Chief Marketing Officer — Wealth Franchise

The mandate

A wealth franchise has grown awareness but not distinctive preference. Paid acquisition costs have risen and adviser conversion varies widely. Marketing is too often measured at lead creation while client suitability, funding and retention occur elsewhere. The next CMO must connect brand investment to durable client value and improve the efficiency of the acquisition funnel.

The role leads approximately 300 employees and material partners across brand, propositions, digital acquisition, content, research, communications and marketing operations. Its client, revenue and investment perimeter is roughly ₹4,600 crore. The CMO will partner advisers, investments, product, compliance and data teams; marketing cannot approve advice or manufacture performance evidence.

The franchise must differentiate through relevance and service, not promises of exclusivity or implied returns. It needs clear positions for affluent, high-net-worth and founder clients, better use of first-party consented data, and a disciplined understanding of which channels produce relationships worth the cost.

Wealth marketing carries unusually long feedback loops. A prospect may consume research for months, enter through an event, meet more than one adviser and fund only after a liquidity event. Attribution that gives full credit to the final interaction invites waste and channel conflict. The CMO must combine experimental evidence, cohort analysis and adviser insight, acknowledging where causality cannot be known. Special care is required in seminars, referral partnerships and content discussing past performance, tax or market outlook, where education can slide into unapproved advice.

The brand also needs a coherent response when markets fall. Communications should prepare clients for volatility before it occurs, equip advisers with accurate material and prevent hurried performance claims during stress. The incoming leader will own that readiness with investments, legal and compliance, including the escalation path for public correction when published material becomes inaccurate.

Why this seat is open

The previous CMO has departed during remediation, creating an urgent replacement. Interim leadership has paused higher-risk campaigns and secured mandatory approvals. Permanent leadership is needed to redesign the model and avoid substituting inactivity for compliant marketing. The search remains confidential until the transition is announced.

What you will own

• Define segment propositions grounded in evidenced client need and actual service capability.
• Review and remediate claims, testimonials, performance presentation and influencer or affiliate activity.
• Create a funnel from consented lead through adviser acceptance, funding, twelve-month retention and contribution.
• Reallocate spend according to cohort value rather than impressions, raw leads or last-click attribution.
• Improve adviser hand-off, content use and feedback so marketing demand does not become unworked inventory.
• Establish campaign governance with compliance while preserving clear business ownership of claims.
• Build first-party research and thought leadership without disguising product promotion as independent advice.
• Develop the 300-person organisation and rationalise agencies, technology and duplicated production.

The first 12 months

The first 45 days should inventory live claims, channels, partners and lead sources. Trace sampled clients from first exposure through advice and funding, including complaints and drop-off. Confirm which campaign pauses remain necessary and where compliant communication should resume.

By day 100, agree proposition, claims standards and full-funnel measurement. Rebase acquisition economics after adviser labour, onboarding failure and twelve-month attrition. Select priority agencies and end arrangements lacking data, rights or control evidence.

Months four to nine should relaunch two segment propositions, repair adviser hand-off and shift spend towards cohorts with proven funded value. Introduce pre-publication evidence and post-campaign outcome review. Build an organic content series that answers client decisions rather than amplifying product volume.

At year end, cost per funded priority client should fall 25%; lead-to-funding conversion should improve 30%; twelve-month retention for new cohorts should exceed baseline by eight points; unworked qualified leads should fall below 5%; and all material claims should have current evidence and approval. Conduct complaints attributable to marketing should decline each quarter.

What the board will measure

• Funded and retained client value by source, segment and cohort.
• Brand preference and trust among target clients, separated from general awareness.
• Accuracy, currency and governance of promotional claims.
• Adviser adoption and timely treatment of qualified opportunities.
• Agency cost, data rights and performance transparency.
• Marketing talent and the independence of challenge offered to commercial sponsors.

The person

You have 22–28 years in wealth, asset management, banking, insurance or another regulated high-consideration category. Your CMO or divisional marketing scope includes at least ₹2,700 crore of client, revenue or investment perimeter and 300 employees and partners.

You have repaired marketing after a conduct, claims or trust issue and can show what stopped, what resumed and how commercial performance changed. You understand adviser-led conversion, long acquisition cycles and the limitations of attribution. Pure consumer-brand scale without regulated evidence and distribution integration will not suffice.

You combine creative judgement with evidential discipline. You will challenge an attractive claim that outruns service reality, but can help teams find a truthful and differentiating alternative. References should confirm partnership with compliance without abdication of marketing accountability.

Compensation and terms

Fixed compensation is ₹2.2–3.0 crore plus performance variable. Assessment balances funded growth, trust, conduct, efficiency and team capability. This permanent Hyderabad role is onsite and requires an early but orderly start.

Confidentiality

Client, remediation findings and campaigns will be discussed only with qualified candidates under confidentiality. Figures and events are composite; they are not clues to a named wealth institution.