Your first senior marketing hire

Hiring your first senior marketer is one of the most expensive decisions a founder makes. Get it right and marketing finally runs without you. Get it wrong and you lose six months and a lot of money.

The most common mistake

Hiring a title instead of a need. “We need a CMO” sounds clear, but it can mean very different jobs: someone to set strategy, someone to build a team, someone to run paid ads at scale, or someone to fix the brand. One person is rarely great at all four.

Write the job before the job post

Answer these first:

• What has to be true in 12 months that isn't true today?
• Will this person mostly decide, mostly manage, or mostly do?
• Who will they manage on day one?
• What budget will they own?

If you can't answer them, you're not ready to hire. You're ready to get a plan. (See do you need a CMO, or a better plan?)

When the timing is right

• Marketing spend is big enough that bad decisions are expensive.
• You have people or agencies doing the work, and nobody steering it.
• You're spending more than a day a week managing marketing yourself.

A lower-risk path

Many founders bring in a fractional CMO first. You get the plan, the team gets direction, and you learn what the full-time role really needs to be. When it's time to hire, that person can help write the job and interview candidates.

If you're thinking about this hire, a Marketing Assessment gives you a clear picture of what the role should own before you spend a dollar recruiting.