Marketing Manager
Marketing managers plan and run the campaigns that build a brand, generate leads and bring in customers.
- Median salary
- $139,200
4.1%vs last year, before tax
- People employed
- 118,500
1.7%vs last year
- Projected growth
- +17.5%
to 2035
- AI exposure*
- Moderate
- 5 out of 10
- Average hours
- 44/wk
+4h vs all jobs
- Shortage status
- Not in shortage
national
- Marketing managers work in-house for a bank, retailer or professional services firm, or in an agency running campaigns for several clients at once.
- It differs from a digital marketing specialist's job: you own the whole plan and budget, not one channel.
- A bachelor degree is the qualification employers ask for most often, and paid digital work or an internship counts for a lot when you are applying for your first coordinator role.
How much do marketing managers earn?
The median full-time salary for a marketing manager is $139,200 per annum, before tax, up $29,100 since 2018.
Seniority and team size move the figure most, with a manager running a small in-house function in retail or wholesale sitting well below one leading a department at a listed company or a large agency. Bonuses are common in bigger firms, and the difference between a good year and a bad one can be large, so find out what the bonus target is and what proportion of it people actually receive. If you are weighing an agency offer against an in-house one, check whether the quoted salary includes super, because agencies and in-house teams do not always quote the same thing.
What does a marketing manager do day to day?
The list below is what fills most weeks; the exact mix shifts with seniority and whatever stage the current work is at.
- Briefing campaigns across search, social, retail media and traditional channels, then keeping agencies and internal creatives working to the same plan
- Digging into customer and campaign data to work out what is moving sales and what only looks good in a dashboard
- Reallocating budget mid-campaign when a channel underperforms or a new opportunity opens up
- Running the weekly cadence of planning and review meetings that keeps the team and its agencies pointed at the same targets
- Turning campaign results into a case senior leadership will act on, often in the same quarter the next plan is due
What skills do marketing managers need?
Employers look for marketing analytics, data analysis, strategy development, backed by Google Analytics fluency and strong stakeholder management.
Specialist skills
- Marketing analytics
- Data analysis
- Strategy development
- Budgeting and forecasting
- Project management
Software and tools
- Google Analytics
- HubSpot
- Salesforce
- Adobe Creative Suite
- SEMrush
General skills
- Stakeholder management
- Written communication
- Presenting and data storytelling
Is the job growing?
About 118,500 people work as marketing managers in Australia, and employment is projected to grow 17.5% over the decade to 2035. That's healthy, above-average growth, and the role should stay in solid demand.
How do you become a marketing manager?
Here's the path most marketing managers take, step by step.
- 1Get a marketing or business degree
A Bachelor of Marketing, or a Bachelor of Business with a marketing major, is the qualification employers look for first. Internships, retail work or running social media for a club give you something concrete to show when you apply.
- 2Take a coordinator or assistant role
Marketing coordinator, assistant brand manager and digital coordinator jobs teach the campaign cycle: brief, build, launch, measure. Expect a couple of years before you run a budget of your own.
- 3Build digital and analytics skills
Employers look for hands-on work with Google Analytics, HubSpot or Salesforce and the paid search and social platforms, and short courses or platform certifications fill gaps a general degree leaves.
- 4Move into management
The step up usually follows having run campaigns end to end and managed a person or an agency, so volunteer to own a channel or a junior's work before you apply.
- 5Consider postgraduate study later
A graduate certificate or an MBA helps when you are aiming at senior leadership or a change of sector, though it is rarely needed for a first management role.
Study routes we have checked
Qualifications that are a recognised way into this role, and what else you need.
- Master of Marketing
A step towards this role
Supports a move into marketing management, which usually also depends on several years of marketing experience.
Study that can help
No set qualification is needed for this role in our data. These qualifications are not required, but the study can help.
- Bachelor of Business (Marketing)Bachelor degree
Teaches the marketing planning and consumer analysis that running campaigns and defending budgets draws on.
- Bachelor of Digital Marketing and AnalyticsBachelor degree
Builds the data analysis skills needed to work out which channels move sales.
- Bachelor of MarketingBachelor degree
Teaches marketing strategy, branding and marketing research and analytics, which planning campaigns depends on.
- Bachelor of Business AnalyticsBachelor degree
Teaches data analysis and business decision making, which turning campaign results into a case for leadership uses.
Prefer something shorter?
A short course can build some of these skills without a full qualification. These aren't accredited, and we don't rank or recommend providers: compare a few before you commit.
Marketing
Search on CourseraSearch on UdemySearch on LinkedIn Learning
Data analytics
Search on CourseraSearch on UdemySearch on LinkedIn Learning
Digital marketing
Search on CourseraSearch on UdemySearch on LinkedIn Learning
These are ordinary links to each provider's own site. We don't currently earn anything from them.
