---
title: "Where to find a fractional CMO or search consultant in the UK"
description: "The routes to fractional marketing help in the UK compared: matched marketplaces, freelancer platforms, fractional-executive providers, directories, and communities, with fee models and vetting claims checked against each platform's own pages in July 2026."
image: "https://cdn.sanity.io/images/6kxxmp0v/production/ed3f8b9a2214602f7e6227df48b4ed89893e1afc-4608x2592.jpg?rect=0,92,4608,2408&w=1200&h=627&fit=crop&auto=format"
---

# Where to find a fractional CMO or search consultant in the UK

*By Hannah Reed, HGDR Consulting · Published 2026-07-03 · Source: https://www.hgdrconsulting.co.uk/blog/seo/find-fractional-cmo-search-consultant-uk*

Analysis of LinkedIn profile data reported by [Harvard Business Review](https://hbr.org/podcast/2024/11/the-growing-hr-trend-of-fractional-leadership) found the number of people describing themselves as fractional leaders grew from around 2,000 in 2022 to more than 110,000 by early 2024. The supply side of part-time senior help has exploded. The finding side hasn't kept up, and a founder searching "hire fractional CMO UK" mostly meets platforms describing themselves.

This piece compares the routes instead. Every platform below was checked against its own live pages in July 2026: what it costs where published, how it claims to vet, and who it suits. HGDR Consulting wrote this guide and appears in it, disclosed at the end. Platforms are grouped by model and listed alphabetically. Nothing here is ranked.

### The four routes

Matched marketplaces pick a specialist for you. General freelancer platforms let you search a wide pool yourself. Fractional-executive providers place a senior marketing leader from their own bench. Directories and communities are where you do the finding, with more effort and no fee. Which route fits depends on how well you can already describe what you need. The less defined the brief, the more a matching layer or a provider earns its fee.

### Who pays the platform, and how

The matching fee has to come from somewhere, and it usually reaches the client one of three ways. Percentage marketplaces add a margin on top of the freelancer's day rate. Malt's UK model leaves the freelancer's rate whole and charges the client instead, with client plans around 10 to 15 per cent, so an £800 day can land near £900 ([Malt's fee schedule](https://help.malt.com/hc/en-150/articles/29539691425938-Fees-at-Malt)). YunoJuno works the same way on the hirer side, though it quotes its percentage on request rather than publishing it. Flat-fee platforms barely move the number: Contra charges the client a fixed fee of about $29 per contract and takes nothing from the freelancer ([Contra's commission-free terms](https://contra.com/commission-free)). Matched marketplaces bake their cut into a published package price, so Mayple's $2,850 already includes it and you never see the split. Directories charge the supply side instead, so listing is the product, whether through paid sponsorship or, on the tool-vendor directories, a required software subscription. The rate a freelancer quotes and the price you pay are rarely the same number, and knowing which layer moved it is worth asking about before you sign.

### Matched marketplaces

**Contra** describes itself as a commission-free creative network. Marketing roles are present and each freelancer's profile carries public stats on earnings, hire count, and rating. The pool leans creative (design, motion, content) more than search or marketing leadership.

**Fractional Jobs** runs a search service rather than a self-serve marketplace. It works from a network it claims exceeds 30,000 fractional leaders, presents a shortlist, and you contract the CMO directly. The fee is a one-time referral of roughly $3,000 to $5,000 with no ongoing cut of the retainer, which works out cheaper across a long engagement than a percentage that recurs every month ([Fractional Jobs](https://www.fractionaljobs.io/)). US-run, delivered remotely.

**MarketerHire** claims top-1% vetting and matching within 48 hours ([MarketerHire](https://marketerhire.com/role/brand-marketer)). It's a US company that places marketers remotely, so a UK engagement runs across time zones and in dollars, not shut out by geography.

**Mayple** publishes its CMO pricing, which is rare: $2,850 a month for a strategy-level fractional CMO and $5,350 with team management included, from a claimed pool of 600+ vetted marketers ([Mayple's pricing](https://www.mayple.com/pricing/cmo-as-a-service)). It's a Tel Aviv company founded in 2017 and prices in dollars, so a UK engagement is remote and USD-billed.

**Passionfruit** is the most UK-shaped of the matched marketplaces. It accepts 12% of specialist applicants by its own count, matches within 48 to 72 hours, and covers fractional CMOs alongside SEO, PPC, and paid social specialists ([Passionfruit](https://www.usepassionfruit.com/)). Its sign-up form filters for budgets above £1,000 a month, so it self-selects for funded startups and established small teams.

