Marketing Executive Search

How Solis Can Support You In Hiring Your Next Marketing Leader

Solis helps B2C and D2C brands hire marketing leaders who make a measurable difference to teams, operations, revenue, retention, and delivering experiences customers remember.

On this page we'll cover → Our Approach, Challenges Marketing Leaders Solve, Roles We Recruit, Sectors We Understand, How We Partner, Case Snapshots, Salary Planning & Guidance, Different Recruitment Models Retained vs Contingent, and FAQs.

If you're a Marketing Leader looking to register you can submit a CV here or contact us directly here.

Hire marketing leaders who unlock growth in 2026

Great marketing leaders do more than run campaigns. They align brand and growth with the commercial plan, defend investment in the language of finance, and build teams that deliver measurable results. At Solis Recruitment, we run retained and confidential searches for marketing leaders who increase pipeline quality, improve Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), and strengthen brand preference without unnecessary spend.

We partner with founders, CEOs, and marketing leadership teams across the UK and Europe. Our strongest network is in London and across the UK, supported by an international footprint that gives you access to passive talent you will not see on the open market

What you need from marketing leadership in 2026

Budgets are tight, expectations are higher, and buying journeys are more complex.

The right leader will:

Align brand, product and growth with a clear commercial thesis.
Prove impact on pipeline quality, conversion, and payback, not only attribution.
Use data and insights to decide what to start, stop, and scale.
Build teams and agency ecosystems that can move at pace, while protecting brand integrity.
Integrate privacy, responsible AI usage, and first‑party data into day‑to‑day execution.

Solis Recruitment's Approach
Leveraging Relations to Headhunt Great Marketing Talent

Here at Solis, we are headhunters with the human touch.

In a world obsessed with AI shortcuts, people forget what actually makes a great hire: trust, context, and relationships. We use AI to streamline research and admin, but sourcing, screening, and introductions are Human to Human. We build trust with clients and candidates, which leads to better matches and faster, more confident decisions.

We listen first. Your model, margins, tech stack, agency roster, team shape, and goals.

We tailor the search to your business goals: whether you are building or restructuring your marketing department, require someone to assess the operations, devise a new strategy or a leader to get more from marketing agency partners.

Understanding your goals and objectives allows us to build an effective hiring strategy. We take the heavy lifting away so you can keep running the business. We represent you in market with a clear story that protects your brand, assess like operators, and stay with you through offer, onboarding, and the first wins.

Our team have recruited across marketing, brand, and comms for over a decade, building relationships with professionals from first role to department lead. Our network already includes many of the people you want to meet and we are always meeting the next wave of leaders

Why are data and insights sitting at the centre of modern marketing?

High-performing marketing teams treat data and insights as the operating system. Leaders must be fluent in how brand activity influences search, direct, and referral demand, and how lifecycle programs improve repeat rate and order value. We test for the rigour behind their decisions, for example:

The Data-Driven Operating System

High-performing marketing teams treat data and insights not just as reporting tools, but as the fundamental operating system for growth.

In today's complex ecosystem, marketing leaders must be fluent in commercial impact, able to connect every dollar spent to a clear return.

This requires mastery over the entire customer journey, from top-of-funnel awareness to long-term profitability. Our headhunting process rigorously tests a candidate's ability to operate in this environment, focusing on these critical areas:

Connecting Brand to Profit

We look for leaders who can quantify the value of brand lift and directly connect that awareness to real, downstream performance, like an increase in organic searches or direct website visits. They prove that brand spend isn't a "black box," but a strategic, measurable investment.

Owning the Full Customer Journey

True leaders move beyond isolated channel dashboards (e.g., just looking at Facebook or Google Ads). They monitor full-funnel diagnostics, understanding the transition rates and profitability across the entire path a customer takes, not just the starting line.

Smart Investment Validation

We assess their ability to use experiments, incrementality testing, and post-purchase insight to guide spending. This means they are constantly testing "What if?" scenarios to prove that their investments truly add new growth, not just shuffle sales around.

Mastery of Tech and Measurement

Leaders must be comfortable with the MarTech stack and know how to choose and implement the right attribution models. We ensure they can make the technology work for the business, guaranteeing accurate data and reliable reporting.

The Challenges Marketing Leaders Solve

Businesses need Marketing Leaders to resolve a whole host of problems, some that give you headaches today, and others you've never imagined possibly facing.

Your marketing leader has a huge impact on increasing revenue, cutting costs and delivering exceptional customer experiences.

Common issues we see businesses facing include:

Rising acquisition costs and over‑reliance on paid media
Flat repeat rate, low order value, or high customer churn
Brand work that looks good but doesn't have a commercial impact or return
Fragmented tech stack and unclear measurement
Lack of cohesion between marketing channels and teams
A busy team without one plan or an understanding of the bigger picture
No clear marketing or branding strategy

Marketing Leadership Roles We Recruit

Some businesses need hyperspecialists. Others need broader leaders who can guide multiple channels and a blended in‑house + agency model. We help you decide which fits your goals, then headhunt the person who can deliver it.

VP Marketing : owns plan, budget, and operating rhythm; turns strategy into execution across brand, growth, and lifecycle; aligns Marketing with Product, Commercial, and Operations.

Marketing Director : leads team and agencies; runs the performance scorecard; hires the right specialists; builds an accountable cadence.

