MarTech Salary and Career Survey shows a profession coming into its own

Marketing technologists see themselves as separate from the marketers they support and they really like their jobs. Those are among the findings from MarTech’s 2023 Salary and Career Survey.

Nearly 65% of those surveyed defined their organizational roles as assisting marketing, such as “Marketing Technology/Technologist” or “Marketing Operations”

“Marketing technology and operations pros are a legitimate profession that’s different than traditional marketing roles,” Chief Martec Scott Brinker says in the report. “They’re a part of marketing  — martech is marketing  — but with their own identity and specialization.”

An astounding 74% of marketing technologists reported being at least somewhat satisfied with their jobs. That number was the same at all job levels.

This year’s survey

The survey, conducted jointly by MarTech and chiefmartec.com, was taken by 419 marketers in December 2022 and January 2023; 401 of those provided salary information. Nearly 70% (286) respondents live in North America; 15% (63) live in Western Europe. The report’s conclusions are limited to responses from those individuals only. Others were excluded due to the limited number.

Respondents answered more than 20 questions related to career roles, salary, technology and job satisfaction and challenges/frustrations. They were from all job levels — C-suite to managers and staff.

Gender inequality improvement

There’s good news hidden in the bad news about the pay inequality between men and women. This year women earned an average of 24% less than men ($116,000 versus $143,000). However, that’s a lot better than last year’s 30%. Also, this year found 50% of women were promoted, as opposed to 46% of men.

Other key takeaways:

• Average isn’t bad: The average salary was $138,000. For VP/C-level leaders the average was about $195,000; for marketing staff it was just over $95,000.
• More degrees, not more money: Mar tech professionals are nearly three times more likely to have an advanced degree than the general population (37% versus 13%). However, the grad school graduates earned about the same as those with a four-year degree.
• Big companies pay bigger bucks: Average salaries for those at companies with 500 or more employees: $152,000. For those at companies with fewer employees it was $120,000. 
• Seven (years) is the lucky number: As you might expect compensation increases the more experience you have, with the most pronounced increase coming after year seven of employment.

Thank you for your help

We are very grateful to those of you who completed the survey. We send special thanks to those who agreed to be interviewed. Some of their comments, as well as Scott Brinker’s commentary can be found in the survey itself. We’ll be digging deeper into the survey results in the days to come.

Download the survey here (no registration required).