strategy and execution, from positioning to [pipeline / signups / revenue], and report to [CEO / founder / title]. Today marketing is [current state: e.g. founder-led LinkedIn and a website]. You'll be hands-on at first and build the team as we grow. What you'll do - Sharpen our positioning and messaging with the founders and customers. - Build and run a marketing plan tied to [company goal]. - Run and test channels such as [content / SEO / paid / events / partnerships / lifecycle]. - Set up the marketing stack and reporting: [CRM, analytics, email]. - Partner with [sales / product] on launches, pricing and sales materials. - Hire and manage [agencies / freelancers / first team members]. - Report results to the leadership team [and board]. What you'll bring - [X]+ years in marketing across several channels, including [must-have channel]. - Experience at a [stage / type] company, ideally as an early marketing hire. - A record of growth you helped create, with numbers. - Comfort doing the work yourself and building a team later. - Clear thinking about [B2B / consumer] buyers. How we'll measure success - [Metric 1: e.g. qualified pipeline or signups] - [Metric 2: e.g. customer acquisition cost] - [Metric 3: e.g. a working marketing plan and team in [timeframe]] Pay and benefits [Salary range], [equity], [benefits], [location / hybrid / remote].
Skills and tools
A first head of marketing needs breadth more than depth: enough skill across channels to run them, and judgment to know which to bet on.
| Skill or tool | What it’s for | How to show it on a resume |
|---|---|---|
| Positioning and messaging | Telling the market who the product is for and why | A repositioning you led and what changed |
| Channel testing | Finding the first channels that work | Channels you tested, what you kept and why |
| Analytics and attribution (GA4, CRM reports) | Knowing which spend drives results | A reporting setup you built |
| CRM and email (HubSpot, Salesforce, Klaviyo) | Leads, nurture and lifecycle | Conversion or retention you improved |
| Budgeting | Spending a small budget well | Results against the budget you had |
| Hiring and managing | Building the first team, agencies and freelancers | People you hired and what they owned |
| Working with founders and sales | Shared goals and honest updates | A goal you set together and hit |
| Writing | Website, launches, decks, founder content | A launch or page you wrote that performed |
How to become a head of marketing
Most heads of marketing get there through broad marketing roles at small companies, or through a channel lead role at a startup that grew. The steps:
- Get broad. Work across at least a few channels, not only one. Small companies give you this fastest.
- Own a number. Take responsibility for a growth metric like signups or pipeline, and keep a record of how it moved.
- Learn positioning. Talk to customers and sit in on sales calls. Writing a brand positioning statement for your current company is good practice.
- Manage something. A freelancer, an agency, an intern, a budget. Hiring managers want proof you can lead.
- Join an early-stage company in a senior individual role, then grow with it. Many heads of marketing were the second or third marketer.
- Match the stage. A seed-stage startup wants a builder who does the work; a later-stage one wants someone who has already built a team.
How to get experience without the title
If you’re a marketing manager at a larger company, ask to own a new product launch or a new market from scratch. That’s the closest thing to a startup’s first-hire job. Advising or freelancing for an early-stage company on weekends also builds a record of running marketing end to end. Either one turns “I could do this” into “I’ve done a version of this”, which is what founders listen for.
Career path
A head of marketing usually grows into a VP of marketing or CMO role as the company grows, or moves to a larger company at a similar level.
| Before | The role | After |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing manager, senior manager, growth or demand gen lead, marketing director | Head of marketing, marketing lead | VP of marketing, CMO, fractional CMO, founder or adviser |
If the company grows faster than your experience, it may hire a VP or CMO above you. Ask about that plan in your interviews, so you know where the role is going.
How much does a head of marketing make?
BLS has no separate figure for heads of marketing. The title spans manager to executive level, all inside the marketing managers group. See our marketing director salary and VP of marketing salary pages for that group by percentile and state. Startup offers often include equity, so compare the whole package.
Interview questions to expect
Head of marketing interviews test judgment, breadth and whether you can work with founders. Expect:
- "What would you do in your first 90 days?" Tests how you’d learn before acting. A short 30-60-90 day plan helps.
- "Which channels would you try first for us, and why?" Tests whether you’ve researched the company’s buyers and current marketing.
- "How would you split a limited budget?" Tests prioritization and testing discipline.
- "Tell me about a channel or campaign that failed and what you did next." Tests honesty and learning speed.
- "How do you work with a founder who has strong opinions about marketing?" Tests influence and candor.
- "When would you hire your first marketer, and for what?" Tests team building.
- "What would you need to see by month six to know it’s working?" Tests measurement and expectation setting.
Founders are picking someone they’ll work with closely through a lot of uncertainty, so answer as yourself, opinions and all. Your own way of explaining a channel bet tells them more than a polished framework. Our VP of marketing interview questions cover senior marketing leader questions in more depth.
Research the company before you interview
The first-hire interview is mostly a test of how well you understand the company’s market, competitors and current marketing. Founders notice quickly whether you’ve done the work. Recon researches the company’s marketing, search, social and competitors before you meet them, so you can talk about their situation with specifics. Our guide on how to research a company before an interview covers the manual version.
FAQ
Is head of marketing the same as CMO?
Not usually. A CMO is an executive title, typically at larger companies, on the leadership team. Head of marketing is often used at startups and smaller companies, and can be a level below VP. At some startups the head of marketing does the CMO’s job without the title.
Should a startup’s first marketer be a head of marketing or a marketing manager?
It depends on whether the company needs someone to set strategy or someone to run channels within a strategy the founders already have. If no one owns positioning and the plan yet, the role needs head-of-marketing judgment, whatever the title says.
How hands-on is a head of marketing?
At an early-stage startup, very hands-on: you’ll write, run campaigns and set up tools yourself. As the team grows, the job moves toward planning, hiring and managing.
What should I ask in a head of marketing interview?
Ask what success looks like in the first year, what budget and team you’ll have, how the founders see marketing’s role, and whether they expect to hire a VP or CMO above the role later.
Is head of marketing higher than director?
It depends on the company. At a startup, head of marketing is often the top marketing job and outranks a director; at a large company, a head of a channel or region can sit at or below director level. Read the reporting line and scope in the posting: who the role reports to says more than the title.
What is a fractional head of marketing?
A fractional head of marketing leads a company’s marketing part time, often for a few days a week or a set number of hours, usually for startups that need senior direction but not a full-time executive. The role covers strategy, hiring, agency management and building the plan. Our fractional CMO guide covers how that kind of work is found and priced.
What do you call the head of a marketing department?
The head of a marketing department is usually called the chief marketing officer (CMO), VP of marketing, head of marketing or marketing director, depending on the company’s size. Small companies often use head of marketing or marketing director; large ones use CMO, with VPs or directors leading parts of the team.