Marketing Staffing Agency: What to Put in a Role Brief

A marketing hire can look “right” on paper and still miss the mark in practice, especially in high-growth environments where priorities shift fast. In our experience, the fastest way to get a high-quality shortlist from a marketing staffing agency is not “more candidates”, it is a better role brief.

A strong brief aligns stakeholders, removes ambiguity, and gives your recruitment partner enough context to map the market properly. A weak brief produces predictable outcomes: irrelevant profiles, slow cycles, mis-sell to candidates, and compromised offers.

This guide breaks down what to put in a role brief so your agency can deliver the right marketing talent quickly, and so your new hire can succeed once they start.

Role brief vs job description: why agencies need both

A job description (JD) is usually written for public consumption. It often focuses on responsibilities and generic requirements.

A role brief is an internal document for decision-making and search execution. It should answer:

• Why this role exists now n- What success looks like (in measurable outcomes)
• Where the role sits in the org (stakeholders, decision rights)
• What “must-have” truly means, and what is flexible
• What would excite the right candidates (and what would put them off)

If you only send a JD, your agency is forced to guess the context. Guesswork is expensive.

Start with business context (not tasks)

Your marketing staffing agency can source faster when they can translate your context into a target talent market.

Include:

• Company snapshot: stage (seed, Series B, PE-backed, public), headcount, locations
• Product and buyer: B2B/B2C, ACV, sales cycle length, ICP, main personas, key verticals
• GTM motion: product-led growth, sales-led, channel-led, hybrid
• Growth focus for the next 6 to 12 months: new region, new segment, pipeline acceleration, brand rebuild, retention, pricing, partner strategy
• Why now: replacement, new headcount, restructuring, new VP Sales, new product line, post-merger integration

This is the difference between finding “a demand gen manager” and finding the demand gen leader who has already solved your specific problem.

Define the outcomes and success metrics

The strongest briefs define success as outcomes, not activity. Agencies can then screen candidates for proof, not promises.

Include the outcomes for:

First 90 days

Examples:

• Audit current funnel and attribution, agree baseline metrics and reporting cadence
• Identify the top 3 growth constraints, propose a prioritised plan
• Improve lead quality definition with Sales and implement a shared qualification model

First 6 months

Examples:

• Increase sales accepted leads by X percent
• Stand up a repeatable paid acquisition engine with target CAC
• Launch a new positioning narrative and update core assets

First 12 months

Examples:

• Deliver pipeline target (influenced and sourced), with agreed attribution method
• Improve conversion rates across key funnel stages
• Build and retain a team (and show operating rhythm)

If you are unsure which marketing metrics to include, specify the few that actually drive your board conversations: pipeline, CAC, LTV, activation, retention, expansion, and payback period.

Scope the role precisely: what is in, what is out

Marketing titles are inconsistent across companies. “Head of Growth” can mean anything from paid media manager to cross-functional revenue leader.

Clarify:

• Primary remit: demand generation, product marketing, brand, lifecycle, content, field marketing, partner marketing, comms, or a blend
• Channel ownership: paid search, paid social, SEO, email, webinars, events, affiliates, ABM, partnerships
• Budget responsibility: current budget and expected changes (even a range helps)
• Team leadership: current team size, roles, agency/freelancer support, hiring plans
• Sales alignment: SDR/BDR collaboration, account planning cadence, lead SLAs
• Global vs regional: EMEA only, US and Europe, multi-country localisation needs

For senior hires, explicitly state whether the role is expected to be “hands-on” (execution) or “hands-off” (strategy and leadership). Many failed hires come from getting this wrong.

Map stakeholders and decision rights

A recruitment partner needs to know who will evaluate what.

Add:

• Reporting line (and whether it is changing in the next 6 months)
• Key stakeholders (VP Sales, Product, Customer Success, CFO, CEO)
• Who owns final decision
• Who can block (this matters more than org charts suggest)
• How performance will be reviewed

A simple way to write this in the brief is: “This person will partner weekly with X, monthly with Y, and will be evaluated on Z.”

Must-haves vs nice-to-haves (be brutally honest)

Most briefs fail here. They list 15 “must-haves” and eliminate the very people who could do the job.

Split your criteria into:

• Non-negotiables: the 3 to 6 items that are essential for the first 6 months
• Strong preferences: valuable, but trainable or learnable
• Red flags: true disqualifiers (and why)

Examples of real non-negotiables in marketing:

• Has owned pipeline targets with Sales (not just MQL volume)
• Has built a performance engine in your GTM model (PLG vs sales-led)
• Has managed and optimised a meaningful paid budget
• Has led positioning or category narrative work (if you are re-positioning)
• Has scaled a team from X to Y (if leadership is the key gap)

Avoid turning “industry experience” into a default filter unless it is genuinely required. Often, adjacent domain experience plus the right operating cadence is enough.

Describe the “environmental reality” of the role

Good candidates self-select based on constraints. If you hide the constraints, you lose trust later.

Include:

• Pace and ambiguity: “high-growth, priorities change weekly” vs “optimisation and process maturity”
• Data maturity: messy attribution, incomplete CRM hygiene, inconsistent definitions
• Tech debt: marketing ops limitations, missing tracking, fragmented tooling
• Internal alignment: whether Marketing and Sales are currently aligned (and what needs fixing)

This also helps your agency position the role honestly, which protects your employer brand.

Specify tools, data, and the marketing stack (only what matters)

You do not need a full inventory, just the parts that shape the job.

