Marketing has fragmented drastically in recent years to take advantage of myriad emerging technologies and strategies, and marketing jobs old and new have evolved to make use of them. Today marketing jobs take many forms and titles, but not all are created equal. Some, while engaging on a day-to-day basis, may have little potential for career growth. Others might pay quite well but deliver poor personal satisfaction to the individuals holding those jobs.
Employer ranking and review company Glassdoor recently used its massive database of anonymous job feedback to name the “25 Best Jobs in America.” The company used metrics gathered from its users like salary, number of jobs available, and opportunity for growth. Marketers should be excited to hear that many of those jobs are directly in marketing or very closely related to our discipline.
If you’re not entirely happy with your current marketing role, or just want to get on a career path that should provide long-term professional satisfaction, consider acquiring the necessary skills and making a move toward one of these popular and highly rewarding marketing jobs.
Data Scientist
Watch a Day in the Life of a Data Scientist
The “best” job out of all on the list, data science has been an astoundingly hot job field lately, and often finds itself among the top of various “best job” lists. It was named “Sexiest Job of the 21st Century” by Harvard Business Review, and ranks first among marketing jobs for work-life balance.
Data Scientist is also one of the hardest of all jobs to fill for 2016, and data scientist recruiters are scrambling to find enough experts in this field to fill demand.
Data science isn’t an exclusively marketing-related discipline–it has applications in nearly all aspects of business. But it’s a natural fit for marketing analytics teams looking to glean more insights and make better predictions with their data.
Jobs with this title have the highest median base salary of all marketing-related roles that made the list, at nearly $117,000. Though that number should be taken with a grain of salt, it’s an impressive figure nonetheless and one that speaks to how valuable these professionals are to modern businesses.
Product Manager
This job manages to break the top ten of Glassdoor’s list, settling in at number eight. Though it has one of the lowest scores in terms of career growth opportunities on the list, product management recruiters are still hiring for lots of high-paying jobs in this field (and remember, a low opportunity score on this list is still a high one overall!).
Again, product manager isn’t strictly a marketing role–it has its fingers in R&D, operations, manufacturing and more. But it also has more marketing-oriented focuses like branding, pricing and customer experience, serving as a bridge between different facets of the organization to enhance and promote a certain product. Marketers considering a move toward this role will need to greatly diversify their skillset according to the varied demands of the job.
Product Marketing Manager
Considering the premium that businesses are currently putting on product managers, it’s small wonder that product marketing would come in closely behind in terms of job quality and opportunity. The product marketing manager role comes in at number 14, just a few spots after their product management counterparts. As a product marketing executive search firm, we’ve seen this role rise in popularity recently particularly among businesses who need a way to reliably launch a new product or rebrand an old one.
Marketing Manager
At number 14, “Marketing Manager” might seem like an annoyingly vague title. Glassdoor uses it to describe mid-level marketing leaders up through junior executive making around $90,000. For examples of the kind of role they have in mind, you can check our their listing of “marketing manager” jobs.
Out of all the marketing roles that made the list, this category led in sheer volume of currently available roles–companies are currently hiring marketing leaders at a tremendous rate. If you’re a marketer with a few years of experience who’s ready to make your first big move into a leadership position, opportunities abound; now’s the perfect time to look for a job in marketing management.
UX Designer
Advice on Becoming a UX Designer
video from Mike Lock at ML Web Consulting
Consumers have high expectations on the web, and will quickly abandon any brand’s digital properties that can’t measure up. Smart businesses are turning to expert UX design talent to carefully structure their websites, apps, and products for the best usage and technical performance.
The responsibility for the customer experience now falls first and foremost to marketing, so marketing departments everywhere are quickly hiring any designers they can find with an eye for UX. Compared to other marketing-related jobs on the list, UX designers are among the best opportunities for career growth. The high demand and opportunities for growth were enough to place this role at number 18 on Glassdoor’s list.