Marketing leadership cover
Your CMO has left and the successor is not yet in post
Mateerz provides marketing leadership cover for companies recruiting their next CMO or marketing director. A senior leader works 2 to 3 days a week, giving the team direction and the CEO a clear route for decisions until the permanent appointment starts.
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Senior cover, 2 to 3 days
- Senior leader present
- Optional third day
- Team leads execution
Leader days cover decisions, arbitration and steering points with you.
Days shown are indicative and set in the mission letter.
How long will the marketing director role stay empty?
The role can remain vacant for several months because the search and the successful candidate’s notice period happen in sequence.
Plan from the date the incoming marketing director can start, not from the date the job description is published. A search needs a brief, shortlist, interviews, references and an accepted offer. The chosen candidate may then need to work their notice with their current employer.
United Kingdom. An employee who has worked for one month must give at least one week’s statutory notice under section 86 of the Employment Rights Act 1996. A contract can require a longer period, so check the candidate’s terms before confirming a start date. The CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, publishes no UK time-to-hire figure. Its Resource and talent planning report 2026 found that 53% of UK organisations that recruited had difficulty attracting candidates and that senior roles remained the hardest to fill.
Germany. In Germany, BGB section 622 sets the basic notice period at four weeks to the 15th or the end of a calendar month. The employer’s statutory notice increases with an employee’s length of service, up to seven months. That employer obligation does not define the notice a candidate must give when resigning to join your business.
The Netherlands. An employee’s notice period is one month by default, according to Rijksoverheid, the Dutch national government information service. An agreed employee notice period can be longer but cannot exceed six months.
What should you secure in the first days after your CMO leaves?
Secure account access, live commitments and the team’s priorities first, then establish a plan and a CEO steering rhythm. This protects delivery while you decide where senior leadership attention is needed.
Days 1 to 7
- If the departing marketing director is working their notice, schedule a structured handover with them first.
- Confirm access to advertising accounts, analytics, CRM, website platforms, social channels and shared drives.
- Identify administrator rights and ensure the company controls them.
- List live campaigns, agency commitments, media bookings and supplier contracts.
- Check budget owners, purchase approval limits and invoices awaiting payment.
- Ask the team what they are delivering, what is blocked and what needs a decision.
- Name the person responsible for marketing decisions until the permanent appointment begins.
Week 2
- Reconfirm pipeline targets with sales and identify the marketing activity linked to them.
- Review the quarter’s plan, deadlines and dependencies with product, sales and finance.
- Decide which projects continue, which pause and which require executive approval.
- Set a regular steering meeting between the CEO and the person leading the bridge.
First month
- Take the decisions that cannot wait for the new marketing director.
- Turn the business need into a precise brief for the permanent recruitment.
- Maintain a handover file from the beginning.
- Give the team stable priorities and a clear route for escalating decisions.
Do you need a full-time interim CMO or 2 to 3 days a week?
Two to three days a week is often enough when your team can deliver, commercial priorities are clear and the CEO can make timely decisions. The senior leader sets direction, resolves cross-functional issues and prepares a sound handover while the team carries out the work.
- Mon Your team : Prepare decisions
- Tue Senior leader : Decide and arbitrate Your team : Execute
- Wed Your team : Prepare decisions
- Thu Senior leader : Steering point with you Your team : Execute
- Fri Senior leader : Team rituals Your team : Execute
Days shown are indicative and set in the mission letter.
Choose a full-time interim manager if you have no marketing team, or if the team is junior and lacks an experienced deputy. Full-time cover is also the stronger choice during a major launch, serious commercial disruption or communications crisis. In these circumstances, leadership demands fill the working week.
Part-time assignments provide context, not a prescription. INIMA, the International Network of Interim Management Associations, reported that 26% of assignments described by about 800 interim managers in 11 European countries were part-time in January 2024, unchanged since 2022. Its UK figure was 20%. The Institute of Interim Management’s 2026 UK survey found that nearly a quarter of respondents’ latest assignments were delivered fractionally. It was the survey’s first year measuring fractional delivery.
A Mateerz mission is set out in a mission letter covering objectives and deliverables. A senior marketing leader from the Mateerz network organises their own methods and working days, leads the team on agreed priorities and reports to the CEO through regular steering meetings.
26 %
Part-time interim assignments in Europe, January 2024: about 800 managers surveyed in 11 countries.
What are your options while the role is vacant?
You can use an internal relay, a full-time interim manager or fractional marketing leadership, depending on the work ahead and the leadership capacity available.
| Option | Rhythm | How it ends | When to choose it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Internal relay (a team member or the CEO) | Alongside existing responsibilities | The permanent marketing director takes over | The work is stable, internal leadership capacity exists and few decisions are pending |
| Full-time interim manager | Full working week | A planned handover to the permanent marketing director | The team needs daily leadership or the business faces a launch, crisis or major change |
| Fractional marketing leadership, 2 to 3 days a week | Agreed days each week with CEO steering | A written handover and planned overlap with the permanent marketing director | The team can execute and needs senior prioritisation, direction and accountability |
An internal relay can work during a quiet, contained period. It becomes difficult when the CEO already holds too many decisions or when a team member must lead peers without sufficient authority. For other leadership gaps, see all situations.
A full-time interim CMO gives the business daily leadership attention. Use this route when the marketing function needs rebuilding, commercial pressure is acute or delivery depends on close supervision.
Fractional marketing leadership gives an established team senior direction for an agreed number of days each week. The leader can run planning, coach the team, align sales and marketing, manage agencies and show the CEO which decisions require attention.
How do you recruit the next CMO while the relay runs?
The senior leader keeps marketing on course and helps define the role while the search runs separately, and that leader is never a candidate for the permanent job.
Start with the business outcomes required in the first year. Decide whether the next CMO must build a reliable flow of sales opportunities, reposition the company, improve marketing systems and reporting, lead a larger team or operate across several markets. Define the authority, reporting line, team shape and relationship with sales before interviews begin.
The senior leader can test whether the brief reflects the work on the ground. If you ask them to, they can assess a candidate’s marketing judgement or contribute to an interview panel, while your company retains the hiring decision.
Mateerz also runs executive search for marketing leadership. Its search work can align the role brief, interview stages and start-date planning with the transition already under way.
Plan backwards from the preferred candidate’s confirmed availability. Keep the successful candidate informed about the priorities they will inherit. The senior leader maintains the plan until the agreed handover.
What does a bridge between two CMOs look like in practice?
TalkSpirit, a B2B SaaS company, used an interim CMO mission for three days a week while it waited for a new full-time CMO to be appointed.
The company needed its marketing strategy developed in line with a new positioning. Mateerz introduced Georges, formerly VP of growth at Sunday and Too Good To Go, to provide international B2B SaaS experience during the bridge. He supported TalkSpirit’s marketing strategy until the new full-time CMO was appointed.
How do you hand over to the new marketing director?
Plan an overlap and maintain a written handover from day one, then the senior leader steps back. The incoming marketing director should receive a reliable account of what has happened, what is under way and what needs a decision.
The handover file should contain:
- Decisions taken, including the context and people involved.
- The current plan, its status and the assumptions behind it.
- Open projects, deadlines, owners and material risks.
- Notes on the team, agencies, suppliers and important working relationships.
- The history of CEO steering discussions and outstanding choices.
Set the final overlap around the new director’s first priorities. They may need time with the team, access to campaign and pipeline data, a budget review and introductions to agencies or major partners. The senior leader transfers context, answers questions and closes the mission cleanly. Learn more about Mateerz.
Maintain marketing direction through the gap
Talk to Mateerz about a defined leadership mission while your permanent recruitment proceeds.