VP Revenue Operations (RevOps) : Designs and optimizes the operating system for growth. Connects Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success through unified processes, data, and technology. Owns forecasting, attribution, and pipeline health.

Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) : board‑level advocate for the customer; sets direction; builds the leadership bench.

Chief Customer Officer (CCO) : Owns the end-to-end customer experience and loyalty strategy. Aligns Marketing, Product, and Operations to remove friction, improve retention, and increase lifetime value.

Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) : Responsible for revenue strategy and commercial performance across all channels. Partners with Marketing, Sales, and Finance to set pricing, margin guardrails, and growth targets.

Growth Director : owns the growth model end‑to‑end; runs experimentation, CRO, pricing and bundling; balances CAC, payback, and LTV.

VP Performance Marketing : scales multi‑channel acquisition across search, social, programmatic, marketplaces, and retail media with pragmatic measurement.

Director of Demand Generation : builds integrated plays that turn awareness into pipeline and revenue; strong on intent capture and conversion.

Head of Growth : test‑and‑learn engine across product and marketing levers; partners with product for activation, onboarding, and monetisation.

Head of Acquisition : channel ownership across paid search, paid social, affiliates, and partnerships with clear incrementality reads.

Paid Media Director : media mix, creative testing velocity, and guardrails that protect margin while scaling reach.

Head of Brand Marketing : tells your business story and protects your narrative; defines who you are, what you stand for, and why customers should choose you; uses customer insight to craft a memorable narrative that lowers acquisition cost and improves retention.

VP of Branding : guardian of global brand strategy, comms, and partnerships; connects brand activity to demand signals like organic search, direct traffic, and conversion.

Head of Social Media : builds distribution and community; scales creators and social commerce; knows when organic earns its keep and when paid carries weight.

Head of Content : editorial engine across search, social, email, and onsite that turns insight into authority, attention, and conversion.

Head of CRM : designs lifecycle journeys that lift repeat rate, AOV, and retention with first‑party data and testing.

CRM Director : scales platforms and data quality; ties lifecycle performance to forecasting and inventory.

Head of Loyalty : value‑positive propositions and partnerships with proven incrementality.

Head of Retention : finds and fixes friction; improves frequency; partners with Product and Ops to solve root causes.

Head of SEO : owns organic demand, from technical foundations to authority; proves how brand and content lower acquisition cost.

Head of SEM / Paid Search : performance accountability for paid search; query strategy, creative, and landing page alignment.

Paid Media (Cross‑channel) : joins up paid search, social, programmatic, retail media, and marketplaces under one economic model.

Head of Affiliates & Partnerships : grows partners without margin leakage; clear guardrails and incrementality reads.

We also place Heads of Marketing and Heads of Demand Generation for B2B organisations.

Salary Planning For Marketing Leaders (UK · London · Manchester)

Salaries vary significantly depending on company size, industry, location, and product/business maturity. The figures below represent aggregated data from multiple sources and conversations with professionals. These benchmarks should be used as directional guidance only.

To received a personalised salary banding for your executive recruitment requirements please share an enquiry here.

Recruitment Models

Retained vs Contingent

Retained

Exclusive partnership with staged fees and committed research. What you get: a narrative that protects your brand; deeper vetting; structured scorecards; consistent candidate experience; and a single point of accountability.

Contingent

Pay on placement, often multiple agencies in parallel. Useful for junior to mid‑level roles or where breadth and speed matter more than depth.

Risks: duplicated outreach from multiple partners, mixed messaging in market and candidate fatigue.

Why We Recommend Retained Search for Leadership Hiring

Leadership roles shape the future of your business. Senior candidates expect a considered, confidential process and a clear story about why now and why you. Retained search delivers this through depth, exclusivity, and strategic alignment - ensuring every step reflects your brand and objectives.

What’s Included in Retained Search

In‑house market mapping using the latest sourcing tools and techniques
Direct outreach to both active and truly passive leaders
Thorough candidate briefings so every conversation reflects your story
Detailed shortlists with insights that go beyond CVs
Extensive referencing to verify achievements and leadership behaviours before offer (if agreed prior to project start)
Process design and strategy—we set clear objectives, timelines, and steps to secure the right hire
Offer design and onboarding support to ensure a smooth transition

How Solis Will Support Headhunting the Perfect Leader

A Proven Approach to Leadership Search

Finding the right leader isn’t about filling a vacancy, it’s about shaping the future of your business. At Solis, we combine deep market insight with a human-first approach to deliver a process that is structured, respectful, and designed for success.

Headhunters with the human touch

Relationships come first. We build trust with candidates and clients to create better shortlists and smoother hiring outcomes.

Shaping careers, not just filling roles

Changing roles can feel risky. We’ve supported professionals through key career moments, so we take the time to understand what motivates leaders to move, why they need to be part of your team, and what keeps them committed.

Hyperspecialists or broader multichannel leaders

Whether you need a niche expert or a versatile leader, we help define the mix that will deliver your goals, then headhunt to that brief with precision.

Low friction, high clarity

Our process removes guesswork and adds structure: discovery sessions, success profiling, creating job descriptions, respectful and discreet outreach, scorecard design for objective decision-making, and further support to ensure a seamless transition.

Frequently asked questions

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Branding is essential to the sales funnel

Marketing Executive Search

Hire marketing leaders who unlock growth in 2026

What you need from marketing leadership in 2026

Solis Recruitment's Approach
Leveraging Relations to Headhunt Great Marketing Talent