Playbook 05 · New / hiring

They are hiring a Manager into a function with no senior leader above it, which means the Manager is about to inherit a strategy they were never hired to own. The CEO usually knows this perfectly well, because hiring at the wrong level was the cost-saving plan. This playbook positions you as the missing layer instead of the casualty of it.

Playbook 05 / manager seat, empty senior cover
Who it targets The CEO or COO who owns the hire. Not the manager candidate. You are the strategy layer above the seat they are filling.
The signal Manager / Senior Manager posting in your function, no VP / Director / Head of that function on the company LinkedIn, reports outside the function.
Where it is visible LinkedIn Jobs manager titles, company People tab empty at senior level, org clues in the JD (“report to CEO”).
Time cost ~45 minutes per live target through the tradecraft pipeline, plus about five extra minutes to prove the missing senior layer. False positives are common. Verify twice.

How to run it

Tradecraft stages 1 and 2. Strings such as “Marketing Manager,” “Operations Manager,” “Finance Manager,” plus “Senior Manager” if your market uses it as a thin-team seat. Agency strip still applies. Junior-looking titles hide clients too.

Step 02: Prove the leadership gap.

Enumerate the org (tradecraft stage 4). Search for Head of, Director, VP in that function. Read whether the JD says they report to CEO or COO. If a real senior leader already owns the function, skip. If the Manager will be the most senior person in the discipline, continue. Expand the posting copy (tradecraft stage 3) when the company was agency-masked or the JD is thin.

Step 03: Reach the CEO with the structural read.

Buyer is the CEO or COO, never the manager candidate. Waterfall and send (tradecraft stages 5 and 6). They are either underspending or underaware. Either way, the Manager they hire will be asked to write a quarterly plan with no senior cover. That fails slowly, then fails loudly. Your tone is calm diagnosis, not “you are doing hiring wrong.”

Step 04: Position yourself as the strategy layer.

A fractional Head of [Function] sets direction, prioritises, and coaches. The new Manager executes. The CEO gets both for less than one senior full-time salary, and still keeps the Manager hire if that person is already in process.

What to say

CEO / Marketing Manager role, no CMO / email if findable

Subject: Manager hire without a marketing lead above them

Sam, HelmVault is hiring a Marketing Manager and I cannot see a Head of Marketing / CMO on the team. That structure usually means the Manager inherits strategy they were never hired to own.

I sit as fractional marketing leadership above that seat for companies your size: set the plan, choose the bets, and let the Manager run the machine. Happy to walk through what the split of work looks like in the first 60 days. Twenty minutes, or I can send a one-page RACI if you prefer async.

How this playbook fails

  • You miss a senior leader who simply has a non-standard title.
  • You message the manager candidate, which puts you in the wrong status seat. Wrong buyer. Awkward for everyone.
  • You sound like you are blocking their hire. You are complementing it.
  • You over-pitch retained search economics like a vendor deck. Stay on the work split.