### General freelancer platforms

**Malt** runs a UK marketplace with public rate data. Its listings average £418 a day for SEO consultants ([Malt's rate data](https://www.malt.uk/t/average-freelance-rates/marketing/seo-consultant)), though listed rates run above booked rates. Useful both for hiring and for sanity-checking a quote.

**YunoJuno** is London-founded and the establishment option for freelance marketing talent in the UK. Vetting requires at least three project references and business-structure checks, freelancers pay nothing (fees sit on the hirer side), and the platform handles IR35 compliance and 14-day payment. Its annual rates report, built from over 261,000 contracts ([YunoJuno](https://www.yunojuno.com/)), is the best public data on what UK freelancers actually get paid.

### Fractional-executive providers

**Boardroom Advisors** places part-time directors across the C-suite, marketing included, from a bench of 200+ across the UK plus Spain, Portugal, and Ireland ([Boardroom Advisors](https://boardroomadvisors.co/our-services/part-time-marketing-directors/)). Engagements start from one day per quarter on month-to-month terms with no recruitment fees. Pricing is by conversation, not published.

**Leadership Services** is a UK fractional CMO network and one of the few to publish pricing openly: from £1,795 a month, with tiers running from light-touch advisory at £1,500 to £3,500 up to a senior three-day-a-week engagement at £7,500 to £12,000 ([Leadership Services](https://leadership-services.co.uk/)). It quotes a shortlist within 48 hours and placement inside one to two weeks, on 30-day rolling terms.

**The Marketing Centre** claims the UK's largest fractional CMO bench: 100+ marketing directors, 1,400+ UK businesses supported since 2011, and a stated intake of the top 1% of UK CMO applicants. Typical engagements run one to two days a week and contracts cancel anytime. It doesn't publish prices, though its own March 2026 guide puts market rates at £5,000 to £10,000 a month for four to eight days ([The Marketing Centre](https://www.themarketingcentre.com/blog/calculate-cmo-cost)).

**VCMO** is a smaller UK provider for B2B businesses and the transparency outlier in this category: retainers typically from £4,000 a month plus VAT, advisory days from £1,500, and a stated requirement that its CMOs hold CIM Chartered Marketer status ([VCMO](https://www.vcmo.uk/)).

### Directories and review platforms

A structural note that applies to the whole category: directories make their money from the supply side. Review directories place free listings alongside paid sponsorship or membership tiers, where paid placement buys visibility. Tool-vendor directories, run by the SEO-software companies, gate listing behind a paid subscription instead, so inclusion signals tool spend rather than vetted results. Neither type makes its listings worthless. It means the sort order isn't a verdict, so read the evidence and ignore the badges.

**Ahrefs Agency Directory** is the tool-vendor kind: the gate is spend, not reviews. It carries 458 agencies filterable by country, the UK included, and to appear an agency has to be on one of Ahrefs' paid Advanced or Enterprise plans and pass a manual review ([Ahrefs Agency Directory](https://ahrefs.com/agencies)). That tells you every agency listed pays for one of the leading SEO toolsets, which is a signal about their kit, not a verdict on their work.

**Bark**, London-founded and private-equity owned since 2022, works in reverse: you post a request for free and matched professionals respond with quotes. The cost sits on their side, not yours. Bark runs a pay-per-lead credit system, where a professional buys a credit pack and spends credits to contact a lead they choose, with the price per lead set by the service, the job's value, and local supply and demand. There's no commission on the work that follows, so it's a one-off contact fee rather than a cut of what you agree ([Bark's pricing](https://www.bark.com/en/gb/sellers/pricing/)). That economics shapes the pool: the SME and local end of the market, where speed and volume matter more than seniority.

**Clutch** is the biggest of the review directories, claiming 350K providers and a million buyers a month. Listing is free, reviews are identity-verified through LinkedIn, Google, or a work email, and unverifiable reviews are published with a lower trust label rather than hidden ([Clutch](https://help.clutch.co/en/knowledge/how-clutch-verifies-reviews)). Sponsored profiles exist alongside free ones.

**DesignRush** lists a claimed 30,000+ agencies across 50 countries, launched in 2017 ([DesignRush](https://www.designrush.com/about-us)). Reviewers sign in via LinkedIn and a sponsorship programme affects visibility. Coverage skews to agencies rather than individual consultants.

