Senior services for
Interim Chief Growth Officer: Interim Chief Growth Officer, Full-Seat Growth Leadership, Bounded Tenure
Our senior interim Chief Growth Officer brings operator-level judgment to your team. Interim CGO leadership for B2B SaaS, services, fintech, manufacturing, and PE-backed operators. A senior operator in the CGO seat for 3 to 9 months, owning the growth motion end-to-end while the permanent search runs. Placed in 2-4 weeks. Designed handoff to permanent hire.
Place an Interim CGO
Our senior interim Chief Growth Officer brings operator-level judgment to your team
Why teams hire our interim Chief Growth Officer
Full seat in 2-4 weeks
When the CGO seat is empty, growth slows fast, campaigns stall, partnerships drift, BD pipelines age, board reporting weakens. An interim CGO steps into the seat in two to four weeks, owning the growth motion end-to-end while the permanent search runs in parallel.
Operators who carried the title
Our interim CGOs have run growth orgs at scale, multi-channel marketing, BD pipeline, partnerships, and sales motion under one P&L. The decisions land faster because the operator has made the same calls before, not because they're improvising from a framework.
Designed handoff to permanent hire
Interim engagements are bounded, typically 3 to 9 months, with handoff designed from week one. The interim leader documents the operating system, calibrates the permanent role spec, partners with the search firm, and onboards the permanent hire so the new CGO walks into a working machine.
When teams need an interim Chief Growth Officer
Interim CGO engagements show up at predictable inflection points. The CGO leaves and the permanent search will take five to seven months. A PE sponsor wants the growth function stood up before the permanent hire is named. A new CEO inherits a growth team without leadership and needs interim ownership while the org chart settles. A merger or acquisition consolidates growth functions and someone neutral needs to run the integration. Each scenario benefits from full-seat ownership for a defined window, not advisory presence or part-time cadence.
What the interim CGO actually owns
The interim leader holds the full CGO remit during the tenure: marketing strategy and channel mix, BD pipeline ownership, partnerships motion, sales-marketing alignment, demand-gen budget and attribution, growth-team capability, board-facing growth narrative. The operating cadence that ties it all together. The work is operating leadership, not advisory. The interim CGO sits in board prep, defends growth priorities to the CEO, and signs off on rollouts.
Designed for clean handoff to the permanent CGO
From week one the interim leader documents the operating system, surfaces the permanent role spec the team actually needs (often different from the spec the search started with), partners with the search firm on candidate calibration. Runs onboarding for the permanent CGO when they arrive. The permanent leader walks into a documented machine instead of inheriting chaos.
What an interim Chief Growth Officer engagement covers
- Full CGO seat: owns the growth function end-to-end during the tenure, sits in board prep, reports to the CEO.
- Marketing strategy and channel mix: paid acquisition, organic, content, brand, lifecycle, budget allocation and attribution.
- BD and partnerships motion: strategic accounts, partner recruiting, partnership economics, BD pipeline ownership.
- Sales-marketing alignment: handoff discipline, account-based revenue motion, joint pipeline ownership, comp alignment.
- Growth-team capability: bench audit, hiring plan, manager development, retention plan during the transition.
- Operating cadence: weekly leadership, monthly business review, quarterly board narrative.
- Documentation and handoff: operating system captured, ready for permanent leadership.
- Permanent-hire calibration: partners with search firm on role spec, candidate calibration, and onboarding for the eventual permanent CGO.
How We Compare
| Feature | Interim CGO | Permanent CGO hire | Fractional CGO |
|---|---|---|---|
| Time to seat filled | 2-4 weeks | 4-7 months search | 2-4 weeks |
| Tenure model | 3-9 month bounded | Permanent | Quarter-by-quarter rolling |
| Presence | Full-time in seat | Full-time in seat | 1-3 days/week embedded |
| Designed handoff | Default to permanent hire | Not applicable | Optional |
Frequently asked questions
Common questions from teams considering an interim Chief Growth Officer.
Our interim Chief Growth Officer advises: Two to four weeks for most placements. We screen the bench against the specific situation (stage, scope, urgency, board context), match a senior operator who has done the equivalent before. Run a short calibration with the CEO or hiring sponsor. The interim CGO is in seat full-time within the first month.
Our interim chief growth officer advises: Interim is full-seat, the operator owns the CGO remit during the tenure and sits in seat full-time. Fractional is part-time on a recurring cadence (1-3 days/week embedded). Interim is right when the permanent role is empty and the work cannot wait for the search. Fractional is right when the team needs sustained outside CGO presence without full-time seat ownership. Seefractional CGOfor the part-time shape.
Our interim chief growth officer advises: Most engagements run 3 to 9 months. Shorter when the permanent hire is already identified and the interim leader is bridging a 90-day gap. Longer when the permanent search is complex or the growth function needs significant rebuilding before a permanent CGO can land cleanly. We bound the tenure at the start and check in at the midpoint to recalibrate.
Yes, the handoff is designed from week one. The interim leader documents the operating system, calibrates the permanent role spec (often refining it based on what the seat actually needs), partners with the search firm on candidate calibration. Runs onboarding for the permanent CGO when they arrive.
Yes. Our Recruit practice runs the permanent search in parallel with the interim engagement when scoped that way. The interim leader knows exactly what the team needs after living in the seat. Sharpens role-spec design and candidate calibration considerably.
Most interim CGO engagements run $30K-$50K per month at full-seat presence, with monthly billing across the bounded tenure. A 6-month engagement typically lands $180K-$300K total. Comparable to permanent salary loaded but with senior operator presence from week one rather than 5-7 months of ramp.
It happens. Most interim engagements are paid on a monthly retainer with no conversion penalty. If the team and the operator both want it, the role can shift to permanent, we coordinate the transition with the permanent compensation construct from there.
Related Services
Run the permanent CGO search in parallel
Hiring a full-time interim chief growth officer? Our Recruit practice places permanent Chief Growth Officer, VP Growth, and Head of Growth, frequently paired with the interim engagement so the search runs in parallel and the handoff is clean.
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Place an interim Chief Growth Officer
Work with a senior interim chief growth officer. Full CGO seat in 2-4 weeks. 3-9 month bounded tenure. Designed handoff to permanent hire. Senior operator from day one.