Ready to apply as a marketing manager?
Whether you're working toward becoming a marketing manager or already are one and want a hand with the next step (sharpening your resume for ATS screening, tightening your cover letter, or knowing what you'll actually be asked at interview), here are examples grounded in this specific role, not generic templates.
What jobs can a marketing manager move to?
Moving into Chief Marketing Officer typically comes with the biggest pay rise, worth $9,000 a year more on average.
- General ManagerRecorded move$148,200+$9,000
- Advertising ManagerRecorded move$119,600−$19,600
- Digital Marketing SpecialistRecorded move$101,800−$37,400
- Chief Marketing OfficerSuggested move$148,200+$9,000
Thick lines are moves people were recorded making in Jobs and Skills Australia's Data on Occupation Mobility (income tax records, 2011-12 to 2020-21). Thin lines are moves we suggest from skill overlap and entry requirements.
| Move to | Typical pay change | Overlap | Retraining |
|---|---|---|---|
Chief Marketing Officer A marketing manager brings campaign and brand leadership to the top marketing role, stepping up to set strategy across the whole function. | +$9,000 | 74% | minimal |
General Manager Broad commercial oversight builds on marketing leadership, moving from running campaigns to running a whole business unit.Known move | +$9,000 | 27% | reskill |
Communications Manager Stakeholder messaging, brand voice and campaign experience carry into communications leadership, with a short course covering media and public affairs. | +$0 | 55% | short course |
Advertising Manager Advertising campaign planning and agency management transfer directly, and the role sits beside marketing management in the same field.Known move | −$19,600 | 70% | minimal |
Digital Marketing Specialist Deep digital channel skills carry across, letting a marketing manager focus on search, social and performance campaigns rather than whole-of-function strategy.Known move | −$37,400 | 64% | minimal |
Moves are chosen from Jobs and Skills Australia's Data on Occupation Mobility, which follows income tax records between 2011-12 and 2020-21, together with entry requirements and skill overlap. A known move is one people were seen making in that data. Pay change compares median full-time pay for the two roles.
Who works as a marketing manager?
The typical marketing manager is 42 years old; 58% are men, 87% work full-time, and full-timers average 44 hours a week.
- 42
- Median age
- 42%
- Female share
- 87%
- Full-time
- +4h
- vs all-jobs avg
What's it like being a marketing manager?
Your week splits between people and numbers: a budget review with finance, a briefing with an agency, a session with a designer on a landing page, then an hour pulling channel data into something you can act on. The pressure is steady because the results are visible and the sales team notices quickly when leads drop. You will be asked to explain a fall in traffic one day and to commit next quarter's spend the next, often with incomplete evidence. If you enjoy turning messy information into a decision and can keep your head when a plan changes mid-flight, the work rewards you; if you need a finished task list by Friday, the openness gets tiring.
What people like
- Your campaigns land on the sales figures. A promotion that lifts enquiries, or a search campaign that cuts the cost per lead, gives you something concrete the business can see.
- You work across the whole business. Marketing touches product, sales, finance and customer service, so you learn how the company actually makes its money.
- The tools keep changing. Analytics platforms, automation and AI assistants change how campaigns run every couple of years, so your technical knowledge keeps being tested.
- You build a team. Coordinators and specialists you hire and coach go on to run campaigns of their own, and helping that happen is one of the satisfactions of the job.
What people find hard
- A weak quarter is discussed in the exec meeting. When leads fall, marketing is one of the first places the sales director looks, and you will need an answer before you have finished investigating.
- Attribution is rarely clean. Working out which channel caused a sale is hard when a customer sees an ad, reads a review and then walks into a store, and you will still be asked to justify the split.
- Budget season lands on top of campaign delivery. Next year's plan is due while this quarter's campaigns are running, so your busiest weeks are also the ones where you are writing forecasts.
- You depend on people outside your team. Agency timelines, designer availability and a sales team that forgets to follow up on leads can all make a campaign look worse than it was.
Based on our synthesis of professional-body surveys and public accounts of the role, not first-person verified reviews.
Advice from someone who knows the job
We put the same three questions to people who have done this job or hire for it. These are their answers, in their own words, so they are their views rather than our data.
Courtney Ives
Marketing consultant, C Angel Marketing
Formerly head of marketing for APAC at a US technology company, with more than 12 years in marketing.
What does a typical week really involve?
It changes with the size of the business and the time of year. In a smaller business you're doing a lot of the work yourself, while in a bigger one more of your week goes into briefing agencies and keeping stakeholders on side. Month-end often involves reporting, and a launch or seasonal push means you're head down building campaigns.
What do people underestimate about the job?
How hands-on it is. Even with a strategic title, you're still the one in Canva fixing a social post or updating the website. I've sat in that seat, and the best marketing managers treat the doing as part of the strategy, not a distraction from it.
