CMO / VP Marketing
Leads the marketing function: brand and demand strategy, team, budget and measurable revenue contribution.
Why this hire matters.
The CMO constantly arbitrates the tension that defines modern marketing: investing in brand (long horizon, hard to measure, compounding) or in demand (short horizon, measurable, plateauing). The weak CMO flees this tension into an extreme — all performance until the channels exhaust, or all image with no link to pipeline. The strong one holds it: an instrumented demand machine AND a brand that structurally lowers all your costs. It's also the most unstable exec-committee seat (shortest average tenure), almost always for the same cause: initial misalignment with the CEO on what marketing is expected to deliver. Before hiring, write the mandate down — pipeline? brand? category? all three? — and calibrate the profile to it. A brilliant CMO on the wrong mandate will fail.
Key missions.
- Define marketing strategy aligned with the revenue trajectory
- Build and manage the team (growth, PMM, brand, content, ops)
- Arbitrate budget between brand and demand generation
- Install measurement (attribution, pipeline contribution)
- Own the company's positioning and narrative
- Align marketing and sales on a common funnel
- Represent marketing at exec committee and board
Skills.
Technical skills
- Full marketing strategy (demand + brand)
- Funnel economics (CAC, LTV, payback)
- Positioning and category design
- Team building
- Budget management
Expected qualities
- CEO alignment
- Leadership
- Long/short-term arbitration
- Board communication
Common stack
Salaries 2025-2026
| Level | Experience | Annual gross base |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing manager (early career) | 3-6 yrs | 34–46 k€ |
| Head of Marketing (first team) | 6-10 yrs | 60–75 k€ |
| Head/VP Marketing (scale-up) | 10-15 yrs | 85–95 k€ |
| CMO | 15+ yrs | 100–210 k€ |
Paris market ranges.
Hiring this profile.
Typical background
Growth, PMM or brand background broadened into full leadership. The ideal profile has operated at your stage and knows your motion (PLG, sales-led, etc.).
When to hire
When marketing must become a multi-team strategic function — typically Series B. Before that, a Head of Growth or senior PMM often suffices.
Career path
Head of Marketing → VP Marketing → CMO → CRO/CEO or board advisor.