Head of Digital
A Head of Digital owns an organization's digital strategy and its execution across websites, digital products, e-commerce, digital marketing, and the supporting technology stack. This is a sample job description from Excelon Associates that you can adapt as a template for your own hire.
What does a Head of Digital do?
The Head of Digital owns the organization's digital strategy and is accountable for how that strategy performs in market. The role directs websites and digital products, e-commerce and digital revenue, digital marketing and acquisition, analytics, and the marketing and web technology stack that supports all of it.
The Head of Digital also acts as the connective tissue between marketing, technology, and operations, translating commercial goals into digital roadmaps and reporting results to executive leadership. It is a senior leadership role that appears across industries, from consumer brands and financial services to healthcare and higher education.
A Head of Digital is the senior leader accountable for digital strategy, channels, and products as a permanent operating function. The title is often confused with Director of Digital Transformation, which leads an enterprise change program rather than running digital day to day; see our Director of Digital Transformation sample job description for that role.
What does the Head of Digital oversee?
Key responsibilities of a Head of Digital
- Define the digital strategy and annual roadmap, aligning digital investment with revenue, acquisition, and customer experience goals.
- Own the digital budget and P&L, prioritizing spend across channels, platforms, and development work based on measured return.
- Track market, competitor, and technology shifts, and adjust the roadmap before performance gaps appear.
- Direct the organization's websites, digital products, and e-commerce experiences from concept through optimization.
- Lead digital marketing across search, paid media, email, and social, holding channels to clear acquisition and conversion targets.
- Own analytics and reporting, giving executive leadership a reliable view of digital performance and customer behavior.
- Build, lead, and develop a multi-disciplinary digital team spanning product, design, engineering liaison, and marketing roles.
- Manage agency, platform, and technology vendors, negotiating contracts and holding partners to performance standards.
- Partner with technology, operations, and compliance leadership so digital initiatives ship securely and on schedule.
Hiring a Head of Digital? Excelon Associates recruits senior digital and technology leadership across financial services, healthcare, and education. Start a search with our team.
What qualifications does the role require?
- Bachelor's degree in marketing, business, computer science, or a related field is required; a master's degree is highly desirable.
- At least eight years of progressive digital experience, including several years leading multi-disciplinary teams across digital product, web, and performance marketing.
- Demonstrated ownership of a digital P&L or channel budget, with a record of hitting acquisition, conversion, or revenue targets.
- Working command of the modern digital stack, including CMS and e-commerce platforms, analytics, CRM and marketing automation, and SEO and paid media tooling.
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Download the TemplateWhy is the Head of Digital role important?
Digital is the front door of most organizations now, and the Head of Digital decides how well that front door works. The role concentrates accountability for customer acquisition, digital revenue, and online experience in one leader, which is why boards increasingly treat it as a business-critical hire rather than a marketing sub-function.
Because the mandate spans strategy, technology, and performance, the strongest heads of digital pair commercial judgment with genuine technical fluency. They can defend a budget in the boardroom, challenge an agency on media math, and pressure-test an engineering estimate in the same week.
How much does a Head of Digital make?
Most heads of digital in the United States earn between $150,000 and $220,000 per year as of 2026. Averages built from live job postings sit near $165,000, while benchmark data for larger companies runs above $200,000, with typical enterprise ranges of roughly $170,000 to $245,000. Company size, scope, and sector drive most of the spread.
Titles scoped to a single channel pay less: head of digital marketing roles commonly land between $95,000 and $150,000. At the other end, heads of digital who carry enterprise product and revenue mandates approach chief digital officer territory, where total compensation regularly clears $250,000. High-cost states such as California, Massachusetts, and New York pay above national figures.
A hiring note from Excelon
Head of Digital is one of the least standardized titles we recruit: at one client it means the digital marketing lead, at another it is a de facto chief digital officer. Before a search goes to market, we pin down three things with the hiring team: what the role owns commercially, where it sits between marketing and technology, and which decisions it makes alone. Getting that scoped in writing shortens the search and keeps finalists from stalling at offer stage.
The strongest heads of digital can defend a budget in the boardroom, challenge an agency on media math, and pressure-test an engineering estimate in the same week.
Related sample job descriptions
Head of Digital: frequently asked questions
What does a Head of Digital do?
A Head of Digital owns an organization's digital strategy and its execution across websites, digital products, e-commerce, digital marketing, and the supporting technology stack, leading a cross-functional team and reporting results against revenue, acquisition, and engagement targets.
How is a Head of Digital different from a Director of Digital Transformation?
A Head of Digital owns digital channels and products on an ongoing basis, while a Director of Digital Transformation runs an enterprise-wide change program that modernizes systems and processes. The first is a permanent operating role, the second is a program leadership role, and in smaller organizations one person may carry both mandates.
Who does a Head of Digital report to?
Reporting lines vary by structure. A Head of Digital most often reports to the Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Executive Officer, or Chief Digital Officer, and in technology-led organizations sometimes to the Chief Technology Officer or Chief Operating Officer.
What qualifications does the role require?
This sample role requires a bachelor's degree in marketing, business, computer science, or a related field (master's desirable) and at least eight years of digital experience, including several years leading multi-disciplinary teams across digital product, web, and performance marketing.
How much does a Head of Digital make?
Most heads of digital in the United States earn between $150,000 and $220,000 per year as of 2026. Posting-based averages sit near $165,000, benchmark data for larger companies runs above $200,000, and marketing-scoped versions of the title pay less, roughly $95,000 to $150,000.
Hiring a Head of Digital?
Excelon Associates recruits heads of digital, digital transformation leaders, and senior technology and marketing executives for organizations across the United States. Retained executive search since 2007, headquartered in Asheville, NC, with offices in Boca Raton and Delray Beach, FL.
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