**Semrush Agency Partners** is the other tool-vendor directory, filterable down to UK cities like London and Manchester. Agencies join by buying Semrush's agency add-on, around $90 a month when checked, and are encouraged but not required to pass Semrush Academy certification, which feeds an Agency Score that affects where they rank ([Semrush Agency Partners](https://agencies.semrush.com/)). Like the Ahrefs directory, it filters for tool subscribers, not client reviews.

**The Drum Recommends** carries genuine UK marketing-industry weight and now sits inside thedrum.com as a directory of client-rated and award-winning agencies. The supply-side fee here is steep and public: an agency pays from £4,950 + VAT a year for a company page that can collect ratings, rising to £10,700 + VAT for the tier with homepage features and editorial ([The Drum Recommends](https://www.thedrum.com/recommended-agencies)). What that buys is the platform, though, not the badge. Recommended status is earned on top, through at least three structured client ratings and, where relevant, awards or World Creative Rankings placements, and only clients who worked with the agency in the past year can rate it. Buyers pay nothing: once signed in they can shortlist agencies and compare up to six side by side. It leans towards agencies rather than solo consultants.

### Communities and networks

**CMO Alliance** is a community rather than a hiring service: a free Slack network of marketing leaders under The Alliance in London, with paid tiers from $42 a month and a London summit ([CMO Alliance](https://www.cmoalliance.com/pro-membership-plan/)). A good place to find a fractional CMO by talking to several before anyone is selling.

**Fractionals United** is a free, application-gated global community of fractional leaders, launched in 2023 ([Fractionals United](https://www.fractionalsunited.com/)). Its UK presence runs through regional channels rather than a chapter, so treat it as a supplementary pool.

**The Portfolio Collective** pairs a 14,000-plus-member portfolio-career community with a hiring service at published fees: £2,000 setup plus £2,000 on a successful placement ([The Portfolio Collective](https://portfolio-collective.com/fractional-experts/)).

And **LinkedIn** remains the platform all the others draw from. Searching "fractional CMO" plus your sector, reading candidates' published work, and asking for references replicates most of what a matching fee buys, at the cost of your own time. The published-work check matters most: it's the one signal nobody can buy.

### Comparison at a glance

| Platform | Model | Published cost (July 2026) | Vetting, as claimed |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Ahrefs Agency Directory | Tool-vendor directory | Free listing, paid Ahrefs plan required | Paid subscriber plus manual review |
| Bark | Quote matching | Not published | None stated |
| Boardroom Advisors | Provider bench | Not published | Reference checks |
| Clutch | Review directory | Free listing, paid sponsorship | Reviewer identity checks |
| CMO Alliance | Community | Free tier, from $42/mo | Community guidelines only |
| Contra | Marketplace | Free to freelancer, client flat fee (~$29/contract) | Public track-record stats |
| DesignRush | Directory | Free listing, paid sponsorship | Reviewer LinkedIn login |
| Fractional Jobs | Matched search | One-time referral ~$3,000–5,000 | Curated shortlist from network |
| Leadership Services | Provider network | From £1,795/mo (tiers to £12k) | Vetted senior CMO bench |
| Malt | Marketplace | Client fee ~10–15% on top of rate | Profile-based |
| MarketerHire | Matched marketplace | Not published (GBP) | "Top 1%" claim |
| Mayple | Matched marketplace | From $2,850/mo (CMO) | "600+ vetted" claim |
| Passionfruit | Matched marketplace | £1,000+/mo budget gate | 12% acceptance claim |
| Semrush Agency Partners | Tool-vendor directory | ~$90/mo add-on | Optional certification |
| The Drum Recommends | Ratings directory | Agency £4,950–£10,700 +VAT/yr; buyer tools free | 3+ client ratings + awards |
| The Marketing Centre | Provider bench | Not published (market guide £5k–£10k/mo) | "Top 1% of applicants" claim |
| The Portfolio Collective | Community + hiring | £2,000 + £2,000 fees | Screening service |
| VCMO | Provider bench | From £4,000/mo +VAT | CIM Chartered Marketers |
| YunoJuno | Marketplace | Free for freelancers, hirer-side % (custom) | 3+ references + business checks |

Vetting claims are each platform's own description, reproduced not endorsed.

