CMO executive search for B2B tech companies
Scalerr runs retained searches for chief marketing officers at B2B tech companies. Start with the job the business needs done: setting company strategy, running an established marketing team or doing the first marketing work alongside the founder.
Which marketing leader are you hiring?
Suppose a prospect likes the demo but cannot explain the product to their finance director. Buying more leads will not fix that. A product marketer who can work on the buying case might do more for your sales team than an executive who has managed a large demand budget. Start the search with the obstacle you want the hire to remove.
| Seat | What they own | When it fits | Who they work for | Hiring decision to test |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CMO | Marketing strategy, budget and leadership | The company needs an executive to choose markets and make trade-offs across marketing | CEO | Which function needs its own leader, and which can wait? |
| VP Marketing | A marketing plan and the team delivering it | The buyer is understood but campaigns and sales do not yet work well together | CEO or CMO | Would they first add product marketing or demand generation, and why? |
| Head of Marketing | Hands-on work on the most pressing buying problem | A founder-led business needs its first marketing owner | Founder or CEO | What would they do themselves before requesting headcount? |
When does a Head of Marketing need to be a CMO?
Look at the next argument you expect in the boardroom. If someone must decide which buyers the business can afford to pursue, the marketer needs access to company strategy and control over spend. If the pressing work is interviewing customers and rewriting the sales deck, hire someone who wants to do that work. Ask both candidates what they personally produced in their last job.
How the search works
In a retained executive search, the senior recruiter agrees the remit with you, reviews compensation benchmarks and maps the longlist. Decide at the start which product decisions the marketer will influence and which belong to the founder. We handle the approach discreetly, support the offer and follow up through the guarantee period.
Before interviewing, agree with the sales leader what would count as a better opportunity. A campaign that generates meetings with the wrong buyers is easy to mistake for progress. If sales and marketing have no shared plan, GTM consulting can help define one. For a hire who will own revenue across functions, compare CRO executive search.
Ask for a decision, then ask for the work behind it
Give the candidate a deal your team lost. Ask what they would need to hear from the buyer before changing the positioning. Then ask about a previous campaign they stopped funding. Listen for what the candidate changed personally, how the sales team responded and whether customers bought differently afterwards.
Marketing assignments at Cyborg and Wix
At Cyborg the brief was a founding Head of Marketing. Founder and CEO Nicolas Dupont describes the search in Scalerr’s client testimonials. At Wix, the hires included a Marketing Director. Neither title tells you on its own what the person could decide, so we start each search with the remit.
Questions to settle before briefing a recruiter
Can we hire a VP Marketing now and change the title later? You can, provided both sides understand the job on offer today. Describe the current budget and decision rights separately from any future promotion.
What does a CMO executive search cost? Scalerr does not publish its fees. Ask for a written proposal and use the guide to recruitment fees for tech companies to compare what is included.
For a specialist rather than a department leader, compare the GTM recruiting services.
For a hands-on first marketer, see founding GTM search.
If the hire will run an entire market, see country manager executive search.