Marketing Leaders
Appointing marketing leaders who turn strategy, brand, data, and customer insight into measurable growth

Marketing leadership is being redefined. Today’s Chief Marketing Officer operates at the intersection of growth, brand, data, customer experience, and enterprise strategy, while increasingly harnessing AI to scale insight, personalization, and performance. CEOs and boards are asking marketing leadership to do more than ever before: drive measurable revenue impact, translate data into insight, steward brand trust in a volatile environment, and align the organization around the customer.

Our marketing officers practice partners with organizations to identify and develop marketing leaders who can meet this moment. We focus on the most effective CMOs, those who combine analytical rigor with creative instinct, operational discipline with strategic vision, and external orientation with internal influence. They are translators, connecting customer insight to business strategy; integrators, aligning functions, data, and teams; and leaders, shaping culture, talent, and enterprise direction.

Our approach goes beyond executive search. We integrate leadership advisory, organization and culture work, and interim leadership to help organizations not only appoint the right marketing leader, but also create the conditions for that leader to succeed and deliver performance.

When organizations engage Heidrick for marketing executive search:

  • Appointing a Chief Marketing Officer
  • Hiring a Chief Growth Officer to unify revenue and go-to-market strategy
  • Appointing a Chief Customer Officer (CCO) to elevate customer experience and retention
  • Recruiting a Chief Digital or AI Marketing Leader to scale data-driven marketing
  • Appointing a Non-executive Director to bring the voice of the customer to the board
  • Upgrading senior marketing leadership to support growth or transformation
  • Aligning marketing leadership with digital, data, and AI strategy
  • Preparing for a new CEO, strategic shift, or ownership change
  • Elevating marketing’s influence at the enterprise and board level

Heidrick & Struggles works with organizations across industries and growth stages to build marketing leadership teams that connect brand, demand, data, and customer experience, transforming marketing into a core driver of enterprise value and sustained performance.

For more than 70 years, we have helped companies secure leaders who combine commercial rigor, enterprise influence, and modern marketing capability.

From functional marketing leadership to enterprise growth leadership

The opportunity

As organizations pursue growth in an increasingly complex, data-rich environment, the role of marketing is expanding. CEOs and boards are rethinking marketing not just as a driver of demand, but as an integrated function spanning go-to-market strategy, customer experience, data, digital, and brand, shaping enterprise value and competitive advantage.

This creates a critical opportunity to redefine what marketing leadership looks like and how it delivers impact across the business.

  • Redefine success profiles for CMOs and marketing leaders across the full mandate, including growth, go-to-market, customer, data, and brand 
  • Align marketing strategy more tightly with business strategy, ensuring consistency across customer experience and commercial execution 
  • Build leadership teams that translate marketing capabilities into measurable growth and long-term value 
  • Strengthen the role of marketing in enterprise decision-making across customer, digital, and commercial priorities 
  • Reduce fragmentation across marketing, digital, data, customer, and brand functions through more integrated leadership
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Our approach to positioning marketing as a central driver of enterprise value and sustained performance

Why clients choose us

We help boards and CEOs appoint marketing leaders who lead the full marketing function, integrating go-to-market strategy, brand, data, and customer insight, to drive measurable growth and enterprise value.

  • Define success profiles across the full marketing mandate, including growth, go-to-market, customer, data, and brand 
  • Identify leaders who connect marketing strategy to commercial outcomes, from demand generation to customer experience 
  • Align marketing leadership with digital, data, and AI priorities 
  • Support post-appointment impact to accelerate marketing performance and business results 
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Related Insights & Perspectives

AI in the marketing function: A conversation with Chris Koehler, CMO at Twilio

Chris Koehler, the chief marketing officer at Twilio, discusses the ways in which his marketing function is using AI and where they are finding it adding particular value.

How marketing leaders are using AI today

Our second annual survey of leaders in marketing about their use of AI shows that they are notably more optimistic than their peers in other C-suite functions about finding AI talent.

How functional leaders are using AI—and barriers to progress

Usage of AI is growing across functions—but most leaders want to move even faster.
Board effectiveness focus: The unique value CMOs bring to boards today

Board effectiveness focus: The unique value CMOs bring to boards today

Heidrick perspectives: The impact of digital on marketing and communications roles

Heidrick & Struggles’ leaders of the communications; marketing, sales & strategy; and digital officers practices sit down to discuss the blurring lines between their areas of expertise and how organizations should take on their search for talent.

Building better connections between brands and technology: The right mix of skills for CMOs today

Companies looking for CMOs have swung from seeking branding gurus to seeking technological wizards. The right approach lies straight down the middle.
Contact Us

Contact our team to discuss how we can assist your company with all of your talent needs.