Technical expertise alone no longer covers what the marketing function needs, particularly at director level, where the demands of the role are changing faster than most job descriptions can keep up with. The most effective marketing leaders today combine strategic thinking, adaptability, commercial fluency, and the ability to make confident decisions with incomplete information, not just channel expertise. Attendees will leave with a sharper hiring and development framework for building teams that can operate across disciplines, a clearer read on which skills are becoming non-negotiable at senior level, and a more confident answer to the in-house versus agency versus hybrid question for their own organisation. Key takeaways: - What actually replaces the T-shaped marketer as the hiring benchmark - Building teams that combine strategic thinking, adaptability, and commercial fluency - How to decide between in-house, agency, and hybrid models with confidence - Developing leaders who can decide fast with incomplete information - Building a talent pipeline that keeps pace with an AI-driven, commercially accountable function