The U.S. marketing job market in 2025 showed signs of maturation, with overall hiring volume declining while participation from employers expanded and senior-level roles demonstrated notable resilience. Taligence, an executive search firm focused on senior marketing leadership, partnered again with Aspen Technology Labs, a leader in labor market intelligence, to analyze more than 240,000 in-house marketing job listings posted throughout the year.
Quick Intel
After a robust Q1, hiring momentum slowed significantly in Q2, stabilized in Q3, and softened further in Q4 due to seasonal and macroeconomic factors. Despite the overall contraction, the market revealed a clear shift toward smaller, higher-impact marketing teams that prioritize experienced leaders capable of delivering immediate results.
"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."
Senior hiring proved particularly resilient, with Director-level and above roles holding steady and even re-accelerating in Q4. This trend underscores a broader preference for "player-coach" executives who combine strategic oversight with hands-on execution.
"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."
The report highlights discipline-specific growth, with Growth Marketing leading in expansion and Product Marketing topping salary benchmarks. Geographic trends showed New York solidifying its position as the leading hub for both volume and compensation, while Seattle experienced a notable decline in job postings.
Note: This analysis focuses exclusively on full-time, in-house marketing positions.
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.
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