U.S. Marketing Jobs Report 2025: More Employers Hire, Fewer Roles Open as Market Turns Leaner and More Senior

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y., Jan. 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Taligence, an executive search firm specializing in senior marketing hires, has partnered once again with Aspen Technology Labs, a global leader in labor market intelligence, to release the 2025 U.S. Marketing Jobs Report. Based on an analysis of more than 240,000 in-house marketing job listings posted in 2025, the report reveals a market that grew leaner in volume but broader in participation, as more companies hired marketing talent while opening fewer roles per team.

After a strong start in Q1, marketing hiring slowed through the remainder of the year. Total job listings declined year-over-year, momentum fell sharply in Q2, stabilized in Q3, and softened again in Q4 amid seasonal and macroeconomic pressures. Yet beneath the slowdown, a defining shift emerged: employer participation increased even as overall job volume fell, signaling a move toward smaller, more selective marketing teams.

Senior hiring proved the most resilient. Director-level and above roles held up through year-end, reinforcing the market's growing preference for experienced "player-coach" leaders, while entry-level and early-career hiring remained under sustained pressure.

Note: this report covers full-time, in-house marketing positions only.

Key Findings from the 2025 U.S. Marketing Jobs Report

1. More Employers, Fewer Roles

• Total active marketing job listings: 241,749 (−8.2% YoY)
• New job postings: 212,336 (−10.2% YoY)
• Employers posting marketing jobs: 38,964 (+5.3% YoY)

2. Senior Talent Remains in Demand

• Total senior marketing job postings (Director-level and above): 29,818, (+2.1% YoY)
• New senior job listings: 26,059 (−0.1% YoY)
• Employers hiring senior marketing talent: 10,829 (+5.2% YoY)
• Entry-level and associate roles ended the year down 8.6% YoY

3. Hiring Slows, but Does Not Stall

• Average job posting lifetime at year-end: 39 days
• Hiring processes remain more deliberate than a year ago, but showed no further material slowdown in Q4

4. Growth and Product Marketing Lead

• Fastest-growing discipline: Growth Marketing (+33% YoY)
• Highest median pay: Product Marketing ($159,994)
• Median advertised salary across all marketing roles: $88,400 (+7.1% YoY)
• Salary transparency reached 54.7% of listings, continuing a multi-year upward trend

5. Geographic Power Centres Diverge

• New York state strengthened its lead in both marketing job volume and pay
• California and Texas remained core hiring hubs
• Seattle fell out of the top 10 cities following a sharp contraction in job volume, highlighting an increasingly uneven geographic recovery across major U.S. markets

"The 2025 curve bent into a clear K," said Michael Wright, CEO of Taligence. "New grads are fighting for oxygen while the middle - those player-coach types who can still write copy and read a P&L - are the ones getting the calls back. Companies are investing more in marketing; they're just done paying to train it from scratch."

"Throughout 2025, we observed a clear flight to experience. While the broader market cooled, the resilience of director-level and VP roles, which re-accelerated in Q4, shows that firms are doubling down on leaders who can drive immediate ROI," said Michael Woodrow, President of Aspen Technology Labs. "We are entering the era of the smaller teams, where companies prioritize a few high-impact, specialized experts over the large-scale department expansions of years past."

For the full report, visit:
https://www.taligence.com/job-reports/2025-united-states-marketing-jobs-report

About Taligence LLC

Taligence is an executive search and talent intelligence firm specializing in senior marketing leadership hires. Through proprietary research and data-driven insights, Taligence helps companies and candidates navigate an increasingly complex talent market. Learn more at www.taligence.com.

About Aspen Technology Labs, Inc.

Aspen Technology Labs is a global leader in web data management services and labor market intelligence. Its JobMarketPulse platform powers real-time hiring insights for organizations worldwide. Learn more at www.AspenTechLabs.com.

Media Contacts:
Taligence LLC
Melody Liu
[email protected]

Aspen Technology Labs, Inc.
Lana Shumyn
[email protected]

SOURCE Taligence LLC