### Fractional CMO or fractional specialist

The platforms above mostly answer "who leads marketing part-time". A different question is whether you need leadership at all. A fractional CMO owns the whole function: strategy, team, budget, board reporting. A fractional specialist goes deep on one discipline. If the function exists and search is the gap, a specialist embeds under whoever leads. If nothing is led, a CMO comes first and specialists follow. The two work well in sequence and often together, with the CMO setting direction and specialists delivering their lanes.

A third shape sits between them: a specialist who operates with a CMO's autonomy across a defined remit. Rather than waiting for a detailed brief, they take direction of the search and digital function, adapt to the team already in place, and work proactively from the data. For a founder whose biggest gap is search and digital rather than the whole marketing org, this covers more ground than a single-discipline freelancer without the cost of a full fractional CMO.

For what each option costs with sources, see the [guide to choosing an SEO consultant in the UK](https://www.hgdrconsulting.co.uk/blog/seo/how-to-choose-seo-consultant-uk).

### Where HGDR Consulting sits

HGDR Consulting is that third shape: a fractional search and marketing consultancy that operates with a CMO's autonomy across the search and digital remit, without the heavy onboarding. It embeds with a team, works from a light brief, and delivers proactively from the data rather than waiting to be told what to do next. The remit spans the ground a founder would otherwise assemble from several of the platforms above: SEO and AI search visibility, paid and organic search, analytics and attribution setup, starter websites, and upskilling the in-house team so the work carries on after the engagement.

The difference from the routes above is the absence of a middle layer: no matching fee, no marketplace margin on the rate. The person scoping the work is the person doing it. It suits founders and small teams whose biggest gap is search and digital direction they don't have to manage closely. It's a weaker fit if you need a large marketing team run day to day, or brand and advertising leadership well beyond search, where a full fractional CMO or a broader agency serves better.

Fitting the theme of this piece, HGDR [publishes its fees](https://www.hgdrconsulting.co.uk/pricing) rather than quoting case by case: from £564 + VAT for an ad-hoc day, including the fixed-price scoping audit, and from £1,150 + VAT for more strategic projects and retainer-based ongoing management. Engagements start with a short fit call.

Every route here can produce a good hire. The differences are who does the filtering, what the filter costs, and whose interests set the sort order. Whichever route you take, the candidate's published work and referenced results are the part of the decision no platform can do for you.

