Choose a fractional CMO when the missing work is marketing direction, positioning, team leadership and tradeoffs across channels. Choose a head of growth when the growth model is clearer and the company needs an operator to run experiments across acquisition, activation or monetisation. Define the actual work before choosing a title.
Find the decisions the founder still owns
If the founder is choosing positioning, deciding which customer segment matters and settling agency-versus-team tradeoffs, the gap is senior direction. If those decisions are stable but the team cannot design and run funnel experiments, an operating growth hire may be more useful. The VP comparison covers a different question: permanent senior leadership versus fractional leadership.
Look across the funnel
Growth roles can span marketing, product and sales. Write which metrics and systems the role may change. An activation problem may require product engineers; a pipeline-quality problem may need sales definitions; a positioning problem may need customer research. A title will not grant authority across functions unless the founder does.
Draft two job tests
For the fractional CMO, ask for a diagnosis of the current constraint and a 90-day priority plan. For the head of growth, ask how they would instrument and run a specific experiment with the existing team. Evaluate each against the work you genuinely have. Avoid hiring both before the decision and execution interfaces are clear.
A bounded example
A hypothetical SaaS company has a clear buyer and working sales motion, but trial activation is weak. A hands-on growth lead with product access may be the better first hire. Another company has three agencies, no agreed ICP and a founder approving every campaign. That company needs leadership and a decision framework before more experiments. The same revenue symptom can require different roles.
Use the same problem to interview both roles
Give candidates a bounded case from your business: for example, paid leads are rising while activated customers are flat. Ask the fractional CMO candidate how they would decide whether the issue is target, message, sales handoff or product. Ask the head-of-growth candidate what experiment they would run, what data they need and who would implement it. A strong answer from either may cross role boundaries; the purpose is to find the work they naturally own.
Then draw a decision map. Who can alter targeting, product onboarding, sales qualification and budget? If the chosen person cannot reach the function where the bottleneck lies, the job description needs a different sponsor or a narrower mandate. Check the supporting team too: a senior strategist without makers and a growth operator without engineering access can both be ineffective. Choose the role whose authority, skill and available collaborators match the next six months of work.
Frequently asked questions
Can a head of growth own marketing strategy?
Yes, in some companies. The title alone does not define authority or capability; inspect the job description and expected operating decisions.
Can a fractional CMO run growth experiments?
They can direct or sometimes run them, but hands-on experimentation should be explicitly scoped with time and technical support.
Are you unsure whether to buy leadership or hire a growth operator?
Share the current funnel, team and decisions that keep returning to the founder. We can scope the role around the missing work, not a fashionable title.
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