Add:

• CRM (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot)
• Marketing automation and email
• Analytics and attribution approach (multi-touch, last-touch, MMM, “we are still figuring it out”)
• Data warehouse or BI tools (if relevant)
• Paid media platforms and who manages them today (in-house vs agency)

If you are hiring into Marketing Ops, be clear about system ownership, admin rights, integration constraints, and whether RevOps sits elsewhere.

Define the candidate profile you actually want (not a generic persona)

This is where a marketing staffing agency can bring real value, but only if you give enough signal.

Include:

Background patterns that tend to work

Examples:

• “Has scaled EMEA demand gen for a US HQ SaaS company”
• “Has built category messaging in a regulated environment (cyber, health, governance)”
• “Has run ABM for enterprise deals with long buying committees”

Competencies to assess

Pick 5 to 8 competencies and define what “good” looks like in your context:

• Commercial acumen
• Analytical rigour
• Creative judgement
• Stakeholder management
• Leadership and hiring
• Experimentation discipline
• Narrative and positioning
• Operational excellence

What “great” looks like in interview

Give behavioural indicators, for example:

• Can explain a growth strategy using your funnel metrics, not generic frameworks
• Can show how they partnered with Sales to define lead quality and improve conversion
• Can discuss a failed campaign and what they changed structurally afterwards

Compensation, level, and flexibility (do not leave this vague)

Unclear comp ranges slow everything down. Even if you cannot share exact numbers, give a band.

Include:

• Base salary range (or budget)
• Bonus and commission logic (if any)
• Equity (if applicable, even as “available, details dependent on level”)
• Location expectations: London, remote UK, EU-based, US-based
• Hybrid policy and travel expectations

If the role involves frequent travel for events, customer visits, or team time, state the cadence. And if you offer practical flexibility that matters to candidates, include it. For example, if your travel policy allows employees to choose accommodation that suits personal needs, you might mention options like booking dog-friendly hotels when travelling with a pet, where appropriate.

Interview process and timeline (your agency needs this to close)

Top marketing candidates are rarely idle. Your role brief should include the process you will actually run.

Add:

• Interview stages and who is involved
• Any assessment (case study, presentation, portfolio review)
• Target decision date
• Notice period sensitivity and desired start window
• What a “yes” looks like internally (who approves, how quickly offers are generated)

If you use a case study, define the brief in the role brief. Agencies can pre-empt candidate objections when they know it is relevant, time-boxed, and fairly evaluated.

A practical role brief template you can copy

Use this structure as a one to two page brief that you send your marketing staffing agency.

• Role title and level (and what it maps to in your organisation)
• Why this hire now (one paragraph)
• Business context (product, buyer, GTM motion, stage)
• Outcomes (90 days, 6 months, 12 months)
• Scope (channels, budget, team, regions)
• Stakeholders and decision rights
• Must-haves (3 to 6 items)
• Nice-to-haves
• Tools and data environment
• Compensation and flexibility
• Interview process and timeline
• What will excite a great candidate (the honest sell)

If you only do one thing, write the outcomes section. It will sharpen every interview and every shortlist.

Common mistakes that slow down agency delivery

Mistake 1: Writing a “unicorn” brief

If you ask for strategy, hands-on execution, deep martech ops, brand, comms, and people leadership all in one role, you will either overpay or under-hire.

Fix: decide the primary job to be done in the first 6 months.

Mistake 2: Hiding misalignment

If Sales and Marketing disagree on what a qualified lead is, the hire will inherit that conflict.

Fix: state the misalignment and make “alignment building” part of success criteria.

Mistake 3: Vague seniority

“Senior” can mean manager, director, or VP. Candidate expectations differ drastically.

Fix: define level by outcomes, budget, decision rights, and team leadership.

Mistake 4: Leaving compensation open

This causes churn, resets, and offers that cannot be closed.

Fix: provide a budget range and your flexibility levers (equity, remote, title, growth path).

Mistake 5: Adding risky or irrelevant filters

Avoid discriminatory criteria and be careful with anything that could be interpreted as age, nationality, or personal circumstance based.

Fix: focus on skills and outcomes. If you operate in the UK and EU, ensure the process aligns with data protection expectations (the UK ICO provides practical guidance on recruitment and data protection on its site).

How to use your agency once the brief is done

A role brief is not a document you send once and forget. The best results come when you treat it as a shared operating plan.

In the first briefing call, align on:

• Your true must-haves and your trade-offs
• Target companies and adjacent talent pools
• Your internal timeline and non-negotiables
• How you will evaluate candidates (scorecard criteria)
• How feedback will be captured and actioned after each shortlist

A specialist agency can then do what they are best at: market mapping, accessing passive candidates, pressure-testing expectations, and keeping the process moving.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should a role brief be for a marketing staffing agency? One to two pages is ideal. If it is longer, keep it structured and outcome-led so an agency can scan it and act.

Should I include a full job description as well? Yes. Send both. The JD is useful for posting and compliance, the role brief is what drives accurate search and assessment.

What is the most important section to include? Outcomes and success metrics. They force clarity on what the hire must achieve and help your agency screen for proof.

How specific should I be about the marketing stack? Include the core systems that shape the work (CRM, automation, analytics, paid setup). You do not need every tool, just what impacts execution and ownership.

Do I need to share compensation with an agency? If you want speed and quality, yes. Even a band reduces wasted outreach and helps candidates take the process seriously.

Need help hiring marketing leaders in Europe or the US?

Optima Search Europe is an international recruitment agency based in London, specialising in senior and business-critical hires across Sales, Marketing, Client Services and Executive Management. If you want support refining your role brief, calibrating the market, or running a tailored search, start a conversation with Optima Search Europe.