If you were hiring a marketing manager, what would make someone stand out?
Someone who thinks commercially and still rolls up their sleeves. I want a candidate who can tell me how the campaign fits into the bigger business picture and then go and build the next one. They also need to fit the team, because marketing only works when sales, leadership and the rest of the business are on board with it.
Which industries employ marketing managers?
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services employs the largest share of marketing managers, followed by Wholesale Trade.
Top employing industries
- 1Professional, Scientific and Technical Services
- 2Wholesale Trade
- 3Retail Trade
Ranked by employment share; the source doesn't publish an exact percentage per industry.
| Bachelor degree | 36% | |
|---|---|---|
| Year 12 or below | 20.2% | |
| Postgraduate | 15.5% | |
| Diploma / Advanced Diploma | 14% | |
| Certificate III/IV | 11% |
Will AI replace marketing managers?
Moderate exposure. Not replaced, but changed. AI is taking on some tasks and the rest of the job shifts around them.
AI has moved into marketing management at the edges: drafting copy, tagging audiences, reporting on channel performance and shifting media bids automatically. Deciding which customers are worth the money, and which campaign to stop, stays with you, along with explaining a bad quarter to the sales director. Someone entering the job now should learn the analytics platforms well enough to question what they report, and to set the tools up to answer their own questions.
How a typical week splits
- Campaign reporting and channel dashboards25% of the week
Platforms pull spend, clicks and conversions into a dashboard overnight, so your time goes on explaining the gap between what the numbers show and what the sales team is reporting.
- Audience targeting and media buying25% of the week
Automated bidding and lookalike audiences decide where a lot of the spend goes, while you set the overall budget and choose which customer groups are worth chasing.
- Creative briefing and agency direction25% of the week
Setting the brief for a designer or an agency, and sending work back when it misses the point, depends on judgement about the brand that no tool holds.
- Team leadership and stakeholder work25% of the week
Running the weekly review, coaching a coordinator and negotiating next quarter's budget with finance all happen in conversation with people who have their own targets.
How we work this out
We break each job into its main tasks, estimate the share of a typical week each one takes, and judge how far current AI and automation tools reach into it. The score out of 10 starts from the job's overall rating (low is 1 to 3, moderate 4 to 6, high 7 to 10) and the task split places it within that range. Source: Career Tips analysis of each role's main tasks.
Common questions about becoming a marketing manager
Straight answers to the questions people ask most.
How much does a marketing manager earn in Australia?
Marketing managers earn a median $139,200 per year before tax. The figure moves with how big a budget you own and how many people report to you, so a job title on its own tells you little; ask for the salary band for the role before you sit an interview.
How do you become a marketing manager?
The common entry is a marketing or business degree, then a few years in coordinator or specialist roles before you step up to running a plan and a budget. You can also come across from a related job such as public relations or digital marketing, where media and channel experience gives you a head start.
Are marketing managers in demand in Australia?
Marketing managers are currently not in shortage, and employment is projected to grow 17.5% over the decade to 2035. Openings are spread across almost every industry, so hiring in a given year depends on how your target sector is trading. When you apply, lead with a campaign you ran and the result it produced.
Will AI replace marketing managers?
It writes first drafts and adjusts where ads appear, which speeds up the routine parts of a campaign. Judging whether a campaign was worth running, and explaining a bad quarter to the business, remains your call, so ask in interviews how the team uses AI and what it has freed people up to do.
What can a marketing manager move into?
Chief marketing officer is the step up many take, and it pays $9,000 more; the work overlaps because you already set campaign strategy and would take on the whole function. For work built around reputation and media, communications manager is a close switch, at about the same. A general manager role builds on the commercial experience but needs broader operational knowledge, and it pays $9,000 more.
Do you need a degree to be a marketing manager?
No, though it helps: about 36% of marketing managers hold a bachelor degree and a further 16% have a postgraduate qualification. What employers test is whether you can run a campaign and read the numbers, and people do reach management from a diploma or from years of hands-on digital work.
Related roles
- Digital Marketing Specialist
- Advertising Manager
- Chief Marketing Officer
- Communications Manager
- General Manager
- Brand Manager
Not sure this is you? Take the career quiz and get a ranked shortlist of roles that fit how you like to work.
Career advice
- How to change careers, and which moves are realisticData on 1,573 career moves across 350 Australian occupations shows 63.3% need no more than a short course, though skill overlap alone won't tell you which ones. Six worked examples, and how to check your own move.
- Skills to put on your resume (with skills finder)A resume skills section built for the job you're applying for. Search your occupation to see the specialist skills, tools and general skills it calls for, with worked examples and what to write if you have no work history yet.
- How to prepare for a job interviewWhat to work through before a job interview: a prep sheet built from the job ad, the stories that cover most questions, and the questions an interviewer can't lawfully ask in Australia.