### Sources

- **HBR, "The Growing Trend of Part-Time Executives"** (fractional profile growth, Vendux-compiled LinkedIn data), November 2024: [https://hbr.org/podcast/2024/11/the-growing-hr-trend-of-fractional-leadership](https://hbr.org/podcast/2024/11/the-growing-hr-trend-of-fractional-leadership)
- **Passionfruit**: [https://www.usepassionfruit.com/](https://www.usepassionfruit.com/) (accessed July 2026)
- **Mayple CMO pricing**: [https://www.mayple.com/pricing/cmo-as-a-service](https://www.mayple.com/pricing/cmo-as-a-service) (accessed July 2026)
- **MarketerHire role pages**: [https://marketerhire.com/role/brand-marketer](https://marketerhire.com/role/brand-marketer) (accessed July 2026)
- **Contra** (commission-free model, client contract fee): [https://contra.com/](https://contra.com/) and [https://contra.com/commission-free](https://contra.com/commission-free) (accessed July 2026)
- **Fractional Jobs** (search model, 30,000+ network claim, one-time referral fee): [https://www.fractionaljobs.io/](https://www.fractionaljobs.io/) (accessed July 2026)
- **Leadership Services** (UK fractional CMO network, published pricing from £1,795/mo, 48h shortlist): [https://leadership-services.co.uk/](https://leadership-services.co.uk/) (accessed July 2026)
- **YunoJuno FAQ and rates report**: [https://www.yunojuno.com/](https://www.yunojuno.com/) and [https://www.yunojuno.com/freelancer-rates-report/marketing](https://www.yunojuno.com/freelancer-rates-report/marketing) (accessed July 2026)
- **Malt UK SEO consultant rates**: [https://www.malt.uk/t/average-freelance-rates/marketing/seo-consultant](https://www.malt.uk/t/average-freelance-rates/marketing/seo-consultant) (accessed July 2026)
- **Malt fees** (client plans ~10–15%, UK freelancers not charged commission): [https://help.malt.com/hc/en-150/articles/29539691425938-Fees-at-Malt](https://help.malt.com/hc/en-150/articles/29539691425938-Fees-at-Malt) (accessed July 2026)
- **The Marketing Centre**: [https://www.themarketingcentre.com/](https://www.themarketingcentre.com/) and [https://www.themarketingcentre.com/blog/calculate-cmo-cost](https://www.themarketingcentre.com/blog/calculate-cmo-cost) (accessed July 2026)
- **Boardroom Advisors**: [https://boardroomadvisors.co/our-services/part-time-marketing-directors/](https://boardroomadvisors.co/our-services/part-time-marketing-directors/) (accessed July 2026)
- **VCMO**: [https://www.vcmo.uk/](https://www.vcmo.uk/) (accessed July 2026)
- **Clutch help centre** (free listing, review verification): [https://help.clutch.co/en/knowledge/how-clutch-verifies-reviews](https://help.clutch.co/en/knowledge/how-clutch-verifies-reviews) (accessed July 2026)
- **DesignRush about**: [https://www.designrush.com/about-us](https://www.designrush.com/about-us) (accessed July 2026)
- **The Drum Recommends** (buyer directory + free buyer tools; agency membership £4,950–£10,700 + VAT; Recommended status needs 3+ client ratings): [https://www.thedrum.com/recommended-agencies](https://www.thedrum.com/recommended-agencies) and [https://www.thedrum.com/profile/find-agencies](https://www.thedrum.com/profile/find-agencies) (accessed July 2026)
- **Bark** (pay-per-lead credit model, no commission): [https://www.bark.com/en/gb/sellers/pricing/](https://www.bark.com/en/gb/sellers/pricing/) and [https://www.bark.com/en/gb/marketing-consultants/](https://www.bark.com/en/gb/marketing-consultants/) and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bark.com](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bark.com) (accessed July 2026)
- **CMO Alliance membership**: [https://www.cmoalliance.com/pro-membership-plan/](https://www.cmoalliance.com/pro-membership-plan/) (accessed July 2026)
- **Ahrefs Agency Directory** (458 agencies, UK filter; listing eligibility): [https://ahrefs.com/agencies](https://ahrefs.com/agencies) and [https://help.ahrefs.com/en/articles/9459465-how-can-i-get-my-agency-listed-on-ahrefs-seo-agencies-directory](https://help.ahrefs.com/en/articles/9459465-how-can-i-get-my-agency-listed-on-ahrefs-seo-agencies-directory) (accessed July 2026)
- **Semrush Agency Partners** (UK/city filter; Agency Score, certification): [https://agencies.semrush.com/](https://agencies.semrush.com/) and [https://www.semrush.com/kb/1078-agency-partners-platform](https://www.semrush.com/kb/1078-agency-partners-platform) (accessed July 2026)
- **Fractionals United**: [https://www.fractionalsunited.com/](https://www.fractionalsunited.com/) (accessed July 2026)
- **The Portfolio Collective fractional hiring**: [https://portfolio-collective.com/fractional-experts/](https://portfolio-collective.com/fractional-experts/) (accessed July 2026)

```json
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "BlogPosting",
  "headline": "Where to find a fractional CMO or search consultant in the UK",
  "description": "The routes to fractional marketing help in the UK compared: matched marketplaces, freelancer platforms, fractional-executive providers, directories, and communities, with fee models and vetting claims checked against each platform's own pages in July 2026.",
  "datePublished": "2026-07-03T08:21:23.547Z",
  "dateModified": "2026-07-03T08:21:23.547Z",
  "author": {
    "@type": "Person",
    "name": "Hannah Reed"
  },
  "publisher": {
    "@type": "Organization",
    "name": "HGDR Consulting",
    "logo": {
      "@type": "ImageObject",
      "url": "https://www.hgdrconsulting.co.uk/img/HGDR-Consulting-logo.png"
    }
  },
  "mainEntityOfPage": {
    "@type": "WebPage",
    "@id": "https://www.hgdrconsulting.co.uk/blog/seo/find-fractional-cmo-search-consultant-uk"
  },
  "articleSection": "SEO",
  "keywords": "",
  "wordCount": 2462,
  "inLanguage": "en-GB",
  "image": "https://cdn.sanity.io/images/6kxxmp0v/production/ed3f8b9a2214602f7e6227df48b4ed89893e1afc-4608x2592.jpg?rect=0,92,4608,2408&w=1200&h=627&fit=crop&auto=format"
}
```