Senior salaries up 40% outside capital as London wages flatline
Salaries for ‘head of’ roles in the North and Midlands rose around 40% in the last year, while London remuneration has stayed flat, according to Michael Page.
· Marketing WeekBy Molly Innes 17 Sep 2026 2:32 pm
It’s long established that London-based marketing jobs offer higher salaries than outside the capital city. However, data suggests this could be starting to level out.
Salaries for ‘head of’ roles in the North and Midlands have risen 40% year-on-year, while equivalent London roles have remained flat, according to recruitment business Michael Page’s 2027 Salary Guide.
Head of social, media and content roles have increased by 19% in the last year, while creative director salaries have grown 40% outside London, the report suggests.
The majority (60%) of marketers in the UK are actively looking for their next role, compared with the national average of 50%. Just over half (52%) are satisfied with their current role.
For marketers eyeing up their next move, there is some cause for optimism.
Of the 2,706 UK senior marketing hires made in the 12 months following June 2025, 70% went to external candidates.
This is according to data shared exclusively with Marketing Week from Pearlfinders and analysis from Ingenunity+, based on available information from LinkedIn, trade press, social monitoring and company announcements.
AI skills demand
Meanwhile, the skills being demanded of marketers have shifted.
The most in-demand skill for marketers heading into 2027 is AI adoption, according to Michael Page, followed by marketing automation, customer journey management and customer loyalty, optimisation and personalisation.
This marks a significant shift from the skills expected of marketers last year, which were content creation and writing, end-to-end campaign management, data analysis and reporting, and stakeholder management.
According to the data, 77% marketers report using AI tools daily in their current role.
“Employers want commercially minded, AI-enabled growth professionals who can directly influence revenue, customer experience and business transformation,” says James Nally, UK practice director for marketing and digital at Michael Page.
‘Who owns growth?’: How new roles are being used to ‘redefine’ marketing
He notes “new and innovative roles are likely to enter the market” as expectations evolve, and anticipates a continued demand for interim and contract positions within brands.
Reflecting this shift, the most in-demand marketing job is now growth marketing manager, followed by digital strategy and transformation leaders, marketing analytics and insights managers, ecommerce and marketplace managers and marketing managers.
This is another significant shift from last year’s findings, which suggested marketing manager was the top role, followed by marketing executive, product manager, brand manager and head of marketing.
The emergence of new marketing jobs tallies with Marketing Week’s 2026 Career & Salary Survey. Our research found new roles have been added to teams following a company restructure (40.7%), change in business strategy (31.6%) or departure of a marketing leader/change in personnel (24.9%).
Is it all part of a repositioning of marketing? The 2026 Career & Salary Survey data suggests so, with 23.8% of marketers claiming new roles are being added to redefine the role of marketing within businesses.
At large organisations, the desire to make new appointments in an effort to ‘redefine’ marketing (28.3%) trumps even a change in personnel (24.6%), as firms tweak titles at the highest levels to reflect changing expectations.