Is marketing facing a talent pipeline problem? The data says so
As AI impacts early career roles and succession planning doesn’t seem to be a priority, the shape of marketing careers from top to bottom is changing.
· Marketing WeekBy Molly Innes 2 Oct 2026 7:10 am
Has the traditional, linear career path for a marketer disappeared? The state of marketing recruitment has been long-debated, with the last five years posing particular challenges.
The industry faced a post-Covid boom, colloquially referred to as ‘The great resignation’. The market was buoyant, roles were aplenty and companies over-hired. What followed was largely the opposite: the cost-of-living crisis set in, budgets were cut, organisations restructured en masse and many were made redundant.
The last two years have seen these problems persist, but new ones have entered the fray too. Notably AI’s impact on the industry, from automating processes to marketers having to reskill and, ultimately, roles being cut.
Three recent stories, published by Marketing Week, paint the picture of an industry struggling to wrap its head around the redefinition of the marketing career ladder.
We’ve been debating the impact of AI on careers for a while. It’s changed how brands go through the recruitment process and who gets hired. Marketing is facing a careers crisis and a redefinition of what a marketing career looks like is taking place – although, again, this is a perennial topic for the industry.
But this isn’t navel gazing about the state of the industry. Speak to any early-stage marketer, or someone trying to get into the industry, and they’ll likely tell you they’re having a nightmare of a time. Or ask a marketing director if they’re prioritising the talent pipeline and hiring juniors, and they’ll probably tell you they’re just trying to get through the day.
AI could wipe out ‘traditional’ entry level marketing jobs by 2030
Data from Gartner, published this week, made for a scary headline. Based on a survey of 1,300-plus marketing leaders, predictions are AI will “allow the majority of high-performing marketing teams to eliminate the traditional bottom rungs on the corporate ladder” by 2030.
At first glance, that feels a long way away. And then you remember 2027 is right around the corner and talent is already struggling to break into the industry. It’s hard to imagine this could get worse than it is today, but it seems to be the case.
Indeed, almost a fifth (18%) of these marketing leaders have already cut out early stage marketing roles because of automation.
Buying talent
In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Charlie’s father loses his job at the toothpaste factory when its owners bring in machines to automate the work. Destitution almost follows, but is avoided when Mr Bucket lands a new job.
“Charlie’s father got a better job at the toothpaste factory, repairing the machines that had replaced him.”
Perhaps we can apply this to marketing. You only have to scroll a little while on LinkedIn before reading a post about how the jobs of tomorrow are for those who ‘can use AI!’
However, the industry itself is struggling with an acute AI skills gap and it’s not obvious who will get the opportunity to fix the toothpaste machines.
Senior marketing recruitment bounces back in September as most roles go to external talent
Most (66.5%) of the 2,350 respondents to Marketing Week’s 2026 Career & Salary Survey identified an AI skills gap within their team over the past 12 months, as of early 2026. In fact, possession of an effective AI skillset is a bigger concern for marketers than data and analytics capability (44.2%) or an understanding of martech (31.1%).
According to the data, fear over the AI skills gap grows with seniority. Some 73.5% of CMOs and marketing directors have concerns about a lack of AI capability within their team, a figure which drops to 68.5% of senior managers and 58.8% of junior managers.
The Gartner survey suggests 16% of marketing leaders have created new roles in the face of increased automation. This points towards a mismatch between the roles being cut and those being created.
And yet, recruitment firm Michael Page shared data last week suggesting 77% of marketers report using AI tools daily in their current role. Whether they are using them effectively or not, we do not know.
Gartner is urging CMOs to assess junior marketers’ strategic and critical thinking skills when hiring, as expectations on staff change from demonstrating executional skills. This feels like where the opportunity is, but still it seems like there are fewer roles available as the entry level pipeline is shrinking.
No CMOs on top board of any FTSE 100 company, study finds
Worryingly, exclusive quarterly IPA Bellwether data shared with Marketing Week found 25% of leaders expected to make job cuts in Q3, although the data doesn’t point to which level of seniority these job cuts will impact.
However, in the same week we published the Gartner research there was some cause for optimism. Ingenuity+ and Pearlfinders have been tracking senior marketing moves for years and that data is now packaged up in a quarterly report.
In the 12 months to 22 September 2026, there have been at least 2,595 senior marketing appointments. This feels like good news for senior talent, who have felt the squeeze in the last few years, with many senior, qualified, exceptional leaders finding themselves out of work and in between jobs.
The data also tracks where those appointments are coming from. The majority (62%) went to external talent.
In September, that figure rose to 73%. It’s great news for both those out of work and those looking to jump to different companies.
However, it does raise questions about the state of talent nurturing within brands. Has succession planning fallen off the agenda? Each company’s needs are different and often an injection of fresh talent brings a new perspective to the organisation. But it can’t be good news for the person waiting patiently in line for a promotion that might not be coming.
If the majority of senior leaders are coming from the outside, it suggests businesses are buying talent rather than building it.
Who’s at the top table?
If we look at how brands perceive marketing at the very top, it points to some reasoning for why nurturing marketing talent – at all career stages – isn’t necessarily the priority.
Another set of data, published last week, pointed to a shift within marketing at the top table. There are no CMOs on the main boards of the FTSE 100, a drop from the 14% of firms that had marketing at the top table in 2007.
Despite no traditional CMOs sitting on FTSE 100 boards, marketing leadership remains present, just in a different way. The majority (70%) of companies have “meaningful” marketing, customer and brand expertise within their boards, the study by consultancy The Marketing Directors found.
Indeed, 10% of FTSE 100 chief executives have a background in marketing or customer leadership.
70% of senior marketing moves went to external hires in last year
This figure isn’t that worrying, as the shape of main PLC boards has changed. Today, you’d only really expect the CEO and CFO as core business representatives.
But one step below, on the senior leadership board, just 30% have a senior marketing or customer leader. Is it any surprise the talent pipeline isn’t being prioritised when most marketing leaders don’t hold sway at this level?
And if the ‘bottom rung’ of marketing roles do indeed disappear by 2030 because of automation, who exactly do businesses see doing the work in the next five, 10 or 20 years?
What’s in a name?
Marketing isn’t always called marketing anymore. Marketing Week has long been tracking the entry of different job titles – the growth leader, the customer officer. CMO is no longer the default top marketer title. This is trickling down throughout the career ladder.
According to Michael Page, 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 found marketing manager was the top role, followed by marketing executive, product manager, brand manager and head of marketing.
Traditional roles are being discarded in favour of jobs that appear to align with AI and transformation. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it feels like the industry is losing out on both entry-level talent that should be given the opportunity to start broad and learn before specialising, and experienced marketers who have been around long enough to prioritise the fundamentals first.
The short-term issue is the panic around AI and how it’s impacting the day to day. In the long term, there’s a threat to the talent pipeline and the leaders of tomorrow. This is a topic Marketing Week will focus on in the coming months as we look to ask: Is there an early careers crisis in marketing?