Job Description of a Chief Marketing Officer

Before you recruit a new Chief Marketing Officer, you need an up to date job description. Use the job description of a chief marketing officer template to save time in your executive recruiting process.

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Company Overview

Unlike the other job description sections, the company overview section will be mostly similar for nearly every job description. To attract chief marketing officer candidates, make sure you mention the company’s products, awards, and marketing assets. 

•  Outline how the company’s products and services and how they are unique from others in the marketplace.
•  Highlight your well-known customers or partners. If you cannot give specific examples, use the following alternative approach: “our customers include 50% of the Fortune 500.”
•  List the company locations and headquarters.
•  Describe the location of the position. Executives will want to know if they are going to be based at the headquarters or somewhere else. If you are open to a remote chief marketing officer, state this fact as well.
•  Annual revenue. If your company is publicly-traded, state last year’s annual revenue. If you are privately owned, provide a revenue range.
•  Awards and company recognition. List only one to three examples of recent or high profile awards.
•   Marketing accomplishments. For example, does your company sponsor well-known sports events? List one or two examples which may impress your audience of potential marketing executives (e.g., “we have sponsored NBA games for over ten years”)

Important Metrics

A chief marketing officer candidate wants to know their metrics so they can hit their goals successfully. Validate the metrics you list here with other critical stakeholders like the VP of Sales. 

•  Leads. The number and quality of leads that marketing must produce each quarter.
•  Revenue (optional). If your company has an e-commerce capability, you may set a revenue goal in the chief marketing officer’s job description.
•  Brand awareness. Define what precisely this marketing metric means in your organization.
•  Marketing events. The chief marketing officer may be in charge of leading your company’s annual customer conference.
•  Customer retention and customer success. If marketing plays a role in retaining customers, then a retention metric should be included.
•  Marketing agency and consultant management. Your chief marketing officer may be responsible for oversight of marketing agencies. Establish a metric related to this oversight function.
•  Marketing Automation projects. As technology becomes more critical to marketing success, your chief marketing officer should oversee marketing automation projects.

CMO Responsibilities

The specific chief marketing officer responsibilities you include in the CMO job description, depending on your company’s size and complexity. If the CMO directly manages agencies and marketing professionals, the job description will have more hands-on responsibilities. 

•  Create marketing campaigns and strategies that lead to increased leads, revenue, and other company goals
•  Collaborate effectively with sales to develop marketing collateral and retain critical customers
•  Provide detailed marketing reports monthly regarding the department’s key metrics (e.g., number of new deals, lead scoring, cost per acquisition, and events)
•  Leadership. The responsibility to hire, develop and terminate marketing employees
•  Financial Management. The chief marketing officer will set and manage the department’s budget, including advertising spend.
•  Generate positive publicity for the company by nurturing relationships with journalists, bloggers, and influencers.
•  Travel to company events, meetings with customers, and engagements with marketing agencies.

CMO Experience 

The experience section of a job description of a chief marketing officer should reflect the role and company complexity’s responsibilities. For example, consider whether the CMO will need to manage marketing activities in multiple countries. 

•  Successful track record of overseeing marketing campaigns
•  Successful marketing leadership at a company of [SIZE – if you have 1,000 employees, then indicate that size in your job description]
•  Leadership track record in developing staff across all levels of the marketing organization
•  Track record of achieving positive publicity (i.e., PR) for multiple products and companies
•  Relevant industry experience (i.e., if you are in banking, then you will probably want CMO candidates who understand financial services)
•  Omnichannel marketing experience including event marketing and digital marketing
•  Education. Preference for a degree in business, MBA (master of business administration), or equivalent education.
•  Experience as an executive team player, including close work with the VP of Sales and Chief Technology Officer.

Before you finalize your job description for a chief marketing officer, discuss it with others in the marketing department. If multiple people mention a critical marketing project is suffering, then you may wish to include a point related to this project in your CMO job description.

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